If we are the problem neighbour do we need to declare it when we sell?

[justanotherneighinparadise]

I was just reading about neighbour disputes and what needs to be declared when selling. When researching I found this...

‘If you’ve been unlucky enough to become involved in an actual dispute with Problem Neighbours, this will have to be mentioned on the form that your solicitor sends you – called a Seller’s Property Information Form (or SPIF). What constitutes a dispute is open to interpretation but in general, if you’ve had to contact a neighbour in writing, or complain to the council or another authority about them, then the dispute will have to be declared.’

If another neighbour decided we were the pain and wrote two letters to us about their plan to replace a fence, which we didn’t reply to so zero written communication from us and then they subsequently replaced the fence with no action from us whatsoever. Does this need declaring?

Did they replace and pay for a fence that was your boundary / your responsibility?

Generally the answer here would be 'no'..they wrote about plans to replace a fence but didn't complain about you to anyone, but if they now consider the fence to belong to them even though it is your boundary you might need to explain. Ask your solicitor.

The purpose of this question is to alert a buyer that they might be moving next door to a menace. You don't have to warn them about yourself!

That’s what I thought lol! The boundary was shared. No one owned it on the deeds. He was trying to say it was his and we were not in the mood to argue about it as we’re putting the house on the market soon. It’s a nice fence as it happens and we have no issue with it.

Potentially yes. If it is a shared boundary, and your neighbour is now claiming that he owns it because he paid for a replacement fence. Then this may be a boundary issue which needs to be declared. Or you never read the letters and your neighbour replaced a fence. It's not a huge issue, but might be worth discussing with your solicitor

He just wanted the fence replaced. We didn’t want to deal with him as he’s a spoony fucker, so we let him do it at his cost which he wanted to do all along. So I guess he does now own the fence.

We own the fence on the left as we paid for that instead of our neighbours that side. It’s still a shared boundary we just own the fence.

It doesn’t sound like a dispute? Neighbour wanted to replace fence, you didn’t object, fence was replaced, everyone happy. Ask solicitor but in reality I don’t see it?

I'm not a lawyer but I really don't think it works that way - just because he maintained the fence once doesn't mean he owns it in perpetuity.

I'd say nothing for now as technically there's no dispute, and the new owners can go by whatever is stated on the deeds and work it out from there...

100% would not worry about this. If it’s been done recently then it won’t need doing again for ages, and then the new owners can decide if they care who pays for it.

@justanotherneighinparadise

He just wanted the fence replaced. We didn’t want to deal with him as he’s a spoony fucker, so we let him do it at his cost which he wanted to do all along. So I guess he does now own the fence.

We own the fence on the left as we paid for that instead of our neighbours that side. It’s still a shared boundary we just own the fence.

Yes, in which case that's not an issue. He owns the fence, as long as he is not trying to claim that he owns the boundary