Found out vendors complained to council about neighbours - anything I can do?

[flugelhorn81]

Hi all
We have a suspected illegal HMO next door and the occupants can cause a bit of noise and nuisance. I informally heard from the neighbours that our previous vendors called the council several times to complain about this. Should they have declared this when we bought? Can I find out if they made an official complaint? And if so, what should I do?
Thanks.

Sorry should add we bought the house in December, so very recent.

Sellers have to declare neighbour disputes. It’s a slightly grey area and what constitutes a dispute is open to interpretation - two or three calls over a several year period about low-level noise nuisance probably wouldn’t count as a dispute whereas regular and frequent complaints over multiple nuisances probably would. Best return to your conveyancing solicitor and ask their advice and what action they recommend, if any.

Thanks, I've emailed for advice but they can be slow to respond. I suppose I'd also need to find out what the nature of the complaints was? Are the council likely to disclose this?

I suspect the council wouldn’t provide information about who had made complaints and what about on the grounds of data protection - but you can always enquire. They would, I believe, be obliged to provide information to solicitors if it turned into a legal request or you were wanting to take legal action.

If it’s an illegal HMO then it might be a more productive route to pursue this with the council, particularly if it’s illegal on the grounds of anything which might represent health and safety issues.

Thanks for this. I've submitted a notification to the council about the HMO - this is on the basis of health and safety, but also because rubbish is piling up which is starting to affect us. I have realised I will probably have to declare this when we come to sell, so I want to find out whether our vendors should also have done so. All I know is that they called the council several times about these neighbours.