Can't sell house due to crazy neighbour

Davesnave

BigAunty wrote: »

I think the previous poster was making a point that during the conveyancing process, the seller has to divulge if there have been any disputes with neighbours on the legal docs. The council may well keep the complainant's details confidential but then they must notify a prospective buyer of the property about this dispute which can ruin a sale.

But is it a dispute if a complaint is made and the matter is then resolved? Surely it takes two people arguing for a decent period over something contentious before it can be labelled a dispute?

According to local lore, the guy who used to live in my house had all kinds of spats with people in the vicinity, none of which were disclosed on the Questions Before Contract. I don't feel I've been misled. He was just an argumentative beggar.

Even during my short tenure, I've had three challenges from a somewhat sad person who lives nearby over my right to do this or that, all of which have been simply resolved by legal documentation. I don't regard any of that as a notifiable 'dispute,' even though the last one briefly involved the council.

moneyistooshorttomention

Davesnave wrote: »

I'm not sure that you will need to declare it. Councils can't just release that sort of information to third parties. Data protection & all that.

When I complained to the council about someone, my identity was not revealed to that person. Even though he knew very well who it was, he certainly couldn't prove it.

I should imagine I'm not the only one who just read that and thought "Oh good...hadnt thought of that":D.

I've had to make an official complaint or two about a particular neighbour (with my name duly on it:eek:) to try and deal with a problem a neighbour has caused - but, from that, then officialdom will have to keep schtum about just who told them what was going on and is at the root of all their resultant kerfuffle sorting things out. They wouldnt have been allowed to tell Troublemaker Neighbour it was me that had complained and, if someone had let slip verbally, then that would be just one individual person doing their job badly and officialdom wouldnt be able to acknowledge that one of their workforce was so inefficient/breaking the law anyway:D. Thats a relief.:)

Have you got any details of the exact text of that bit of the data protection law their workers arent allowed to contravene by mentioning my name please just in case?

moneyistooshorttomention

Davesnave wrote: »

But is it a dispute if a complaint is made and the matter is then resolved? Surely it takes two people arguing for a decent period over something contentious before it can be labelled a dispute?

According to local lore, the guy who used to live in my house had all kinds of spats with people in the vicinity, none of which were disclosed on the Questions Before Contract. I don't feel I've been misled. He was just an argumentative beggar.

Even during my short tenure, I've had three challenges from a somewhat sad person who lives nearby over my right to do this or that, all of which have been simply resolved by legal documentation. I don't regard any of that as a notifiable 'dispute,' even though the last one briefly involved the council.

My feeling would be (particularly in view of you having reminded us about the Data Protection Act) is that something would only constitute a "notifiable dispute" if neighbour A had pinched a bit of neighbour B's garden or some such similar matter and both neighbours were involved in a legal dispute/solicitors...the works as A tried to keep their ill-gotten gains and B tried to protect their property from getting stolen. In a case like that, then obviously the would-be thief (ie neighbour A) would have to notify a dispute and I would imagine the poor unfortunate neighbour B would also have to do so (even though all they were doing was defending themselves).

Lit_Up

aadil.arif wrote: »

Get your council involved and all should be fine!

you didn't read what i wrote

Ransoman

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-hoarder-next-door/articles/hoarder-help-and-support

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/take-part/articles/are-you-a-hoarder

Hoarding is a mental health condition, complaining to the council and getting them to force her to do something about it won't help her, it will only make her problems worse. She needs support.

My Sister was on the slippery slope to becoming a hoarder after a depression brought on after debt problems and redundancy. The above program opened my eyes to it and i stopped complaining to her about her mess and started helping her. She still has cleanliness issues in her house but together we have made a dramatic change.

ruggedtoast

Lit_Up wrote: »

you didn't read what i wrote

You said you doubt the council will help ,not that they wont.

What did she say when you challenged her?

Davesnave

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Have you got any details of the exact text of that bit of the data protection law their workers arent allowed to contravene by mentioning my name please just in case?

No, but it's pretty standard practice across local government, education, health etc

http://www.problemneighbours.co.uk/confidentiality-if-reporting-a-neighbour.html

Tixy

Lit_Up wrote: »

Council says they're not interested and will not get involved. I said I saw rats. They told me to put down bait and traps...

Which section of the council did you speak to?
Was it the enviromental health section of the local council? Did you manage to get through to the section that deals with neighbour nuisance complaints?
Have you read through the council's EH enforcement policy to give you an idea as to whether this neighbour's mess is likely to be something they could tackle?
I found my council EH team to be pretty helpful. Even if they say its not yet at a level they can do something about they'll often give you some advice - perhaps it would be worth trying again?

What about the other suggestions people have made?

Such as have you considered writing to the neighbour if talking didn't go down well.
Or seeing if she is a tenant and contacting the landlord?
Or asking if you could help offer to clear it up for her?
Or trying to screen the mess a bit more from your property?

moneyistooshorttomention

Davesnave wrote: »

No, but it's pretty standard practice across local government, education, health etc

http://www.problemneighbours.co.uk/confidentiality-if-reporting-a-neighbour.html

:T:D

Ooh Dave I could kiss ya if ya werent spoken for already:T

I have been worrying myself that something that's nowt to do with me - but inflicted on me by Pain in !!! Neighbour - might impact on my houseselling and it looks like t'coast is clear for them not being able to do so.

You're a star.:A

I can't wait to go and can now feel like I can start looking forward to it...

Lit_Up

Ransoman wrote: »

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-hoarder-next-door/articles/hoarder-help-and-support

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/take-part/articles/are-you-a-hoarder

Hoarding is a mental health condition, complaining to the council and getting them to force her to do something about it won't help her, it will only make her problems worse. She needs support.

My Sister was on the slippery slope to becoming a hoarder after a depression brought on after debt problems and redundancy. The above program opened my eyes to it and i stopped complaining to her about her mess and started helping her. She still has cleanliness issues in her house but together we have made a dramatic change.

I am not a social worker and if I can't sell this house I will get into further debt which will create further problems. Her mental issues = not my responsibility.