not declaring problem neighbours

sheila98765

What can we do. We moved into a house in April hoping to have a lovely quiet life. We moved away from our last property as the area had become run down and a lot of children on the street late at night. When we viewed our current house we specifically told them this and asked about the neighbours. We were told they were all really nice and friendly and she even went house to house telling us about them. We have since found out that this was not true. They had a dispute with one of the neighbours which escalated quite badly. I believe from other neighbours that the previous owners fell out with Number 4 who then used to block their drive with cars so they couldn't get to work, shouted abuse in the streets and were just out right unpleasant.

We are now having problems with number 4 and their friends number 2. We own property at the front of our house which is effectively our front garden. They do not like this as they want their children to play on it and have gone raving loony that we have put up a pretty little fence to allow our dog to play on it safely so that he doesn't go into the road. they do have a huge gardent to the rear of the property so it isn't as if we are taking away a play place. The neighbours have told us that we don't need the garden as we have no kids and should allow their chilren to play on it. We have had threats to damage our property and assault myself, abuse shouted across the close and I have even been told that I need to be careful as I am a teacher and they can complain about me and get me sacked. We have had to install cctv to the front of our house to protect our property hopefully and I do not even like coming and going in my own house as they stand outside together to intimidate me. I am due to talk to the police in the morning about the threats but what can we do that the previous owners did not declare that they had a problem. I do not know if there is a paper trail of complaints etc.

If I asked specifically about neighbours as we were moving to avoid problems on our old street should she not have told us that there were current and on going problems on the street. We have even been told that our current neighbours were shouting abuse at the previous owners as they were packing up to leave. They had also had problems about the land at the front and neighbours letting children access it which she used to be out all the time asking them to get off it.

Sorry for long post. Just really frustrated with the loons we have moved next to.

RAS

Do you have written evidence of the seller's answers to your questions?

davilown

RAS wrote: »

Do you have written evidence of the seller's answers to your questions?

Its normally included in the questions from vendor that the buyer's solicitor requests. I have a copy of the one my solicitor sent with written answers

[Deleted User]

How awful. I would ask your solicitor for advice.

sheila98765

The sellers filled in a form which asked if they knew of any disputes or problems with neighbours and if there were any parts of the property which have disputes against them. They answered no to both questions. It turns out that the problems stem from our front garden which the neighbours seem to consider communal land although we have shown them deeds to prove it is ours. This was the issue with the previous owner. I'm at my wits end with it all. Couldn't even walk the dog today as when I walk home they shout abuse in the street.......... Why are some people just plain horrid. Took dog out in car to be walked, how ridiculous is that!

I am going to speak to the police in the morning about the threats so will nip into the solicitors on my way home.

pimento

Do your neigbours at No.2 and 4 not have front gardens of their own?

gratefulforhelp_2

OK. You can potentially sue the vendors, but you need to demonstrate some financial loss as a result of their lying on the form.

I would suggest you use your teaching union's legal advice (free) or your legal help on car or house insurance, to investigate further.

BTW your pretty fence is a good first step. Check out neighbours from hell websites for some good advice about dealing with them (to summarise, don't give them any attention, don't slag them off, get big fences).

Phils_debt

I thought disputes came up on a search ,unless it wasnt reported and in that case i thought nothing could be done

gratefulforhelp_2

No, it would be on the property information form.

ruggedtoast

sheila98765 wrote: »

The sellers filled in a form which asked if they knew of any disputes or problems with neighbours and if there were any parts of the property which have disputes against them. They answered no to both questions. It turns out that the problems stem from our front garden which the neighbours seem to consider communal land although we have shown them deeds to prove it is ours. This was the issue with the previous owner. I'm at my wits end with it all. Couldn't even walk the dog today as when I walk home they shout abuse in the street.......... Why are some people just plain horrid. Took dog out in car to be walked, how ridiculous is that!

I am going to speak to the police in the morning about the threats so will nip into the solicitors on my way home.

I am confused by this, why do they think your garden is communal land? There is generally no ambiguity about the lawn attached to the front of someone's house being their front garden.

Are they council tenants by any chance?

Geordie_bear

I had similar problems but it's from the other perspective. We just recently sold a house with neighbours from hell next door who were so noisy and abusive it was untrue! We were simply economical with the truth however we had to really wrestle with our conscience when selling, we were honest on the info pack but as I said economical with the truth. We had 2 years of hell & we're simply desperate to leave we even tried things like turning the noise on the telly up just in case there was any noise from next door whilst conducting the viewings. Thankfully they moved on 2 months before we sold our house so in the end I was really happy and grateful.