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?

Thank you, maybe I will report to police as an abandoned vehicles instead of council and see if I can get a better result

Honestly I would just stick it on the market and see what happens - you never know unless you do

I'd try an auction or EAs. Having worked for conveyancing solicitors, I'd say (or they would) that even though you've gone to the council about the NDN as long as it's resolved now... there shouldn't be an issue. It's an ongoing issue people are more concerned about. And if as a PP says someone buys it to rent out, they're not bothered about NDNs.

I'm similar to you re noise. Don't like much external/internal noise. NDN's have moved temporarily since covid 19 abroad and may not come back. First renters, fine, second ones, occasional loud parties but again mostly fine. Third renters, love their techno and noise even on Sunday afternoon and on a regular basis, also parties and stream live music to a radio station (techno again)! Yes, have spoken to them. I just wish NDN's would decide to sell or not as it's terraced housing, family street (quiet generally) and not really suited to 4 young people in it (a big house though and semi detached compared to my terraced cottage/house). I might have to try white noise. Doesn't help that properties are Victorian with what seems like useless sound insulation.

You can try, but if the vehicles are taxed and MOT’d, they won’t give a fuck. They can’t remove them for a public road unless they’re in violation of something.

My understanding when I sold my house some years ago was that it depends how far you took the dispute with neighbours. I had complained to the council about noise and incessant parties. They wrote to the neighbours who whined about it and said they were upstanding respectable members of the community and grovelled a bit. The council forwarded the reply to me and asked if I wanted to take the complaint further. I felt the neighbours had had enough of a wake up call so said no. No further action, sold my house a couple of years later with no issues. Check with a solicitor though in case things have changed.

The neighbours incidently if they had any further parties used to put notes through everyone’s doors with their mobile number to call if the noise annoyed too much. Result!

We sold our flat after having complained to the housing association about our neighbour. We just declared it on the form where it asks about neighbourly disputes and said it had been a one off complaint. Thankfully we had kept a letter sent from the HA to us a few months after our complaint which stated the issue had all been resolved, so we provided that to the buyer.

The buyer never asked us any other queries about it.

One benefit is that by the time you complete the questionnaire and send it to them, you’re part way through the process and they may have already spent money on searches and surveys etc so hopefully they won’t be so quick to pull out if it concerns them.

If the authorities are involved at any level it should be disclosed to a buyer because there will be a record of the complaint. If the buyer experiences neighbour issues on moving into the property, it’s easy to check if a previous complaint has been made, and the buyer has six years in which they are eligible to take action against the seller for non-disclosure - although I think they need to provide evidence that the problem existed before the sale and that it affects the value of the property.

Mine was taxed, MOTD and not a wreck or obviously broken down and not causing visual offence anyone

You will have to disclose the dispute but you can also say it's resolved.

I wouldn't buy anywhere with noisy neighbors because of my experience and I'm noise sensitive but it won't bother others. Some people like a "lively" street.

Put it on the market for a decent price and see. You may have to reduce it in time but every house sells and yours is no different.

She raised an issue with the council. That make it an official dispute 🤷🏻‍♀️

@wawawawaterloo Noise really bothers me too.
A local authority placed a “Problem Family” smack bang in a really middle class area and it really caused issues with noise, antisocial behaviour and police calling day and night.

It’s crazy to do that- it doesn’t stop the problem behaviours, and seriously devalues people’s houses.

Noise really bothers me, too.
misophonia.
My friend moved due to noise.
Good Luck 🤞

I don't see that you currently have a dispute. The teen issue is resolved. The messy garden business isn't a dispute and buyers will see for themselves.

I had an issue with neighbours nicking our bins and flytipping in our back garden because the property was empty.

I sorted it out by complaining to the neighbour and letting the council know that it had happened.

Also...the wife had dumped a box filled with rubbish in our garden. It had her full name and address on it, plus a label to say it had been sent by a company called summat like 'Exotic Nights'.

I placed it on her doorstep and knocked. No answer, but the box was taken in. No more trouble.

I didn't declare the issue with the neighbour since it was resolved. She has never spoken to me since, but her husband and her mother have been civil and even friendly.

In terms of declaring disputes, I think that the form that I had to fill up specified an age limit for disputes. (I'm in Scotland.)

