should I stay or run?? long post sorry!

[movingonup2015]

bought a house last December - really liked it when I viewed it early summer, although alarm bells probably should have started ringing when I was only allowed to view the property when the vendor was there...

anyway I asked about the (attached) neighbours as the garden was quite over grown and the front of the house looked a bit worse for wear but I was told the old lady that lived there recently died and the son was doing it up so he has put family members in there just to keep the place ticking over - they were apparently very quiet and hardly heard - wonderful I thought and obviously if they are doing it up then the garden wont be overgrown for long and it will all be nice and shiny soon... The neighbours were never in during the three times I viewed the house.

Asked if there was any problems with any damp in the house - nope nothing, never had any problems with damp ever they said. Perfect.

Had the full survey done - one or two things were brought up such as repointing and the possibility of some wall ties needing replacing at some point in the future but nothing urgent and certainly nothing to worry about immediately so I was told.

Also they said they were smokers but only ever smoked outside.. not keen on the smoking thing but as they only smoked outside - not too much of an issue I thought.

Anyway 6 months later after completion finally went through I got handed the keys and the stench of smoke hit me like sledgehammer - my clothes stank my hair stank after only 30 minutes of being in the property...they had obviously chainsmoked inside the house from the minute the sold sign went up.

I thought I could just air out the property and all would be fine. Decided to do a few changes before moving in and certainly didn't want to move in until the stench had subsided.

So many problems then emerged with the house that I didn't end up moving in until recently - I had to rip up a carpet in the dining room and the floor was completely rotten - there is a major damp problem in that they had an extension built on the back of the dining room which blocked up the air vents, also for whatever reason (I suspect something to do with party wall??) they left a 1ft gap at the side of the extension and as the garden/house runs downhill all the rain water collects into the gulley, and cant drain out again, seeps into the foundations in through the dining room and with all the rain we've had has obviously been sitting in the floor and is now stinking out the house.
I cant see any way of rectifying this - you cant get down the side of the gulley to put any sort of drain or vent or anything in there unless I knock down next doors wall for access. I've just replaced the floorboards and put laminate floor down for now (which will probably warp in a few months!) just so I have a floor.

other various problems were needing doing - plumbing in the bathroom needed ripping out and redoing because previous plumber made a complete bodge of it all. The fitted wardrobe doors were all warped so needed replacing, hob doesn't work but cant afford to get that replaced yet.

Serious damp problem in one bedroom under the window, serious damp problem in the living room under the windows. Damp in under the stairs cupboard. All windows need adjusting/hinges replacing.

The kitchen cupboards needed scrubbing within an inch of their lives due to all the nicotine all over them and the carcasses inside that were once white are now a dirty brown/orange. I have scrubbed and bleached them but they remain orange.

That's only the half of it... the biggest problem is next door.. the elderly lady died five years ago - not recently!! and the will has been contested so the "owner" has put family members in there that are paying him rent - the house is a complete state, and is in serious disrepair, the outside looks like steptoes yard there are fridges/freezers, rubbish, kids toys, broken furniture you name it, its out there. The family living in there are happy living in the state that its in and have no plans to leave. The owner wont do any maintenance to the property because he feels he doesn't need to, and he doesn't work so probably doesn't have anything other than benefit money which I don't imagine he would want to spend doing the place up when it could get taken off him if the other family members successfully contest the will.

There are only 2 bedrooms and one "living" space habitable in the house so the husband sleeps on the sofa which is directly opposite my living room and spends all day and night in there, he never leaves the house - has his mates round constantly and smokes weed all day and night (which his landlord sells to him)which seeps into my house due to obvious cavity/brickwork leaking problems.

My bedroom is directly above my living room so the shouting and noise I can hear when I go to bed.

I am trying to keep on the good side of them and keep friendly with them because they know I can hear them, I've lightheartedly commented on a few occasions that I heard their discussions about what they were having that night for tea so the woman that lives there knows I can hear them so getting on the wrong side of them could make it a whole lot worse... I have politely said I can hear them shouting and they've just shrugged it off and said well the kids are little bastards that's why I shout at them! - charming.....

