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Selling property with official noise complaints

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Legacy_user
Legacy_user Posts: 0 Newbie
in House buying, renting & selling
Hi All,

I'm currently in the process of selling my property, a ground floor flat. Having not lived in a flat for some years, when I moved in it took me some time to get used to the noise from above. Unfortunately, I did make some complaints to the council about impact noise and a load TV after midnight. I only made a few complaints to housing (they are council tenants above), and it was never put through enviromental health. This was all about a year or so ago.

I'm aware I will need to delcare this on the property information form when I come to sell, so there's no hiding from it. My question is what impact is this likely to have? Can I expect buyers to simply pull out as soon as this information comes to light? Or am I likely to get people reducing their offers later in to the process as a result?

The noise isn't anything too extreme, it personally annoys me, but the two other people I live with barely notice it. I understand I'm probably just a bit oversensitive to that sort of thing which is why we are now looking at a detached property. Which is why I'm a bit worried as I don't want to start getting too far in to the process of buying somewhere else if selling my flat is likely to become a long drawn out affair.

Has anyone been in a similar situation? Where you still able to sell? If so, what happened when the buyer found out?
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  • System
    System Posts: 178,094 Community Admin
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    Has anyone else ever been in this situation before?
  • Morata_
    Morata_ Posts: 182 Forumite
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    As a buyer, any property with a complaint or a nuisance recorded against neighbours would put me right off.


    Do you HAVE to disclose, a lot of flats would suffer noise from TV etc?? (guessing...)
  • System
    System Posts: 178,094 Community Admin
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    Well I think because I've contacted the council in the past I have to declare. I will discuss with a solicitor, but I think generally it's advised to declare anything as it's not worth the risk of being sued later.

    I appreciate it will put some people off, and that's fair enough. I'm not hiding anything, people are free to view the flat at any time of day and hear any noise for themselves, I'm just worried I won't be able to sell now :(
  • bertiewhite
    bertiewhite Posts: 1,904 Forumite
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    mktuk88 wrote: »
    Well I think because I've contacted the council in the past I have to declare.(

    Don't the seller's forms ask if there has been a dispute within the last 6 months?
  • System
    System Posts: 178,094 Community Admin
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    The questions on the TA6 form are

    Have there been any disputes or complaints regarding this property or a property nearby? If Yes, pelase give details:

    Is the seller aware of anything which might lead to a dispute aboute the property or a property nearby? If Yes, please give details:
  • lookstraightahead
    lookstraightahead Posts: 5,540 Forumite
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    To be honest when I!!!8217;ve lived in / bought flats I!!!8217;ve always asked what the neighbours are like and what the sound proofing is like anyway and I!!!8217;m sure most will. Just be honest - people move on too. My house is currently vibrating from lorries outside speeding down the village road. A bit of flat noise will be nothing to some.
  • cloo
    cloo Posts: 1,291 Forumite
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    We had noisy-ish neighbours move in during the last six months before we sold, which was annoying as numerous people had rented it *without* being noisy for the last 7 years! We declared it but said that it had got better, as it had, and that those tenants were likely to move on before long because that flat had quite a lot of people coming through it. It wasn't a problem, but it helped they were renters so we could say it wouldn't be anything long term.
  • System
    System Posts: 178,094 Community Admin
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    Hi All, so I have accepted an offer. I had to reduce my price by £15K to get an offer, but atleast I've "sold" now.


    I'm now filling in the forms and starting to stress about delcaring the previous complaints. The way I see it, the compaints were made over a year ago, and as far as I'm concerned the issue I was compaining about (late night noise) has been resolved (a letter was issued to the tennant). That's how I'm going to declare an hope for the best.


    I'm interested to know what people's reactions would be here? Would any of you simply pull out from the sale? Considering the property has sold under market value, I wonder if this would motivate someone to stick with it?


    In the worst case scenario, what other options do I have? Could I auction the property and expect to achieve something reasonable? I would considering keeping it and renting it out, but I can't afford the £20K stamp duty I'd have to pay on my onward purchase as a result :(
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 7,323 Forumite
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    Just declare noise had been a problem but has since been resolved. Don't stress about it, it won't change a thing.
  • Cakeguts
    Cakeguts Posts: 7,627 Forumite
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    mktuk88 wrote: »
    Hi All, so I have accepted an offer. I had to reduce my price by £15K to get an offer, but atleast I've "sold" now.


    I'm now filling in the forms and starting to stress about delcaring the previous complaints. The way I see it, the compaints were made over a year ago, and as far as I'm concerned the issue I was compaining about (late night noise) has been resolved (a letter was issued to the tennant). That's how I'm going to declare an hope for the best.


    I'm interested to know what people's reactions would be here? Would any of you simply pull out from the sale? Considering the property has sold under market value, I wonder if this would motivate someone to stick with it?


    In the worst case scenario, what other options do I have? Could I auction the property and expect to achieve something reasonable? I would considering keeping it and renting it out, but I can't afford the £20K stamp duty I'd have to pay on my onward purchase as a result :(

    Is this an ex council flat? If so that fact would make it more difficult to sell and would also make it worth less. If you buy an ex council flat because it is cheaper than non ex council flats you have to sell it cheaper as well.
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