Legal Position re: Undesirable Neighbours

yeahdisk

My little rant below may seem to be a little off-topic for a money saving forum but I guess my financial question is this:

Does anybody know the legal position about disclosing information that blatantly affects the value of a house you are selling?

Thanks a lot for the great forums,

Chris.

Let the rant begin:

"Me and my girlfriend moved into our first home 6 months ago (June 2006). Its a 3 bed semi and we have plunged everything we have into it.

Obviously when we were looking round we asked about the neighbours and we were told the usual 'oh they're lovely on both sides'.

Anyway, after living there about 8 weeks, we discovered that the house we are joined onto is actually owned by a charity housing assosciation, and the house is used to accomodate young males aged between 18 and 30 who have been referred to them by the council, prison service, probation office etc. This charity organisation is government funded and in partnership with the surrounding local councils.

Even though the charity has a 'main buiding' on the other side of town that houses 15 men with constant supervision, the ones next to us are living there without supervision.

I can't believe our vendors acted legally by not disclosing this information to us. Obviously if we knew this beforehand we would NEVER have bought this house for the amount we did. And if I were to sell this house tomorrow (properly disclosing everything) there is no way it is worth as much as we paid for it.

Just recently, the inconsiderate behaviour from next door is unbelivable. Only last night I was outside at 3am, in the rain, banging on their door trying to be heard over the inredibly-loud dance music. According to our nice-neighbours on the other side, they say there was a history of loud noise and police involvement in the years before we moved in.

Please, if anyone could enlighten us to if we'd have a chance legally, and who was at fault (seller? estate agent? our own solicitors?) then I'd appreciate it so much.

Cheers everybody,

Chris."

space_rider

I don`t think you can challenge anyone legally. When the new housebuyers thing comes in then I think you will have redress but I doubt that you will at the moment. I`m living next door to teenager from hell. Parents out 12 hours a day and she has on average 8 other teenagers in the house making noise, drinking and smoking illegal substances. Thankfully I am renting so I will be leaving in the next week. I am so glad that I didn`t buy this house as this isn`t a cheap house either.

All I can suggest you do is to contact the housing association, or the local council. It`s easier to evict those that are renting than it is those that have bought a house.

silvercar

On one of the seller information forms it asks if there have been any disputes with neighbours. If the seller has made a formal complaint with the police or council they have to disclose it.

You can take the seller to court for failing to disclose. If the court finds in your favour they obviously cannot force the seller to buy the property back off you but they can force the seller to pay you compensation. This presumes that you can track down the seller and they have money to make it worth sueing.

PJD

It sounds like your vendors have had a nightmare. They probably know that they would have never of gotten away from a living nightmare had they disclosed this information. it's a very sad situation and I feel for both you & your previous vendors


Whatever problems your vendors experienced whilst they lived at your property is irrelevant. What IS relevant is what is problems were logged by the environmental health and/or Police.

It's all about what you can prove.

Neighbouring problems/disputes do not have to be declared if the question is not asked.

My tuppence:

#1 - clarify EXACTLY what questions were asked by your solicitor to the vendors solicitor and examine the answers.

#2 - contact both the environmental health & the Police to find out if any complaints had been logged.

#3 - If your neighbour can testify the fact there there had been a history of loud noise and Police-involvement, and that had not been disclosed by the vendor after being asked the question, then I would say you have a case.

#4 - I would think long & hard about contacting the council/Police about your existing neighbours, as, YOU will have to disclose any such complaints when you come to sell.


As said, - if it is proved in court that you wouldn't have paid as much for the property had this information been disclosed, or, worse case, you would never have brought the property at all had you known this information (which should of been dis-closed(??)) - then you can claim compensation. It's been known for people to claim the ENTIRE cost of the house in previous cases.

yeahdisk

Thanks so much for all your answers.

Spacerider: with regard to the Housebuyers thing, how will this help me? I would have thought that the housebuyers pack will make it more likely that I have to have to declare this, even if I haven't made a complaint to police or council?

PJD:

PJD wrote:

#1 - clarify EXACTLY what questions were asked by your solicitor to the vendors solicitor and examine the answers.
QUOTE]

Isn't there a standard set of questions that our solicitor will have asked? Surely neighbours is one of them (and if she didn't ask this question, would it be possible to sue them for compensation as they didn't do their job properly?)

I contacted the council to see if any complaints had been lodged by the previous owner: they wouldn't tell me because of Data Protection.

Anyway, thanks for the ongoing comments.

Regards,

Chris.

PS - peaceful sleep last night - bliss. :j

courtjester

Home Information Packs won't make any difference to this situation - they don't change the current law, they just change the timing that parts of the conveyancing process are done - i.e. making sellers produce various conveyancing documents and sellers information before the house goes onto the market, as opposed to the current system of this being done after an offer is accepted. The law itself on disclosure etc is unchanged.

Gorgeous_George

I'm sure there was case a few years ago where the new owners were awarded compensation from the vendors by a court.

Might be worth googling.



GG

PJD

My next move would be to get back in touch with your solicitor and have a chat with them in regards to what exactly was asked, what, if any, information was provided & what your next move should be.

Yes, it's pretty much standard practice to ask about neighbouring disputes, I'd be VERY suprised if your solicitor didn't ask these questions.

Presumably you've read through all the communication your solicitor has provided, & he/she didn't mention anything verbally, - so it seems probable that no disputes were declared by your vendor.

I would ask the solicitor about obtaining information from the Environmental Health in regards to previous complaints. The Env Health may only provide this information to solicitors (this is what someone at the Env Health told me, but you never how if these people are telling you legit info half the time).

What about the Police - have you contact them yet?

To repeat myself - have a long chat with your solicitor, - lets us know how you get on.

Gorgeous_George

Found it


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GG