Neighbours

chirp

A lot has been said on this forum about how to be careful about buying a house with unpleasant neighbours. But in todays day and age when everyone is so busy with their own lives neighbours hardly know or mix with each other. How many of you even know the names and phone numbers of your neighbours, or have gone over to each others houses and had a cup of tea/coffee? So when prospective buyers ask a whole lot of questions about neighbours and how you can get sued for not revealing information about your neighbours, how does it work out? How can anyone give accurate information about people they hardly know? Plus neighbours can change houses at any time. So why does it become legally important to answer questions about neighbours while selling? Even if you haven't got along with your neighbours, the new people may get along fine with them, especially if they have someting in common like belonging to the same country.

EKAndrew

Surely if you went to buy a house - you would want to know who you are living next to?? Its a big commitment for most people and I personally would be furious that after the long stressful process of getting a mortgage, viewings right through to handover/completion - that i then found out i'd moved into " 24/7 party central"
Everyone is different, and what annoys me may not bother you, and what bothers you may not bother me. I dont think for one second you need to say "yes, Jim and Betty are lovely, we often go over for afternoon tea" or "Paul and Tom are unbelievable, their cooking skills are sublime, you should see the feast that they created for Mary's birthday"!!!!!!
A more general "yes the neighbours are lovely, unlike most ares, we have a really good community spirit where everyone likes to be involved and socialise with each other" or "everyone keeps themselves to themselves, its a quiet area and you dont often see the neighbours"

J_i_m

I think that perhapps that chirp is suggesting is if you're the unsociable type and you don't socialise with and/or have minimal contact with your neighbours then basically you don't really know them at all.

In that instance all you can really say is "Yeah, we've had no problems" or "there's sometimes some noise, but nothing out of the ordinary".

Everyone is different, some might be Mr & Mrs community who get involved in every facet and want to know everything, others might be reclusive and largely keep to themselves and hence have very little info to give to Mr & Mrs village fayre.

LisaW123

I would think you would only be obliged to mention problems if they had become formalised, for example, involving the police, solicitors or whatever. I imagine regulations about disclosing information on problems with neighbours were designed to protect buyers from getting themselves entangled in some of the notorious disputes we've all seen in the press, like court battles over boundaries raging through the courts for years etc. As you say, some people like to mix with those who live around them, others do not. We like to keep on good terms with our neighbours and we'll all take in parcels for each other etc, but I certainly wouldn't want to socialise with them. We are all very different people. The couple who lived in our house before us got on very well with one neighbour who had a key to the house at that time. I wouldn't dream of letting her have a key to my home. Although she is fine, I suspect there's nothing she'd like better than having a good nose round here. If I was selling up and was asked about the neighbours I wouldn't be saying, "well, one's a bit nosey, and that one's a bit of a snob" etc, etc, as it doesn't affect the quality of life living here in any way. As another poster has suggested, I would merely say we don't know them that well, but have had no problems. It is a very quiet area. So long as you are not telling outright lies and deceiving a potential buyer, you should have no problems.

pimento

We bought a middle terrace of three houses a few years back and when we asked the vendor about the neighbours he said that one side, the woman had a grand piano but they had an arrangement that she could only play it when they were out (!). They said the other side were no problem.

In reality, the (concert grade) pianist played beautifully and I enjoyed being able to hear her play (the full-size grand piano almost filled the back room), whereas the neighbours the other side had knocked down all their internal walls and laid laminate so you could hear every word, TV programme and footstep. The old man was a bit mutt so had the telly up full-blast. They drove us mad but the vendors may have been the same so it never bothered them.

I have to say that buying a detached house was the best thing I ever did.

cattie

As you say, you don't always really know your neighbours, but most people at least have minimal contact with their immediate neighbours so you can at least tell prospective buyers who is living either side of you, ie; single lady, elderly couple with a grown up son etc.

I'd not want to live next door to a family with young children, so it's always important to me to know that at the time of buying the property, the only danger of having a young boisterous family next door to me is if one of the neighbouring houses got sold.

In my last house I only really new my immediate neighbours in 5yrs of living there, but here 6 of the people who occupy houses in my terrace had come along to say welcome & introduce themselves within the first couple of weeks.

You only really have to be careful when giving info about neighbours when selling property if ever you have had an official dispute with them, which has to be addmitted to. Otherwise, even if they have been less than perfect, it would be enough to give a general description of who the household consists of.

Uk_Lover

I know most of my neighbours, some have become very good friends. We often have BBQ's and invite them.

purple.sarah

I think you're obligated to mention a dispute with the neighbours. People want to know what they're moving into the middle of and nuisance neighbours can be a serious problem. If you simply don't see or hear much from the neighbours you can honestly say they are quiet and keep to themselves, which is a positive!

bmar71n

i think being sued may be a bit of a myth, how can you be reasonably expected to account for your neighbors actions.

However if there are disputes over boundaries, this is a different matter entirely and any potential purchasers should be made aware of this.

knightstyle

5 years ago we bought a new build town house, and now live in it permanently. We have great neighbors and as the back gardens are very small with low fences we are always chatting, sharing BBQs etc. We have just retired and there is a mix of all ages along the row. We have also arranged for next doors children to look after our cat whilst we are away.

split_second

my neighbour came out to greet us on the first day i got the keys, i went in a seperate car to my parents and she introduced herself, in her dressing gown in the middle of the afternoon :eek:

the guy on the other side is 70-odd and has dogs, 5 of them, 3 of which are large, i dont mind them 1 bit and when someone was messing around jumping in and out of gardens at night he made sure the dogs were outside- 3 alsations.

we havent had any trouble since