To wonder how I'll sell my house (neighbours)

[Hudhud35]

We want to move - however we cannot afford the £300k price tag of a new build (so we cannot sell to them) nor can we afford to do a 'we buy any house' thing.

Our house is an decent sized 3 (double) bed semi detached in a cheap (poor) area of town. Houses up and down the street sell ok - however our house is next to some really scummy people.

They're currently on the front garden, drinking, with cans of beer and rubbish strewn all over the garden and their back garden would put Steptoe to shame. They don't work so there always there - smoking weed, swearing and generally being antisocial. I'm also pretty sure someone is living on the front garden.

Last year we had an issue with their kids (preteen and 20 something) playing loud music but that seems to have stopped (for now) after numerous complaints from multiple neigbours (so we have to declare a dispute).

I will say they very much keep themselves to themselves but they just look a complete state but they really dont care about the disgusting state they live in.

I for one would never have purchased the house if they lived here when I purchased but the council evicted the tenants before and brought these in.

How am I going to sell it? Would someone buy it - maybe who hasn't got the budget for a nice area but needs a bigger family home?

Not interested in hearing 'I wouldn't buy it' as neither would I! But will someone?

The council tenants will have terms within their tenancy agreement. If they are breaking those terms, you need to make a complaint to the council/housing management company. Record every incident of anti-social behaviour and report it. Hopefully the council will start to take action.

I sympathise with the OP but this tactic is awful! Those poor buyers! Shame on them.

Try speaking to several different estate agents, explain the issue and let them come up with a strategy, go with the one that comes up with a decent plan. It might mean marketing it as offers over or fixed price, but see what they say.

Very few properties are unsaleable. Some buyers realise that neighbouring tenants will move on, and might see this as an opportunity to buy a decent house at a slightly lower price than would be otherwise. Some buyers honestly aren’t interested in neighbours and don’t realise how much they can impact you!

The PP’s suggestion of making it as appealing and cosy as possible, and arranging viewings for autumn/winter, is a very good one.

Failing that, can you have a viewing open day, and treat your neighbours to a pub lunch in a town a few miles away that same day?! Say you won a voucher in a raffle and don’t want it?

Our first house neighbours were a nightmare. They were housed by the council and were not going anywhere. We stayed 1 year and couldn't take any more.
We put the house up for sale at market value in winter, which meant they were not out drinking in the garden,and teens were not kicking ball against the fence.... we sold it to the council (Ireland).
They housed some equally undesirables and I hope they made them as miserable as they made us.

I’d knock on the door before it goes on the market and say to them “we’ve got a gardner coming next week to do our garden because we’re putting the house up for sale. Would you like him to do your garden for free?”

You sell it to someone who needs a Buy to Let.

Someone will buy it.

Get it up on the market.

I agree with appealing to them by asking if you can clear up their garden for nothing and then listing in the autumn/winter.

Ditto

"I sympathise with the OP but this tactic is awful! Those poor buyers! Shame on them."

And also some people never go away. If they don't work it's quite possible they can't afford any kind of holiday.

I think they can offer to clear up the neighbours' garden free of charge though.

OP your best bet may be to contact the council and start a conversation about whether they might want to buy it at a fair discount for housing stock.

Not necessarily. Some people with mortgages on houses are nuisance neighbours: smoking weed, revving scramble bikes, cars parked everywhere

If you’ve already had a genuine dispute that you will have to declare (any complaint you’ve made to them in writing or any complaint to an authority) then I would just go the whole hog and keep reporting them to their housing association, especially if the garden is attracting rats or there is someone living in the garden.

You're going to have to declare it anyway, you might as well get them forced to clear it up. Then you can list it later in the year when it’s colder and they aren’t outside and say, yes we did make a complaint, it was about their unkempt garden which is now sorted.

We’re buying a house (or trying to) at the moment, and we drive by at all times of day to try and get a feel for an area. More fool any buyers of yours if they don’t do this.

Someone will buy it for right price. It just depends if the ‘right price’ for the buyer is also the ‘right price’ for you to be able to buy the new home you want.

The only way to tell is put it on the market and see what offers you get. You might be surprised.

House auction?

I agree, selling during the winter months and cross your fingers.

Agree with offering to pay to clear their garden, and selling in autumn / winter.

I lived next to hellish neighbours and when selling really wondered how low I would have to go. They had the flat above me - the smell of smoke and dog shit seeped out of it, the shared alley way to the gardens was a mess (they wouldn't let me get rid of the pile of rotting wood and rusty bbq they had). Worst of all was they had 2 large dogs that thundered up and down barking for 20 minutes when anyone knocked on my door, it was like they were in my flat.

I had 2 offers, who both dropped out, then a 3rd offer that went through. I probably lost 10% of the value I could have had but it was absolutely worth it to move on.

Just put it on the market see what happens. Maybe a landlord will want it, maybe someone will.want a.slightly cheaper property - but you won't know until you try. Initially I would not say anything about the neighbours, just see how it goes. Look at other strategies later if you need to.

Either sell to a landlord or do a part exchange on a new build, as a pp suggested (assuming that the developer doesn't do their due diligence).

Yes this is also an option.

@Spamlla It's a risk when you buy any house, not just next to a council house! Our home is between two council houses and you couldn't ask for nicer neighbours

Sell it to a landlord if possible.
The council won't be able to evict them easily anyway so if you want to leave dont report it and start a dispute.
Ask again if they will buy it back- some councils are using the right to buy money to buy back ex council housing.

Contact estate agents who have to let signs up on the estate as they will have the landlords on the books.

That’s exactly what I was thinking. Do their garden up in September then start marketing so you’ve got till May before they sit out again.

Please don’t do this OP - it would be really unfair on the people who are looking to buy. They have a right to know what the neighbours are like.

A friend of a friend of mine was trying to sell her council house with nightmare neighbours, various disputes and she hated them including their 3 large dogs!

In the end after having a few viewings where buyers noticed the neighbours she spoke to the mother of the house, explained she really wanted to move, was sorry for all the bad blood in the past but that buyers were being put off and therefore not offering on the house. Miraculously the family upped their game, behaved and kept dogs quieter and even she did same as other poster here, said she was getting garden tidied and did they want theirs doing which they accepted. One of the next families/people who viewed were buying as a BTL anyway but put in an offer. The sickening thing is that the original nightmare family moved a year later anyway!

Buy to let