'Google Street View is stopping us from selling our house': Couple's dismay that their home was captured in aftermath of wall collapse
- Image of a collapsed wall is putting off buyers, owners claim
- Internet giant's Street View car visited just months after damage was done
By Adam Uren
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A retired couple believe attempts to sell their Welsh waterfront bungalow are being hampered by an image captured by Google's Street View that shows it 'looking like a bomb site'.
Jan and Peter Hotton listed their pretty bungalow in the village of Llanstadwell, Pembrokeshire, more than five weeks ago with an asking price of £265,000 - but have not received a single inquiry.
They put this down to how the house looks on Street View, which was taken in the aftermath of a garden wall collapse following a violent storm.
What a difference! How the Hottons' home looks on Street View (left), compared to how it looks now.
The wall and driveway has since been rebuilt, but despite listing on websites Zoopla and Right Move - as well as with a local estate agent - they think people are being put off by what they see on Google.
Mrs Hotton, 75, said: 'We haven't had any viewings in the first few weeks which surprised us as this bungalow is lovely, with uninterrupted views over the Cleddau Reach.
'We were rather surprised by the lack of interest, and when my husband checked whether our listing was on Zoopla and Right Move, he also checked Google Earth and found to our dismay that the street picture of our property was from five years ago when our lower wall had collapsed.
'It shows the property looking like a bomb site.'
The Hottons contacted their estate agent, who asked Google whether there was a chance the image could be removed or blurred, but Google said it didn't feel the request warranted this.
Collapsed: The Hottons believe the image was taken in late 2008 to early 2009.
Much better: How it looks now.
Their garden wall was damaged in a storm in late 2008 and took almost two years to rebuilt following a lengthy wrangle with their insurers over who should pay for the work.
Now the work has been completed the home looks in excellent condition, a far cry from the image found on Street View.
Mrs Hotton added: 'We are looking to move to Suffolk as soon as this place is sold and regularly check the internet for properties, and if we decide we like a property my husband then uses Google Earth Street View to get an idea of what the surrounding area is like.
'So if anyone does the same with our property they are certainly not going to want to come and see it when they bring up the picture on Google Earth.'
Struggle: Jan and Peter Hotton are trying to move to Suffolk.
Google said it endeavours to update its imagery as often as it can, and added that the Hottons could get in touch themselves and request the image be blurred.
However, doing so would mean that it remains blurred if Google was to update its imagery.
Alternatively they can upload their own photos of their home using Google's recently launched 360-degree photo tool Photo Sphere.
A spokesperson said: 'Street View pictures are not real time, but we do try to update our imagery as often as we can. In the meantime, users can add their own 360-degree images to Google Maps should they want to share a different view of a location.'
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Their cunning plan to get the DM to give their bungalow free advertising has catastrophically failed. It has however highlighted the virtues of the competition as readers check out the other houses and bungalows in the area - Ooops!.
"Welsh waterfront bungalow"? That'll be estate agent speak for you can see the water from there then!
The photos of the interior do nothing to sell it - untidy and muddly. The kitchen is small. For Wales the bedrooms are small, and there is no back garden. I'd say it is well well overpriced.
Rename it, "North Face of the Eiger" and the British Mountaineering Council might buy it as their Welsh expedition training centre. The won't be able to get their cars up the drive in winter though. Alternatively, put some obstructions in the driveway and sell it to the Welsh canoe slalom team as a training ground when it rains - they'll be well prepared for the next Olympics. At that price, they are not going to sell it as a home, so they need to think outside of the box and broaden their market.
Nothing to do with it being in a Welsh waterfront location then? I doubt the Google image is doing it if the Estate Agents pictures are correct
If you 'report' that view on Google Maps, they will remove it. That's what I did, but I wish I hadn't now, kind of cut of my nose to spite my face in during a moment of less than normal clarity following a big-brother nightmare. Such is life... But in the case of the two retirees struggling to sell, maybe it'd be for the best.
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Alan Brown, Chesterfield, United Kingdom, 1 day ago
They should sue Google