Selling with dodgy neighbours?

Mrs_Bucket

The form you have to fill in does ask if there have been any neighbour disputes, including involvement from the Council Environmental Health etc. As someone who has suffered two lots of noisy neighbours (and having to arrange viewings when they hopefully weren't there) I sympathise with you. Ultimately, if they ask, offer information such as "they are a family of 4, parents in their 20s'' kind of thing. If they don't ask don't offer! If they ask a specific question about boundaries or noise etc..........it's probably best to be honest but economical with the truth. As another poster said, they may get on well with them once they move in or, better still, be neighbours from hell themselves and end up getting reported by the other hellish lot!

Mrs_Bucket

Heidi_Lawton wrote: »

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?

I would say NO to your question. It's the other way round, so to speak, if you complained about them. From the sounds of it, you accomodated their requests in a reasonable manner, like most decent folk would do. It's those who eff and blind at someone who asks them to turn their music down that we have cause to worry about! Most of us would feel embarrassed if we were causing our neighbours distress with loud music, right?

tired_mum

so just to clarify its not just next door neighbours but however many doors away i ask this as we are considering selling but3 doors away are the neighbours from hell and we have had to call the police about an air rifle being fired and riccocheing into our garden ,the 2 cockrels crowing continuously from 3am in the summer and the top spot is taken by pouring acid over 2 of our cars cant prove the last episode was him but his next door neighbours complained about their 30 ft trees in a 60ft garden down the adjoining fence his pond was poisened ,flowers cut with scissors or shears not torn and their car covered with acid and when the council came to mark the road for a driveway run with orange paint they now have 2 minibusses and continualy thay both come out to move them over the marks swapping places with each other leaving their run free

princeofpounds

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?

If you were asked, yes. But you could just say what you just said and I doubt it would put anyone off.

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

These do not need to be disclosed. They are not disputes as everything was sorted. A complaint is not a dispute.

goldbyron

OMG these stories are awful! I thought my neighbour was bad for playing loud music once a week - even then it is in daytime hours on the weekend and quite frankly would not been heard if it wasn't a conversion. Blimey - faeces smeared on windows and arson!! Where on earth do you live???

Heidi_Lawton_2

goldbyron wrote: »

OMG these stories are awful! I thought my neighbour was bad for playing loud music once a week - even then it is in daytime hours on the weekend and quite frankly would not been heard if it wasn't a conversion. Blimey - faeces smeared on windows and arson!! Where on earth do you live???

I know what you mean...

We had a complaint against us... about noise of tumble dryer and a one off party in seven years... both have been resolved fine.

I thought this was bad until I have read other stories!

Britwife

I'm sorry but this is rediculous! What if you bought a house where the previous seller didn't have any problems but didn't like him because part of his car was parked in front of his walk and was glad to see he was gone and went and told the buyer a bunch of lies about say another neighbor. Another lawsuit?

What if good neighbors moved out and bad neighbors moved in just as you got your new house keys?

What if you're hardly home and don't know if there are bad neighbors or if the police have been called.

Whatever happened to meeting and greeting your neighbors or trying to mend whatever happened?

How the heck are you supposed to be able to sell your house if you have to fill in details about your neighbor? They could move the next week or next month and never be seen again. I wouldn't bother even saying anything if I ever had neighbors from you know where. It's all hearsay and opinionated. You don't know if they rent or own.

Deffinately puts me off buying a house here. My point in all this is that you can never predict your neighbors and you have to learn to make the best of it. Sad that some of you feel it's ok to sue someone just because you got bad neighbors.

tired_mum

unfortunatly unless you have bad neighbours you dont know what its like you find yourself living on a knife edge and unhappy with the biggest purchase you will ever buy this one person has cost us over £15000 in remedying the damage done my children are now afraid as 1 car was damaged in the rear of our property whilst we were on holiday . it is distressing for all concerned but can cause serious mental distress not a flippant thing my next door neighbours and everyone except these people down our end of the road get on well together the whole end of our street is on edge due to their behaviour

tootsmyboots

This whole issue makes me wonder if the system causes people to live in fear/unhappiness rather than report it, just in case they want to move in the future. Seems like the system protects the nuisances by making it a problem for the non-nuisance people. However I also agree that incoming buyers should have a fair warning of any problems. But overall it seems unfair that honest people may think twice about making an official complaint in case it comes back to bite them in more ways than one!

Britwife

There are just too many variables for this to be a reasonable question for the sellers to answer. Way too many ifs. Some people may never sell their house, how is this fair to them that they can't sell because of a bad neighbor and end up losing their finances because they cant sell.

We only rent and the people that lived here were bad neighbors from what I have been told. These so called bad people bought a house across the street. I have never seen them behave badly nor make noise and I've never seen the police called to our street, let along them. So just becasue one neighbor has an issue with another doesn't mean that all will.

There should be laws to stop this being asked. Again, it's a matter of opinion.

I try to see good in all people and when we first moved here, we made it a point to say hello and smile to our neighbors. I know most bad people only do things when provoked and some people have a bad fuse. If you let people see they are bothering you and get a kick out of it, they will continue to do so. I think it's quite rare for adults to vandalize just out of the blue, however, any vandalism is wrong for whatever reason. My point is, talk calmly and work things through, you never know what may happen.

I mentioned the bad neighbor above and moving across the street. Well, the house next door to them just sold. What if my neighbor had said something to the EA just for spite and that sale fell through based on opinion? As I said, they aren't bad in my opinion and keep to themselves. I don't know what happened to make my neighbor not like them but again, it's personal opinion.

For the one that got the vandalism. The police are right in saying you have no proof however, I would be down at the police station every day making sure they would at least investigate it and get proof. I certainly wouldn't take the word of one officer. And perhaps citizens back down too quickly and easily so why should the police take it seriously? Keep annoying the police to make sure they do what they are getting paid to do.

I just feel sorry for the sellers who moved on with their lives and are now being sued for probably some inflated amount. Maybe they moved because they couldn't afford the house anymore, maybe they lost jobs. The bottom line, you still have your life, you still have your health, you haven't been injured or hurt. Maybe you're not happy but it's up to you how you choose to try to right things instead of blaming someone else.

Why not put the house back up for sale and maybe the new owners can become friendly with the so called bad neighbors.

I know all this sounds harsh but it's up to each individual to make the best. Feel blessed that you have a house, feel blessed that you have a job to pay for that house. Focus on the positive.