Do I pull out of house purchase.?

[Highfivemum]

Purchasing a new property for our ever increasing family brood. Love the property, location and we have had an offer accepted on it. All going well until this morning when I was chatting ( within distance ) to a friend, Just general lockdown chitchat. She knew our house was on the market and asked how it was all going. I said we had accepted and offer and had placed one on another house. I then told her where it was. She didn’t say much but made her excuse and left rather quickly. She has just called me to say that she has to tell me as she thinks I should know but she knows the people selling the house we are after through a work collegue and they are moving as hey have the neighbours from hell !!!! The house is detached and is near the end of a cul de sac. The so called neighbours from hell are next door and she says that it has involved Police in the past. Apparently it has been going on for years. Loud parties. Damaging their property. Etc. It is the first we have heard. Nothing has been disclosed by the sellers. Not even in the form where it asks is there any issues. I would have thought police being involved would be an issue !!! What would you do ? I have called solicitor who isn’t in work but at home and not available. We are due to exchange by the end of the week and I don’t know the best way forward. I know there are two sides to every story etc. The sellers came across lovely though. Very quiet and in their 60’s. They said they were downsizing. Can we check somewhere of any incidents at the property ?

Is there any chance the neighbours have moved house since the issue if it's not recent? And it was a children problem and they don't now have children? (Although could be teenagers moved house)

Easily checked on Zoopla if they own their house

Teenagers moved out even

My DH has just text and he has said he is going round to the house that is next door to the neighbours from hell. ( other side) he said he is going to just Casually at a safe distance introduce himself and ask about the neighbourhood and see if they mention the hellish neighbours. Worth a pun I suppose. 🤞🤞

No I have looked and no property movements for a few years and this was more recent than that.

There is no way I would go ahead with this purchase. Nightmare neighbours could take a huge toll on mental health over the years. Plus if the sellers have lied or chosen not disclose about this issue, what other issues are they lying about / not disclosing?

It'll be too late once you move in...I tried to make legal headway after discovering untruths on a seller's questionnaire once but got nowhere fast, and the hassle and expense make it very hard.

Ugh sorry this has happened to you but better to find out now.
I would also do some digging and then pull out

Def go round and introduce yourselves. What have you got to lose? Come up with a fake reason if you must about achool catchment or whatever.

The people we bought from said they liked one neighbour and not the others. We have found it the other way round over the years. Loud parties etc though is very different

The issue is, say you buy the property and they are indeed neighbours from hell.
When you try and sell you will then either have to declare that yourselves, or, run the risk that someone tips your buyers off as someone has tipped off you.

The extra money that you will pay for surveys and solicitors will be nothing in the long-term if your friend is right about the neighbours from hell. You will have similar problems trying to sell up if the problem remains. I would run a mile tbh.

Not sure asking the neighbours will help u. You have no idea what their role in the situation was! They could have been involved in the loud parties and kids playing and kicking balls. You don't know who's side they were on

Whatever answer they give. You have no idea if it's biased

It's nice of you to say that you'll move whatever so as not to break the chain - but make sure that that works for you too and that it's a decision you're definitely happy with.

I had a vendor lie on a form about Japanese knotweed and continue to lie when both the surveyor and myself saw it with our own eyes.

The agent was short with me too and somehow wanted me to buy the house when the bank wouldn't lend.

I'd pull out, the agent will be off to try and push you into continuing with the sale.

I honestly think some people will lie and take the risk of action post sale to get rid of a property with issues. The buyer is in a lose lose. If they take action against the seller, they're also harming any future sales by flagging the property's record. Walk away.

This all sounds very dodgy. Has your solicitor asked them, explicitly, whether there has been any issues with parties, excessive noise and the like as you’ve come to understand that this has been the case. Ask them to give an undertaking - I’m sure that will weed out any lies...

I know this is a mass disappointment and costly but frankly it is far, far better to know now than to be living next door to problem neighbours. You don't need to like your neighbours and be all chummy, but you do need to not absolutely hate them because they make your life hell. I don't really think you are going to get to the truth of this because the vendor has clearly lied to you when they should not. It is a legal requirement to declare ALL disputes with neighbours. (I had to declare a 15 year previous issue, fully resolved when I sold in 2018 and I was asked for further detail on it even though none of it was relevant any more.) You might have heartache now but you will save yourselves from much worse heartache if you proceed and they are indeed problem neighbours. Not only will you suffer but then you will have your own problems if you want to move to escape them.

