Misrepresentation. Nightmare neighbours

PixelPound

If you fear dog poo on your step or car been scratched, then buy and install CCTV, it will give you evidence should they do that.

I know this thread was mainly about legal action against the vendor, but action does need to be done against your neighbour too. Getting the cabin torn down, because both of the ROW and privacy issue will I'm sure annoy them, but give you satisfaction, of sorts. As has been said, keep a diary of noise, with times and for how long, as evidence and know the numbers for the council's noise abatement team. They will take action, if they neighbours ignore any warnings they are given.

We have noisy neighbours, 50-somethings single blokes who sit out in the yard playing loud music. After we got noise abatement involved they've toned the music down, still talk loudly and Whoop into early mornings some days, but these events are less frequent. As we are renting and moving soon we've not taken it further, but like you we lived in fear of when they'd get really loud and even relatively quieter times with no music but loud talking grates on my partners nerves.

Witterpalomino

Hi Blinkin,

I sent you the names of solicitors (all London based), give them a call this is what I did.

To answer your questions (it might be useful to other people who find themselves in this very terrible situation), there are severa remedies in law. First is rescission of contract (ie they need to give you the money back and they get their house back). This is very unusual, I never read of anything like this.

In terms of time it takes to agree something, it obviously depends on both parties. It took me about 6-7 months. If it ends up in court, it would be much longer (and super expensive).

You have 6 years from when you bought the house to bring court proceedings against them, but in my opinion, the sooner the better.

Just to get it straight in your mind, why don't you write an email today with exactly all facts and dates.

For example, I moved in 1 high road on xx April. Date of first party and duration. I spoke with neighbour xx from xx high road and he said...

Be careful when you ask the neighbours to help you with witness statements. Obviously, they will be concerned that they don't want to declare the problem when they sell the property, so you need to approach it as " it is a problem for you as well, you don't want this to come back to bite you and also if we all agree we can get him to stop permanently so that there is no problem". Make yourself the driver of the fight against injustice and against neighbours breaking the peace for everybody.

You need to be good at persuading people on this one. It is really important to have somebody else testify that there IS a problem, otherwise the vendor will say that it is all in your mind and it is "normal domestic noise"
Call the council environmental service, get the reference number and then email on the Monday morning asking to confirm that the noise they witnessed was excessive.

Remember, you want a solid case, not a flimsy one based on your word (I believe you, but the judge will have to weigh your word against the vendor's).

Good luck and if you ever need help, I am happy to share my knowledge.

eddddy

This thread is meandering a bit.

The key question is 'Did the vendor misrepresent something?"... i.e. did he/she lie on the SPIF?

...And if so, what loss has the buyer suffered as a result?


(The way to quantify the loss is to determine how much the house would sell for if you said there were no problems with the neighbours, versus how much it would sell for if you told prospective buyers about the problem neighbours.

But that's easier said than done. I guess you could ask EAs for their opinions.)

Blinkin73

money - they know my car and see me in the garden which I love being in as does my dog. Ive never had a lawn before, only a court yard garden. They would know if I wasnt at home

nic- I have to park on the road so cctv wont help. I've already reported the cabin. Hopefully the Local Authority will do something but there is no guarentee these day. Money is really really tight for LA's and on the complaint I had to justify why it would be in the LA's interests so I rambled on about public ROW's, and fire hazards as per there Planning permission documents and never once mentioned privacy issue or the fact that the thing is an eyesore which dominates the landscape. If I find my car scratched or dog pooh on my door step I will see it as a sign that the LA has written to them about it.

Given that I've put in a new kitchen,turned a utility room with patio doors to the garden into a kitchen breakfast room, redecorated two bedrooms, knocked through a lounge and dining room to make one large room I wuld hate to give the house back as its worth much more not tacking into account the rise in house prices over the summer

My noisey neighbours are in their late 40's but look much older because they are alcoholics. They also have a son who lives with them in his twenties who is also an alcoholic.

