Neighbour trying to sabotage house sale- please advise

bouncing_bubbles

Maybe the builder scared them off as he wants a cheep house?

duchy

bouncing_bubbles wrote: »

Maybe the builder scared them off as he wants a cheep house?

That was my first thought when the OP mentioned he looked uncomfortable when questioned .... btw have you spoken to your ex-buyer yourself or do you just have the word of the estate agent what they said and how they reacted ?

Oneday77

The only way forward here is to go with Electric_Monk's suggestion.
Get your friend to wander around but also keep an eye out and if someone approaches them, give is a couple of minutes to let the venom flow, theb walk over, keep your friend anonymous and start in on the conversation casually. Then let your friend say. "Oh, X here was saying here has a few problems, what do you think?"
Genarally allowing someone to build their own gallows could be a good deterent and proof for future issues.

nathand_2

duchy wrote: »

That was my first thought when the OP mentioned he looked uncomfortable when questioned .... btw have you spoken to your ex-buyer yourself or do you just have the word of the estate agent what they said and how they reacted ?

The builder could have been uncomfortable because it was his client that spoke with the potential buyers.

loobylou232

I am another vote for the builder wants a cheap house! I don't think you should do any more direct sleuthing as now suspicions have been raised and you are less likely to catch your perpetrator by the mystery shopper method. Also if you do the mystery shopper, they will need to approach people to ask about the area as that is what appears to have happened before. I don't think people are sabbotaging your house sale completely on their own initiative. It is normal for some viewers not to show up btw.

momo_gogo

In answer to Evoke the buyers did come round for a second look round the close on Wednesday morning without telling the estate agents first- we were away, which may have been obvious from lack of our car which is usually on drive.

In answer to Duchy, I do only have estate agents word for it that the buyers turned up in tears, had been warned off etc but as previously stated I don't believe the estate agent in question has the mental capacity or any reason to come up with such a detailed lie.

I realise somebody might be hoping to poach the house for cheap, but unless they are staking the place out 24/7 and are prepared to do so for months, it seems like a pretty rubbish strategy. I do often get "cash for your house" leaflets through the door, but so do our neighbours and their house isn't for sale.

I spoke to next door neighbours who were gutted- they are anxious that we sell the house to decent people. I didn't tell them about my mystery buyer plan but they would have been at work on Wednesday morning anyway. My neighbour believe the only person likely to have done it is the elderly lady I had already suspected. I found out that she lived here with her husband since the houses were built and that in the late 90s (before we moved here) they were waging a war about people parking in the turning circle at the top of the road in front of their house. Apparently they were trying to petition the council about it and were falling out with people moving into the area left, right and centre. During all this trouble her husband died and she blamed all the new residents for causing it. Although I have never seen her try to stop people from parking in the road in front of her house, apparently she has a massive problem with all of the families that live near her. As she is pretty old she may not have a very accurate perception of how often tennants change- another elderly neighbour of ours was once convinced that different people were moving in to the house next door every week when in reality it was the same people who just had a lot of people visiting their house.

My neighbour's suggestion was to confront her, call her bluff and say that the potential buyers identified her as the one they spoke to. The trouble is this lady is in her 80s and if I am wrong it would have been a terrible thing to do. Even if I am right, given that she probably believes what she told the buyers and really does feel that living here has made her life hell I have to admit I feel a bit sorry for her. However, the fact remains that this has caused my family a huge amount of trouble, isn't an accurate account of what it is like to live in our house and I can't allow it to continue unchecked.

The trouble for the mystery buyer plan is that I don't have that many friends around the area, the ones that I do have already have been to my house so may be easily recognised by a devoted curtain-twitcher. Additionally I think I am far more likely to get a result on a quiet weekday when they will feel much less likely to get caught than at the weekend when lots of people are out and about in their gardens and likely to overhear. I feel like I really need to hire an actual mystery shopper to find out the truth.

maninthestreet

Whereabouts in the UK are you located? Maybe a local MSE Forum member can be your 'mystery buyer'?

andy.m_2

STOP TALKING TO PEOPLE ABOUT YOUR PROBLEMS.

Do the mystery shopper but dont talk to anybody about your problems until you have their results back.
You have NO IDEA who it is and you may well be very surprised.
Remember that Ruth Jeffrey's stalker was the last person she thought it would be.

Your neighbour who you trust, stop trusting them, they maybe have a better friend than you who they want to move in next door to them, and split the saving 50/50 with them.

dizziblonde

Only thing I can think of apart from that, depending on where in Nottingham you are - is that if it's the Toton area - there was a huge banner up outside Tesco the other day (would have been Tues night?) plugging the public meeting about the housing development there which was distinctly strong in its nature and might have been enough to scare 'em off... something like that? Just a completely random shot in the dark in case its that area of town cos the timing fits.

Notmyrealname

When you get the result of the mystery shopper, the next port of call is the solicitor. Don't even bother to go round and speak to them. Get a solicitor to write a cease and desist letter and state that if they don't stop it, you'll consider suing them.