selling house with neighbour disputes

[wantingeasylife]

Hi, could anyone give their personal stories on selling a house with neighbour disputes please?

I have lived next door to my twatty neighbours for several years. Their behaviour towards me have escalated and police have been involved with a trial coming up. The neighbours are still continuing to harass me and the police are unwilling to do anything.

I want to move but who would want to buy my house as I would need to declare this! Could people please tell me what they did if they were in a similar position as me. TIA

I bought a house with a dispute with the neighbors and was willing to take my vendor at her word that it was a huge personality clash and it was 6 and two 3s in terms of winding each other up/being inconsiderate.
She’s been absolutely fine since we moved in and is actually quite a nice considerate person.

I think he really honest with people - some people might not care but expect it to be reflected in the price if they are absolute nightmares.

We had a nightmare neighbour who destroyed the supporting bank to our garden, and did the same to our farmer neighbour. We joined forces with solicitors letters and he involved the police, saying we were harassing him!!!!! In the end the council stepped in and he had to get planning permission for a retaining wall, which was subsequently built We disclosed all of this when we sold, saying the dispute had been resolved, and it didn't hold up the sale at all.

We had a dispute with a relative staying with our neighbour, unfortunately he was abusive towards our neighbour too, very horrible person in general and physically violent too. We were completely honest with our buyer, especially as she was a single young woman. Turns out she was a police woman, and said if he tried anything he'd soon learn his lesson! Happy ending for all :D

I've just sold mine. My neighbour is a crank who can't bear the slightest noise. Think closing the wardrobe door, or having the extractor fan on whilst showering. After 9 years of her harassment over normal household noise from a semi detached neighbour I reported her to the police for harassment. Police warned her to stay away and not to complain to me and use correct channels if genuine issue. Haven't heard a peep from her in 5 years now. We have carried on with our lives exactly as before. We hear her dog bark, her regular visitor who laughs just like Jimmy Carr, their car alarm that beeps multiple times a night... we don't say a bloody word as you expect that in semi detached houses!
Anyway, I told the people who viewed when they asked. They offered anyway. I've just had the forms through from solicitors and they don't even ask about disputes unless over property. A dispute between people over noise is not a dispute over property, so I've ticked no. But regardless the buyers are aware.

Thank you for sharing your experiences, they do give me some hope :)

The neighbours have thrown verbal abuse at me, threatening behaviour, cameras filiming my garden and the front of my house, and now they are going to block the shared path between our houses which is detrimental to how I access my home. They are basically trying to drive me out of my own home.

Just really sad as this is my first home and it has come to this. The plan was always to move after 5+ years but I did not think I would leave on a bad note.

Won’t the police do anything about the cameras? They can’t film your back garden it’s a private space.

The camera is not cctv, it is one of those portable gopro? cameras perched on a tripod in their bedroom - not sure of that makes a difference.

The first time the camera was pointing directly into my garden. I called the police and told the neighbours to take them down. A few days later the camera was back up but pointing into their own garden. I called the police again who said as the camera was pointing into their own garden that is apparently fine despite the wide angle of the lens capturing my garden.

@wantingeasylife Whats happened since? I can’t believe it but what you’re describing is what we are experiencing.

Our neighbours moved in in October they’re horrendous humans (and she’s a paediatrician! How?!). They drill and hammer til 2 am, cameras pointing into our garden, pouring dirty water into our property from their windows, and generally being aggressive and awful. We just try and keep quiet and hope they leave us alone but so far they haven’t. We have a baby girl who was 4 months when they moved in. It’s awful how they’ve affected her life. We’re at our wits end and want to move but we are worried about the issues we’ve had.

You definitely need to disclose the dispute but whether it will put the buyers off is anyones guess.
My friend had a dispute with a neighbour over noise a few years ago and it did put one person off but they got the price they wanted in the end.

Hi @Calypso45 . I am sorry to hear about your situation especially with a baby which should be a wonderful time for you. I am currently living in the same house with plans to move within 2 years. Hopefully nothing happens in the meantime! The advice I got from an estate agent was that as long as the dispute is not related to the property, such as boundaries, I should be able to sell my house fine but I would still need to declare the disputes as there has been police involvement. When I have the means to move, I will find out from a property solicitor exactly what it is I need to declare.

It has been a long game with my neighbours and my situation has improved a lot, still some minor harassment which I ignore. My neighbour's camera is still filming my garden. I got advice from a solicitor and ultimately I need proof they are recording me, as they can claim the cameras are not on, its not pointed on my property etc. I don't let their camera bother me now as I don't have the head space for idiots anymore plus I have my own cctv for my own peace of mind :) It has taken me a while to reach this view point as I used to feel at my wits end on what to do next, it was very bleak at the time.

