need a quick sale, nightmare neighbours

jjjchughes

Long story short, we have a new neighbour ( a woman and her 4 kids) move into the house next door (attached) its a council house and ours is private. the new neighbour is horrendous and is making our life a misery. we put our house up for sale as we have wanted to move for a while and this was the final push.
We figured we would keep ourselves to ourselves and not make any complaints as we didn't want it to affect our sale but two months on the market and very little interest, we had to make a complaint as she is truly affecting our life.
so my questions are:
Any help with getting a quick sale? Any sites for people buying to let as that would be ideal.
What can we expect the council to do about her? (the problem is noise and we have asked her to turn it down but she doesnt)

G_M

jjjchughes wrote: »

Any help with getting a quick sale? Any sites for people buying to let as that would be ideal.
What can we expect the council to do about her? (the problem is noise and we have asked her to turn it down but she doesnt)

1) price

2) you approach the council's EH Dept eg

https://www.milton-keynes.gov.uk/environmental-health-and-trading-standards/noise-nuisance/noise-complaints

but you'd then have tto declare the problem to any buyer.

jjjchughes

Ah yes we've read all about the SPIF. Thats why we really didnt want to complain but we then read about the question 'are you aware of anything that could lead to a dispute' and have read horror stories of people getting sued. To be honest I would actually feel awful if a decent family moved here knowing full well what they'd have to contend with. Best case scenario now is that the housing accociation take action and we can inform buyers that issue was resolved.
Worst case scenario, neighbour tries to kill me for making the complaint

jjjchughes

also we have already dropped the price by 5000. We really cant afford to make a loss

Cakeguts

This is one of the reasons why ex council houses are cheaper to buy than non ex council houses. Yes you can get bad neighbours anywhere but large families of very badly behaved children to tend to live in houses where they don't have to pay for any damage they cause.

I would suggest that you enter the house into a property auction.

ReadingTim

Depending on how long this person has been a council tenant, it might be possible to get rid of her - for the first 12 months new council and Housing Association tenants are on an introductory tenancy, similar to a probationary period where they have fewer rights and are more easily evicted. Noise and anti-social behaviour could therefore be reasons for eviction so contact the police and/or council if it's that bad.

Unfortunately though, you'll only get a buyer if you drop the price - no-one's interested at whatever it's on for currently. No-one likes losing money, but no-one likes nightmare neighbours either.

So, do you want to lose money, or do you want to move house? It's one or the other.

stiggy70

I feel your pain, I had to sell due to vile neighbours.
Stay strong you will get the buyer you need at a price you can afford to accept.
Please try to avoid any complaints if you can as there may be questions weeks after accepting an offer once the form gets completed and eventually getting to the buyers solicitor which may cause a hold up or even someone pulling out.
I sold to a buy to let company who would be less fazed about neighbour disputes as they will not be living there themselves.

MrSnuggl3s

Sadly, as with a lot of properties, you'll just have to grit your teeth, stay patient and play the waiting game. Sometimes it's good to think about how much 'peace and content' is worth to you in the long-term. £10,000 maybe?

If you want a house sold quick - then that usually means a significant price drop.

Just keep quiet on the neighbours front and see where you are in a month! Hope this helps.

always_sunny

jjjchughes wrote: »

What can we expect the council to do about her? (the problem is noise and we have asked her to turn it down but she doesnt)

Keep a journal of the noise, establish patterns and plan viewing accordingly.

moneyistooshorttomention

always_sunny wrote: »

Keep a journal of the noise, establish patterns and plan viewing accordingly.

Naughty!

The snag to that "idea" is anyone that buys it and then finds out would probably come back at OP for not disclosing that relevant fact. That general heading in the legal questionnaire about "anything else we should be telling you" (whatever the wording is)

The word used for that concept is "misrepresentation".

theartfullodger

Selling without informing purchasers of the issue - and getting higher-than-should-be-price - would, I suspect many people would conclude, be fraud, for which people can & have gone to jail.... (Sadly rarely on such matters as this..)

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/35/crossheading/fraud

3 Fraud by failing to disclose information

A person is in breach of this section if he—

(a) dishonestly fails to disclose to another person information which he is under a legal duty to disclose, and

(b) intends, by failing to disclose the information—

(i) to make a gain for himself or another, or
(ii) to cause loss to another or to expose another to a risk of loss.