Neighbour trying to impact sale

Londonsinglegirl

Hi all long time lurker but first post looking for advice please.

I have no disputes or issues with my neighbours. However having agreed a sale of my house in London to a lovely couple. My estate agent has fed back today that a neighbour opposite stopped the couple on their recent visit and told them not to buy!  Apparently they didn’t say anything about my home but cited crime rates, noisy area and my direct neighbour being awful.  All things which aren’t true, so sounds spiteful more than anything else. 

The estate agent tells me the couple thought she was odd and nosey so didn’t take her comments seriously and still want to proceed which is great but still a worry for me that it happened.

Any advice on what you would do in my shoes?

Sarah1Mitty2

Why did she do it do you think?

Londonsinglegirl

I honestly can’t think of any reason and the neighbour she mentioned seems lovely to me. I have never had an issue with them. 

The only other odd thing that has happened was when I was getting it ready to sell.  I was decluttering and getting some odd jobs done. She approached my handyman, asked if she could come in and have a look. She then told him now wasn’t a good time to sell and I should be advised to wait. I thought that was odd. I

NameUnavailable

Sounds like a bit of a nutter. Just ignore.

Wail

There is nothing that you can really do. I had someone tell a prospective buyer that it was a residential permit parking area so they couldn’t park where they had parked the car. The prospective buyer asked about it whilst I still had other viewers in the property. 

I did not get offers from either. It’s a free for all when it comes to parking. 

donutandbeer

Could be that the neighbour didn’t like the look of your buyers. I was once approached by a neighbour of the house we were viewing, and she made some not so nice comments about a race (which happened to be my ethnicity) that totally put us off the house. We couldn’t quite tell if she hates the owner of the house and therefore wanted to make it difficult for then to sell (but surely if she doesn’t like them she’ll want them to move asap?), or she just hates me/us. To be fair we think she’s probably schizophrenic (we have a close relative who’s schizophrenic)…

Schwarzwald

Ultimately who knows ….
…. she might be bitter loner who craves social contact and opportunities to speak with people like house viewers, handymen, and even thinks she is giving good advise.
…. or she might like you a lot as a neighbor and simply doesnt want to move away.

would probably try to have a nice word with her when you see her next time outside, and somehow nicely get the message across that she please does not approach the buyers again.

user1977

Even if the buyers don't believe the stories about crime rates etc, I'd be concerned they might be put off by the neighbour being a bit...potty.

Woolsery

user1977 said:

Even if the buyers don't believe the stories about crime rates etc, I'd be concerned they might be put off by the neighbour being a bit...potty.

There's no point in being concerned. It's not against the law to approach strangers and give them opinions or even say things that are untrue. In this instance this woman might be guilty of slandering the neighbour, but who would act based on hearsay?

With around 1 in 3 of us experiencing some kind of mental health issue in our lifetime, the chances of encountering a deranged or deluded neighbour are quite high. Be glad she isn't next door.

ReadingTim

Different people have different tolerances of noise and differing fears of crime, regardless of what official stats may say, or what your experience tells you - it's her opinion, and is no less wrong, or right, than yours. 

I'd just tell the EA/buyer to take the comments with a pinch/heap of salt, that her experience of the area doesn't match yours, and for your buyers form their own conclusions as to the area and neighbours.  

MobileSaver

Londonsinglegirl said:

She then told him now wasn’t a good time to sell and I should be advised to wait. I thought that was odd.

I wonder if the strange neighbour has a friend or family member who would like to move into the area but isn't quite in a position to buy just yet and she wants to put people off until they are?