In This Guide

Before you start

Choosing an area

   1. Choosing an area

   2. Transport

   3. Crime

   4. Amenities

   5. Landscape

   6. Neighbours

   7. Check it out

Homes needing work

My dream home

New homes

Offline search

Online search

Schools

Types of purchase

Viewing property

Country Guides

• All Guides

All Countries:

• Brazil
• Bulgaria
• Cyprus
• France
• Italy
• Panama
• Poland
• Portugal
• Spain
• Turkey
• USA

Choosing an area

Neighbours

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We all know that you can choose your friends and that you can't choose your family. But what about the neighbours?

Over friendly, noisy, intrusive, argumentative, grumpy, nosey, untidy, competitive and downright rude - these are just some of the complaints that our neighbours have about us.

Okay maybe not, but there is no real way of knowing what the neighbours will be like before you decide on a particular property, unless you are buying in an extremely sparsely populated area. The best course of action to follow is to talk to people. Again, this is not really possible if you are planning a long-distance move. But if you get the chance, talking to people in shops or in the vicinity of your new home can be a great indicator of what the people are actually like.

Some places are made by the people that live there, while in others, everyone very much keeps themselves to themselves. It can be a handy thing to be aware of, since feuds or friendships can make a big difference to your happiness in a place. So when you go looking for houses, keep your eyes peeled, your ears open and be ready to pounce on an unexpecting potential neighbour-to-be...

Tell us your stories about nightmare neighbours.

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