House is a huge mistake

[Thighsofregret]

By coincidence I decided to post this and saw the thread about house moving fear. Rather than hijack that I’ve written here, because although there are similarities, we ( H and I ) do feel we definitely made a massive mistake in buying this house, in this area.
There are multiple issues including more work and expense than anticipated ( and it’s grade II Listed ) , internecine warfare amongst neighbours on a shared drive - I could go on but in short we feel it’s not the sort of situation that might improve with work and time and money.
We have only been here since May but feel we were definitely played and are in an untenable position.
So my question is, has anyone else been in this situation and what did you do about it? Is it better to cut your losses and sell, or tough it out for a bit? Has anyone lived less than a year in a house, and decided to sell, and was it worth it to feel happier?
I guess writing this I’m answering my own question, because the constant low level of stress caused by feeling unhappy, unsettled and frankly conned is not sustainable; but it would be really helpful if anyone has similar experiences they could share.

We sold a house after just a year as there was more work needed than we had anticipated. However we sold after doing a small amount of work that we thought would add the most value. So we covered all our moving costs and made money.
To be honest if we hadn't at least covered our costs I would have settled there for a few years and made the most of it.

Thank you Gnome - we too are / have made investments , hopefully to add value ( new kitchen having discovered damp had damaged the original ) as well as unexpected ( structural cracks literally papered over ) so we hope we may not actually lose too much. But with brexit who knows?!

Move. It’s not worth it. Your home should be your refuge, not the source of your anxiety. Hopefully you’ll break even but if not just take it as a learning experience and take the hit.

What's the worst thing about it? What can you do to make it feel like a home? I'm not sure I could admit defeat so early, it takes a while to reach a point where you love where you live.

If your vendors failed to disclose an ongoing dispute with neighbours over the drive / access you have considerable redress over this. If the survey failed to see works that needed to be done then you have redress with them too - I’m assuming that as it’s Grade 2 listed you had a full and comprehensive survey done? So get in touch with the solicitor that did the conveyance on your house purchase and see what can be done. Don’t let your house hold you to ransom. The reality is that if you need to spend X to make it your home then that could potentially be an amount you discount your house by if you decide to sell. Good luck

I would plan on selling it given our situation as life is too short to be stressed out from factors beyond your control i.e. warring neighbours.
Yes did a similar thing a good fews years ago. Neighbours one side were absolutely awful and there was just the 2 of them and their dog but the noise was constant when they were home.
I bought and sold(very quickly) again 18months later.
I did totally redecorate and re carpet throughout but still made money on it.

Thanks to everyone for helpful replies. To clarify a few issues.. yes we had full surveys including a structural engineer. However surveyors cannot/ do not uncover coverings, so could not see under wallpaper etc. No redress there. The vendor moved next door and owns the shared drive. It transpires they don’t actually like the rest using it and use subtle bullying tactics to make it uncomfortable. And it seems the owner may be planning to sell the drive to a developer to give access to a planned housing development which would have a huge impact on our property, however we can’t prove this was being discussed when we were buying although we have reason now for strong suspicions. Hence my saying we were played, but I doubt we have legal recourse as the onus of proof rests with us.

We put our flat on the market almost exactly a year after buying it. We knew it was wrong from the first 24hrs (nightmare neighbour). Sold straight away. We made money on it. But this was in 2011 - v different market to now.

A few years later we made another mistake (big move from city to country) and at the beginning I was desperate to sell up straight away. But that time we stuck it out for 4 years as we had to really give it a shot, for various reasons. Eventually we did move on, again covering our costs.

Both situations worked out fine in the end!

That really does sound like a very uncomfortable situation, Thighsof regret. I guess it all comes down to how much you can afford to lose. I know that I have toughed out a few years in pretty dire properties because I couldn't afford to sell and lose money.