Misrepresentation. Nightmare neighbours

kinger101

Blinkin73 wrote: »

I am still stuck regarding how to write a letter to the vendors asking for damages when I dont know how much is appropriate to ask for. I need to do this before I can consider legal action

You're already at a stage where you should be seeking legal advice. Get someone with more experience in this to write the letter to the vendors. Either your own solicitor, or a specialist experienced in misrepresentation cases. They can write the letter citing the relevant case law that's more likely to put the willies up them.

Alter_ego

Blinkin73 wrote: »

In addition my noisy neighbour believes the boundary fence is hers. The deeds state the boundary is mine and the vendors stated in the sellers pack that it was mine.

A boundary is an imaginary line between two properties, as such it is not owned by either side.

A fence is owned by whoever bought it, subject of course to which side of the boundary it is on.

The usual map on deeds is rarely precise enough to settle these disputes, you are probably on a hiding to nothing if you try.

Blinkin73

Kinger101...I agree with you.

I shall get back to my legal insurance advice line ( I think I had a novice) as I think this is where my legal insurance should kick in.

However I think it might be best if I hold fire and make a request to the LA environmental health department under DPA re complaints made about the property. Can a individual do this regarding complaints to the police? I've only known situations where the Courts have ordered the police to disclose information?

Alter ego - thank you for your remarks. I appreciate that the boundary is just and invisible line and the fence, wall, hedge or what ever it is is seperate. The sellers information pack asks

"Looking towards the property from the road who owns or accepts responsiility to maintain or repair the boundary features

on the left
on the right
at the rear
at the front"

The options for the above are
seller
shared
neighour
not known

The vendor ticked the boxes for being responsible for maintainig the front and rear left side boundary features. The title plan shows that I am responsible also for the boundary. So I guess its up to my noisy neighbour to prove otherwise.

carefullycautious

I really feel for you as some years ago I also had to endure what felt like torture that I still have nightmares about. Sleep deprivation is horrendous. The only difference was that we were tenants not owner occupiers and did manage to get out of there.


I hope that you are able to move away from this.

bouicca21

I'm a bit puzzled. Why is the fence an issue? How - if there is a fence - do the neighbours manage to cross your property? Texting someone to keep the noise down isn't a formal complaint, and if both parties remained friends, suggests that the neighbours did respond by turning the noise down.

A law degree does qualify anyone as a practitioner, and in any case, to advise a client they had a case when they don't would be unethical.

Noisy neighbours are indeed a nightmare - I remember how stressed I got about a similar issue in my first house. But it is not necessarily something for which you can go after the vendors.

Blinkin73

Boucci21 - the neighbours managed to cross the fence because fences come in various sizes and in my garden some areas on both sides of the fence were 4ft which is easy to jump over if your are a six footer like my neighbour.

I havent stated anywhere that having a law degree qualifies anyone as a proctitioner. It most certainly doesnt.

The fact is, the law is rarely black and white and several different arguements can be made. Hence we have Judges to make decisions on cases. Even when Judges make case law, they have been known to differentiate what looks like very similar cases on irrelevnat facts such as a car in each of the cases being a different colour! Often the debates are about the interpretion of wording in legislation. When I undertook my degree I was advised during one of my first tutorials "never tell a client they havent got a case". That put me right off pursuing a legal career because, like you I found it unethical. Obviously there are incidences where the situation is black and white but frequently thats not the case.

Many posters are under the impression that the vendor had to be the one making the formal complaint. As Eddy highlighted in the case law in his post, this is not the case. The sellers pack questionaire does not ask the vendor if they have made a complaint about a neighbour, it asks "have there been complaints". The wording is exactly as Eddy has written in his post.

Many posters, including you, have assumed that when I wrote that I was aware that the vendors had texted to complain, that I felt this was sufficient grounds for a case of misrepresentation. In a later post I've tried to clarify that my understanding by stating that the vendors made an informal complaint. I know that their texting doesnt count as an officia complaint, but rather it demonstrates that they found the music too loud at times and were aware that the noisy neighbours made too much noise at times (every friday and Saturday night).

I was advised by the noisy neighbours that the vendors were present at the party last when the police attended because a ive bad which was linked up to the PA system was playing in the garden, so would have known that at least one formal complaint was made about the noise levels in the last year.

Indeed, the vendors were friends with the noisy neighbours, they attended another party this June where a singer with his guitar was linked up to the PA system for a while, and music was blared out from it continously for 12 hours until 4am. I rang the police and Environmental health on that occassion and I am sure others did also. Who the hell thinks its ok to blare out music every weekend evening from a PA system continously for at least 7 hours or have live music for entertainment when they live in a victorian terrace?!!!I have been informed that that my vendors were vulnerable in the sense that they appeared to have a level of learning disability and were the type to say yes to anything. Having discussed the situation with a legal adviser it would appear that its more likely that an arguemet for negligent rather than fraudulent misrepresentation could be made out.

