Selling with dodgy neighbours?

olias

Just a warning about how far NFH can go. When I sold a property a few years ago, my NFH found out who my solicitor was (small town:rolleyes:). He proceeded to write a letter to my solicitor several pages long detailing every disagreement he had ever had with me together with everything he believed was wrong with my house.

My solicitor was legally obliged to pass all this information on to my buyers solicitors. Needless to say, the buyer pulled out (on day of exchange!). It took about 4 months to find another buyer who fortunately was not overly bothered and still offered the full asking price (luckily it was at the height of the property boom. Don't think I would be as lucky now!).

The moral is if you have any thought of moving in the near future, then do everything possible to avoid a neighbourhood dispute - It will come back to bite you!

*I haven't given any of the details of what NFH wrote as it may identify me if he reads this site, but the following is one example of how petty the list was: I once pulled into his drive for ten minutes while he was away in order to unload some heavy items as there was no parking nearby and I had no driveway.

Olias

hethmar

Well, youd think if the NFH disliked you that much he would have been pleased to see your move wouldnt you?

olias

I really don't think it was a personal dislike. I think he was one of these guys who just got off on being nasty and vindictive . I think it kind of gave this sad pathetic excuse for a man a kick and a feeling of power to know he could screw up my house sale and ruin mine and my wifes plans.

Olias

hethmar

Yes, it seems to be a pattern with NFH that they are rather insignificant people who get a kick out of bullying, feeling they have power over you.

beccad

So I would have to declare that a couple of weeks ago, some people down the road (five/six houses down) had an all day bonfire in their garden, and I couldn't rouse them by ringing the door bell, so I called the council? (The whole street was choking in smoke, people coughing in the street, my house stank for days!) Does that one off event have to be reported?

slummymummyof3

Having got a NFH, we just live in hope that they will decide to move before we do. In all honestly, we wouldn't consider a move if they moved.

hethmar

Same with us

Heidi_Lawton_2

We are just about to move and need to fill in the talked about form....

Our neighbours complained our tumble dryer was noisy against the joining wall, we moved it away a couple of inches... everything fine.

We had a party (only five people here, not a house full) and we made a bit too much noise, and they complained, we apologied ... all sorted.

Do these kind of things need to be mentioned? It's nothing really when we have lived here for seven years, is it?

Jowo_2

hethmar wrote: »

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).

Our annoying neighbours in our block of flats were wannabee property developers who swaggered about in 4x4 vehicles and sports cars with personalised number plates.

Their behaviour included noisy parties (including an infamous one where they had a domestic which ended up with smashed windows and cut faces), verbal abuse, exercising their dogs in the communal garden and refusing to pay towards repairs in the building.

They purchased the flat through their limited company and managed to get a personal mortgage on it much greater than the value of the property just before their limited company went into administration (not sure how 2 property developers without a bean manage to sell a property to themselves, must be fraud by them or stupidity by the lender who failed to verify the company directors were selling it to themselves at an inflated price).

Overall, at least 5 properties of theirs have been repossessed, including their flat and they've apparently fled to Thailand to escape their creditors and enrol in a martial arts school...

Their creditors include local builders who renovated the properties and the builders merchants they didn't pay. Go figure the link between not paying burly men, fleeing abroad after one of their properties was vandalised (drains were sabotaged) and learning self-defence....

Jowo_2

hethmar wrote: »

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).

Then you could consider reporting this to the tax fraud line because there is a boundary between buying a personal property and benefitting from the gain and the regular purchase of properties to do up and sell on which can be taxable - perhaps some other posters are aware of this distinction, if this neighbour could have a liability or if this doesn't apply because they live in the property for a couple of years before selling it?