Home bought under false pretences, lied to by seller.

EleniCleopatra

Hello,
Never wrote on a forum before so bare with me!
Really don't know what to do.
Myself and my boyfriend purchased a property earlier this year. We got the keys on the 5th of May and soon after that we started having problems.
We were specifically told that the neighbours were nice/lovely/kept to themselves.
This was not the case, we live in a house block of four, we are bottom left, above us is a lovely woman, but the two on the right are actually drug/alcohol addicts & convicted violent criminals.
99% of the problems are specifically from the people/man through the wall.
We had work men threatened and scared off in the first week, We've received an ASBO 'welcome pack' from the local authorities as they are so well known to them. We have tried to speak to them and my boyfriends dad who is a prison officer even went round and told them to stay away from us or anyone on our property. We're had the police out and only a week and a half ago I had to call to police because the man through the wall was attacking his 7 month pregnant girlfriend. He recently got out of jail for slashing a young boy and is now on a tag&curfew.
We're are kept up/ woken up at all hours by him and his other friends getting full of drink/drugs, shouting, arguing, partying.
Myself and my boyfriend both work full time and it's really taking a toll on us. We never would have bought the place if we knew. And it's so disappointing because the rest of the street is so nice. And this is our first home, what do we do when the time comes for us to sell? Do we lie like the last people? I couldnt live with that.
We will keep reporting like we've been advised to do, I'm just wondering to we have any rights legally? That the seller lied? That the estate agent kept quiet?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you. Leni.

saajan_12

You have rights, through the police / council when there are incidents. However not against the seller.

-> Seller has to declare any disputes between them and the neighbours. This sounds like general unpleasantness/noise issues, but if the sellers never complained it doesn’t rise to a dispute.

-> ‘nice/lovely/kept to themselves’ is subjective and not something you can claim for. How do you know this started while the sellers were living there and maybe these people were friendly to the sellers.

-> EA can’t lie but has no responsibility to speak up if not questioned.

ratboiler

My first port of call would be to see if the previous neighbors reported your problem neighbors, I was under the impression that the solicitors helping you to buy the property should have checked for that sort of problem.
If they missed it then in my opinion you need to talk to them and see where you stand.

stator

You need legal advice. Do you have any legal advice add-ons with your insurance or any trade union memberships?

eddddy

EleniCleopatra wrote: »

I'm just wondering to we have any rights legally? That the seller lied? That the estate agent kept quiet?

You can't rely on anything that the seller or EA said or wrote, unless it's part of the contract.

To be part of the contract, it would be a written reply to your solicitor's enquiries or written on the TA6 'Sellers Property Information Form'.

The TA6 form asks:

2.1 Have there been any disputes or complaints regarding this property or nearby property?

2.2 Are you aware of anything that might lead to a dispute about the property or nearby property?

What did the seller answer?

If the answer was misleading, you can make a claim against the seller.

Here's an example of a seller who said "No" and then was successfully sued for £67k by the buyer:
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2003/mar/04/property.homebuying

But here's an example of a seller who said "No" - but the buyer sued and lost, and the buyer had to pay £29k in legal fees:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1177774/Householder-sues-seller-lie-nightmare-neighbour.html

So a court would decide, based on the precise details of the case.

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

saajan_12 wrote: »

You have rights, through the police / council when there are incidents. However not against the seller.

-> Seller has to declare any disputes between them and the neighbours. This sounds like general unpleasantness/noise issues, but if the sellers never complained it doesn’t rise to a dispute.

-> ‘nice/lovely/kept to themselves’ is subjective and not something you can claim for. How do you know this started while the sellers were living there and maybe these people were friendly to the sellers.

-> EA can’t lie but has no responsibility to speak up if not questioned.

The EA almost certainly wouldn't know; they could only know if the vendor told them, and the vendor would have absolutely no reason to tell them.

Guest101

EleniCleopatra wrote: »

Hello,
Never wrote on a forum before so bare with me!
Really don't know what to do.
Myself and my boyfriend purchased a property earlier this year. We got the keys on the 5th of May and soon after that we started having problems.
We were specifically told that the neighbours were nice/lovely/kept to themselves.
This was not the case, we live in a house block of four, we are bottom left, above us is a lovely woman, but the two on the right are actually drug/alcohol addicts & convicted violent criminals.
99% of the problems are specifically from the people/man through the wall.
We had work men threatened and scared off in the first week, We've received an ASBO 'welcome pack' from the local authorities as they are so well known to them. We have tried to speak to them and my boyfriends dad who is a prison officer even went round and told them to stay away from us or anyone on our property. We're had the police out and only a week and a half ago I had to call to police because the man through the wall was attacking his 7 month pregnant girlfriend. He recently got out of jail for slashing a young boy and is now on a tag&curfew.
We're are kept up/ woken up at all hours by him and his other friends getting full of drink/drugs, shouting, arguing, partying.
Myself and my boyfriend both work full time and it's really taking a toll on us. We never would have bought the place if we knew. And it's so disappointing because the rest of the street is so nice. And this is our first home, what do we do when the time comes for us to sell? Do we lie like the last people? I couldnt live with that.
We will keep reporting like we've been advised to do, I'm just wondering to we have any rights legally? That the seller lied? That the estate agent kept quiet?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you. Leni.

There's no civil action here, perhaps your seller was a customer and to him/her they were nice and lovely. (i'm obviously exaggerating slightly)


Ultimately it's your job to check the property by visiting at 6am, 3pm and 11pm for example; on a few days and seeing for yourself.

TBagpuss

Edddy is right, the first thing you need to do is to check what the sellers wrote on the TA6, and to check with the council whether there were previous complaints from the sellers, about the neighbours.

If there were complaints, and the sellers answered 'No' to the relevant questions on the sellers information form, then you *may* have a claim against them.

This is not something which your conveyancers would, or could have checked for, although f the sellers said 'yes' to the questions about disputes I would expect the conveyancer to draw that to your attention, although as long as they sent you the forms to read for your self it's unlikely that they would be seen to be negligent if they didn't, as it is reasonable to expect that you will read them yourself.

MEM62

EleniCleopatra wrote: »

We had work men threatened and scared off in the first week.

EleniCleopatra wrote: »

We've received an ASBO 'welcome pack' from the local authorities as they are so well known to them.

EleniCleopatra wrote: »

We're had the police out and only a week and a half ago I had to call to police because the man through the wall was attacking his 7 month pregnant girlfriend.

EleniCleopatra wrote: »

We're are kept up/ woken up at all hours by him and his other friends getting full of drink/drugs.

The above leads me to think that this might not be a long-term problem as he's likely to end up inside again - and maybe sooner rather than later.

Is he renting or a Council tenant? If so take the matter up with the Landlord. Most leases will clauses concerning anti-social behaviour and the issues you are having could cost him his tenancy.