TA6 Form

Gio22

Hello everyone, 

I would need to know how to find out if information provided by previous seller on TA6 form is untrue. I have bought this apartment in May 2020 and since then  I am experiencing issue with neighbours (illegit B&B against the terms of our lease). I have therefore  contacted Met Police and council with a FOI request in order to know if any complaints/reports have been ever made prior to my purchase.
Police did not disclose such information, declaring that is against the Data Protection Act. I am currently waiting for the council reply. 

Is there any other way I can obtain such information in order to understand if there has been a misstatement? It just seems really weird to me that is impossible to obtain these information...it looks like everyone can lie on the TA6 form then! 

user1977

I wouldn't expect the police (or quasi-police departments of the council) to disclose who their informants are - pretty obvious why not! Whether they can more generally disclose that there had been complaints about a particular property, I'm not sure. Obviously that may become public if e.g. there is planning enforcement action.

fiveacre

Ask the neighbours?

Gio22

fiveacre said:

Ask the neighbours?

The only neighbors I’ve got are the ones creating noise nuisance. 

lookstraightahead

You bought a year ago - has the noise been all year?

AdrianC

lookstraightahead said:

You bought a year ago - has the noise been all year?

If the issue is that the flat is being used for AirBnB or similar, then there might be a good reason why the problem has only just cropped up after a year of quiet...

But the police are not going to get involved in a breach of the lease. You need to deal with the management company and freeholder.

The council can deal with noise breaches, but the very transience of B+B accommodation means that the timescales just aren't going to be effective.

So what are you trying to achieve? To prove that the TA6 was inaccurate... and what will that achieve? It won't unwind the sale... Perhaps this is a post-pandemic change anyway, and the form was accurate.
How does this information change the way you get the nuisance stopped...? It doesn't.

Falafels

You only have to declare official disputes with neighbours on the TA6 form; if your vendors didn't consider it a problem, there was no obligation on their part to declare it. What one person would consider an "issue" may be fine for another. Have you actually talked to the neighbour - in a civilised fashion - about the noise levels?

In any case, it's not the responsibility of either police or the local council to enforce the terms of a lease; for that, you need to contact the management company.

GDB2222

Falafels said:

You only have to declare official disputes with neighbours on the TA6 form; if your vendors didn't consider it a problem, there was no obligation on their part to declare it. What one person would consider an "issue" may be fine for another. Have you actually talked to the neighbour - in a civilised fashion - about the noise levels?

In any case, it's not the responsibility of either police or the local council to enforce the terms of a lease; for that, you need to contact the management company.

I don’t know what you mean by an official complaint, and there’s no mention of that in the TA6 or the explanatory notes. 

LAD917

And what question on the TA6 form would've been inaccurate?  It only asks about whether there were complaints or disputes.  If the seller didn't complain, then the correct answer would've been "no."

When I was moving from my last flat and in need of temporary accommodation, I discovered that the flat next door to me (for the previous two years) was an Airbnb.  I honestly had no idea.  It was allowed per the terms of our leases, though.

user1977

Falafels said:

You only have to declare official disputes with neighbours on the TA6 form;

No, it asks about any disputes or complaints, not just "official" ones (whatever that means). And also asks about anything which might lead to a dispute.

Proving that the vendor ought to have declared something is, as you say, a different matter.

[Deleted User]

user1977 said:

Falafels said:

You only have to declare official disputes with neighbours on the TA6 form;

No, it asks about any disputes or complaints, not just "official" ones (whatever that means). And also asks about anything which might lead to a dispute.

Proving that the vendor ought to have declared something is, as you say, a different matter.

Pretty pointless asking people to declare anything non-official as nobody ever will. 

It can't be proved and nobody in their right mind is going to jeopardise the sale of their property by admitting to the fact their neighbours are noisy.