I spoke to a couple of other neghbours yesterday, some people along the street who were renting are moving out because of the noise, another family in a house behind the noisy neighbours has had to move her child to a dfferent bedroom because of the noise. Since all the gardens are in excess of 60ft , have tall trees and bushes at the end of them and we all have double glazing thats quite some noise!

Last night one of the vendors was present at the noisy neighbours. The music was turned right down, I presume because of the involvement of the police and environmental health, but they were out at the end of the garden from 6pm until gone 12.30 (when I went to bed) drinking and being raucous. The vendor even loudly declared a toast to "social" people, clearly aimed at me. I dont think she understands that the level of music and noise is unnaceptable to most people. But its reasonable to assume that she should have known. Her learning needs were significan enough for her or her ex huband to require assiance coleing the sellers form form or prevent her from entering into a contract. .

Interestingly, I ended up speaking to a neighbour who was in dispute with another neighbour. She confided in me that one year she had had to throw back 37 balls which her neighbours children accidently threw into her garden. I understand from the other neighbour that she keeps the ball for a month before returning it. It made me laugh because I throw more balls back a week than that to my other neighbours garden and I have never and would never complain about that. Though erecting 6ft screening should reduce the incidence of this : )

HappyMJ

I'm sorry...the vendors are friends with the noisy neighbours and go to parties at the neighbours house and you're expecting the vendor to have complained about the noise of the neighbour's party at which the vendor is present. I don't think so. You've got little chance of success. If other neighbours have complained about noise about the party that the vendor was at the vendor can claim the party wasn't that loud.

How much noise are they making anyway?

People are allowed to have late night parties every Friday and Saturday if they wish. Especially with the warm weather we're having I'd rather everyone was out the back drinking and smoking rather than being inside. And yes you'll hear the sound of bottles being dropped into the recycle bin every now and again. There's very little you can do about it.

davidmcn

No matter what evidence you have of other neighbours being unhappy, you'd still need evidence that your vendors were aware of complaints. Do you have that? I presume your antisocial neighbours aren't going to help you out.

And leaving aside the question of how much you could claim, do you think your vendors are likely to have enough cash to settle a claim? And do you know where they now are?

Blinkin73

Boucci - the fence is an issue because after the noisy neighbours and my other neighbours got drunk,and were loud into the early hours a usual but in my other neighbours garden, and deliberatey broke my screening that I had just erected, I was pushed over the edge.

I phoned the police about the criminal damage and noise and wrote to the other neighbours landlord about the noise and criminal damage. Since asking asking my noisy neighbour poliely to turn down their music on one occassion, the other neighbours (who were using my garden as short cut) had the noisy neighbours (who stopped playing loud music) round every saturday for a drink, where they would be very loud (shouting renditions of my way at midnight, singing loudly to songs playing from a laptop at 3am, shouting out whoop whoop as loudly as possible when bidding the noisy neighbours farewell and storing their dog poop as close to my patio doors as they could).

I dont regret that decision but I did write a note to my noisy neighbours stating that as we werent being neghbourly I wanted them t remove their washing line and solar lights from my fence. Thats when my noisy neighbour stated the fence posts were hers and it became apparant that there was dispute about the fence. Strangely when I first moved in an replaced 6 panel of 4ft fencing to 5ft panels to stop her alsation jumping up on its hind legs and barking over it and my dog jumping up to bite its nose, she didnt advise me that it was her fence.

HappyMJ

Blinkin73 wrote: »

Boucci - the fence is an issue because after the noisy neighbours and my other neighbours got drunk,and were loud into the early hours a usual but in my other neighbours garden, and deliberatey broke my screening that I had just erected, I was pushed over the edge.

I phoned the police about the criminal damage and noise and wrote to the other neighbours landlord about the noise and criminal damage. Since asking asking my noisy neighbour poliely to turn down there music on one occassion, the other neighbours (who were using my garden as short cut) very had the noisy neighbours (who stopped playing loud music) round every saturday for a drink, where they would be very loud (shouting renditions of my way at midnight, singing loudly to songs playing from a laptop at 3am, shouting out woop woop as loudly as possible when bidding the noisy neighbours farewell and storing their dog poop as close to my patio doors as they could).

I dont regret that decision but I did write a note to my noisy neighbours stating that as we werent being neghbourly I wanted them t remove their washing line and solar lights from my fence. Thats when my noisy neighbour stated the fence posts were hers and it became apparant that there was dispute about the fence. Strangely when I first moved in an replaced 6 panel of 4ft fencing to 5ft panels to stop her alsation jumping up on its hind legs and barking over it and my dog jumping up to bite its nose, she didnt advise me that it was fence.

A laptop...they only have tiny little speakers in them and certainly don't output any decent bass sounds. The bass sounds are the sounds that travel through closed windows.

You want your neighbour to remove the anchor point of the washing line from the fence. Why?

And now it's the other neighbour hosting garden parties late at night.

How about selling up and moving on? You will then be able to quantify your losses and can attempt to claim those losses if any from the vendor.