Selling house with anti-social neighbour issue

haiqu

I have had issues with my neighbour playing very loud music in her garden all day for around 8 months. It is annoying the entire street but I am the only one who has complained to the council.
A noise abatement notice was served last week but the noise still continues. The person concerned owns the property and also has mental health issues.
I was going to move house eventually but this is pushing me to sell sooner rather than later (as in now), as it's been affecting my own mental health.
I thought about renting it out but then the tenants would have similar issues.
Obviously I need to declare the issue on the property information form when selling, but am seriously worried this will make the house unsellable or knock off a huge chunk of the value. 
Should I sell at auction instead, or use one of the house-buying companies who can take it off your hands?
Any suggestions of how to deal with this incredibly stressful situation would be appreciated

user1977

General advice is to avoid the house-buying companies unless you're highly desperate/gullible. I would investigate (standard) auctions. Landlords might not be too bothered.

RelievedSheff

I would try the traditional sales route first but price the property keenly to attract buyers. You may find someone who the noise doesn't bother. 

Failing that could you part exchange it against a new build? 

We part exchanged our previous house which had problem neighbours and it was a very straight forward process and we got a good deal on the new house.

haiqu

Thanks for replies so far also if I were to go via the normal estate agent route first, would you tell the estate agent or hope that no-one notices during viewings, and then just declare it via the property information form? I guess there would be a risk of the buyer pulling out at a later stage.

elsien

If they’re playing music as loudly and consistently as you say,  it seems fairly likely it will be obvious at any viewings.
I would say mentioning it at viewings because then people may decide they can live with it but it’s not so late that you’re messing people around and they’re messing you around by withdrawing further down the line. 

Schwarzwald

i would be upfront with viewers
otherwise you risk going through a 4-6 month process and get close to exchange only for this issue to pop up and potentially jepordize the sale.
if you are upfront and nobody puts in an offer, you can still go the auction route.

Skiddaw1

We had a similar issue years back, when selling our first home (a flat). The downstairs neighbour played loud music at all hours of the day and night and after failing to sort things out with the neighbour amicably we complained to the managing agency as neighbour was in breach of the lease conditions. Agency wrote to neighbour but it made no difference and we decided we'd had enough of flat life and went on the market. We declared the issue to the EA and on the property info form and had no difficulty in finding a buyer (he really wasn't bothered by the music). People vary so much in what they find tolerable. I really wouldn't worry too much OP. The right buyer will be out there.

haiqu

Also does anyone know if indemnity insurance would cover me if the new buyer decides to sue me at a later date?

MeteredOut

haiqu said:

Also does anyone know if indemnity insurance would cover me if the new buyer decides to sue me at a later date?

On what basis do you think you could be sued, so long as you are honest in the property information form?

user1977

haiqu said:

Also does anyone know if indemnity insurance would cover me if the new buyer decides to sue me at a later date?

Insurance to cover you for lying on the property information form?

johnhenstock

just sell normally, music in the garden is not an issue for many people. I wouldn't even notice it, let alone let it make me move.

no need to go all nuclear with auctions, relax a little bit!

PS: what will you do if the next house is move to has "anti-social" neighbours?