House sale…how to answer this question? Help!

[MrHouse13]

Posting here for traffic.

Both my parent have passed away and we are in the process of completing the house sale.

A question about dispute with neighbours.

For context, my dad fell out with the neighbour ten years ago and it became quite nasty on both sides. Mum stayed out of it. Dad died first and mum lived in the house for seven years until she passed away recently. No dispute with the said neighbour - who has also passed away now and her son lives in the house.

How do I answer this question honestly? Mum did not have any disagreement with the neighbour and now they have both passed so do I have to say anything?

I don’t want anything to come back once the new family have moved it. Tia

I think I’d say no, those in dispute are no longer around.

i probably wouldn’t mention it.

i suppose it depends on what happened? Was there legal involvement? Or the police?

Without knowing what the dispute was about it's difficult to say. Ie.If it's about the boundary fence you might have issues. If it's about neighbour hitting on your mum you are probably good not to mention it.

It was to do with boundaries and solicitors where involved. However, my mum never got involved to and since they have both passed now I’m unsure. I’d the son hadn’t of moved in then I wouldn’t have thought twice.

I don't think you can separate your mum's involvement from your dad's involvement as they were both owners of the property and she lived there at the same time as your dad. I would be very annoyed if I was misled about this if I was the new buyer.

Did the issue get resolved? How did your solicitor advise approaching it?

Probably worth mentioning that. And any resolution. The whole thing can be very frustrating. We are selling our place and have the same solicitor acting for the other side as when we brought the place. She's asking questions she answered 8 years ago. And I am like here's the answer she gave!

What kind of issue was it, was it resolved? Did it affect boundary lines?

My dad put a fence up and never spoke the her again. Solicitor was rubbish and they spent £££’s.

As the dispute was officially recorded and dealt with I would mention it and say all parties involved are now deceased and the boundary issue resolved. I would be up front in case it is raised again in future.

I think I will do this. I want to be transparent but not sure if I needed to since all parties involved have died.

Surely this is a question for your conveyancing solicitor? Talk about it with them over the phone. They may be able to suggest a standard wording.

The question has come up along with other ‘general’ questions and it’s made me think how I should answer. Yes, I will make contact via email to ask - also to have a paper trail.

I think with it being about boundaries it should be declared OP. It would be different if it was a noise complaint for example if the person who was making the noise has passed, but a boundary issue can continue to rear its head.

Keep it simple, and apply plausible deniability - none of the disputing parties are now alive, there was no active dispute, and as the child / executor you would quite possibly know nothing about it, you are presumably the executor, so just selling the estates assets - so I would tick NO

Don't complicate matters that don't need complicating

@MrHouse13 They usually mean an active dispute. As nothing is ongoing (solicitors engaged, exchange of letters and demands etc) there’s no dispute. I assume the son has not raised anything. If everyone is content, there’s no dispute.

This

Ask your conveying solicitor whether you should mention it and if so how you should word it.

Solicitors are really good at knowing how to word such matters while keeping you on the straight and narrow. This will save you from a lot of uncertainty and worry. It would be folly not to ask.

Set out the key facts clearly organised in headings or bullet points beginning at the beginning and giving dates of key events - who did what, when; give only necessary detail of layout of houses and type and height of fence etc and say if and how it all was resolved or concluded. This will save a lot of toing and froing and correspondence seeking / supplying information so that they understand the nature of the dispute.

We were told that when you are dealing with a sale in these circumstances, you aren’t expected to know everything. I suspect your conveyancing solicitor will advise you to say you don’t know. The thing is, it’s not your information and you won’t know all the ins and outs. Plus everyone involved is dead.

Condolences 💐

I think given it was over a boundary I'd do this. If it was noise or mess property wouldn't other.

Or actually this!

I would simply say that as far as you are aware from gossip, there may have been an historic neighbourly falling out, but all parties involved are now dead. Therefore, any alleged dispute will have died with them. You could add that any alleged dispute was historic, and did not involve the current vendor.

No active dispute. All parties passed away. Historic boundary dispute around two decades ago.

I think you will have to make some loose reference to it, along the lines suggested by previous posters. You do know about it after all, but you need to stress it was resolved.
How is the question actually worded?

I would imagine historical boundary issues are fairly common, so don't worry too much.

Thanks everyone. Really appreciate the advice x

The sale won't go ahead without a proper survey of the exact plot boundary, surely?

Once a boundary is surveyed and marked, it will be up to the NDN to dispute it, but he'll have to pay a solicitor and the surveyor he hires will likely tell him what he's already been told.

I'd say nothing. All the parties to the dispute are out of the picture.