Neighbour from hell causing prob's with sale

Duckie

Hi Guys, I am desperate for some advice. We have been living in our first floor flat for over 4 years. My husband got cancer and it has been 2 really rough years for us. He is now in remission and in June we put our flat on the market as we wanted to move and 'get on with our lives'. We are both in our early 30's. Anyway, the week that our for sale sign went up, the neighbour downstairs made a complaint to the freeholder to say that our floorboards were creaking. Anyway, following lots of nasty letters from her and threats from him, we paid £1000 to have all the floorboards screwed down. She then said that it was now sorted. However, a few weeks later, she started to say that they were creaking again which, surprised us as we honestly can't hear anything! Again the threats from the freeholder so we got our builder out again who checked all the floorboards, but could find no fault. The freeholder then got fed-up with the whole thing and said he was not going to discuss it any further or be involved. He felt we did all we could and advised our neighbour to take legal advice. Since then, we've had letters from her solicitor threatening to take us to court if we don't fix the problem.In the meantime we got an offer from a first time buyer which we accepted. We disclosed the dispute as we were legally required. The buyer did a full structural survey, then a damp and timber survey and nothing came up with concerns regarding the flooring. The buyer then spoke to our neighbour who convinced her that there was a problem with the flooring and the neighbour said she was working with her solicitor to get an Enforcement against us. Our buyer arranged with the neighbour to be in while she came out with a flooring specialist as she wanted to check the noise levels in the neighbours flat. Neighbour agreed, but then either wasn't in or didn't open the door on the day. Our buyer went to our flat with our estate agent and the flooring specialist. They heard for themselves that there was nothing wrong with the flooring. However, our buyer now wants the dispute dropped before she would exchange. Our neighbour is the most heartless, bitter, obsessed woman and even though we have written to her solicitor to say everything that we have done to resolve this, there is still no end to the matter. We think she has something personal against us eventhough we have always been friendly with her. Also, we are considerate, we tip-toe around the flat eventhough the floors don't creak. The stress has taken it's toll on us. I had to go off sick from work and am now on anti-depressants as it all got too much. It would seem some people are just out to make other people's lives a living hell and don't care. Any advice or words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time.

poppysarah

Do you have carpets?

(You've got my sympathy but you now have a neighbour dispute that you really need to solve ASAP)

You might be causing noise to her. You might not. She might be so wound up about it all that whatever you do won't make a difference.

Very tricky.

Duckie

Yes, carpets with underlay. However, we have vinyl in the kitchen and bathroom.

markelock

poppysarah is right.

can you get a third party to mediate? sometimes someone from outside the "relationship" can bring a little reality to proceedings.

based on your experiences, I can see how this is one thing too many. Personally I would invest in some decent speakers, take down the for sale sign, and invite people round every night. but then it would really annoy me.

there must be case law that states that an amount of noise is acceptable (after all a flat with separate accomodation above it implies that someone will live there, and in the day to day events of life, walking etc etc is pretty typical)

have the council been involved and measured the noise?

Duckie

The building is an old house converted into flats rather than a purpose built flat building. We have contacted environmental health, but they are not interested unless if the cause of noise is from a TV or radio. The council doesn't seem to have any other service available.

poet123

I think all you can do (and I do realise it will gall you,and it is a big ask)is to throw yourselves on her mercy. Try and gain her sympathy re your husband,and any other buttons you can press.

Go round with flowers etc and sit down and ask her how she wants you to proceed,what more can you do. I assume that all you want to do is keep this buyer and sell up? if so, she is the key,you will have to manipulate her till she feels sorry for you,be sweet as pie,grit your teeth and do as she asks.

Tell your buyer you are resolving the issue and ask for their patience. Maybe the season of goodwill will help. Does she have pets,kids,grandkids, etc you can make a fuss of?take any chink in her armour and exploit it. Not nice to be so calaculating but it is your only chance of sorting this out and keeping this or any buyer. I hope it works out for you.

Duckie

Thanks for the advice, we've tried several times to knock on her door, but she refuses to open the door. She lives alone and never gets any visitors.

Does anyone think she will have a case in Court? She is yet to proof that there is any unacceptable noise from our flat. We don't want to go that way, but sometimes out of desperation we wonder whether we should sue her for the stress she has caused and if she causes our sale to fall through for the damages as we wouldn't get as high an offer again in the current market and would then stand to make a loss.

lynzpower

Do you think shemight be doing this as she doesnt want you to move out- seems odd youve been there 4 years yet shes only raised the issue oncethe for sale board has gone up??

mrcow

Do you have a solicitor working on your behalf over this?

If not, check your house insurance and see if you have legal protection on your policy. If you do, contact them in the morning and see if it's something they can run with for you.

As a sideline, there is absolutely NO WAY(!) that I would pander to this woman with gifts etc or throwing myself on her "mercy". She sounds like a bully and this is not the way to deal with bullies. It puts them in control, gives them the upper hand and they thrive on it.

markelock

I wonder how she could. What did the solicitors letter actually say? Anything about abatement notices, or the environmental protection act?

Do you have anything in writing (you will have the invoice for the work done to secure the floorboards), that proves you do not need, or indeed cannot have any further work done to soundproof your floor?

there is an excellent repost from a poster on this forum. it refers people to the case in Arkel vs Pressdram. That would be my first response to the solicitors.

can you not pop a letter through her door? or a christmas card? invitation for a drink somewhere? meet on neutral ground?

markelock

mrcow wrote: »

Do you have a solicitor working on your behalf over this?

If not, check your house insurance and see if you have legal protection on your policy. If you do, contact them in the morning and see if it's something they can run with for you.

As a sideline, there is absolutely NO WAY(!) that I would pander to this woman with gifts etc or throwing myself on her "mercy". She sounds like a bully and this is not the way to deal with bullies. It puts them in control, gives them the upper hand and they thrive on it.

she'd only be mitigating though. Therefore after a reasonable effort, she could at least prove she had tried, if anything, showing the complainant to be difficult to deal with.