Need a handhold - neighbour issues and selling house

[wawawawaterloo]

I'm planning on moving towards the end of the year. We have neighbours with incredibly messy and rubbish filled gardens and a previous (resolved) issue of their teens/early 20's kids being loud during the summer a few years ago.

I know I need to declare a dispute, but I don't believe anyone would buy it - I wouldn't? Landlords aren't buying locally at present, so I don't think that's an option, and I cant afford to part ex for a new build.

Do you think if we market for less than market value we'd sell? I'm thinking taking the hit and marketing at around 20-30K less just to get rid.

I will obviously talk to an EA, but at present I just need reassurance that doing something like that, at worst case, will work - as I just want to start again elsewhere.

I'm not asking if you'd buy it, as I know most (so please don't put that as it will make my anxiety worse) but it will appeal to someone relatively quickly wont it if it's under market value - or am I doomed to live here upset forever?

Get an estate agent you like to market it at the market price in the usual way. Let them deal with the viewings too. You can always ask the estate agent not to book viewings at particular times of day if that helps.

As an aside
Not all conveyancers use a TA6 with many making up their own
I buy and sell property, about two every three years over the past 20years and used many different conveyancers and whilst I’ve been given forms including
-who are your service providers
-are you leaving the curtains, what’s included in the sale
No one, and I do mean absolutely no one, has ever asked verbally or in writing on the forms whether I’ve had a neighbour dispute.
TA6 forms are not mandatory

If however you are asked these questions, on a form, it would be a read flag if you didn’t answer it. All areas left blank or vague on the forms are. However you don’t have to answer. If you have reported the neighbour to the council or complained in writing to them it counts as an official complaint. Shouting over the fence to keep the noise down doesn’t, it’s all up for debate.

it also depends on what you find acceptable. our neighbours are/were a living nightmare. total narcicissists trying to control how we lived etc and banned van etc from delivering , harassed and verbally abused the van drivers. We took them to court. It is resolved now, and there is only one of them left who hopefully won't last too much longer. They made our lives miserable. Fighting them for 4 years was exhausting

It's crossed my mind that the previous owner didn't spend any money on this house if a van would have been required, his life was shrunk to being utterly dependent on these neighbours for permission to breathe. He allowed that to happen, We should have been warned that these neighbours were a nightmare, but he did what he was told, so to him, they weren't.

That said, two-faced villagers as they are, one who is especially close to them, warned us about them the day we moved in. Others are cheering from the sidelines that FINALLY they are getting their just desserts having terrorised so many for so long.

The git next door once said 'you should have found out how things are up here before you bought the house' I replied "yeah, we did and none of what you are doing is legal. YOU should have found out who you are dealing with, because all this crap you are trying to pull stops now."

We have no relationship with them, would not take a parcel for her, leave any misdelivered letters outside for postie to pick back up and deliver, she knows she can't get away with anything now, so doesn't try.

Too late for OP, but make any complaints to authorities anonymously, saying rats have been seen in the rubbish heaps in the garden gets their attention.

Do any estate agents around offer part exchange ? You might get less than value but you might save on legal fees. I do think someone will buy for under market value even with neighbour issues - they will just rent it out or be more intimidating than your neighbours are.

Don't market it at a silly low price because people will offer lower anyway.
It will still be in demand as it will appeal to landlords who don't give a shot who their tenants have to live next to.

You just really don't know what people are looking for. There might be a neighbour wanting to move a family member close by, someone divorcing and desperate for something in the neighbourhood at a good price etc. What might put you off wouldn't necessarily be a problem for other people.

Yep, agree. Our home is a fairly ordinary semi in a reasonably pleasant road, but the houses sell faster than anything else in the area because they are just inside the catchment area of a secondary school with a consistently excellent rating. For sale notices are never up for more than a couple of weeks and sale details always mention the school. Might be worth the OP liaising more closely with the EA to see what more the local area has to offer of interest to buyers and make the most of it.

Its why when people come on here complaining about noise from neighbours whether its building work, dogs, antisocial and everyone just goes "report it to the council" I just roll my eyes. Its not that simple- it then needs to be declared at point of sale and scares the shit out of buyers.

It's done now- just hope that the people buying think it was long enough in the past that it isnt an issue anymore. But I do wish people would try and resolve this stuff between themselves, and if they can't be actually aware of what "reporting to the council" actually means

Similar but slightly different to your situation and of course it depends on how approachable your neighbours are but we actually once paid to have the neighbours messy overgrown garden done along with a new boundary fence and a tree needed trimming in ours.We just told neighbours we got a good deal off gardener and he'd suggested do two f9r not much more than price of one.
Or could you get a skip and tell them feel free to add to it or offer do you want me get rid of your stuff whilst its here etc.
Both these options would obv.cost you but a fraction of what you might have to knock off price.

