Days away from exchange and just caught....

[ConspicuouslyInconspicuous]

a neighbour keying a car in our residential car park. Which leaves me with a dilemma...I think....

Background: we live in a small development, one space per car but not strictly allocated parking. There have been rumours that the neighbour who lives above me is very particular about "her" parking space and has, over the years, flung doors open onto anyone who dares to park in "her" space. She is fairly brazen about it and someone being in the car at the time won't stop her.

There have never been any witnesses to any real damage done to cars in that space eg keying paintwork.

Until now - On friday night neighbour below me (B) witnessed neighbour above me (A) keying the car that's been parked in "her" space for the past week.
B came round to chat about it on Saturday morn and asked for my advice and said she would be calling 101 to report and is it OK if she mentions I have CCTV.

I will happily provide the police with any footage, and there is undeniable footage from Friday night.

Fast forward to this morning, I thought I'd have a look at last nights notifications, lo and behold it shows A exiting her car and walking to the other side of the car in "her" space and running a key down it, so forcefully the sound is caught on my camera.
So now, this brand new car has two panels on each side keyed.

My query/dilemma is as follows:

I am days away from exchange and I've completed and sent back the SPIF weeks ago. If this is reported to the police, do I need to inform my solicitors?

Thanks in advance and sorry for the looooong post.

Let the other neighbour report it and when you're asked for cctv, provide all the footage including this incident. You don't want neighbour A messing up your move.

Yes, you do. If you are asked about it at a later date you won't be able to deny knowledge because neighbour B will tell the new owner that you were aware.

Also you need to tell them because to not do so would be a really nasty thing to do. Imagine how you might feel if you move into your new home and discover ongoing issues. Not nice at all.

I don't think this would count as a neighbour dispute as you're not the one 'in dispute', you are just providing evidence, in the same way you would if a stranger keyed the car. If you'd made reports to the police or council then you would have to disclose.

A is a fucking criminal!
Hope she gets prosecuted. What a ridiculous weirdo.

However in answer to your question yes you absolutely must disclose it. If you don't and the same goes through you could be liable to lose out financially in future. Disclosing now absolves you from this so definitely disclose as a parking dispute.

If there is one space per residence why not get them allocated?

Please do report her, what a vile human being she is.

Why didn't your CCTV catch any of the earlier events?

Palomb - My CCTV was only installed recently.

Elevenclips - there have been informal discussions about getting residents to use their allocated, as on individual deeds, spaces but noone is really keen on doing so; over the years people have got in to their routines of parking at a particular end/side of the car park which is in opposition to their allocated space.

A really is the only one with a bizarre fixation on a particular space though.

Just to be 100%, even though I'm not in dispute and I'm only providing evidence, I definitely have to inform my solicitor?

Erg, this is going to delay my exchange isn't it?

I really don't think you need to do anything unless you're in dispute.

I wouldn't have thought you have to tell anyone anything
If you are asked for cctv footage just provide it, doesn't make you in dispute about anything

Why would you take advice on this from randomers on the internet? Especially if it was going to affect your sale.

No you are not in dispute, don't say anything.

Hopefully she wont do it again, when she is charged for criminal damage.

It's not your dispute so I'd not mention it. Let your neighbour report it and give her a copy of the cctv to give to the police.

So, as one of those randomers, no way I would declare this. You are not in dispute. You are not reporting anything. You are not arguing with anyone. You just have cctv the police might ask for, who knows?

We used to have this OP.

Me and DH lived on a caravan park for approx 18 months while the house we live in now was being refurbished.

Parking wasn't allowed in front of caravans so we had to park in a communal car park which was in front of the field where the caravans were.

There was one particular lady who would always park in the space closest to the gate but naturally if it was empty- anybody would park there as it was more convenient

She wouldn't damage cars per see- but there was one time DH parked in her space and she pulled up 3 spaces down and angrily slammed her car door shut and glared at him on the way past.

Some people lead very boring lives that's all I can say 🤔

Thanks everyone for your input

I'm asking on here because I think the moment I mention it to my conveyancer, the moment it becomes a thing. And if it doesn't need to become a thing then I'd rather not broach the subject with my conveyancer.

I only know criminal lawyers and they're not really up to scratch with property law, unfortunately.

Why would you need to disclose this? It's not a "dispute". She's committed a criminal act, and you happen to have caught her on your CCTV. Beyond that, you have no involvement at all.
We were asked to provided footage from ours by the local police, regarding something that happened close by (they wouldn't actually tell us what) on the off chance the culprits passed down our road at the relevant time.
I have no involvement in that either.

Surely you only need to disclose it if someone asks you? Isn't hat what caveat emptor means?

I think this issue was ruled on in a court case a few years ago. A house had been the site of an horrific murder. Current owners knew, but didn't disclose this as they weren't asked. Court decided that the principle of caveat emotive meant that you didn't have to offer and information, but merely be truthful if asked.

I am wondering why you put up CCTV just before you sell your house?

I'm guessing you've filled in a Property Information Form (if you google it, you'll see a specimen). If you have, there are dispute questions in section 2 but also, on page 2 there are instructions to the seller and the third bullet point says that you need to let your solicitor know about anything new.

This is different from caveat emptor as the buyer technically has asked the question via the form you've filled in.

I know that's probably not the answer you wanted.... that said, if your neighbour has the CCTV footage, presumably the police can at least speak to the person causing the damage and possibly take it further.

I put CCTV up because I treated myself to a highly stealable thing (not being specific as this will out me out) that lives in sight of my CCTV.

On the property information form there wasn't anything about new information.

have i misunderstood this? you all have allocated parking spaces in the deeds but nobody follows that, just parks where they like. your neighbour wants to park in the spot that she owns and has deeds for and everyone treats her like some obsessive eccentric? huh?

No, even she doesn't park in her allocated space!

And even if it was her allocated space that's no excuse to cause criminal damage to someone elses property.

Have you told the conveyancer that no one uses their allocated space? That could be relevant legally for the conveyance and practically for your purchaser. I only mention it as allocated spaces was a big issue when we bought last time. Not trying to add to your worries.