Witter - thank you very much for the pm (havet read it yet). I intend to sort this out sooner rather than later. When I talked to people yesterday many offered to write a statment without my asking. I made it clear that I was looking to gain redress from the vendor and had already been tackling the offenders. I think the historical police and enviromental agengy information regarding complaints will speak for themselves if what the noisey neighbours have told me is correct. But you're right, current evidence will be helpful. Sadly it would seem that those who rent (about 50%) just move away.

At present the truly excessive music appears to have stopped ie music from the PA system since the end of June when I called the police and environmental health at 3.30am. The shouting and singing has also hopefully stopped now that the landlord of the other neighbour has become involved and the police visited my noisey neighbours. Last night, my noisey neighbours were trying to be quiet, as much as you can when you're drunk as a skunk with friends. I think I am at the stage where where just hearing them breathe annoys me now, but I am trying to keep my perspective. I dont want to turn into the woman who thinks 37 balls in her garden is a huge problem, but I can see how it can happen.

Blinkin73

Edddy - thank you for bringing some order back to the post. You're straight to the point which is a good thing. I like your suggestion re the estate agents giving a value. If so I could minimize my initial costs a little as I am quite capable of writing a letter or two before action myself once I have an estimate regarding the decrease in value. However I will check out how much a specialists surveyors report costs when I contact a solicitor on Monday.

househuntingmad

Not much I can in terms of help but can give lots of sympathy - I used to live next door to an alcoholic who was prone to shouting loudly randomly (either at his own reflection or some invisible person!) and turning his tv up full blast and playing loud music all at random times day and night. It was only for a few weeks when I'd moved in not aware of the problem (was renting) but then it suddenly stopped, but it was very stressful and trying to deal/ reason with him was impossible. Talking to another neighbour (who was at her wits end about it, and had reported it repeatedly) seems like it had been this way for quite a long time.

Fortunately it stopped after a couple of weeks. Unfortunately that was because in a drunken stupor he had gone to the shop and walked into the path of a moving vehicle and was in hospital for a rather extended stay. I left before he came back (or whatever else happened, never did find out).

Blinkin73

eddddy wrote: »

This thread is meandering a bit.

The key question is 'Did the vendor misrepresent something?"... i.e. did he/she lie on the SPIF?

...And if so, what loss has the buyer suffered as a result?


(The way to quantify the loss is to determine how much the house would sell for if you said there were no problems with the neighbours, versus how much it would sell for if you told prospective buyers about the problem neighbours. My vendor obviously considered such noise acceptable but should have understood that most people would not

But that's easier said than done. I guess you could ask EAs for their opinions.)

Just to add to Edddy's post for clarity, they dont have to have lied ie fraudulently misrepresented, the could, as may be likely in my case, negligently misrepresented, ie not answered the questions in a way a reasonable person who was being honest would.

Blinkin73

My last post wont display my edit - My vendor obviously felt that the noise issue was acceptable but its reasonable to expect that they should have understood that many if not most people would not and that it was likely to lead to a dispute

Blinkin73

Brock_and_Roll wrote: »

The reality of the situation is that either way your neighbours are going to carry on being a nuisance. If you do nothing, the current problems continue, if you formally complain and/or take legal action for misrepresentation (unlikely to get anywhere anyway) then you will have to disclose this when you sell the place.

If it were me, I would grit my teeth for a bit then sell the place next spring (before garden boozing season).

Its precisely this attitude that will get a vendor sued by a buyer. Just because a seller didnt complain doesnt mean that the seller was not aware that others had complained

Even if there were no complaints a vendor may be aware of an issue that could cause a dispute or be deemed to have been reasonably expected to have known a dispute was likely and they need to declare such issues to a potential buyer

moneyistooshorttomention

I'm getting the distinct feeling you've got the bit between your teeth now:rotfl:.

Good luck.:)