Neighbours from hell and house value

[everynamewastaken]

Looking for some advice from people who have been through a similar experience.

We purchased a property in South London 2 years ago. We put our offer in around March 2016...just before the brexit vote and before the stamp duty changes came in and at the time, every house was getting 20 offers all of the asking price. The place we offered on (after bidding on many others and always not bidding quite enough over!) we actually missed out on and were so disappointed because it was immaculate and everything we wanted.

Luckily (or so we thought) the sale fell through apparently because the buyers parents came to view and thought it was too small so gave them more money to try and buy something bigger. Apparently.

So on the disclosure form, the sellers said they had a problem with the neighbours playing music and they had complained to the housing association that owned the property and the police but everything had been resolved a year earlier. We visited a few times and they always asked us to give them notice so they could tidy up and I thought nothing of it because I would say exactly the same.

And when we did visit, they said 'it's basically just like this noise', pausing to stop, and we could hear nothing so we assumed they were just over sensitive.

So it took a while for the sale to go through and we were a bit nervous because of the brexit vote but we had finally found somewhere perfect and we thought hey, even it drops £5k in value, this will be the home we can have our first kids in and that's the main thing (FYI we paid £15k over asking price and one of 25 offers).

So anyway we eventually move in, in July and day one - the neighbours banged on the walls. Literally knocking on them. And this happened every day since and it is now apparent they mental issues and there is absolutely no way this started as we moved in because...it is mental illness. So 2 years on, we have continuously contacted L&Q and gotten nowhere... and we are now considering moving but dread how much money we will lose on the property because of this problem because I personally never lie like those people did to us.

So my query is....do we have any grounds to sue the seller if we can't sell due to this issue? We have evidence showing we contacted L&Q pretty much as soon as we moved in. It's honestly horrendous. Imagine someone banging until 3am in the morning sometimes. It's sometimes quite frightening!!

Any advice welcomed!! Sorry for the long post.

Well you cannot prove there was an issue prior to you moving in. You may be correct, but you cannot prove it. Are you prepared to spend vast sums and have nothing at the end of it? It will never get to court (massive backlogs) so try another route to get the noise stopped.

I would be asking the Council to investigate because this is a statutory nuisance. They have a duty to investigate. They can issue a noise abatement notice. They should work with the housing association to resolve the problem.

It seems that the person banging should not be living in an environment where they can seriously disturb others. That’s what I would try and do. I can see that this is very difficult for everyone but it is a statutory noise and it should be dealt with as its distressing you.

I don't think you'd get far with trying to sue, as where's the proof? They did disclose a neighbour noise dispute. Personally this would have put me off straight away, especially as you say police were involved.

Anyway for your own sanity, move on and sell the house. Can you actually afford to make a loss?

They disclosed a problem but you still bought. With house buying it's caveat emptor - buyer beware!

As a pp suggests, get the environmental health team of your local council involved.
Start now by keeping a detailed diary of all disturbing noise (because they will ask you to do this anyway, so you are getting one step ahead). Time noise started and finished, type of noise etc. Record some of the noise if you can. Hopefully they will eventually set up recording equipment in your house, and the perpetrator will be told to stop, under pain of prosecution.
You should also get in touch with the HA about their tenant, and complain regularly and bitterly (squeaky wheel gets the most grease and all that).
I have had this problem with external noise. This is the process I went through. It took several months but the business was threatened with prosecution, and, hurray, the noise stopped.
Oh, and I also bought a decibel monitor (cheap from Amazon) to back up my claim for loud noise (72 decibels at 4 am is no joke).
You haven't got a hope of suing them, they disclosed the problem. You will get the noise stopped, but it will take time and effort.

Thanks for the advice on how to handle the issue otherwise - all of which we're doing. We feel bad because it's mental illness but the HA really should choose properties that are right for the occupants. L&Q have been terrible - they don't do anything. The previous owner left contact details from when they had THE issue and said how he got it resolved immediately - that gave us a bit of confidence in the system especially as another owner would be another kettle of fish. At least there's a higher authority. And btw, this is an extremely nice area.

To be honest we're not stupid people - we did our due diligence when buying the property. They disclosed on the form precisely that the neighbour had a teenage daughter and 1.5 years ago they had AN issue of loud music which was resolved through discussions with the HA and police. They claimed it had been dealt with and had heard nothing for over a year. So they didn't disclose the fact that the neighbour bangs on the walls (and we have seen the daughter bang her head on the window which is worrying too...) None of this was reported. Note they do not play any music. So thanks for the feedback on that but I think you're missing the point of disclosing... You're not let off because you disclosed something that was a lie. To me, the daughter is a teenager and playing loud music once is a completely solvable thing. Daughter gets told off. Issue resolved. No noise for over a year (all written on the disclosure form) - this is not an issue. We lived in a flat prior with paper thin walls and could hear our upstairs neighbour switch on her lights and she complained to the council about us watching TV at a normal volume on a Sunday afternoon. We ended up watching with subtitles because she knocked on the door every time we watched anything. So...we were fully aware that some people don't understand each neighbour has to be able to live and hence one night of music a year and a half ago sounds fine!! But the fact is they didn't disclose anything about the ongoing issue of banging.

So just as a heads up if you're disclosing - you have to disclose everything. Not just cherry pick. In my opinion anyway.

I thought the regulations state that you have to declare any actual dispute. So, if the previous owner had complained about the banging on walls then you’re correct, you would have a case against them for not disclosing it.

I suspect the previous owner only made a complaint about the music (perhaps hoping that this would tone down all their other annoying behaviours) and deliberately avoided making a complaint about the banging, which is clearly the bigger problem. If they just wanted to pretend there was no problem at all, presumably they would have not disclosed anything. This smacks of them trying to tread a careful line of not pretending everything in the garden was rosy, but equally being careful not to totally jeopardise their chance of selling.

It’s shit for you though. Now that you’ve complained you’re obliged to disclose the problem so as you say, it could affect saleability. In your shoes I think i would try to cut my losses and get out though... there is nothing worse than not being able to relax or sleep in your own home.

Could you sell it as a BTL, as that might be easier?

As awful as it sounds, I'd do what they did and sell on.
Living quietly is worth more than losing money, if you can afford it. The thing is because it's a mental illness there is nothing anyone will do. I know a woman whose child has learning disabilities and makes very loud noises and people have complained about that, but the child cannot help it and it is a disability. Meltdowns as well.
I wouldn't want to live next door but the fact of life is that some people are loud because they are ill. That's the chance you take, as will the next buyers who may be able to cope with it.

You don’t mention anywhere that you’ve talked to the neighbours and discussed what’s happening. Have you done that? Is it the teenage daughter who has a mental health issue?

In reality though, no-one reports a neighbour to the police for "an" issue as you put it, or a single instance. You report to the police when you've run out of options and can't stand it, or it's so severe the police are necessary. I think you were on notice from the form. As a pp says, you don't know / can't prove that the vendors lied. Maybe the daughter was on medication that helped, maybe she was hospitalised for a period. Unless you can find evidence that the vendor was dishonest you can't do anything legally and even if you could how are you going to demonstrate that any perceived loss is down to that issue?

Could you add soundproofing ?