Noisy Neighbour

Squarelight2000

Hi, bought a house recently where no disputes or potential disputes were declared. 

Our neighbour has occasional parties in the night. Causing noise issues. Isn’t every week. But is on going on random days with different number of weeks gap in between. 

Been informed the person we bought off made no informal or formal actions about this. Presume they didn’t see it is an issue or didn’t want to confront the issue. 

Is there anything I can do from the person I have bought the house from? As they took no action I’m not sure if I can? 

EssexHebridean

You can absolutely approach the neighbour and ask them to keep it down, and if they don’t you could escalate that to a formal noise complaint to the local authority.  The fact that your sellers didn’t have a problem with it is neither here nor there as far as you are concerned. However, moving in then immediately complaining about neighbours might make your life tricky going forwards, so that’s something to consider.  Better approach might be to ensure that you catch them the day after a noisy night, and say something along the lines of “wow - that sounded like quite the party you had last night!” which would alert them to the fact that the noise is very audible outside of their property. That might open dialogue on the subject. 

Squarelight2000

EssexHebridean said:

You can absolutely approach the neighbour and ask them to keep it down, and if they don’t you could escalate that to a formal noise complaint to the local authority.  The fact that your sellers didn’t have a problem with it is neither here nor there as far as you are concerned. However, moving in then immediately complaining about neighbours might make your life tricky going forwards, so that’s something to consider.  Better approach might be to ensure that you catch them the day after a noisy night, and say something along the lines of “wow - that sounded like quite the party you had last night!” which would alert them to the fact that the noise is very audible outside of their property. That might open dialogue on the subject. 

Thanks. Yes I am considering doing something like that. I wanted to see if I could take any legal action against the person who I have bought the house from? As they didn’t do anything, I’m not not sure if I can? 

EssexHebridean

It sounds like they have correctly answered the question on the property information form about neighbour disputes as “none” - as from what you have been told, they never did raise a dispute. For what it’s worth, even had they knocked on the neighbours door at some stage and said “come on man, keep it done a bit of week nights eh, some of us have to go to work in the morning!” that still wouldn’t be in the nature of a dispute. 

So no - you can’t now go after the seller because a noisy neighbour that seemingly never bothered them, bothers you. It might just be that your tolerance for noise is very low, or at least lower than theirs. 

user1977

EssexHebridean said:

It sounds like they have correctly answered the question on the property information form about neighbour disputes as “none” - as from what you have been told, they never did raise a dispute. 

Though note they do also need to disclose anything which may lead to a dispute, not merely matters where they have actually complained.

But unless the OP has evidence that objectively there was a chronic problem with antisocial levels of noise during the seller's ownership, I can't see a claim going far.

TadleyBaggie

Squarelight2000 said:

I wanted to see if I could take any legal action against the person who I have bought the house from? As they didn’t do anything, I’m not not sure if I can? 

Of course you can't take legal action against them. Maybe they were a little deaf?

Squarelight2000

user1977 said:

EssexHebridean said:

It sounds like they have correctly answered the question on the property information form about neighbour disputes as “none” - as from what you have been told, they never did raise a dispute. 

Though note they do also need to disclose anything which may lead to a dispute, not merely matters where they have actually complained.

But unless the OP has evidence that objectively there was a chronic problem with antisocial levels of noise during the seller's ownership, I can't see a claim going far.

I’ve been told the parties have been happening for quite a few years. However there is no pattern to them. Some months in a row nothing. Then one, then nothing a few weeks then one etc. 

looks like I’m stuck?

Squarelight2000

TadleyBaggie said:

Squarelight2000 said:

I wanted to see if I could take any legal action against the person who I have bought the house from? As they didn’t do anything, I’m not not sure if I can? 

Of course you can't take legal action against them. Maybe they were a little deaf?

Why can’t I? 

flowerystripes

I don't think you can take legal action against them as they will just say it didn't cause them any problems.  But why not ask a solicitor's advice. They would know if it was worth pursuing.  

user1977

Squarelight2000 said:

TadleyBaggie said:

Squarelight2000 said:

I wanted to see if I could take any legal action against the person who I have bought the house from? As they didn’t do anything, I’m not not sure if I can? 

Of course you can't take legal action against them. Maybe they were a little deaf?

Why can’t I? 

As above, what evidence are you going to bring?

Squarelight2000

user1977 said:

Squarelight2000 said:

TadleyBaggie said:

Squarelight2000 said:

I wanted to see if I could take any legal action against the person who I have bought the house from? As they didn’t do anything, I’m not not sure if I can? 

Of course you can't take legal action against them. Maybe they were a little deaf?

Why can’t I? 

As above, what evidence are you going to bring?

Haven’t got any apart from other neighbours have said