Would it bother you to buy a house near power lines?

[Daywalker]

At least they wont be building anything on that land in our life time

Pylons or over looked......

Just stick some flrorescent tubes under them, free lighting!

I wouldn't buy those houses that close to those Pylons because those houses aren't nice enough to take on the health risk - perceived, real or otherwise. If you can afford to look at houses that big then then look at others, there are better options. IMO etc

All this stuff about health risks is a complete load of tosh.

I acted for a client who bought a house next a leccy substation. He was initially worried, I told him to fetch out the National Grid. Bloke came and the radiation was negligible. They then went in the house and the National Grid bloke turned on the microwave and the instrument went berserk.

We have a low voltage line in the field behind us, I don't even see it any more.

Short answer - no.

The fluorescent tubes stunt is cod science at it's scariest. I can light up a fluorescent tube by putting it next to a plasma ball for goodness sake.

OK, thanks very much for everybody's input folks, it's been interesting to hear some of the views.

Of course the thread was never about helping me decide on any of the options, my mind was already set.

The house is in a specific village, where I live and want to stay for a variety of reasons, so 'look for something else' is less of an option. All the houses on that edge of the village with a countryside view, look out onto the same row of pylons. There are none on the opposite side of the same size, with the same plot and private entrance, and even if there were, when would they come onto the market? It's come onto the market at the right time, and other than the pylon, it's the 'cream of the crop' so to speak. There's no such thing as a house with no compromises, unless you have a very short tick list, a wider search area, and a very big budget.

Visually the pylon doesn't bother me. Where in the countryside can you go nowadays, where you can't see a pylon? It's just part of the landscape IMO.

Healthwise it's an extremely small chance of cancer that would become a very small chance if we were three times closer. By being non-smokers we are probably doing much better for our child than by not buying that house. I am getting an EMF survey done this week as a precaution, and if 'dangerous' levels of EMF were detected I would think again, but EMF is a pretty exact science by the look of things, it's the effects of EMF on humans which is not. In perspective, kiddies who do live close enough to hear cables humming and get poo'ed on by the birds, are not falling in great numbers or we'd have proven a link long before now.

So I pretty much knew how I felt about it, the point of the thread was to ask other people how they would feel about it, so I could gauge whether if I ever come to sell the house, what proportion of buyers would be put off.

Small sample size I know, but this poll looks like half of buyers might be put off buying the house because of the pylon. Though the house went on the market in December with three viewings on the first Saturday and our offer was one three offers on the Monday morning.

Assuming the EMF survey is as expected, I'm still going to go ahead, but thanks again for all the votes and comments, because it has helped me to carry on with my plans with my eyes open about the realistic prospects of resale.

Slight de-rail but A few years ago I was debating with a mate of mine at work about nuclear power and he was ranting on about the dangers and people living nearby would be exposed to radiation levels well above normal. On doing some research and it turns out that living next to a coal powered station exposes the locals to elevated levels of radiation plus elevated levels of heavy metals.

My point is why get hung up about about a small theoretical risk which is mainly scare mongering when there are far greater concerns out there

You would be better of checking the boron levels for example a there has been many studies linking increased boron levels with increase cancer

Originally Posted by Ed

All this stuff about health risks is a complete load of tosh.

I acted for a client who bought a house next a leccy substation. He was initially worried, I told him to fetch out the National Grid. Bloke came and the radiation was negligible. They then went in the house and the National Grid bloke turned on the microwave and the instrument went berserk.

We have a low voltage line in the field behind us, I don't even see it any more.

Short answer - no.

The presence of EMF thing certainly isn't bollox Ed. A electric cable creates a magnetic field, it's hard science, fairly consistent, measurable and it increases exponentially the closer you get to the cables. Ask any electrical engineer.

http://www.emfs.info/Sources+of+EMFs...d+magnetic.htm

'Safe' EMF level is supposed to be 0.4 microTesla average over a 24 hour period, a hair-dryer creates 30 microTelsa right next to your head, but you only use it for 5 minutes at a time, and because it's only 240v and low current, on the other side of the room it's not even measurable. Background EMF from household devices is supposed to 'average' 0.01 to 0.2. So expect to average 0.2 in your house on any given day, then throw the main isolator switch at your meter for 24 hours and expect to get 0.01.

Thing with the 400Kv cables is, move you house 60 metres from the cable and you'll get 0.4, even when the isolator switch is thrown. Have the cables running over your roof and you'll get 10 microTelsa, that's 25 times more (it depends on current draw, so 9 at night will be higher than 3 in the morning, but I'm simplifying things).

What is up for debate, it whether or not a higher microTelsa level affects human health. A few studies have been done that say it does, and the World Health Organisation advises governments to restrict building of houses, schools, etc, within 60 metres of power cables, and to run power lines through corridors where there is no building. The UK just hasn't decided the evidence is strong enough to pass the regulation yet, but I listed the countries who have decided to make it law above. The is also of course the economic impact, if you pass that law, does every house within 60 metres suddenly become unsellable, and the govnmt are forced to buy it?

EDIT: Italy, Switzerland, Israel, Netherlands and Slovenia

I know that house!
I wouldn't buy it as I know how it was built....

But in answer to the question. Pylons wouldn't bother me at that distance but would bother a lot of other people which has to be considered for future resale.
As already stated. It's a buyers market at the moment and you can get quite a bit for your money if you look around.

[Balky001]

Ralph, if its definately the house you want then you just need to be satisfied from the H&S aspect.

I think you will find it more difficult to sell in future but you have already said you are getting a £30k price drop so its already built in the price My only concern would be how long it might take to sell if you needed to, and the looks of the thing. If it doesn't bother you then its not an issue

speedplay - what's your concern with the build as there's no need to put doubt out there unless its something pretty categoric but if it is I'm sure Ralph would appreciate the info