I don't want to put anymore money into the house other than getting the windows sorted (I have someone coming out to look at them this week) so don't want to go down the road of having expensive sound proofing etc installed as it isn't always guaranteed to work anyway.

the way I feel at the moment I want to get all the little obvious jobs out of the way so that the damp under the windows is done then put it on the market but the way next door looks I cant see me selling it for anywhere near what I paid for it plus when people come round they will instantly be put off by next doors noise not to mention the state of it.

I have had a word with another resident in the street who knows the family of the house next door, and saw one of the contesters of the will recently who apparently stated "the will shall be blocked for as long as we can and he (current owner) will not be able to sell it for years yet as long as we have anything to do with it"

WWYD - stay and hope that at some point in the next 2 years the will does get released and the property will get sorted, or fix the window problems, wait til the summer and put it on the market and run for the hills? I'm guessing the state of the house next door is going to seriously devalue my property? My friends think I'm mad and that I will lose too much money selling and buying another and that I've put so much hard work and money in the property that I should stick it out but I just don't want to be there anymore..

No point calling council or anyone about the noise as the only ones that can hear them is me so they would know its me that's complained, plus I would have to declare it as a dispute when selling. I just really hate this house now it doesn't feel like home I dread going home! Last night I had to have my TV on that loud in my living room to keep above their noise I swear I've gone a bit deaf today!

Thanks if you have got this far!

Oh God OP, I've been there! My best advice is to try to sort out what you can as cost effectively as you can. You may not be able to conceal the damp as effectively as the previous owners and are likely to take a financial hit. Get a recommended builder out to talk you through the work. Also speak to the surveyor, they may come back to talk you through why they missed the problems and also advise on putting it right.

So there has to be actual documented evidence of problems with the neighbours, someone observing the situation now which obviously is not a recent addition wouldn't be good enough then? I suppose it depends on how good the Lawyer is and whether evidence from other neighbours questioned would be. I do think it's definitely worth speaking to a solicitor though to see where OP stands.
P.s The problems with the actual house though, they'll be no come back possible though. Buyer beware and all that.

Did you only pay for a basic survey? With older properties it's best to pay for the most expensive

I would sit it out. Make the property your dream home. Neighbours will change.

What did you like about the house initially?

Just wanted to add. I have had problems in the past with the old pot smokers too so I sympathise with you. Would it be possible to make sure all the adjoining walls/floorboards are well sealed, well, as much as possible. What about the Environmental Health Department, wonder if it's worth getting in touch with them re the pot and garden mess.

would I really have any comeback on them a year down the line though? Surely they would ask why I didn't bring up the issue sooner and say that this is obviously a recent problem...

Thanks bearbehind I will have a look for that cleaner!

Yes I think you're right it will start alarm bells ringing if I put it on the market now.

I think for my own sanity I am going to have to start wearing headphones to watch tv, earplugs for sleeping and just not be around very often.
I work from home twice a week and the one day this week it was very quiet during the day before the kids got home - I assume the husband/boyfriend whatever he is was asleep all day and the wife was out.

I should probably stop moaning to my other neighbour about them too (they are equally as annoyed about the state of the place but they don't have the noise and smell problems that I do!) I did ask my other neighbour if the previous owner had any problems with the people next to them and she said other than getting annoyed with the cats she never complained about them because she was hardly ever there -worked away a lot apparently. She is still friends with the lady that I bought my house from and when she saw her over xmas she said she really regrets selling the place and wishes she never moved.. hmmm not sure if that's genuine or whether shes trying to cover her own back knowing I've been moaning about the neighbours and the problems in the house!

sorry posted before I saw other replies - Saxons I paid for the full survey because when I went to purchase another house just before this one he was really good and basically told me not to buy it because of all the problems which turned out to be massive problems so I trusted he would do the same for this property. I spoke to the owners just after he had been in to survey it and they said he was very thorough and was there for a few hours.

I think I will get in touch with the env department regarding the mess but probably not for the weed because its only me that can smell it and they have some unsavoury types going round their house during the day and I'd hate for them to then start targeting me/my house/car etc as revenge.

Its mostly my one bedroom that I can smell it in and its coming from the attic aswell - I went up there not so long ago and noticed all the pointing on the chimney breast is crumbling away which is obviously not helping with the smell so I plan to sort that out on a weekend. Not sure where its coming from in the one bedroom though, only thing I can think of is that there is a cavity wall vent which is always open - surveyor actually said I didn't need them anymore as they were for when gas fires were used in the houses which I don't have so I can probably block it up or cover behind with foil or something see if that makes a difference.

