What constitutes a "dispute" with a neighbour when trying to sell a house?

[Tootingbec]

We are about to put our house on the market and now panicking that we have to declare a dispute with a neighbour on the sales info form (or whatever it is called!).

We sent a rather ill judged letter plus surveyors report before xmas to a neighbour telling him that some bushes were not in his front garden (as he thinks) but are in fact in a sort of no mans land/right of way leading to our house. We wanted to chop them down to make the entrance to our house more attractive to potential buyers. We have been having a circular informal convo about these bloody bushes for 12 months now with this neighbour (we say they are not on his land, he says they are)

I think we finally snapped and said that unless he got an alternative view from his own surveyor, we were going to cut the bushes down. Got letter back saying in essence "I don't agree with what you or the surveyor report says, don't intend to get a surveyor and please go away".

We didn't cut anything back/down as we immediately regretted going nuclear with a letter (for many reasons).

But now panicking like mad that this is something we have to declare and it will put off potential buyers. As it was about bushes on a piece of no mans land/right of way to our house, does this still count as a neighbour dispute? We don't own the right of way - it is just an extension of the road way. There is no dispute about the boundaries between our two properties (if that makes sense?)

Help!

What type of bushes are they? Are they likely to be home to birds/animals etc?

Just bog standard evergreen bushes as far as I can tell. Would that make a difference?

Just bumping your question as I'm not a solicitor and don't know the answer, but i'd hope that it's a good thing your neighbour didn't respond. Maybe this is just a letter he ignored. He ignored it and you let it go, so fingers crossed not a ''dispute''.

Curious to know and hope a solicitor or estate agent can answer this.

surely you dont have to declare anything unless the police have been called?

I think you would have to declare this. It's a documented dispute, there's no other way to describe it.

I wouldn't declare that. That said, I think you were wrong to go in all guns blazing like that, unless you have solid proof that they really are in a no man's land area. Do you?

@Sonex

surely you dont have to declare anything unless the police have been called?

A dispute doesn't have to have a criminal element, it could be something as mundane as overhanging trees causing an issue, or confusion over a boundary. I think once it's officially documented, it develops from a disagreement between neighbours to a dispute.

Um yes - you need to declare it. You instructed a surveyor and wrote a letter to solve a dispute.

Hopefully your buyer will sensibly realize it's not a major issue at all.

If you don't declare it, and then it becomes a bone of contention for the new owners as well, then you lay yourself open to future legal action. I would not take the risk - there is written evidence so if you do not declare it then you are essentially lying.
Can you ask your solicitor? They will know best.

If it makes you feel any better, I know someone who sold a flat where there had been lengthy and numerous court cases between them and their neighbours about maintenance disputes, and they still managed to sell it for a good price. They did obv disclose it all, I believe at first viewing so as not to waste their time with anyone who would be scared off by it.

Hi. We bought a house where the sellers didn't declare a much more serious dispute than that. When I spoke with a solicitor they said there wasn't really anything we could do unless we had it in writing from them that they deliberately tries to mislead us. We then sold with the dispute not resolved. We did declare it but the buyers didn't care (highly sought after area). I really wouldn't worry about that minor dispute. I'd either consider it resolved or you could have a word with him apologise and consider it resolved.

Yes we definitely know that the piece of land is a right of way - the debate is whether a bit of our neighbours front garden is actually right of way and not his garden. Land registry documents plus the survey we had makes it as clear as it can be (these things never 100%!) that the bushes are on the right of way.

But yes, we very much regret sending the letter - not sure what came over us except we have been tip toeing around him and other neighbours ever since we moved in a couple of years about things like parking and access and I think because we had paid to get a surveyor to do a report, we thought "fuck it".

Thanks for the advice - and I think the best thing to do is to talk to our solicitor and get their advice about how best to word it on the declaration. Have no intention of not mentioning it. We had already sent a few more informal letters to the neighbour (no reports, no ultimatums) about a year ago so I think it was already a "dispute" the moment we put pen to paper!

It can be a right of way OVER his garden. Rights of way is the right over a piece of land. It doesn’t describe the ownership. A footpath is a right of way. A farmer might own the lend k Over which the footpath crosses. Therefore both you and neighbour could be right.

As for the bushes. You should have deeds that says you can use the right of way. It’s perfectly reasonable to turn expect the land owner to enable you do do that. However if it’s a massive deal to him, you might be best to leave it alone.

I would say that as you have not instructed a solicitor or asked any statutory body to intervene, you don’t have a dispute. You had differing points of view. I would say nothing personally. It simply hadn’t escalated to legal arguments or investigations by the local authority. The view of a surveyor isn’t a dispute and neither is your letter. If was merely a request. You haven’t responded so that’s that.

I would ask your solicitors advice but my understanding is as long as it didn't become official (was just between you and the neighbour) you don't have to report it.

I'm certainly not reporting a dispute I had with my upstairs neighbour a few months ago when he let water from his shower repeatedly drip into our flat and damage the ceiling a few months ago. The problem has been resolved and no one would buy my flat if they knew what an arsehold the above neighbour is.

The most confusing piece about this is that you don’t own the land so you can’t cut the bushes. Boundary disputes are messy and ugly and I’m baffled that you would do that immediately before putting the house on the market. You are doing to need to disclose, because if you don’t and it comes out later you leave yourself vulnerable.

Surely the boundary/access issue will come up when searches are done? I would say that's more important than whether or not you chop some bushes down.

I don’t believe they need to say anything. @Policyschmolicy
Please read what I wrote above. A right of way is OVER land that someone else might own. Of course it’s reasonable to expect to be able to use the right of way without bushes in the way. However land owners often wish to protect privacy and don’t comply with a reasonable point of view. This is not a dispute from a legal position. It’s an exchange of views.

What was the outcome ? , am I right in saying if it was not a official complaint or police involved it not a dispute ?

I think you will find that your solicitor will require you to declare it.

It really is best not to have anything in writing regarding complaints etc prior to a property sale. But the crux of it is that the matter you instructed a surveyor upon and then sent letters over is actually a small point to others potentially. They may well not care less about the bushes.

I am getting harassment from my neighbours they have already been warned by the Police but continue to cause us problems. The wife has lied to her husband that I have threatened and intimidated her( which I haven’t) the Police are involved. We want to sell up we have had enough but we know we have declare this in the sale particulars we are fearful our house will prove to be unsaleable due to our neighbours harassment of us. What can we do to sell up

Discuss with your solicitor how to word the reply.