Seller lied on TA6 Form, now lack of enjoyment, what next?

fackers_2

Found ourselves in a pick of a pickle and wanted to ask the general view on our position and what to do. 

TL;DR - Noisy neighbours > Seller Lied > What next?

We bought our terraced house a few months ago, we very quickly discovered that both neighbours either side are loud with the one side being constantly intolerable (screaming, shouting, banging walls etc). When we viewed the property it was very quiet, but was given specific times available which at the time you don’t think much of. We asked explicitly about neighbours and was told they are both very quiet “you never hear from them” and on the TA6 form the seller said in bold “NO” to both questions asking about any trouble with noise / neighbours, and could there be any bother for the buyers from neighbours.


From day 2, every single day especially from the one side (Neighbours A) we get nothing but screams shouting abuse through the walls at each other, starting from morning through to tea time and worse around 10-11pm (They’ve also been ejected from their previous home we’ve later found out 18 months ago).  The other side (Neighbours then also makes loud distress noises at bath time / bedtime around 7:30am and 9pm each day but that’s because the one person is suffering with dementia, which we will not add further distress to (the other adult is lovely and in a lot of need for help) but as you can imagine, adds to our stress of hearing so much disturbance constantly. The police have also been called and reported regarding the significant noise (Neighbours A) but to no avail and no let up. On the balance of probability, there’s no way it suddenly just started the day after we moved in, and IMO, this was the sole factor for the seller moving, especially as they’ve only moved less than a mile away to a similar house. 


We’ve now got to the point where we can’t now tolerate this any-longer and have already considered selling after a handful of months. As it’s giving us sleepless nights, causing a significant loss of enjoyment to our property and we feel completely lied to. I have also emailed the conveyance solicitors within 5 days of the completion to report this too but they don’t have the relevant department to support us further. We were advised to hang-on due to restrictions and likely problems surrounding covid. We have since found-out that the seller wasn’t at the property that long (under 2 years) and many neighbours have also confirmed to us that the seller was very much aware of the prolific noise problem as he would regularly talk with them. 

What would your next steps be? Would you try pursue the seller for lying on the TA6 form even after asking about neighbours? 

RelievedSheff

If it is bothering you that much just put the property back on the market and move on.

You are very unlikely to be able to change the noise coming from next door. You can either learn to live with it or move.

I wouldn't even bother with the hassle of pursuing the previous owners. What exactly do you expect to achieve by doing so?

princeofpounds

You need to find evidence of the vendors making some kind official complaint about the noise to even start thinking of chasing them. It's not enough to simply say that they knew the neighbours were loud. 

Alter_ego

RelievedSheff said:

If it is bothering you that much just put the property back on the market and move on.

Yes ,but will it sell when they declare the noisy neighbours?

pbartlett

you dont know they lied - they may never have had any trouble with the neighbours. The only way you will know if they lied is if eg the local council had received complaints from them.

this is why, btw, some people don't officially complain about noise - they just move

davidmcn

princeofpounds said:

You need to find evidence of the vendors making some kind official complaint about the noise to even start thinking of chasing them.

There is no need for "official" complaints to have been made, but there does need to some sort of evidence that there was a persistent problem and the vendors were aware - so are the other neighbours prepared to testify?

Though if the "bad" neighbours didn't last long at their last place, and the other loud neighbour has dementia, perhaps the problem(s) will go away before too long anyway.

saajan_12

No recourse from the sellers - noise levels are subjective, you don't know that (a) the noise was the same level x months ago and (b) that the sellers considered it a problem - maybe they were at work / sound sleepers / deaf / loud themselves / have a higher tolerance.. 

Possible options are 
- add insulation your side
- change working patterns / room layout so you don't use the side with the louder neighbours
- ask neighbours and/or their landlord to change something
- move

fackers_2

pbartlett said:

you dont know they lied - they may never have had any trouble with the neighbours. The only way you will know if they lied is if eg the local council had received complaints from them.

this is why, btw, some people don't officially complain about noise - they just move

As mentioned in OP, the wider neighbours knew about it as the seller would tell them, they have spoke with me to confirm they knew about the noise issues via the seller. 

RelievedSheff

fackers_2 said:

pbartlett said:

you dont know they lied - they may never have had any trouble with the neighbours. The only way you will know if they lied is if eg the local council had received complaints from them.

this is why, btw, some people don't officially complain about noise - they just move

As mentioned in OP, the wider neighbours knew about it as the seller would tell them, they have spoke with me to confirm they knew about the noise issues via the seller. 

On what basis would you pursue the seller?

What would you like or expect the outcome to be?

Thrugelmir

With everyone cooped up due to Covid. Relationships may well be becoming fraught. Sound proofing in some houses isn't great. Buy some noise cancelling headphones. 

fackers_2

davidmcn said:

princeofpounds said:

You need to find evidence of the vendors making some kind official complaint about the noise to even start thinking of chasing them.

There is no need for "official" complaints to have been made, but there does need to some sort of evidence that there was a persistent problem and the vendors were aware - so are the other neighbours prepared to testify?

Though if the "bad" neighbours didn't last long at their last place, and the other loud neighbour has dementia, perhaps the problem(s) will go away before too long anyway.

They are, I’ve asked as they all agree it’s unfair. It doesn’t stack up well TBH against the seller, and without divulging too much into details, the seller is in a position to have known the legality of this very well and highly likely knowing how it all works around evictions / removing people especially during lockdowns. So it was far easier to move. 

They put up a fight and took it to court before they were forced out by the law. I doubt we’ll have better luck.