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Original poster

Should our Solicitors have identified social housing as part of moving checks

93 replies

Housemove25 · 08/05/2025 10:41

We’ve recently moved but our excitement has been dampened by one of our new neighbours ‘warning’ us of a family in a nearby house who are causing an ongoing nuisance for other residents.

If we had known we’d be in such close proximity to social housing then we wouldn’t have moved to this house.

I’m not interested in a debate about social housing but DH believes our Solicitors should have identified this and informed us accordingly - so he thinks we have cause to complain.

Has anyone had a similar situation or knowledge of if our Solicitors dropped the ball here?

OP posts:
Ffsreally24 · 08/05/2025 10:54

Having been in this situation myself I’m flipping it on its head for you. If the neighbours do start causing problems for you then you have recourse through their Housing Association/Council. We reached out and they asked us to keep a log of the issues, which we did. They then gave their tenants a final warning that they would be evicted if they carried on and they stopped.

Unfortunately, fast forward 20 years and I have another difficult neighbour but they own their home, so it’s a lot more difficult to resolve.

Final advice is to ignore your other neighbours until you have an actual issue. It could just be snobbery on their part.

mummymeister · 08/05/2025 10:54

If this was an important consideration in your house purchase, then its your responsibility to tell your solicitor that you want him/her/them to specifically ask this question on the sellers information questionnaire. Its not their responsibility to second guess what is key with your purchase. we had some specialist questions that we wanted asked, we knew that the answers to them could make or break the deal so our solicitor added these on to the usual questions and asked for direct and specific information in relation to them. I am afraid this is down to you not issuing your solicitor with clear instructions.

EllasNonny · 08/05/2025 10:53

He can march all he wants. All new build estates here hand a percentage over to social housing.

Sunshineandblueskysalltheway · 08/05/2025 10:53

'I’m not interested in a debate about social housing'

Don't start one then. Idiot.

BarneyRonson · 08/05/2025 10:52

I’m sorry this has happened to you, having bad neighbours is dire and paying a lot of money to live near them must be immensely galling.

BigFatLiar · 08/05/2025 10:51

Only if you asked them to check. Bad neighbours are not limited to social housing though.

gamerchick · 08/05/2025 10:51

It's not up to your solicitors. It's up to you OP. It's often suggested on here to knock on new neighbours for local info and drive round there at night before buying a house. You should have checked the area first

Original poster
Housemove25 · 08/05/2025 10:49

How would we check? Knock on everyone’s doors?

DH is furious and I had to stop him from marching down the Solicitors myself when he found out!

OP posts:
BlondiePortz · 08/05/2025 10:49

That is not their job why would it be?

MeetMyCat · 08/05/2025 10:48

When we last moved, the mortgage application asked if there was social housing within 500 metres (or something like that, can't remember exact distance). So its not a new question

Poppyyoutwat · 08/05/2025 10:48

You should have checked yourself really, it’s quite easy to find out.

And I do feel for you. We bought a house 20 years ago, a couple of years old on a new build estate and didn’t realise it was opposite the social housing section. I always get slammed for saying it, and yes, not all people in social housing are awful, but these were.

We even had a visit from the police asking if plain clothed officers could come and spend a night in our upstairs bedroom as it overlooked them, I don’t know what the case was obviously, but they were absolute trouble.

ZippyPeer · 08/05/2025 10:46

'Dh believes '

Does he often 'believe' stuff that turns out to be obviously wrong?

BleachedJumper · 08/05/2025 10:46

No, not the solicitors remit.

The only possible issue could be if your sellers had formal grievances with the neighbour and chose not to disclose at the point of sale.

Most homeowners now though will actively avoid engaging in reporting because they don’t want to jeopardise a future sale.

KoiTetra · 08/05/2025 10:45

Housemove25 · 08/05/2025 10:41

We’ve recently moved but our excitement has been dampened by one of our new neighbours ‘warning’ us of a family in a nearby house who are causing an ongoing nuisance for other residents.

If we had known we’d be in such close proximity to social housing then we wouldn’t have moved to this house.

I’m not interested in a debate about social housing but DH believes our Solicitors should have identified this and informed us accordingly - so he thinks we have cause to complain.

Has anyone had a similar situation or knowledge of if our Solicitors dropped the ball here?

In short no, that is not something solicitors do as part of a standard conveyancing process.

Octavia64 · 08/05/2025 10:44

No. Solicitors do not check for social housing nor are they expected to.

if you care about such things you need to check yourselves.

NeverHadHaveHas · 08/05/2025 10:44

No, they wouldn’t check that. It wouldn’t be revealed by the standard property searches.

yeesh · 08/05/2025 10:43

All new build estates have some amount of social housing, it’s been like that for many years. Also why are you worrying about something that hasn’t even affected you?

LadyDanburysHat · 08/05/2025 10:42

No, that is up to you to check. Why on earth would a solicitor flag that.

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