Do we need to declare this when selling?

AndyPandy1990

Our neighbour's house got raided by the police a few days ago and it appears he's been growing some weed in his attic. From some curtain twitching it looks like fewer than 10 plants, so thankfully at the slightly less harmful end of the scale. Judging from a few engineers from an electric provider, he also bypassed his electric meter (a lovely fire hazard to discover when you live in a terraced house). We had some suspicions but we couldn't really tick every box of the signs of a grow (probably because it was a few plants rather than a full-on farm) so the raid has come out of nowhere for us.

Just to fully paint the picture of this man, he's also racist, smokes a lot of his produce (the smell comes through into our house every now and then) and is very loud (both just his talking voice, music, and a dart board on the party wall). This is relevant because apparently other neighbours have complained about him to his landlord who could not care less and has never intervened to even try and address his more inconsiderate tendencies. We don't interact with him much but try to be as friendly/civil as possible when we do bump into him to protect our peace and we've never experienced any direct antisocial beahviour or anything like that, we have no actual conflict with him.

My partner and I might want to move in the next couple of years as we need more space and want to start a family. We're working on the assumption that he'll get a suspended sentence/community order, and that he probably won't get evicted if his absentee landlord doesn't really care (or if they'll even be made aware, I've looked up who owns the property and there is no website or contact for the management company whatsoever). If this is the case - do we need to declare that the house is a former grow as and when we come to sell the house?

grumpy_codger

You have to declare IF you are asked and if it can be proven that you have to know this.

AndyPandy1990

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82140983#Comment_82140983

Nice one, thanks. I'm assuming you mean if it can be proven that we had knowledge that it was going on? All we really have are our relatively tentative suspicions before this all happened, and then seeing the police here the other day.

Obviously whether we SHOULD tell people is another question - if a young family came to view it for example, we'd probably feel a certain way about not disclosing it. We moved here when we were in our mid 20s, no kids yet, so we very much can just press on and treat him as a relatively mild inconvenience than anything else (we genuinely love living here otherwise).

Obviously very very selfishly the ideal scenario is that he moves on someplace else (secure setting or a new home), the landlord sells up, and we get lovely new neighbours who refurb the place and we never have to even think about it again - but figured it's best to be realistic 😅

Section62

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6683776/do-we-need-to-declare-this-when-selling

Our neighbour's house got raided by the police a few days ago and it appears he's been growing some weed in his attic. From some curtain
twitching it looks like fewer than 10 plants, so thankfully at the slightly less harmful end of the scale. Judging from a few engineers from an electric provider, he also bypassed his electric meter (a lovely fire hazard to discover when you live in a terraced house). We had some suspicions but we couldn't really tick every box of the signs of a grow (probably because it was a few plants rather than a full-on farm) so the raid has come out of nowhere for us.

If you'd been out (at work, shopping, at the cinema) or on holiday when this happened then is it likely you would know about it? It is possible the police might send a 'neighbourhood support' type letter to the neighbours, but equally possible the person will get nothing more than a caution and sent on his way.

If you don't get any kind of formal notification from the police then odds are you'll have forgotten all about the incident when you come to sell in a few years time. And if the buyers don't ask, don't necessarily feel obliged to share.

jimi_man

You absolutely do NOT need to declare this, even if you are asked. The legislation that governs the TA6 (Property Information Form) is very clear on this. Unless their behaviour involved your property (for example you had reported him to the police for growing weed or you have an ongoing disagreement with them) then you have no dispute with them and thus you do not need to declare it. Other neighbours might have to declare it as they have complained to the landlord but from what you say you haven't at all.

Quite apart from anything else, you don't have any official information to say what has exactly happened. The police won't have told you, it seems unlikely that the neighbour has told you, so from what you say the information is third party and guesswork.

Personally I'd carry on keeping things civil and then when you sell it keeps it all very simple.

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6683776/do-we-need-to-declare-this-when-selling

Assuming you arent the one that called the cops on him then it sounds like the "complaints and disputes" section can honestly be answered no… you arent asked to opine on disputed between other neighbours, only between you and them. The ongoing illegal activity is the one possible issue and could cause a problem if the buyers subsequently start talking to complaining neighbours.

Ultimately you are paying a solicitor or conveyancer to assist you. You should be asking them to advise if it needs to be declared at all and how to phrase it in an appropriate way. I suspect they will tell you to stick to the facts not the gatepost gossip but be clear when speaking to them what is known fact and what is popular opinion

AndyPandy1990

Thanks all, this is really helpful and reassuring. We weren't the ones who called the police and we've not reported to the landlord previously, no - again we had low-level suspicions of him growing it a few months ago, but didn't feel like anything seemed concrete enough to justify reporting, we didn't want the headache and frankly didn't really believe that the police would attend unless it was a larger scale full on farm anyway!

We're probably a year or two from properly looking at moving or putting the house on the market, but thought it would be helpful to have an understanding on what's necessary while it's still fairly fresh.

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82141051#Comment_82141051

TA6 in its current form was only released this March, so in 2 years its fairly likely its going to be the same but it could be totally different. Ultimately you need to answer the questions as they are presented at the time and use the legal advice you are paying for. It could be they have moved or are still at his majesties pleasure so becomes less of an issue and lower risk to say

Yorkie1

We're working on the assumption that he'll get a suspended sentence/community order,

If it's cultivation / production for own consumption, less than 10 plants, then it's more likely that he would get a fine or community order, assuming no other aggravating factors or offending during something like a suspended sentence. (Lesser role, Class B, category 4)

AndyPandy1990

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82141080#Comment_82141080

Yep, this is what we're thinking. I expect he'll be back very soon, probably with 0 change to his behaviour… delightful.

poseidon1

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82141106#Comment_82141106

What you know about him raises a moral question rather than legal in the event of a future house sale.

You did raise the question of the position of a young family inadvertently stuck with this obnoxious specimen, but his racism raises a whole other dimension if a racial minority exhibited future interest in buying from you, what ( if anything) should you be saying to them?