{"id":12451,"date":"2025-07-28T10:43:31","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T09:43:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.craneandco.co.uk\/pages\/?p=12451"},"modified":"2025-07-28T10:43:31","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T09:43:31","slug":"messy-neighbours-could-cost-you-dear-heres-what-to-do-about-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.craneandco.co.uk\/pages\/messy-neighbours-could-cost-you-dear-heres-what-to-do-about-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Messy Neighbours Could Cost You Dear: Here\u2019s What to Do About It"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unattractive or poorly maintained neighbouring properties can slash the selling price of a home by an average of \u00a342,880, according to Churchill Home Insurance. <\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>The biggest value losers are rubbish in the front garden (a possible 30% loss), too many garden ornaments or statues (28%) and broken\/boarded up windows (27%). Losses range from almost \u00a389,000 in expensive places like London to \u00a325,000 in others.<\/p>\n

If you have a problem with messy neighbours, here are some possible solutions.<\/p>\n

Have a quiet chat<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Sometimes neighbours don\u2019t realise that their home is an eyesore. Once they do, hopefully, they\u2019ll tidy it up a bit.<\/p>\n

Keep everything friendly. Drop a few subtle hints rather than making demands.<\/p>\n

Offer a helping hand<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

This won\u2019t be suitable in every situation, but it might be a solution in some cases.<\/p>\n

For example, if the owner is elderly or has mobility issues, they may be unable to remedy the situation themselves.<\/p>\n

You could also try to get some other neighbours to help, as they\u2019ll benefit too.<\/p>\n

Create a \u2018green screen\u2019<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Fast-growing shrubs and climbing plants can provide useful screening and improve privacy in your own garden.<\/p>\n

Cheap and instant options include willow, or you could opt for artificial ivy screening panels. Many discount stores sell them.<\/p>\n

Alternatively, think about whether a new fence would be a worthwhile investment.<\/p>\n

Obviously, you should never mislead a potential buyer. But there\u2019s nothing wrong with focusing attention on your home and showing it at its best.<\/p>\n

The last resort<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

In some cases, the local council can demand that a homeowner tidies up their property. Or they can do the work and charge the owner for it.<\/p>\n

The council is more likely to get involved if the property is derelict, dangerous, insecure or causing an environmental health issue.<\/p>\n

However, this course of action could cause ill feelings, and also take a long time. So it\u2019s much better to try and sort things out amicably if you can.<\/p>\n

As your local expert estate agents, our advice is not to worry too much about neighbouring properties. If your home is well-presented and well-priced, it should still find a buyer. If you\u2019re considering selling and would like a free valuation, please get in touch.<\/p>\n

We hope you\u2019ve found this post interesting. If you know someone who has a messy neighbour, please share it with them.<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

* Source: <\/u><\/strong>The price of a messy neighbour<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unattractive or poorly maintained neighbouring properties can slash the selling price of a home by an average of \u00a342,880, according to Churchill Home Insurance. \u00a0The biggest value losers are rubbish in the front garden (a possible 30% loss), too many garden ornaments or statues (28%) and broken\/boarded up windows (27%). Losses range from almost \u00a389,000 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12452,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[8,25],"class_list":["post-12451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-making-the-most-of-your-home","category-personal-advice-from-our-team","tag-advice","tag-jerry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.craneandco.co.uk\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.craneandco.co.uk\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.craneandco.co.uk\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.craneandco.co.uk\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.craneandco.co.uk\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12451"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.craneandco.co.uk\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12451\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12453,"href":"https:\/\/www.craneandco.co.uk\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12451\/revisions\/12453"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.craneandco.co.uk\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.craneandco.co.uk\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.craneandco.co.uk\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.craneandco.co.uk\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}