Would you sell what you thought was a forever home because of bad neighbours?

[MN2025]

Just the above really!

We moved into what we thought was our forever home in January 2025 - In the 14 months that we have been here we have spent over 150k on renovating it to how we want it!

anyways, the property next door went up for sale last summer and the new owners moved in back in late November.

Since they moved in, we’ve had none stop hassle - constant late night parties till 4/5am mid week, dumping rubbish outside causing rats to come in to my garden….
They also often have visitors who block my drive so I can’t get in and out!

We have approached them and they have become verbally aggressive to the point we had to call the police!

We really don’t want to move - we’ve made this our dream home but I cannot face living next to this…

Unless you are lucky enough to have a house with land , you will probably have a neighbour and we can never really predict what a new one may be like but personally I couldn’t stop in a house if neighbours were that bad, dream home or not, it’s not likely things are going to improve

Move, as you've renovated you can just cite that as your reason, even if you have to declare calling the police it will still look legitimate that you just brought the house to do up and make money on.

We moved from a home we’d renovated and extended and which we really loved due to an abusive, aggressive and unreasonable neighbour (who was lovely until we nicely asked that his child didn’t randomly throw screwdrivers and hammers over the fence into our garden while our children were playing there).
After that we faced abuse and threats whenever he saw us and we had our home and car vandalised. I even caught him in our back garden once when he thought no one was home.

We moved to a cul de sac where everyone was really nice and it was a great place to live, such a relief after the problems we’d had. We’ve since moved again, just a few months ago, and now live on a private road of three houses. Neighbours on one side, whose drive is next to ours, are lovely. The ones on the other side go out of their way not to speak.

Yes we did but ended up in a much better home and area. It was horrific at the time and selling was hard but glad we did

Yes I would. Sickening I know but I wouldn't subject myself to that long term.

I'd sell. Ideally to a hard faced drug dealer

I did. I met someone else in the same position and stayed and stood her ground. She is still there! 10 years later - I am so glad I cut my losses - total instant relief and we never looked back.

We did. Moved away from neighbours with dogs that often barked at 2 or 3am for a half hour at a time! They had 3 dogs and the people who bought our house also had 3 dogs... I am sure they were very happy together :D

Apparently they physically have to hit us first
They’ve been given a warning
It made no difference

If I had spent £150k… no I wouldn’t move, I would go tit for tat with them. I grew up in a shithole and we had our fair share of horrible neighbours so I’m well versed in neighbour warfare. It’s not ideal, and if you have the finances and you’re not up for a fight then move, but in my if I’d spent that much money they’d have to take me out in a body bag.

Are these noisy troublesome neighbours the owners of the property or are they renting it? If they are renting then you need to contact the letting agents/landlord. It's not fair you should have to move from your dream home.

Yes. We did and it’s still one of the best things we ever did. Everyone thought we were crazy but it was the right thing to do. They were never going to get better and we never felt happy, safe and comfortable in our own house. That wears you down and I don’t think anyone who hasn’t been in the same situation can really know what it’s like.

Did you tell your buyers why you were selling?

I’m in the same situation!

Bought a house 6 years ago. Renovated it so it suits us perfectly. Mortgage relatively low compared to what I would need to move.

New neighbour moved in last year with 4 dogs. One of which barks every time I move and at everything that goes past the house. Every time someone shuts a door. You name it it’s barking! It’s also severely aggressive and scares the crap out of my toddlers flying at the fences as they play outside.

Desperate to move now but also gutted as never wanted to. My new house will probably have to be a downsize 😢

I don't think that you will have to declare anything if you sell because you called the police which is a private matter and it will not show up in any searches when selling. I know it's not nice to hide this sort of thing when selling but you really have to think of yourself first in this situation.

Your neighbours sound like the kind of people that will only respond to confrontation and aggression so you have 3 options:
Lower yourself to their level and be aggressive and fight fire with fire - no offence but you don't come across as that kind of person.

Go down the council route and report them but these sort of cases drag on for ever and you would definitely have to declare it if you sell.

Ignore them and be subtle in your aggression, so if they or their visitors block your drive take a picture of the car with the number plate and make sure they see you doing it! And send it to your councils traffic department telling them you don't know whose car it is but it always seems to be blocking your drive.

Ultimately this sort of thing usually becomes a waiting game to see who blinks first and decides to move and you really need to ask yourself if it is all really worth it because for some people having day to day arguments with their neighbours is their life and without it they just wouldn't know what to do with themselves.

In a heartbeat if I could afford to. Life’s too short to put up with this kind of stuff. However…I’d make sure that I bought a house with a HUGE space between me and any neighbouring properties.

Sadly for me, I don’t have the financial means to do this…but if I did, I’d be off!

Hope you find a solution OP 🤞

This happened to us during lock down when our neighbour took up the same kind of work. It was horrifying being sat there on work calls whilst it sounded like a porno going on in the background morning, noon and night. We moved as soon as the property market started moving again

If you do move you must tell the potential buyers - it would be very cruel to make out all is fine.

We moved because of a neighbour like this and have never regretted it. Life is too short for this level of stress!

This is exactly what is going on for me. I am sitting in work calls listening to fake orgasms in the background and seedy men grunting. It has been going on for 18 months. I never thought I would move but I think it is my only option now for for my mental health! Thanks for sharing!

Then how would you ever sell it?

Yes. For me, it’s not a dream home if it has shit neighbours. Life is too short to endure crap neighbours.

I don't think that you will have to declare anything if you sell because you called the police which is a private matter and it will not show up in any searches when selling. I know it's not nice to hide this sort of thing when selling but you really have to think of yourself first in this situation.

@Jay242 You do need to declare complaints made to the police:

Generally speaking, if you’ve contacted your neighbour in writing, or made a complaint to the council or another authority regarding their conduct, you will have to declare this.

https://www.reallymoving.com/help-and-advice/guides/selling-a-home-with-neighbour-disputes

\if you don't then the buyer could take legal action.

Yes I would, and have moved due to horrible neighbours.

I’m a stubborn person and if I loved my house I wouldn’t move.

we have had a shit neighbour,(she rented)) who had parties everyday and I mean ever day!, crowds of people would arrive each day to party, they were noisy as in shouting and loud music, we found some sleeping on our bench in the garden, she would shout at everyone.
We started off being pleasant and trying to reason with her but ended up logging the noise with the councils anti social behaviour team, then we escalated it to the police. She ended up getting an ASBO and we spoke to other neighbours who were also having bother with her. We all ended up working together, contacting the police etc and she was evicted. Landlord wouldn’t renew her tenancy.

Our other neighbours used to go to a hotel at the weekend just to get some sleep due to the parties?

we managed to get the landlords phone number from a previous tenant and we gave it to all the other neighbours to bombard him with complaints!

the day she left she was ranting and raving saying it was a shit area to live in, people were unwelcoming and she couldn’t wait to move to a better house. We all waved her off! Worst 6 months of living in our home.

we’ve heard she has been moved from house to house due to her behaviour,
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