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Original poster

Selling our house but have to disclose neighbour dispute

84 replies

Pegs11 · 22/06/2022 18:55

Hi, we are selling our house and we’ve just accepted an offer… unfortunately on the solicitors forms, legally, we will have to disclose a dispute we had with our neighbours over noise (they kept having loud parties) and which went to the council (they are social housing tenants) and then to mediation. This was three years ago and it was resolved and we haven’t had any cause to complain since then. Still, I’m concerned that when our buyer sees it on the form, she might be put off. It’s making me very anxious. Just wondered what people’s thoughts are.

OP posts:

RollerCoaster2020 · 27/03/2023 11:50

It's worth doing a bit of research on some solicitor and government websites. https://www.taylorfordyce.co.uk/site/blog/blogs/disclosing-neighbour-disputes-when-selling-a-property

https://www.taylorfordyce.co.uk/site/blog/blogs/disclosing-neighbour-disputes-when-selling-a-property

Viviennemary · 27/03/2023 11:53

I wouldn't take the risk buying the house. It' a shame and the reason why people are reluctant to report nuisance neighbours.

Echobelly · 27/03/2023 12:00

You've just got to disclose, the summary saying it has been resolved some time ago is the best you can do.

We had an issue in our last place with the freeholders who were neighbours and had basically unreasonably prevented us from carrying out some building work and had a big falling out. In the end we paid up their legal fees (that annoyingly they were probably entitled to charge us for all the distress they caused us) before going to market to get that off the table and, at solicitor's advice, phrased the whole thing as if it was totally our mistake and we'd gone about things the wrong way etc.

Ironically the guy who bought it from us was a property developer and in the end did a tonne of building work to the property that the freeholders presumably pushed back against and hated (there was definitely some conflict) but he would have the experience to deal with them, so I think it was a nice bit of karma there.

Change2banon · 27/03/2023 12:02

Pegs11 · 23/06/2022 20:49

@WallaceinAnderland I know it’s not easy for landlords particularly at the moment when things are very heavily weighted in favour of tenants. But it’s something we can at least put on the table as being something to explore, which I didn’t even think would be a possibility for us. It so happens that we are good friends with our former landlady, who owns several properties and has been in the BTL market for donkey’s years. So for a start we’re going to get the lowdown from her, see what tips and advice she might have. We certainly wouldn’t rush into it lightly.

Our estate agent is encouraging us to tell our BTL offeror about the dispute straight up. He is familiar with this investor and thinks he probably won’t be overly concerned, so I think it might be worth letting him know now, and getting it cleared up at an early stage. The fella will either consider it a problem or he won’t, and the sooner we know, the better. Maybe he will use it as leverage to come back with a reduced offer, but provided his offer doesn’t drop massively, it will be worth it for the peace of mind. I just want as much certainty as possible really. This thing is really weighing on my mind.

If I’d known that raising a formal complaint about our neighbours could create such problems down the line when it comes to selling, perhaps I would have thought twice about complaining. Then again, I’m not sure I could have just put up with what they were doing… it was very, very, VERY stressful. And we weren’t in a position back then to be able to move anywhere else.

If your EA is encouraging you to tell the BTL person, then why not also just tell the lady you’ve accepted from too? …. Surely, just get in touch with her now and see what she wants to do?

Acrylicpainter · 27/03/2023 12:03

All you can do is be honest and hope for the best.

Pettypettyneighbour · 27/03/2023 12:34

@Pegs11 thanks for the update (and sorry for bringing a dead thread back to life).

Did you drop much? We looked at the we buy any house options but we're looking at a 25% drop. Maybe a 10/15% drop would be sufficient?

I'm glad things went well for you! It's reassuring to me that it can be for me!

Greenfairydust · 27/03/2023 13:18

You need to declare it because there is an official record of it with the council and the buyers could sue you if they find out you lied on the paperwork.

I would say this would put me off though.

When I was viewing houses with tenants still living in I always checked with them what the neighbours were like.

One tenant told me the woman next door used to have parties and that she had to get the Council involved and that the noise stopped after that. Another tenant told me that the people next door used to have noisy kids but that the noise had stopped for the past year after she complained.

I must say in both cases it did put me off. Because when you buy somewhere there is never any guarantee that new people won't move in next week and turn out to be a nightmare, but at least you can avoid moving in somewhere where you know that there is an historical issue with noise nuisance.

I know it is not what you want to hear but it will put some people off no doubt so I would be upfront about it from the start.

Original poster

Pegs11 · 27/03/2023 13:42

@Pettypettyneighbour we accepted an revised offer that was around 8 per cent below their original offer.

I should point out that the drop in offer actually wasn’t anything to do with the neighbour dispute. But we didn’t want to lose our buyer and have to start from scratch so we accepted the lower offer.

25 per cent sounds like a huge drop, I know the market has changed a bit recently but that sounds ridiculously low. I’d recommend getting a property valuation from at least three different estate agents. Most houses are still selling at a very good price and if you market your house now you may still get near or even over asking price, depending on how popular an area you live in. Starting at a low price might be jumping the gun a bit.

However, it’s not my place to advise you on what you should accept. You need to decide what’s best in your particular circumstances. Such as how desperate you are to move, and how urgently. You might decide to market at full price and only consider dropping the price if buyers pull out when they learn of the dispute.

We disclosed the dispute immediately upon accepting an offer, as we didn’t want to wait until well into the process and risk our buyer pulling out at a late stage, that would have been pretty disastrous. I do recommend taking independent legal advice (from a solicitor with specific experience in handling neighbour disputes). Good luck.