If you can avoid reporting your neighbours to the police/council then you don't need to declare the disputes when selling from what I have read, and I would move asap before the situation worsens. If you have gone past that stage as I have then you will need to declare the issues, but check with a solictor. If you have not already done so and plan to stay in your house for a while before moving, install cctv/record noise for your own protection and proof of what is happening if you ever need to go to the police. Awful people soon pipe down once they realise they are being recorded.

Remarkably, the EA is correct. The requirement to declare neighbour disputes stems from property law - it presumes the disputes are about boundaries, nuisance, noise, drainage, maintenance, access, obscuring light - that sort of thing. These all affect the buyer's valuation as it impacts on the peaceful enjoyment of the property.

Disputes between people about any other matters do not have to be declared - even if those people happen to be neighbours. There is no legal requirement to disclose details of your personal affairs or anything related to your civil rights ... only property rights.

Think about it ... what if the reason for calling the police was because of an attempted assault? Or relating to an unpaid debt? Is it really conscionable for that to be a mandatory disclosure during a property conveyance? That would be a gross betrayal of privacy and no court would find against a seller who kept that information confidential.

The forms conveyancers send may ask explicit questions that go beyond any legal duty you owe prospective buyers - and in this case it is important that you do not lie, because that can be used to show bad faith on your part. However, you do not have a duty to provide that information, and can leave it blank or write something vague and non-committal. If an issue is a matter of public record, they can find it themselves, and if it is not, they'll never find out anyway. They may eventually hear about it from the neighbour themselves, but that would be hearsay and wouldn't be admissible as evidence of your conduct (unless you've been asked explicitly, and lied about it ... but in that scenario it's not the neighbour who's being a twat ... it's you)

Thanks for your message @wantingeasylife. It is baffling how people don’t want to be good neighbours, it just makes everyone’s life easier if everyone is civil and respectful.

We have had to report them for some of the things they have done so will have to declare it officially anyway.

I hope your situation continues to improve. The cameras are very difficult to prove. Does it have a light on it even a little red one at night? Could you film it on your iPhone?

@Mark19735 i may be wrong but I think they changed the law in 2020 so that you do have to declare on the property forms.

Does anyone have any tips on proving your neighbours are being noisy at night? Just aware that it’s my word against theirs. (Maybe this is another thread?)

@Calypso45 We have photos/video of the camera, it is not hard to miss! The police said that we would know if I was being filmed as there is a red light. On the other hand, the solicitor said that is crap advice as the neighbours can cover up the light. I have some evidence that they are definitely using the cameras to watch me due to their wacky behaviour, it is just as case of building up that pattern and making sure that evidence is strong and not get fobbed off by the police.

I not sure what the best device would be to record noise but something that measures the noise in decibels - I believe you can download apps such as sound meter on your phone to do that. Also try citizen's advice or your local council and they may provide a device for you to use. Good luck!

@Calypso45 We have photos/video of the camera, it is not hard to miss! The police said that we would know if I was being filmed as there is a red light. On the other hand, the solicitor said that is crap advice as the neighbours can cover up the light. I have some evidence that they are definitely using the cameras to watch me due to their wacky behaviour, it is just as case of building up that pattern and making sure that evidence is strong and not get fobbed off by the police.

I not sure what the best device would be to record noise but something that measures the noise in decibels - I believe you can download apps such as sound meter on your phone to do that. Also try citizen's advice or your local council and they may provide a device for you to use. Good luck!

@Calypso45 We have photos/video of the camera, it is not hard to miss! The police said that we would know if I was being filmed as there is a red light. On the other hand, the solicitor said that is crap advice as the neighbours can cover up the light. I have some evidence that they are definitely using the cameras to watch me due to their wacky behaviour, it is just as case of building up that pattern and making sure that evidence is strong and not get fobbed off by the police.

I not sure what the best device would be to record noise but something that measures the noise in decibels - I believe you can download apps such as sound meter on your phone to do that. Also try citizen's advice or your local council and they may provide a device for you to use. Good luck!

I would be tempted to sunbathe nude in the view of the camera. It isn't a pretty sight...

We took photos of our neighbour's video camera filming into our property with the red light on to prove the filming was happening. Didn't go to the police though as we were concerned that if we reported it we would have to declare it on sale and no-one would want to live next door to a voyeuristic neighbour! However, we kept the pictures in case we decide to make an issue out of it in the future. So look out for the red light, maybe at dawn or dusk when it is easier to see it and photograph it then on zoom so you get a good picture as well as zooming out to show the location of the camera in relation to your property.

Oh and I made a big show of photographing their camera so it would be seen on their video footage and the camera came down shortly after that.