Selling a house with problem neighbours

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Our guide offers several top tips for how to deal with problem neighbours when you are trying to sell your house or flat, including the pros and cons of different methods for selling, steps you might consider before listing your home for sale, and other important information.

1. What is a problem neighbour?
2. How problem neighbours can complicate the sale of your home
3. Try to resolve problems with problem neighbours before selling your house or flat
4. Do you have to disclose problem neighbours when selling your property?
5. Options for selling your house or flat with problem neighbours
6. Can you sue problem neighbours for reducing the value of your home?
7. Questions and answers about selling your home with problem neighbours

What is a problem neighbour?

Generally, a problem neighbour is anyone living next door to you (whether in a flat, detached or semi-detached house, shared property, or any other kind of residential dwelling) who is doing something that is so stressful to you that it makes you want to sell your home and move.

Although there is no statutory definition for a problem neighbour, some of the common issues that can occur include disputes over the boundaries of a property or gardens; the neighbour creating a lot of noise at night; poor rubbish disposal practices by a neighbour that are having a detrimental effect on your property; or a neighbour letting their home fall into disrepair.

And sadly problem neighbours are more common than you might expect. There are even websites devoted to the topic covering everything from issues with drainage, dangerous dogs, public rights of way, and many other issues.

How problem neighbours can complicate the sale of your home

Several of the problems that neighbours can cause might directly and negatively affect your home’s value, for example if the neighbour’s house is dilapidated it can drive down the potential sale price of your property because buyers will not want to live next door to the dilapidated home. And a lower sale price means you can expect to make less profit from selling your home.

Problem neighbours can also cause issues with the process of selling your house or flat, depending on which method you choose. When you sell your home through an estate agent or a property auction house you will typically have to agree to viewings where prospective buyers get to see the exterior or interior of your home before deciding whether to make an offer on it. But if your problem with the neighbours is that they make so much noise it’s almost impossible to live next to them, there is a chance that people coming to your home on viewings will hear this noise and might be discouraged from buying your property for that reason alone.

Try to resolve problems with problem neighbours before selling your house or flat

If you’re having an issue with problem neighbours, one strategy you might want to try is having a sensible and non-confrontational conversation with them. This might not always be possible, for example if you’re involved in a long-running fight and tensions are running high between you and your neighbours. But if you believe that there is the chance for addressing whatever the problem is amicably, then you should try this as the quickest and least-stress option.

The UK government helpfully has a neighbour dispute website that offers advice on what other options you have in the event that an attempt at talking with your neighbours fails to adequately resolve whatever problem you’re having.

For example, if you live in a block of flats or other type of shared property, you could consider approaching your landlord about the neighbour if they are a tenant of the same building. There might be terms of the neighbour’s lease that they are breaking as a result of the dispute, and the landlord may be able to assist to resolve the problem quickly.

Another potential solution is to try using mediation, where an independent professional will meet with you and your neighbour in a bid to impartially resolve the dispute.

If the problem is a "nuisance" then you might be able to report it to your local council so that they can intervene. Examples of nuisances in neighbour disputes include dangerous or barking dogs, very loud noise, intrusive artificial lights, smoke or other gases or fumes, dirt or rubbish that builds up and could potentially pose a threat to human health, and more.

More serious problems, such as your neighbour verbally or physically harassing you, might require that you get in touch with the police so that they can try to a put a stop to the issue.

And the final, and most drastic, step would be to launch a legal action against your neighbour. Because of the large cost and stress involved with litigation, you should consider this be a last resort option only when all other options such as talking or mediation have failed.

Do you have to disclose problem neighbours when selling your property?

Not always, and it will depend on the specifics of the problem that you’re having.

Minor issues, such as a small dispute over a single noisy incident, don’t usually have be declared to potential buyers. But significantly and real problems – everything from months-long fights over boundaries to damage the neighbour might have caused to your house or flat – will likely have to be included on a "Property Information Form" also known as a TA6 form.

This document is required during conveyancing, which is the process of transferring property from one person to another. One section of the form is dedicated to disputes, and that’s where you’ll have to provide full details of whatever problem that you’re having with your neighbour.

