Selling flat with noisy neighbours

GixerKate

So there is loud music from a neighbour during the day but not during the evenings or nights?  To avoid anything official that needs to be declared I would just have a friendly chat, explain that while the music doesn't bother you, you are trying to sell the flat so could they turn the music down for a bit while you are having viewings.

Skiddaw1

OP, for what it is worth, years ago we were in a similar situation. I wouldn't worry too much. What bothers some doesn't bother others whatsoever. As it turned out, the person who bought our flat happened to view at a time when our neighbour was playing loud music and he didn't turn a hair (I imagine he was probably much the same when it came to cranking the volume up!)

Stripey_Tiger

GixerKate said:

So there is loud music from a neighbour during the day but not during the evenings or nights?  To avoid anything official that needs to be declared I would just have a friendly chat, explain that while the music doesn't bother you, you are trying to sell the flat so could they turn the music down for a bit while you are having viewings.

They do play it in the evenings, sometimes up until around 9:30pm. Just not at night. From what others have said, I understood that acknowledging that it might upset buyers (i.e. by saying this to the neighbour) creates evidence that we knew that it might, and should have declared it as something that could create a neighbourly dispute.

Stripey_Tiger

Skiddaw1 said:

OP, for what it is worth, years ago we were in a similar situation. I wouldn't worry too much. What bothers some doesn't bother others whatsoever. As it turned out, the person who bought our flat happened to view at a time when our neighbour was playing loud music and he didn't turn a hair (I imagine he was probably much the same when it came to cranking the volume up!)

Thank you, that is reassuring. It is the sort of area where people do play loud music sometimes and they're not the only neighbour that does it, just the most frequent ones. When I viewed the place before buying, I remember the previous owner saying something along the lines of "You know what areas like this are like?" which I took to be a reference to this kind of thing (among others - it's a relatively deprived area of London), and I still bought the place because it was what I could afford. It is the sort of place that will appeal to first time buyers who can't afford somewhere posher, so I can see some people choosing to overlook it.

macman

Have a friendly casual conversation, or just bang on the wall? What you do not want to do its to formalise it by means of a letter or email, or even a note, because then that should be declared on the TA6 as a dispute.
There is no obligation on you to 'solve' the issue before sale, so it might be better just to let it go.