Market it as advised by EA, don't say a word about anything to anyone ( there is not a formal complaint ) made to any authority, therefore behave like you know nothing and see what happens

she says she made a compliant formally to the council - not sure of the date.

I'm in no position to buy a house but if I was I'd happily buy a discounted house next to noisy neighbours. I'm deaf so it makes no difference to me!

OP advised in an update that she and other residents had complained to the council. There will be a record of that. What will happen if she ignores it is that if there is a problem after the buyer has moved in, he has six years in which to check to see whether there was a dispute prior to sale and then sue the OP for non disclosure.

We are in a similar situation , house been on market for 6 months and not had a solid offer yet and dropped £40k , my house is nice , every viewer has complimented it and we live in a lovely little close but unfortunately we have a hoarder two doors down that has parked two cars outside our house on communal parking , that he does not drive but fills with rubbish, another on his driveway filled with rubbish, all rusty and no wheels, and now has started hoarding rubbish on his driveway, its a bloody nightmare , I have reported as abandoned cars to council but they said because the two on communal area are taxed and mot nothing they can do and the car on drive with no wheels is on his property. My husband has spoken to him , but he is oblivious to the effect it has on neighbours and refuses to do anything, just a bloody nightmare !

Ask your estate agent and solicitor for advice first
I presume the estate agent would be against mentioning it
Prospective buyers will see the rubbish in the garden so can decide for themselves on that, the falling out with the neighbours seems to be resolved and isn’t an ongoing issue?

I would be reluctant to put it on at a lower price

When you bought it were those same neighbours there aswell and was anything declared to you about them?

That’s really weird.
Im not disputing it it’s just we were reported to the police for leaving our car on a road that we didn’t live in for 2 days. ( It wouldn’t start and we had been visiting friends so were waiting for mechanic )
We were contacted by the police and told there had been a complaint and asked when we were going to move it.
I told them the issue but did point out it’s a public road, no private or permit parking and didn’t understand the issue
The police told us they had to follow up all complaints.
Its not like this area is devoid of all crime either and they had nothing better to do.
So maybe rather than calling the council call the police

Put it at market, don't tell anyone you're actually willing to drop £30k, wait for offers. When you get pisstake offers you can gladly accept, the buyer will think they have got a bargain and you've got rid.

And that's if the council do anything. I have a neighbour in a tenement building of flats that I complained to the council about - noise, smoke alarm going off all the time (because he is wasted and leaves cooking on the grill) so had to call the fire brigade a few times, one of his mates tried to get in my flat door at midnight and had to call the police, fly tipping in the back communal garden, people hammering on his door and threatening to kick it in if he won't answer. The council have done nothing, although they placed him there, and despite the most recent ASB in his property being so serious that it hit the news.

The estate agent can’t advise against mentioning the dispute because it’s a legal requirement to disclose it on the TA6 property forms. Ditto the solicitor. If OP has reported it to the council and they’ve logged it as a complaint then she has to disclose, resolved or not. If a similar problem arises within six years of the buyer taking possession of the property, he can sue the OP for non disclosure. Not worth the risk - the neighbours could kick off again once OP has moved out.

My pal just bought a house that has several disputes due to noisy neighbours on record. She's deaf so she doesn't give one dusty fuck about noisy neighbours. Don't despair OP, there'll be a buyer out there somewhere for you!

I would put it on at market value and see what happens. I wouldnt but many arent nearly as fussy as I am and will still take a chance on it. x

Don’t market it significantly under value. You might as well stick a massive red banner on your home if you do this. You’ll get offers under that you can consider as and when.

Have you only officially complained to the council the once, years ago, when the noise was an issue? If so, you can explain this to prospective buyers and highlight that it was resolved.

@wawawawaterloo In your OP you stated the dispute was resolved - that is the key to the information you need to provide. On the TA6 form, or before if a prospective buyer asks, the answer is there was a dispute about teenagers etc but it is resolved. You do not need to say anymore.

I had this exact issue where a set of neighbours, next door but rurally so it was about half a mile away, caused us issues which eventually led to the problem being officially raised. When we sold our solicitor stated as I mentioned, there was this issue it was resolved.

As others have said, I would market the property at its going market price and test how it is received. It is easier to reduce a price or accept offers than to increase a price for a low figure!

It is what it is, make sure your house is as appealing as can be. Spend your money on screening as much of the rubbish views of your neighbours as you can both internally and externally (fencing, window coverings) rather than marketing at a lower figure to start with.

I've replied further up but we found our perfect house. The next door neighbour was known for being difficult, continuous petty complaints sort of thing. We bought anyway and moved in with our 2 kids, 4 dogs and small furries. He tried a couple of times to give us petty complaints but he was put in his place.

I think the previous owner had let him get away with far too much for too long whereas we nipped it in the bud after the first and second complaint.