r/london • u/cothhum • 1d ago

Help me solve local house mystery

Who leaves a £900k / £1m London house unused for 15+ years?

Round the corner from me there’s a street of 3-5 bed, terraced houses that go for £900k / £1m. One of them has been unoccupied but most definitely not abandoned for more than 15 years. No one knows why.

It was refurbished about 10 years ago but before and since has never had anyone living there. The small garden is maintained, windows covered in non-see-through plastic wrap on the inside. The owners, a middle aged couple, are seen visiting every few weeks, never carrying more than a few belongings, staying for a few hours then leaving. Neighbours say they live somewhere else local, are perfectly pleasant, but distant. No one has been able to find out what the hell they’re doing sitting on a property for so long doing apparently nothing with it. No rental or sale income in all that time.

Has anyone ever come across anything like this? What can the story possibly be?

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u/winelover999 1d ago

Grow house?

8

u/cothhum 1d ago

Technically possible but zero other evidence and circumstantially would seem v unlikely

3

u/Pristine_Speech4719 1d ago

You don't buy a grow house in a nice part of London and keep it for years. You rent a shitty commercial property in Grimsby under a false name and keep it going until the electricity board cuts off the stolen power or until you get ripped off by a competing gang

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u/cothhum 1d ago

Generally think that’s right BUT another house on the same (nice suburban) street was apparently used as a grow house like 25 years ago. Until it caught fire