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Potential nightmare neighbour

29 replies

WhataPickle2024 · 14/08/2024 10:18

Any advice would be appreciated. We've just bought and moved into our first home - lovely area, lovely neighbours, quiet and safe. The purchase took 7 months, but it was worth the wait. We've been here for 4 months. We've spent quite a lot on doing up the house, so we currently have little in the way of savings.

We're in a row of semi-detached houses. Our next door neighbour owns but rents her house out - the tenants were a lovely family, but they were told to leave a month ago, as she was selling the property.

We have just found out that she's not selling after all, but is letting the house out to her sister. Her sister previously rented the house for a few years, but was eventually evicted for non-payment of rent.

Neighbours have told us she was utter chaos - a drug addict who had dealers visiting the house at all hours, she had stolen bikes delivered to her at night to 'clean up' and resell, she had a floodlight installed for her to work on the bikes at night so all neighbours had to have blackout blinds, she trashed the inside of the house and left rubbish heaped up outside, her child was taken away by social services, she was aggressive and violent and played music as loud as she could due to neighbour complaints. The authorities did little and advised there wasn't much they could do if the landlord didn't want to evict (neighbours had decibel meters etc), she had warnings but did nothing to comply. The police did nothing as there was no clear evidence of any criminal activity.

The fact that she was only evicted due to not paying her sister rent shows the owner doesn't really care about her effect on the neighbourhood.

The people who lived in our house (before the sellers we bought from) tried to leave and sell as they couldn't cope, but noone wanted to buy as they had to disclose the disputes - the tenant would shout obscenities over the fence when potential buyers were being shown round. They eventually moved into alternative accommodation until they were able to sell at a much reduced price.

She's moving in imminently, we assume as she's been evicted from her current accommodation. Our bubble has burst and we're really worried for the future. Is there anything we can do, other than plan to document everything and hopefully get enough evidence to have her evicted - can we even do that if the owner doesn't care? Do we have any rights? Should our sellers have disclosed this (as it would have been disclosed to them when they bought) even though the tenant wasn't there while they were here?

We couldn't afford to move due to stamp duty, and who would buy when we haven't even been here 6 months? We'd have to disclose why we want to move.

Help!

OP posts:
HeyThere111 · 18/08/2024 22:04

You can't ever control your neighbours. Knowing there has been an issue with the woman before could be in your favour. You can document everything from day 1 instead of giving benefit of the doubt.

Try not to worry about what hasn't happened yet. See how it plays out and remember why you loved your new home.

Catza · 20/08/2024 13:11

You know.. I would try not to worry ahead of time. We moved to our current house 10 months ago. I work from home so I am always around and, naturally, I got friendly with our next door neighbours. They were lovely people to chat to over the fence, never heard a pip from them, they often gave us treats for our dog. Everything was very nice.
They sold their house two months ago. As soon as they moved, other neighbours came out of the woodwork telling me how horrible they were, how dirty the house was, the arguments they had with them about the noise, the fact they never walked their dog, were animal hoarders etc etc.
Yes, I have seen inside their house as the new owners showed me. It was dirty and had to be gutted. But I have never been in the house before and wasn't remotely affected by it. They were always nice to me as I was nice to them. I can't say a bad word about them. I accept that people who lived here longer than us have their own history with them and I don't doubt they may have been difficult to others. It's just that I never experienced it myself.
So my advice would be to have an open mind and assume the best about her. Be friendly and courteous and things might just be OK.

scottishGirl · 20/08/2024 17:25

I would like to hope that the sister/landlord wouldn't allow her to move back in if she/the tenant hasnt been able to make any positive changes in her life. Maybe also the tenant will want to prove to the neighbours that she has changed? Fingers crossed for you

Cjamat · 20/08/2024 20:27

Onehotday · 14/08/2024 10:22

You bought the house, at a reduced price knowing it has a history of that tennant and that her sister still owned the house so there was a likelihood she could come back? YABU.

That’s like the opposite of what the post says

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