Potential Lying on Property Information Form

br3nnan

Hello, looking for a bit of advice.

Background - Bought house in August 2014, it was mentioned on Property Information Form that there was a noise dispute with the neighbours (dogs) that involved the council but since abated and "noise no longer an issue".

We have since spent a year attempting to put up with the noise and have just reported them ourselves. The noisy neighbours must have made an impact as the councils Environmental Officer remembered them! Since then other neighbours have let us know that this was the reason they left the property, obviously meaning their statement of "noise no longer an issue" isn't true.

What can we do about this? Is there any recourse we can take? Had we known that the noise was still an issue we wouldn't have purchased the property.

Many Thanks

HappyMJ

br3nnan wrote: »

Hello, looking for a bit of advice.

Background - Bought house in August 2014, it was mentioned on Property Information Form that there was a noise dispute with the neighbours (dogs) that involved the council but since abated and "noise no longer an issue".

We have since spent a year attempting to put up with the noise and have just reported them ourselves. The noisy neighbours must have made an impact as the councils Environmental Officer remembered them! Since then other neighbours have let us know that this was the reason they left the property, obviously meaning their statement of "noise no longer an issue" isn't true.

What can we do about this? Is there any recourse we can take? Had we known that the noise was still an issue we wouldn't have purchased the property.

Many Thanks

To them the noise was no longer an issue. It's a subjective statement. They put down the objective bit being the fact there was a noise issue which is true and provable statement which you were within your right to follow up with the neighbours and the council. You didn't do that.

In their subjective opinion the noise is no longer an issue you can't prove otherwise. They withdrew the case from the council so that could go some way to proving to you that noise was no longer an issue to them. You might think it was but you can't prove that in court.

Forget about it. Poor wording on the statement and that's about it.

moneyistooshorttomention

Yep...they have lied.

I guess the first thought is whether you can do something yourself to stop the dog noise.

Would it work if you got onto the RSPCA about it and reported them?

Would it work if you got an anti-bark gadget and used it on the dogs concerned?

That's one thing - you don't know how far "down the road" the previous owners got with trying to stop the noise and whether you might be more persistent than them in getting this problem resolved.

However - that's not to gainsay they lied...and that is "misrepresentation".

I'm guessing the first thing to do though is to assume they haven't pursued all possible avenues to stop the noise and try and do so yourself.

phill99

You don't know that they lied. The dispute at the time may well have been resolved and there may have been no more noise when the form was filled out.


Things may have deteriorated since then. You have absolutely no proof that they lied and the onus is on you to prove that they lied. You will never be able to get this evidence.

Villarkita

The noise could have been dealt with and improved.
It would be hard to prove that they lied!

DaftyDuck

They were honest enough to declare the problem in the first place. No, I don't believe there's any clear evidence they have lied. Maybe the particular problem they had was resolved.

eddddy

From a purely legal perspective, if you took this to court - you would have to prove 'on the balance of probabilities' that the statement "noise no longer an issue" was not true.

I guess the sort of evidence you would look for is that they continued to complain to the council about the noise, or witness statements from other people saying that the noise never abated for any period.

The court would then decide if "noise no longer an issue" is more likely to be a true statement or more likely to be an untrue statement.

br3nnan

hmm thanks everyone. I don't think there's any doubt that the noise completely went away. As for proving it, that will be a harder.

I've got a call today from my solicitors dispute department which might shed a bit more light

JimmyTheWig

phill99 wrote: »

You have absolutely no proof that they lied and the onus is on you to prove that they lied. You will never be able to get this evidence.

I think this is the crux of it. It is fairly obvious, from what you've said, that they lied. But it looks like they lied in a way that can't be proven.
The only people who _know_ for certain how the previous residents felt about the noise are the previous residents themselves.

Maybe the noise was no longer an issue for them because they wore earplugs around the house.
Maybe the noise was no longer an issue for them because they turned their TV up high.
Maybe the noise was no longer an issue for them because they spent all their time at the pub.
Maybe they just got used to it?

Just proving that the noise didn't stop doesn't prove that the noise was a problem for these particular people.

stator

Replacing your double glazing units with sound reducing units

HouseBuyer77

I think this is the crux of it. It is fairly obvious, from what you've said, that they lied. But it looks like they lied in a way that can't be proven.
The only people who _know_ for certain how the previous residents felt about the noise are the previous residents themselves.

Civil cases are decided on a balance of probabilities rather than beyond reasonable doubt. So whilst it's certainly possible they simply decided the noise was no longer an issue it's also possible they attempted to hide this to sell their house. A court would decide which was the most likely and rule based upon that.

For example say OP contacted the council and established they had an ongoing noise complaint that the vendor just withdrew (maybe stating noise was no longer a problem) shortly before the house went on the market but the council hadn't yet taken any action that might reduce noise. Then OP gets a statement from a neighbour stating the level of noise from the troublesome house hasn't changed. Present this to the court and it begins to look likely the vendor was intentionally trying to hide the noise problems.

Of course if might not be so clear cut, perhaps they dropped the complaint several months before selling, perhaps the council had done some enforcement action, perhaps the neighbours aren't too sure if the noise level has dropped or not.

Best thing for OP to do would be to find out as much as they can about any noise complaints the council has been dealing with, you want a timeline of who complained when and what action was taken, if any, and when. Then go to the neighbours and see what they can remember, see if one or more of them would be willing to provide a statement you could use in court.