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Original poster

Our buyers saying we didn't disclose neighbours.

263 replies

ihateconfrontation · 10/08/2020 19:12

So we sold our house and exchanged and completed a few weeks ago.
Moving as we had to move area for work.
On solicitors forms it asked if we had any neighbourhood disputes, we answered no, which was true.
We were one of the middle houses in a terrace. One side had 4 teenage boys and parents and the other side is a multi occupancy let.
Both properties had noise coming from them which was to be expected, multi occupancy house had people smoking outside and chatting in normal volume voices until maybe 10pm, other side the teenage boys bickered occasionally and slammed doors when in a strop.
Both houses played music, but never past 10pm and not loud, just at music listening volume!
I've got noisy pre schoolers, so guessed that we made noise of our own.
Anyway, our buyers ended up with my email address and we've been getting constant emails saying we should have disclosed the neighbours and how loud they were on solicitors forms.
They are threatening to sue us and say that the noise is at an unacceptable level and I should have told them.
I feel awful as they've spend half a million pounds on a property that they clearly aren't happy in, but we lived there happily for 6 years and classed it just as neighbour noise.
What can I do? Can they sue?

OP posts:
Zilla1 · 10/08/2020 20:12

As PPs have said, please refer to your solicitors rather than make any representations or statements on which your buyers could rely.

If in England, I understand there is a difference between neighbour disputes and 'run of the mill' neighbour noise.

It would normally be incumbent on the buyer to ask and do their own research and satisfy themselves about neighbour noise. I presume they didn't ask during the buying process?

I suspect a cynical fishing exercise.

Hope you're happy in your new home and good luck.

BuffaloCauliflower · 10/08/2020 20:13

@ivfdreaming renters have no respect? How fucking judgemental! Did you mean to be so rude about a massive group of the population? Clearly all of us who’ve not been able to buy yet are neighbour terrorising scum.

OP Im with you, that sort of noise wouldn’t bother me either, I’d chalk it up as normal living noise. Agree with others to contact your solicitor, say they’re harassing you and you didn’t disclose any disputes because there were none to disclose, and let the solicitor contact them.

Yellow1793 · 10/08/2020 20:17

We sold our house last year. The neighbour was a complete nightmare and one of the reasons we moved (and, we suspect, the reason the owner before us moved). The police were involved on more than one occasion as were the local council. The advice our solicitor and the estate agent gave us is that we only had to disclose current ongoing issues that had formally been reported (as they will come up in searches). As we had decided to move about 2 years before moving, we chose to ignore the antisocial behaviour. So on the form you have to fill in we wrote ‘there were previously problems with x and y, these have now been resolved’. They haven’t got a case for suing you - it would be like complaining about chickens next door because they don’t like the noise they make, but it never bothered you, so you didn’t mention it.

helpfulperson · 10/08/2020 20:22

They have totally no comeback but if I'd spent half a million on a property I would expect not be able to see my neighbours never mind hear them. Different worlds.

Devlesko · 10/08/2020 20:22

If you've already paid the solicitor just block them and see if they do anything.
If you haven't paid the bill yet, ask your solicitor.

ruabon · 10/08/2020 20:24

Reply that any correspondence in future must be via your solicitor. I expect that could be the end of the matter.

I'd be upset in their shoes but what seems like an idle threat is not acceptable.

intheningnangnong · 10/08/2020 20:26

I think legally you should have declared the dispute when you called the police

You think wrong. It wasn’t a dispute.

MNX42 · 10/08/2020 20:26

Can't believe people are surprised a terrace could cost 500K. Number 10 Downing Street is a terrace!

Anyway, they have no grounds to sue as there were no neighbour disputes.

Pillypocket666 · 10/08/2020 20:29

Absolutely nothing of what you've detailed is anything other than living noise. You have nothing to worry about. Why on earth did they buy a terraced house?

Mintychoc1 · 10/08/2020 20:31

They have no chance. Technically the neighbours could have started being noisy after you left. There’s no proof they were noisy before.

cultkid · 10/08/2020 20:32

Out of interest

If you've texted neighbours in the past about the fact they are unreasonable...

But haven't written a letter

Does that make it a dispute?

Or heated words on the drive way?

I didn't know this was asked as I've never bought a house but my husband bought this house before I met him. We are thinking of moving.

bumblingbovine49 · 10/08/2020 20:36

Some people cant bear neighbour noise. Some have a higher tolerance for it. You can't sue people for being more tolerant about noise than you are !!

