Buyers complaining of non-disclosure about neighbours

bananah

We recently sold our house, and have today had a letter through from our buyers solicitors, stating that their neighbours have been very disruptive since they moved in. They claim that the police told them that when we lived there, we called them "numerous times", and that we should have disclosed this information.

We did call the police one night when a window was broken, but we have not made numerous calls to the police. Yes, the neighbours were a little noisy at times, but we had no running disputes with them, and we did not report them to the council at any stage. The walls in the house are very thin, so any arguments were always heard - but we ourselves had apologised to our neighbours on one occasion, as our kids had been crying all night.

Does anyone know where we might stand on this? The house was sold 3 months ago, but I'm worried what could happen - do they have any grounds? If so, what could happen? I've looked around, and we are talking to our solicitor, but I wondered if anyone had any experience of this. I looked again at the form we filled in, and we didn't lie - it asked if we had any disputes, which we don't.

Thanks.

BitterAndTwisted

Did you ever make a formal complaint about them?

vax2002

Ignore them.
The police are not allowed to share information of calls, so thats probably a bluff.
Wait until they put up or shut up then use the legal cover on your insurance.

bananah

No formal complaint was ever made against them.

We also thought it would be impossible for the police to share details about calls.

Thanks for the replies

tbs624

If you had previously called out the police specifically because these neighbours had broken your window then you should have declared that om the SPIF IMO

marliepanda

I am probably biased as loud neighbours would be the worst thing imaginable for me moving. I'd rather have no roof!

It wasnt necessarily the police who told them about the call, but a neighbour. Perhaps other people have called the police about these people and its all being lumped in.

Morally, if the neighbours broke you window on purpose (which is suggested by a police call), you should have told the buyers. Legally, I have no idea.

DVardysShadow

tbs624 wrote: »

If you had previously called out the police specifically because these neighbours had broken your window then you should have declared that om the SPIF IMO

But only if there was a relevant question.

Ivana_Tinkle

Was the broken window in your house or theirs? (Sorry if I'm being thick - I wasn't sure from your post.)

bananah

Sorry - they broke their own window one night just before new year. We called the police as their were young kids in the house. They never did anything directly to us, or caused us personally any harm. They only ever directed their arguments or noise at themselves.

G_M

The simple answer is did you lie to them?

Were you at any time asked, either in writing (perhaps via your solicitor?) or in front of witnesses,
"have you ever called the police about the neighbours" or
" are there any ongoing disputes with the negbours" or
" have you had any past disputes..."?

If you were asked, how did you answer?

If you did not answer, or were never asked, or answered vaguely ("there is no current dispute") then you are fine.

If you answered "I have never called the police about the neighbours" then you lied so may be in trouble.

tbs624

DVardysShadow wrote: »

But only if there was a relevant question.

The standard queries on the SPIF would cover an OO calling out the police about a neighbour's behaviour

See here for the potential pitfalls in getting it wrong including problems with trying to give "vague" answers