How Honest Do You Have To Be Re: Anti Social Neighbours When Selling A House?

mimi1234

Good Evening all,

Hope everyone is well and that you have had a good Easter weekend. I sure as hell haven't. The evil family have been partying and slamming doors like there is no tomorrow. It went on until 3am today.

This is my previous thread I started when I asked for advice: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5145879

I'm slowly beginning to make my Mom think it is a good idea to sell this house and move out. It's not a given and she keeps saying "I am too old to move" blah blah blah so whether it actually ever happens is another matter.

If I did progress and she agreed, how honest would I have to be when selling the house? For example, would I be able to say "Yes the neighbours are very noisy" or would it have to be gory details such as "The daughter wakes up at 4am, puts on the really loud bathroom ventilator fan which will wake the whole family up, then she slams each and every door on her way to work. The mother then wakes up at about 7 and repeat the above process, followed by the father and then the son" and then carry on with all the anti social behaviour they commit, e.g. family parties at the weekend where they slam all their doors until early morning, continuous door slamming throughout the day etc?

I am sure someone at work mentioned that if you are not fully honest when selling a house, the buyer can cancel the sale even if the house has sold? There is a lady at work who bought a house where the seller forgot to tell her about the neighbours who get drunk and party in the adjoining garden every night and it's going through court at the moment. I don't know the full ins and outs but I thought I would ask on here as there are a lot of clued up folk on here.

Please could someone be kind enough to advise.

Many thanks.

Dr._Shoe

I don't think you need to go into details but just imagine if you were buying a house and asked the same question, would you rather the owner was honest?

mimi1234

Dr._Shoe wrote: »

I don't think you need to go into details but just imagine if you were buying a house and asked the same question, would you rather the owner was honest?

Absolutely. I would prefer them to be totally honest otherwise I would feel short changed.

Having said that, if I was fully honest and told them about all the issues, I might as well not sell the house. The buyer would have to be absolutely crazy to want to live next door to these heathens or even rent it out to anyone as they would be complaining from day one.

Drat! Here I was thinking I might have had a plan. Back to the drawing board I guess :(

Running_On_Empty

As far as I recall from filling in the form when we last sold a house, it was only formal disputes that you had to declare, that I understood to mean written disputes or law suits. Not rows over the garden fence about loud parties or inconsiderate parking.
Someone else may know if that still is the case...

Homeownertobe

It doesn't sound like this is affecting your mum much at all. And as she owns the house, have you considered moving out rather than attempting to move your mother away from her friends and family?

mimi1234

Homeownertobe wrote: »

It doesn't sound like this is affecting your mum much at all. And as she owns the house, have you considered moving out rather than attempting to move your mother away from her friends and family?

It does affect her, she just won't admit it. God knows why she wants to carry on living here. She was practically in tears the other day.

Homeownertobe

mimi1234 wrote: »

It does affect her, she just won't admit it. God knows why she wants to carry on living here. She was practically in tears the other day.

But if she doesn't want to move then you can't force her to. It's her house and her money. You don't have any right to convince her to move for your benefit.

You'd be much better off buying your own house.

eddddy

The seller (your mother?) must fill in a SPIF (Seller's Property Information form) and answer pre-contract enquiries from the buyers solicitors.

The SPIF will probably ask the following questions:

2.1 Have there been any disputes or complaints regarding this property or a property nearby? If Yes, please give details:

2.2 Is the seller aware of anything which might lead to a dispute about the property or a property nearby? If Yes, please
give details:

If the seller gives misleading answers to these questions, the buyer could later sue for damages (which could be substantial).

The seller can refuse to answer the questions, but that will probably raise very big suspicions in the buyer's mind.

moneyistooshorttomention

It's my understanding of the law too that a buyer of a house in this position can, ultimately, go as far as forcing the vendor of the house to buy the house back again if they find there has been "misrepresentation".

My sympathies on this.

Ultimately, it has to be your mothers decision whether to sell in the first place, if its her house. If she prefers to "bury her head in the sand" and just hope they will go away then there isn't really anything you can do on that.

Are you in a financial position to be able to buy your own house and have your mother come and live with you instead? It may be that that is the only way forward if things are that bad and then see if your mother is prepared to sell her house at a loss to someone prepared to take a gamble that they can deal with the situation/it wont last for long.

I took a bit of a gamble when I bought my current house. I could see that there were one or two unclear factors on buying the house and had spotted nfh deliberately lurking to check out the potential buyer (ie me) and accurately summed her up at first glance as being an nfh, but I had also spotted how old she is and took a gamble I could deal with the unclear factors/nfh wouldn't be around much longer anyway judging by the age of her.

My verdict about my own house was that it did need either a strong-willed/capable sort of person to get things sorted out OR someone as "weak as dishwater" and prepared to have nfh ride straight over them and tell them what they could and couldn't do with their own house as a buyer for the house I bought. But you might get someone in one of those 2 categories coming along to buy your mothers house IF she does decide to sell it. But, whichever category of buyer out of Firm-Minded or "weak as dishwater" was prepared to take on the situation will expect a "better deal" for having spotted that the neighbours are troublesome.

rosie383

We are blessed to have lovely quiet neighbours, but if that wasn't the case, it depends who was viewing the property as to how much I would reveal. If it was a buy to let investor then I wouldn't say anything. If it was a nice family who would be really affected, then I would be more honest. Different people have different levels of tolerance. Some will come from somewhere with lots of noise and it may not bother them at all. Others will be used to a very quiet environment and it would be a nightmare for them.

mimi1234

Thank you all for your advice. I know this house probably won't be put up for sale in the near future, but I was just thinking ahead in case it ever got that far.

My Mom does not want to sell at the moment, which I guess is her choice, but in the long run, I know it will have a detrimental effect on her. I mean who wants to be woken up by bedrooms being hoovered at midnight and then door slams throughout the day. Don't even get me started on the damned ventilator fan throughout the day as well. But like you have pointed out, it's her house and it's her choice what she does with it.

I can't afford the kind of house I really want, but there is an option of a cheap flat not too far from where I live currently. 1 bedroomed and quite cheap but I know that the service charges are a killer there, but beggars can't be choosers I guess. I don't want to get a huge mortgage as there are cuts at work looming and I don't know if my job will be safe. I've been looking elsewhere for jobs just in case, but not much success.

Thanks again for your advice guys.