I .always astonished at the attitude on here to what I consider normal noise from neighbours ( talking, walking up and down stairs , starting the car togo to work in the morning , the odd arguments. Music up until about 10/11pm,.trampolines, children playing in the garden etc), I wouldn't consider these an issue at all. If buyers consider this a problem, they need to ask.more specific questions than whether you had any disputes

I also think that if you have 500,00k to spend on a house and you can't bear any neighbour noise at all, then you need not to buy a terrace ( or even a semi detached if you are that bothered i) even of it means choosing a cheaper area.

MeridianB · 10/08/2020 20:36

@Tappering

I would respond and say that you did not have any issues with the neighbours' noise as it didn't bother you - therefore there were no disputes to report and the form was answered correctly. Finish by saying that you will not be responding to any further emails - then block them.

If they have an issue then they will need to contact the solicitor who handled their property purchase, and get them to write to yours - who will presumably respond in the same vein and tell them that they don't have a leg to stand on.

Totally agree with his.

You have the right of it, OP.

Beautiful3 · 10/08/2020 20:42

I filled in a form that asked if there were any neighbour disputes, on our last house. I asked what it meant. The solicitors secretary said it's any formal complaint about a neighbout via solicitor, their landlord or the council. I wouldn't disclose anything about the couple that have since moved away. Just explain that the neighbours have never bothered you and no complaints have been made. Perhaps due to lock down they've been at home more and making more noise?

Skyliner001 · 10/08/2020 20:42

@Tappering

I would respond and say that you did not have any issues with the neighbours' noise as it didn't bother you - therefore there were no disputes to report and the form was answered correctly. Finish by saying that you will not be responding to any further emails - then block them.

If they have an issue then they will need to contact the solicitor who handled their property purchase, and get them to write to yours - who will presumably respond in the same vein and tell them that they don't have a leg to stand on.

Would agree with this kind of email, although I wouldn't say you didn't have a problem with the neighbours noise. Just say that you didn't have a problem with the neighbours. By mentioning noise you are suggesting that they were noisy when you were there. I wouldn't leave any type of paper trail…
ballsdeep · 10/08/2020 20:46

I wouldn't have said anything either. I thought you'd only have to disclose of police were called? The thing is, one person's annoyance could be someone else enjoyment.
Loads of people love hearing kids playing in the garden. To some it sets their teeth on edge. Block them

Bigpaintinglittlepainting · 10/08/2020 20:47

Nope just ignore

I am buying at the moment and I am super sensitive to neighbour noise. I looked in next door neighbours gardens, drove down streets asked questions and if you had said it was a Moh next door I would have gone on to the next house.

MrsNoah2020 · 10/08/2020 20:50

Can't believe people are surprised a terrace could cost 500K. Number 10 Downing Street is a terrace

You get this on every MN thread about property. It's really tedious. Yes, property prizes are high in the South-East. Get over it.

MrsNoah2020 · 10/08/2020 20:53

Your buyers are just grifters, OP. People will try anything on. Some friends of ours sold to a buyer who threatened to sue when the house flooded, even though it was undisputed that the house had never flooded before Hmm

lyralalala · 10/08/2020 20:55

@Viviennemary

I think legally you should have declared the dispute when you called the police.
Why? The people she called the police about don't live there anymore
Shizzlestix · 10/08/2020 20:57

Don’t respond. Ask your solicitor to specify that there were no disputes, They were told it was an HMO next door, presumably? They have no grounds for complaint when there were no disputes. You have no need to mention the couple rowing who subsequently moved, it is irrelevant.

Original poster
ihateconfrontation · 10/08/2020 20:59

The house was in a Bath postcode.
Townhouses there are also ridiculously expensive!
Buyer has now emailed saying she's contacting the council and if there's record of me ever complaining re the noise then there will be a problem.
I've ignored.
I did send one initial reply saying "we have never heard any excessive noise or reported any noise" which is true.
Basically her reply said along the lines of "the noise is unbearable all day, every day. You must have heard loud music and doors slamming in particular and purposely did not disclose this to us"

OP posts:
Original poster
ihateconfrontation · 10/08/2020 21:03

And I'm not entirely sure if the house next door is classed as a HMO. It was a house to let, and it's always been let by young professionals as a group of friends.
Then one will leave, and someone else moves in etc.
It's only a 4 bed, so not like an 8 bed student house type thing.

OP posts:
howfarwevecome · 10/08/2020 21:03

Perhaps lockdown has changed the noise dynamic?

PoetaDeLosSandwiches · 10/08/2020 21:07

Why is she emailing you to say she is going to contact the council? She sounds batshit. You are right to ignore her.

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