Next door is so scruffy, we want to sell.

[wideawakenurse]

Just interested in your thoughts really.

We are about to out our house on the Market, it's a 2 bed Victorian semi, central town location and has lots of period features. We are aiming to sell to the professional couple Market, as the house suits that kind of lifestyle.

However, next door is a mess. It's rented to students, and the landlord really is not interested in keeping the property looking tidy.

They are moving out soon for the summer, we are planning to weed the front of their garden and chuck the bags of rubbish they have left ourselves. However, the house just looks very shabby.

Am really interested in people's thoughts. Do you think this could be a potential problem for us?

[KnittingRocks]

It's a tricky one. I would certainly want to know who lived there and once I found out it was rented to students I would run for the hills, sorry .

Can you speak to the landlord?

[wideawakenurse]

I suspect that would be the response! The landlord is totally disinterested, and is virtually uncontactable.

So frustrating as when we bought our home, next door was owned by someone else. They sold up and the land lord bought the house and it's been down hill from there.

[lalalonglegs]

It is a sticky one - if you are in Scotland, I believe landlords who rent to students have to be licensed and you can complain to the LA but in England, you are a bit stuffed unless the property gets so run down it is a hazard.

[wideawakenurse]

We are in England.

The thing is, we had held off going down the road of disputes as we don't want things to come up on searches. We just want to move, and have accepted that the price may take a hit due to this.

So frustrating that the landlord is raking in the cash at our expense though.

[lalalonglegs]

How bad is it? You are already tidying the garden, are there some other jobs you could do to lessen the impact of next-door? If, for example, some windows are boarded up, I would think about paying to have them reglazed or the door repainted or whatever is needed. You will need to contact the LL though. (And I know it is completely unfair, blah, blah, blah but if it means your house sells quicker as a result, then it might be worth considering.)