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?

I think on hearing the circumstances of your dispute, it wouldn't put me off - ill child - noisy teenagers. It was situational, not ongoing. Put it up for the market value and then be prepared to negotiate.
As for the rubbish filled garden, offer to pay to have it cleared. My neighbours fence was leaning over and looked awful. I went round and offered to go halves but would have been prepared to pay all if needs be. They accepted and were very grateful. I was honest 'I'm putting house on the market and the fence is a bit of an eyesore so I'm prepared to go halves, what do you think?'
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Is this correct anyone?

Yes.

I thought it was any communication with neighbours that might impact any aspect of the house now or in the future.
So if you've complained to the authority about a neighbour parking in front of your house & then they move & the issue is resolved, would you need to declare?
Or are you talking about boundaries etc directly impact on the property

@Rosscameasdoody
Maybe once upon a time pre GDPR, but if person B contacted the council and asked if person A had ever made a complaint, the council would not be allowed to disclose this information under GDPR

It’s anctually about management, it costs them more to manage a single house rather than a cluster of houses together.

I am aware. I was simply reassuring the OP that there would be people out there that didn't mind if the neighbours were slightly chavvy 🤷

Haven't read through whole chain, but I purchased a property once and found out a whole list of problems with the neighbour, none of it declared, there had been complaints and disputes and lots of to and fro with the council involved.

I spoke to my solicitor about launching legal action , the thing is my solicitor found out:

Dog barking and kids noise doesn't have to be declared.
Loud parties and noise? issues has been dealt with prior to sale.

I didn't have a legal leg to stand on, if the neighbour started having parties, my seller could claim the parties had stopped for him and they've only started up again once I moved in.

Am I going to get the scuzzy neighbour to be a witness in my court case against the seller? Am I fuck?

All these posters telling you the buyer will be after you is bollocks. I tried and got nowhere. I was stuck with a flat with a horrible neighbour but got lucky when they left and got replaced by a nice family.

We didn’t declare a dispute over our previous next-door neighbours even though they were absolute arseholes. We just made sure to keep our distance and not report anything officially so when we got the disclosure form (or whatever it’s called) we didn’t need to put anything. A little bit immoral- yes. Do I care- no.

For all I know, they may be besties with the people living there now 🤷‍♀️

Let your EA guide you on the price and be prepared to take an offer.
You can gradually decrease the price if you’re not receiving any offers.
Make sure your EA hosts the viewings and make sure you're out. Then potential buyers can’t ask you awkward questions.

Market value and then negotiate.

I think you should check with your solicitor but probably best to say there was an issue but it was resolved.

This happened to my parents, they sold a year or so ago at a fair market price and one they were happy with. I think sometimes the emotional weight of the dispute weighs heavily on you so you think everyone will have the same reaction. My parents buyers were also happy with the price (it was a very nice house) and have had no problems at all and are very happy there. (Information from neighbours). Market it at a fair price, take good legal advice on filling in the forms and try not to worry about it. It may take a while to sell because the market is slow generally, so think about what sort of offers you are willing to except and don't overly dwell on the neighbour issue.

@stomachameleon Most sensible reply I've read yet.

I’d start at market rate. Personally speaking, I don’t give a fig about messy neighbouring gardens, only whether they’re decent people otherwise. We live next door to a home that is immaculate, but it doesn’t change the facts that the people who live there are total shitcunts who have caused us nothing but stress and grief only for the fact that they weren’t left anything in my father’s will (our house was inherited from him after he passed away). Crazy doesn’t even begin to cover it.

We had issues with a neighbours teenaged daughters one summer and made complaints. They had moved out by the time we put our house on the market and the parents were kind enough to put their house on the market the same day as we did so a completely resolved issue.

I would absolutely not put it on for anything less than market value. Whenever we see anything on the market for less we assume there's something wrong with the neighbours or the house first. We did view some and if we then found reports we would assume that they were still ongoing and more of a problem than declared. So I would put it on for the market value but let your agent know what you would be willing to accept for a quick sale.

I had to sell a flat with nightmare neighbours. It was a slightly different situation as I hadn’t made any formal complaint. However I don’t believe it was ‘stupid’ to do that in your circumstances- you did what you had to at the time in exceptionally difficult circumstances. The best thing you can now do is get some estate agents in. Be honest with them about the formal complaint and hint at the other issues and they will give you an expert strategy on how to present it to sellers. Mine were also great at giving advice and support through the whole process.
They'll tell you what to market it at, how to present the dispute and will help you hold steady along the way. Good luck, and don’t worry about what hasn’t happened yet. I think you’ll be fine!

This is sage advice

I would include neighbour dispute - because it relates to teens no longer living there. But everyone will see the rubbish next door. I sort of think people will get an idea of the area, as will estate agents. Go by their valuation. It's their job to sell the property. Anyone who takes on the property will offer less than it's advertised for anyway. Just had it over to an Estate Agent to sell. You're too emotionally drained to sell it yourself.

Not quite the same but we used to live on a major road, on a fast bend - lovely house but it put a lot of people off - after a while of trying to sell we marketed it in a local area that people would be aspiring to move to ours from - worked out well in the end