You must include all problems past and present, including those that might have happened a few years ago but have since been resolved, issues that took place in the past but are at risk of reoccurring, and ongoing problems that you have been unable to resolve.

It’s a good idea to disclose all of your current and past problems with your neighbours to your conveyancer, who will know what needs to be included on the form and what you can leave out. And if you’d like some third-party advice to be absolutely sure, contact the Citizens Advice Bureau and their local division can typically offer some independent advice.

Options for selling your house or flat with problem neighbours

When you’re ready to sell your home with problem neighbours, you’ll have to choose between the following options: use a cash home buyer, sell at an auction, or use an estate agent.

Fast cash home buyer

A good option for selling your house or flat when you have problem neighbours can be to use a fast cash home buyer like LDN Properties. That’s because these companies won’t usually be discouraged from buying your home just because of problem neighbours.

Indeed, fast cash property buyers are able to purchase a huge range of houses and flats of all shapes and sizes including freehold and leasehold homes, properties with major structural flaws or that are otherwise in need of significant repair, houses where important documents such as the title deeds are missing, and other issues that might turn some buyers off.

When you talk to a quick cash buyer, tell them about the problem you’re having with your neighbours. A benefit of selling your home this way is the fact that you’ll work one-on-one with the buyer and you won’t have to host any viewings for buyers to visit it.

Also, fast cash property buyers typically don’t charge any commission or other fees, so you are guaranteed to receive the total cash profit from whatever sale price they are able to offer you.

Property auction

One of the benefits of selling your home at a property auction is that many different types of houses and flats can be sold this way, even if you have problems with neighbours that you must disclose.

Another advantage of using this method to sell your home is that if you receive a bid on your property that’s at least the value of your minimum reserve sale price, that bid is considered to be a legally binding agreement to buy your property. This gives you some extra certainty about selling, because you can sue the winning high bidder if they try to back out of the sale.

But auctioneers will charge you money for the work that they do in marketing your home, organising viewings for potential buyers, and holding the auction, and you’ll have to subtract this fee from the total profit you can expect to make from selling your home.

There can also be some delays involved with selling your house or flat this way, including the possibility of having to wait several weeks between the date that you enter your home for sail and the date on which the auction takes place. And if your home sells at auction, there might also be a lengthy wait afterward until all the required legal paperwork can be completed.

Estate agent

This option has the potential to take the longest amount of time to sell your home, and is most likely to be negatively affected by a problem that you’re having with neighbours.

For regular home sales estate agents can often take several months or even longer to find a buyer for your property. And as part of the selling process you will have to let people into your home on viewings so that they can tour it and decide whether to make an offer to buy it. These viewings can not only be quite inconvenient for you but they can also take up a lot of time.

Problem neighbours can present a particular hurdle for selling through an estate agent, because anyone coming to your home on a viewing might witness the ongoing problem. For example, if the issue is that your neighbours have let their home fall into disrepair and refuse to do anything about it, it will be impossible for you to hide that from people during a viewing.

And estate agents will also charge you commission for selling your home, and you will have to subtract these potentially large fees from your overall profit you can make with the sale.

Can you sue problem neighbours for reducing the value of your home?

It’s possible, but not something that people do very often because this type of lawsuit is one that will take a lot of time and energy and typically will be very hard for you to win.

Any such lawsuit would attempt to seek damages for the amount of money that you believe you have lost because their actions have caused the value of your property to lower, which in turn means you will likely have to set a reduced sale price in order to attract interest from buyers. But even though you can pursue such a case, you will likely struggle to win it.

The reason why such cases are so hard to prove is because your claim will require a huge amount of evidence to prove a direct link between whatever problem your neighbour is causing and the reduction in your home’s value. Whoever buys your home would have to give testimony saying that they reduced their offer to purchase your property because of the problem, and they might be unwilling to do this – particularly as they will be living next door to the neighbour, possibly for many years, and they might not want that tension with your neighbour.

And as part of the litigation you will also have to prove that you exhausted all other options to resolving the dispute, including mediation or asking the local council to intervene. And in most situations, those less-extreme steps are likely to result in a resolution of the problem.

Questions and answers about selling your home with problem neighbours

Homeowners needing to sell quickly often have many questions to ask us. Here are some of the key questions we’re asked when selling a house with problem neighbours: