Sellers lied about neighbour disputes - any advice?

[anchovies]

We bought a house back in August and when we asked about the neighbours prior to making an offer we were told that they were alright. The sellers then stated on the property information form that there had been no disputes with the neighbours.

Since buying the house we have had constant trouble with the next door neighbours son who is 18. He plays loud music, is abusive, has damaged other neighbours property/cars etc. It has recently come to light that this is not a new problem and he actually had an asbo placed on him before we moved in because of the constant loud music (by the people who owned our house?) His parents have no control over him and Christmas has been a nightmare as he has been constantly drinking. Last night his parents were away so the music and shouting was so loud that both ds's woke up and we couldn't get anyone back to sleep until the party finally wound down at about 4am. He is scared of dh after dh told his dad that if the son would either get nicked or get a kicking (I was not impressed with dh!) but this doesn't help when he wont answer the door and just ignores us.

I have contacted the asbo team but am wondering if we have any come back on the sellers who didn't disclose these problems when we bought it?

Sorry this is so long, am knackered and needed a rant this morning!

You need to talk to your solicitor who did your house purchase - they should be able to advise you

Go back to the solicitor who acted for you on the purchase. There is a reason for that question being included in the Property Information Form and that form becomes part of the contract. You will probably be told that your sellers are in breach of the contract because they failed to disclose something which may have affected your decision to purchase.

However, you may end up having to issue court proceedings for compensation, which can be long and costly.

In the meantime, I would keep a diary of all incidents and, if possible, recordings of excess noise, etc. Do your neighbours own their property, or are they tenants, do you know? If tenants, you may be able to approach the landlord to get them evicted for breaching the terms of their tenancy.

Do you know if the asbo was placed on him due to the action of the previous owners? He may well be vile but they also may have kept their heads down and had no disputes with their neighbours in order to sell the house.