Saxons - the ironic part about this is the one thing I actually liked about the house was how quiet it was!! I purposely went to view it on a Saturday afternoon, then a weekday evening around 6 and then again on a weekday afternoon (one of the days I work from home) as I knew these would be the times that I would mostly be in the house and it was very quiet.
We even sat in the living room with no tv and had a cuppa and you couldn't hear a pin drop... most annoying! The other things I liked about the house was that (I thought) I wouldn't need to do any work - everything looked just right and only thing I would need to do was add a few more plug sockets, remove the woodchip from 2 rooms and have them replastered and then just put my own stamp on things but it didn't quite work out so simply... all the other houses in the area were just too outdated, new kitchens needed, new bathrooms needed, new carpets etc etc and this was the only one other than a house down the road which looked good on the surface but had huge underlying problems (I had been looking for well over a year) that ticked most of the boxes

Were you originally planning on living in the property long(ish) term? If so, I would play the long game and sit it out, get a builder out to discuss the damp issue (might need a new/additional gutter to channel the water away), and do up the house internally to your taste. Not sure what you can do regarding the neighbours - Environmental Health sounds like a good start.

When I bought my last house, the row of 6 feet tall Leylandii Conifers along the neighbours boundary looked well maintained. Well, those trees just grew and grew until I was having nightmares about it. Likewise, I discovered that most of the cars parked on the street were not visiting friends and residents cars, but commuters cars there all day, every day. My next door neighbour, although nice, was in the habit of throwing parties every weekend. I lived there fifteen years in all and my next door neighbour moved out, the trees were removed to make way for a new house being built and lastly, restricted parking was established in the street. So.... what I'm saying is that life moves on and things will change. I was worried about whether the Leylandii would be preferable to a new house, but once the house was built, it was actually very nice to have light once more in my kitchen and lounge and the new neighbours very pleasant. When I sold in 2013 (to buy with new partner), the house was lovely and there were no hidden issues or disputes to declare.

Thanks spickle that does sound quite positive... if it were a "normal" setup I would sit it out and hope they would eventually leave I'm just worried that because the family of the house has pretty much said they are going to string it out for years then it will quite literally stay the way it is for many years and if anything get worse..

This was never going to be my long term house it was just a leg up on the ladder, I didn't really plan on being here for more than 5 years but at the moment I'm thinking I don't even want it to be that long.

I met OH just before I bought the house so if that progresses into marriage/children etc then I will need to move anyway..

Of course if you put it on the market quickly it will set alarm bells ringing with potential buyers.

Buyers and surveyors are looking for stuff to ring their alarm bells.

But... we've bought and sold quite a lot and my feeling would be that a move in anything less than two years sets alarm bells ringing anyway so unless you're prepared to wait at least that long...

If you're in the south east or nearish, the market is stable and/or rising so you'll get your money back if you sell quickly.

On more than one occassion, we've simply lost the heart to do a place up and were very open about that with buyers - in a stable market it will not affect the price you achieve - people understand, people are often optimistic and one man's problem is another man's solution and so on.

People tend to see your loss as their potential gain.

People are above all out for themselves - they have egos - and there is always someone who thinks they are better than you and will succeed where you have failed - so let them try!

The reason I say this is we stayed for 5 years in one place we should have left after 2 - we missed the peak of the market, spent loads doing it up and at the end probably only broke even.

It was a load too much work, the neighbours were utter pains - cheating lying buggers and it caused endless arguments and upset for us.

Don't live your life as though you've got forever.

I will always regret the wasted years in that house and the anger at the people there is still quite fresh even though it's coming on 10 years ago.

OP, if you are convinced the neighbours property is only going to deteriorate then get all the issues sorted in your property, don't make any formal complaints about the neighbours, put it on the market and cross your fingers.

Buyers will be put off by the short time you've lived there but you could always say you have to move locations even if they don't believe you. As long as you don't lie about a dispute it is a case of buyer beware.

Given the constant issues you are experiencing with the neighbours, you may well struggle to sell it but there's no harm in trying if it's really that bad.