Selling with dodgy neighbours?

comicmankev

So not likely to be able to sell then, just what I thought. My neighbour has scratched up our 2 cars, threatened, had 2 arson attacks, all logged with the police. oh well, guess i just have to live with it!

Would appreciate it if he put his fence up, but as he burned it down whilst trying to kill me, i'm sure he wont!

cattattat

I know this is an old thread, but wanted to add my thoughts!

We are currently in the process of sueing the sellers of our property for non-disclosure of major neigbour disputes in the SPIF. We bought the house two years ago but have only just started proceedings, so trust me, it will catch up with you eventually if you lie!

To be honest, why wouldn't you declare it?

Would your conscience allow you to sell your home to someone that you know will have to live with the misery you have been living with? Our sellers did that to us - saw a young couple with stars in their eyes, buying their first home and did not give any indication that there were problems with the neighbours (in fact they told us that they got on well with them!). Because of this, we have had two years of absolute hell that we never deserved and would never have knowingly got ourselves involved with.

hethmar

We have had probs with our new neighbours - 16 years of paradise before they arrived - but I understood from our solicitor when I queried on this that the details required are those that affect the property not you personally. So if you hate the neighbours you dont actually need to put anything to that effect. If, as in our case they damaged your property during their extensive renovations/redevelopment of the empty house next door you can vaguely say that you did take legal action against them xx years ago re damage but that it was settled. Something in that manner.

Personally Im praying the credit crunch will have them packing up and moving on to their next bargain cheap and empty house to do up (apparently this is their fourth in 10 years).

I can appreciate its different if the neighbours are druggies or drunks who continually come over to have a fight with you Whats the story with yours catt?

cattattat

Mine is a VERY long story involving false complaints to the authorities, harrassment and threats etc. To give some sort of indication of our problems, the most recent issue was when we went away for the weekend about a month ago and came back to find our back garden had been trashed and faeces had been smeared all over our conservatory windows. Police can't/won't do anything about it, as they say that we can't prove it was our neighbours because we don't have CCTV and there were no witnesses

Turns out our sellers went through very similar things but never gave any indication of this to us when we were buying.

It is important to be very careful when filling out the SPIF. Although section 2.1 ("Do you know of any disputes or anything which might lead to a dispute about this or any neighbouring property") does refer to property, this can be very loosely interpreted depending on your buyer's future solicitor.

The clincher for us was section 2.2 (which refers to any complaints the neighbours have made about anything the seller has or has not done) and 2.3 - "Have you made any such complaints about what the neighbour has or has not done?" Our sellers had made complaints to the Police and Anti Social Behaviour Team regarding our neighbours but had not informed us.

We also have a copy of a letter written by them to our neighbour's letting agents which lists all of the unreported problems they had when living here and the fact that they eventually sold the house to get away from it all.

It's going to be a very long and costly process for us, but hopefully in the end it'll all be worth it and we can get out of this hellhole (being honest on our SPIF in the process ) .

Hethmar - as far as I am aware, if you have never made any complaints about your neighbours and there are no 'official' disputes, there can be no comeback if you don't declare this on your SPIF - who could ever prove that you hate your neighbours? But to anyone thinking of doing this, you have to bear in mind that if sellers find out from other neighbours (who are willing to testify) that there have been 'unofficial' disputes between you, you may be on shaky ground... In my opinion, it's always best to be honest.

hethmar

Well, to be honest all the other neighbours have kept their heads well down, "Oh I didnt notice." that sort of thing, so I dont think theyd be up for an argument with anyone (thats been a shocker for us, as we are always the first to defend anyone along here ) There has been an official dispute concerning damage to our hedgerow, which the new bloke decided would come out in order for him to do cheaper/shallower foundations for one of the 3 new extensions he put on the place next door (2 years of building works when they werent even living here!).

He is a bit of a loony - we had the asbo officer go to see him (following silly behaviour like following our car closely as we drove off and telling us to drop the case, he always wins etc. but he is clearly a coward) and he reckons he is on another planet, and very likely autistic - which I can see now. He doesnt seem to understand the consequences of what he does and how it could upset others. I understand he was like this at the previous place he lived where he was known for insulting remarks which he didnt appear to realise were insulting! As I say, we are just praying for him to see a new opportunity in property and move on again. At the moment he is keeping his head well down and that suits us - we are happy not to speak to them. I wouldnt feel that worried in our circs if we did move (been here so long not likely for a while yet anyway) as it is a thing between us and them, and unlikely to be carried over to a buyer of this house. As you say, it may be they will get on with them - their main interest seems to be sport and thats all they talk about apparently. So, a new sports enthusiastic family may find it their heaven

Im horrified at what you have been through - why on earth do they act like that? Have they told you what they feel you have done to upset them?

Well done you getting that letter to the landlord - how did you manage that? By the way, if they made complaints to the police, you can also ask for a list of those. Have you joined the Neighbour from Hell forum?

jostrummer

This is an interesting thread but what specifically can be done by the buyer of your property if you do not declare. It may be that you and your neighbour don't get on, you think he is a prat he thinks you are a prat and you have rows. But there are no boundary issues damages to property etc but you are in dispute. You don't mention, how can that be quantified in terms of a cost if you were sued? Are there any court cases involving this ie people actually suing for non-declaration?

hethmar

Yes, there are some cases of people being sued for thousands - have a google for neighbours from hell.

Milliewilly

The new SPIF Forms state any property nearby now not just neighbouring so it could be someone a few houses away!

I sued a previous owner for misrepresentation (not about neighbours though about lying when I asked if the house had any structural problems) and my solicitor told me that if you as a buyer ask any questions then the seller has to answer them truthfully and fully.

So if for example you ask what are the neigbours like and they say 'oh yes the person at side A is very nice', then fail to say anything about the neighbours from hell at side B then thats a misrepresentation and you can sue.

If you as a seller have involved the Police, Council etc then there is a trail to follow so any subsequent owners could easily sue you for not disclosing.

hethmar

Not only that, but other neighbours would no doubt jump in and tell you about the problems the previous people had

Yes, so if you have a bloke with an ASBO four doors away and you know about it, you still have to declare it, eh?

Milliewilly

Yes the neighbours either side of me were quick to tell me about the structural problems my property had and how the seller was well aware and it was one of the reasons he moved.