Would you say no?

[noddyholder]

W ehave a victorian terrace which was a student house and there are students either side.Big houses for the area and lovely too but mainly BTL until now.the one next door is going to be sold when these students move out next month.There are 2 guys obviously developers buying it and it will prob be a family house which is great.BUT I have redesigned the layout and it is v unusual and have never seen it done this way before and the guys want to see it and copy it as the tenants have seen it and told them how much better it is than theirs.I am flattered they like it but I don't want them to take my design and 'give' it to someone else!I feel really childish but want to say no It is a simple re working of the space but its my idea!

Hmm, not sure you can really stop them tbh. The tenants could describe it to an architect who, even without seeing it, could probably draw up plans.

Our neighbours came to see our house when they moved in, then even employed our architect and our builders. Their house is now almost an exact replica of ours! But we don't mind - they're friends now.

It is flattering.

I can stop them coming in!!!Ther tenants came in a few weeks ago as they smelt gas and they just said they really liked it,told these guys it was bigger which it isn't and now they want to copy it

Explain that property is your job and you'd be happy for them to employ you on a consultation basis of an hourly/daily rate to take them through exactly what you did.

is it because you think that it would make your house worth less because the next door house would then become as nice as yours? I would be thinking differently, that more family friendly houses in the street would enhance the selling ability.

Thats what dp says kathy!

No not thinking of its worth have been developing houses for years and know that one is dead in the water!I just don't want to see an identical house to mine when it took a lot of thought and drawing on my part to come up with this.A few people who have seen it think it is an extension which it isn't just removed and replaced certain walls and parts of walls.I did it to get something individual i suppose and want to keep it that way

KB's suggestion probably good one!

I can tell from having met them that they are not going to pay someone they are developers/builders and are looking for a freebie!they know I have re designed it as they have seen the skips and I chatted to them outside on one of the days they viewed it ages ago.

Have they asked you to look inside yours face to face come out and asked ?
If so well that's your opportunity to say, I do this for a living my fee is xyz.
You don't know they won't pay and even if they won't it sounds better than an outright no you can't look at my house so there

They have asked yes.They know what i do for a living they were here a few months ago viewing the house next door and taking pictures etc.i was at the front dealing with a skip removal and delivery and i chatted to them.typical wide boy types but nice too.At the time they just said oh you're doing lots of work blah blah.Have since asked if they could see the 'extension' I said i was busy but now don't want them to.i know its silly but I just want to keep the individual design.

I don't think you are silly, you've put a lot of thought into something and someone is trying to make a quick buck out of your creativity. If you were an architect, they wouldn't ask if they could have a quick look around and expect to rip the layout off.

I would try to be polite but firm and just say that you are a very happy with your design but you have worked on it partly as a calling card for your own business to show clients what you can do and you don't want it being replicated up and down Brighton. (I went to a garden in a showflat once and the designer had copyrighted the scheme so, although I don't know how enforceable it would be, obviously people who design for a living don't take kindly to this sort of plagiarism. If they don't like it, so what? The good thing about developers is that they won't be living there.

I don't think you are silly at all. I would just keep refusing them access tbh.

Agree completely with lala - also as they are developers the chances of them doing this in more than 1 houses are pretty high. That would be a horrible feeling for you surely, especially after so much hard work.

Take them on as clients and come up with a new layout - if they don't want to pay that's their tough luck - they will be the ones missing out!

Gosh, these people trying to get freebies! As you are a property professional, they should pay a fee. If a newspaper told me that they are willing to publish one of my articles for free (and the glory of seeing my byline there), I'd say no. As somebody pointed out, they wouldn't ask that of an architect, so why should they ask it of you? And yes, they would probably use your idea all over the place.

Thanks I have actually thouight of doing it as a business for other houses of this type as it is really v simple but I have never seen it before and people all assume its an extension.I am going to say no then as you are right it could be duplicated for £ and I could do it myself!

You should - I met a man in Eastbourne a couple of years ago who had set himself up as designer, self-taught, and his house was spectacular (I shall definitely be ripping it off if I ever get my hands on the place round the corner ). He used it as a shopwindow for his business and was doing really interesting work on other homes in the area too - his website. Some people just have a good eye for these things and not everyone wants a design that has been architected to within an inch of its life.

Now I want to see pics of your house!!!

Don't show her - she may be a developer

I am still in the middle of it but I think the fact that it is a bog standard terrace is a plus Achievable but not too expensive.Once the layout is done the interior can be as expensive or inexpensive as you like really.