I would pull out right now. And no, you haven't lost money, you've bought yourself a very valuable lesson here: next time, do way more research. Way, way more. Again, here are some things you are looking for: neighbours from hell, if any of these are in the pipeline - redrawing of school catchment lines, CPOs, planning permission for things like housing estates and retail parks or other large scale developments, roadworks, crime or tragedy that has occurred at the property (aka stigma property, it may not matter to you but it can effect resale value), zoning/business restrictions, if it's not a freehold (I'd run, but some wouldnt) then ground fees/restrictions/who owns the ground and for how long, Japanese knotweed, how many times the house has been sold and/or the sale has fallen through. You can hire firms to research this and it is money very well spent because buying a home is usually the biggest purchase you can make and there is no price you can put on your mental health.

You cannot trust the EAs or the seller. They are downplaying.

Nope. The sellers have given you enough to go on. It's not kids kicking a ball that went on for years, the neighbours are from hell. That's why the house is being sold.

Sorry but it would be game over. For the lies alone. They lied.

Would not go and introduce myself to the neighbours or knock on their door. They're not going to tell the truth.

OP, I really feel for you. Its SICKENING to lose that money on survey and solicitor. It really is. However, as everyone has said, your friend has done you a massive favour. The neighbour situation sounds very dodgy indeed, and has the potential to make your life a living hell. Do not trust anything the EA says either, they have their slippery reputation for a reason. I'm so very sorry, but it does seem like you have dodged a bullet

Again, many people do more research on the phone, car or appliance they buy than they do on the house they purchase. No amount of feeling or 'wow' factor makes up for making an extremely costly mistake when it comes to your finances or mental health.

So no surprise at all then - they've lied over and over, had to be "pressed" for the truth even by their solicitor and then lied yet again about thinking they only had to declare current issues

I totally understand how disapponting this must be, but I wouldn't concern myself with the other neighbour's possible agendas and even less with some commission-hungry estate agent. Whatever's it's cost you now could be nothing compared to the horror (and possible legal expense) of nightmare neighbours, to say nothing of what it could do to the value of the house

Sorry, but I wouldn't even consider going ahead with this now

It would depend for me on why you're moving. If the house you're in is too small then I'd go into renter maybe. But moving with 5 kids is hellish and you never know how long you could end up in temp accommodation. In your shoes Id pull out and just wait for another house. You're buyer will have to wait or not.

I think you are right to go ahead with the sale of your own house. I'm not sure if this is correct but it has been said that property prices are likely to drop so you should sell your house at the agreed price and if this is true you may get something bigger or better for a similar price. It may work in your favour in the long-term.

The agent called not long after the solictor asking did I speak to your solictor. He is still being quite off with me but I have big shoulders.

Fuck him. They don't give a fuck about anything but their own purse.

Oh, I forgot the other thing to research if you're in England: flooding, flood plains and alterations to landscape that can cause flooding.

I agree with pps. Even minor conflict with a neighbour can be extremely stressful.
We moved to a new part of the country where we knew no-one, when we had a two year old and a small baby. Next door neighbour had been unwell and was having cancer treatment.
We tried hard to be kind neighbours, looked after her dog when she had hospital appointments etc. But she became intolerant of any kind of noise at all. With a baby and toddler there would obviously be some crying, neither of them cried a lot, but of course it happened. Once my toddler, then just turned three, fell over in the garden and grazed her knee. Neighbour shouted at her to “STOP that theatrical crying” , while I carried her indoors. I now remember that time as a blur of stress. i had no friends, I was up half the night breastfeeding. My toddler was getting anxious as I kept telling her she had to be very quiet. We went out to lunch every day for months as our kitchen was next door to a room she moved her bed into, and any fractious noise from hungry babies made me really stressed that she would complain. I should have ignored it really, but I worried all the time that we might be making a noise that would upset her.
She died nine months after we moved in, and the house was empty for a year. It took me all that year to start to relax !
She was terminally ill, and (understandably) very angry, and for some reason my sweet and kind hearted elder child became the focus of that anger ( weirdly she was always lovely to my baby, but horrible to my toddler) .
Some people are more able to disconnect from awkward or bad tempered neighbours than others, but it really can make your life completely miserable.

you could email the estate agents and advise them of this issue and that they have an obligation to disclose it by law to future buyers

No - the agent works for the vendors and has no obligation to possible buyers
In fact I believe there's a disclaimer on EA details along the lines of "no part of these details forms any legal contract", to cover them against their multiple stupidities