CCTV and selling house

[FCEK]

So we are currently preparing our house for selling. Tidying up our garden, fixing things etc.

DH is adamant our cameras are not coming down. My parents and In laws agree.

We have the cameras due to a violent neighbour.

I know people on here will say this should be declared to prospective buyers but I have many EA and lawyer friends who each say we don't have to. I've checked the forms/questionnaires we would have to fill out and there are no questions about neighbours.

We are in Scotland, so maybe it's different?

Anyway I do not think we will get a sale once viewers see the cameras. They will obviously ask questions.

Dh plans to use my deafness as an excuse - I can't hear the door. True but I doubt they'll believe him, especially as I don't 'look deaf' according to many people!!

Dh argues if we take them down and something happened, we would have no evidence. Dh was nearly seriously injured at last incident and police were useless.

I want away from here ASAP but feel the cameras destroy that possibility, regardless of how nice our house/view is.

Thoughts please? Sorry for typos. On my phone!

Our house has CCTV, it didn't put our buyers off at all, in fact I pointed it out to them and mentioned that although there had never been any break-ins or problems, the reason we installed it was that my husband works away a lot and it's just an added bit of security (which is true).

How obvious are the cameras? I don't think CCTV would put me off at all, but then again it depends on the area that the house is in.

Thanks for that reassurance. It's not a bad area so I hope they see past the cameras.

I'd put it As a bonus. Great for safety. I think anyone would have s fair idea of what your neighbourhood is like.

You may not have to legally declare the problems, but i believe Buyers could still take action for damages for misrepresentation if you actually lie to them. Which you would be doing.

You need legal advice. In England giving untruthful information about neighbour disputes would be a big problem.

If someone asks why you have then I'm pretty sure you need to declare why you have them.

that is certainly the case in England - not sure about Scotland. But I can't believe you are allowed to lie in Scotland, either.

I would instantly ask about cameras.

We had several CCTV cameras at our previous property, we left them up and unbelievably no one picked up on it! The only one we did take down was the internal one (fitted due to being burgled)

In the end, we disclosed to our buyer we had put up the system due to previous burglary

PatriciaHolm is correct. It's very dependent on what actually happens during the course of the sale, but it is not unlikely in my view that a buyer might ask about the cameras and if you say it is to do with your deafness and it later becomes obvious that it is really about the violent neighbour, you could be facing a claim for misrepresentation. If such a claim was successful, the damages would be likely to be the difference between the value of your house without a violent neighbour and the value of your house with the violent neighbour (you'd need expert evidence on that). If you lost, you would be liable for the other side's legal costs as well as the damages.

Also, I'm nota conveyancer but I had read something recently that suggested the wording of that part of the buyer's questions might have changed so that it's no longer the case that you only have to report neighbour problems if you've involved the authorities, but instead you have to declare ANY neighbour problems. A bit like my car insurance company insisting on knowing about ANY accidents within the last X years whether or not a claim was involved and whether or not it was my fault. As I say, not sure whether this is a widespread change or just something to look out for.

Finally, never mind the law, lying to make your problem someone else's (expensive) problem is just not the right thing to do, is it? How would you feel if you bought a house under those circumstances? It must be awful for you living with a neighbour so bad you've needed CCTV in the first place but if he's that violent and you have CCTV evidence, is a criminal conviction by the police not possible?

we installed the cctv after the most recent incident and all has been quiet since. The neighbours have a problem with us, not anyone else and so we feel the problem would not exist once we leave. I've seen all the questions we'd have to answer and there's literally nothing that refers to neighbours. DH is still refusing to remove the cameras but we have put up some hanging baskets that somewhat hide them.

You need specific legal advice on your obligations to be honest if the question is asked. If someone sees them (and through viewings, survey etc someone will) I think you may be obliged to disclose the reasons why. Beyond that, I have always asked the solicitor to ask a very broad question about good relations with neighbours, in writing, before signing any contract.