It doesn’t matter whether it’s current or not. It still has to be declared because in the event of any problems after the buyer has moved in, they have six years in which to take legal action against the seller for non disclosure of the pre-sale dispute, regardless of whether or not it was resolved.

Hope you manage to sell up, OP. I wouldn't beat yourself up about reporting the neighbours over noise a few years ago (you said, 'stupidly'). I think we are all capable of making a tactical error and at the time you had to do something. I would have done the same without a little voice reminding me I might want to sell the house some time in the unspecified future!

We live next door to a local housing assoc property (this whole street were once council houses built after WWI but gradually most sold into private hands - the council and now the housing assoc have managed to keep hold of half a dozen). I hadn't thought of offering ours to the housing assoc to buy but there's no way they'd be able to afford it now, as it's a prosperous village and area to live in. Our neighbours are fairly noisy, have a garden over-full of sheds, lean-tos, pergolas, play stuff, greenhouses, chickens, water features ... basically there isn't more than a square metre of land they haven't put some crap on! 😂Our own garden is mostly just grass, bushes and a tree and not very lovely, but we only have the three sheds/playhouses (I know that sounds a lot. They're very long gardens!) and when I look next door it does look really messy and 'busy'. But there's nothing I could do about that, in the event of a house sale.

On the other side, the house owner there is extremely bothersome and showed his teeth in a very petty way recently when the people the far side of him tried to sell their house - he scuppered their house sale by declaring a 'dispute' over a tree he wanted them to remove (it wasn't a dispute as far as I know, just an ongoing back and forth over the years, and the tree is nowhere near his boundary - he just wants a clearer view of the distant hills!). So I do think you need to declare something and then be very upfront about it and play down the noise (if indeed it's really stopped) as a thing of the past, because these things really can bugger up a house sale.

I'm struggling to work out how a buyer can find out about disputes. I've googled this extensively and all I can find is information about how you must declare disputes, but nothing on how a buyer could find out.
Example. Person A makes complaint to council about person B down the road about a noise nuisance issue with their alarm. Council writes to person B. Noise stops and never happens again. Person B was probably oblivious they were bothering anyone.
Person B has no idea who complained.
5 years later person A sells house and doesn't declare any dispute.
How would the buyer ever know?

Is this right please?

I have recently contacted the council about some random bloke that has started doing dog training classes in a paddock a field away from me. He doesn't live there so isn't a neighbour as such but his DP owns the field I think.

I just cannot stand the shouting and he must be brutalising the dogs sometimes as they are screaming as if they are in pain.

The council worker is going to look at it from the street warden aspect and also the planning permission point of view I believe.

Have I fucked up?

Best thing is to be completely upfront with prospective buyers. I'd personally go for market rate and then give the EA the details of the dispute and also the fact that it is now resolved. That way people know in advance and no last minute wobbles

This is a good question, esp under data privacy laws. I am wondering if there is something that solicitors can do which wouldn't be available to the general public, in connection with a sale.

But surely if that the case, there wouldn't be any talk of buyers suing the sellers, as the issue would be brought to light pre sale?

Very true. I don't know but suspect the form is worded in such a way people feel compelled to disclose stuff which as you say isn't really discoverable in other ways, unless there's been court action. In that case, you could find a reference to it publicly.

I can't remember what is on it. We've had no disputes to declare and weren't made aware of any in properties we've bought.

If it helps you feel less nervous, I wouldn't care about either issues, the rubbish isn't in my garden (can you see it when you're in your garden or is it hidden by fencing? Does it stink?) So wouldn't bother me (we've also been those people in the past so know how easy it is for it to get that way and how overwhelming it is to put right when you can't afford to hire someone to haul it all away). The noise issue is resolved and if explained then it's obviously teen noise and they have (or will soon) outgrow it.

We're not ideal neighbours ourselves (would love to live in a detached house but that's not on the cards quite yet), so having neighbours who have minor issues we could use to compromise with if they had problems would actually make me more comfortable (in terms of our kids having bricks for feet etc), as long as they're not junkies or unpleasant people.

Assuming there's no other major issues with the house then put it on at market value and expect offers under.

Does this mean though that if my mum wanted to sell she would have to declare the noise complaint she made regarding the dog across the road?