Insights

Can I sell my house with an ongoing neighbour dispute?

You can choose your friends but you can’t choose your family or neighbours, sadly. So can you sell you house if you have an ongoing neighbour dispute?

Neighbour dispute

It is horrible to have issues with your neighbours and can leave you feeling vulnerable and wanting to sell up and move on.

Research by Halifax suggests that more than one in ten Brits do not have a good relationship with their neighbours.

The government gives the following advice:

Try to solve the problem informally by talking to them
If your neighbour is a tenant, you could contact their landlord.
You could use a mediation service if raising the issue informally does not work.
If the dispute involves a statutory nuisance (something like loud music or barking dogs), you can make a complaint to your local council.
Contact the police if your neighbour is breaking the law by being violent or harassing you.
As a last resort you can take legal action through the courts.

Most common

The most common neighbour disputes relate to:

Noise, such as loud music and barking dogs
Parking
Property boundaries
Overgrowing trees and hedges
Children playing in the street

Can I sell my house with an ongoing neighbour dispute?

If you think you might be able to simply not mention your dispute to a potential buyer, you could be in a lot of trouble.

This is because declaring neighbour disputes is a legal requirement when selling your property.

If you fail to declare neighbour disputes when selling your house, you buyer could accuse you of mis-selling your property.

This could legal action against you.

The sale is also very likely to fall through.

You should also ensure the estate agent is aware as it could impact on their credibility.

Where do you declare the issue?

You would let the buyer known by filling in part of the sellers’ property information form (TA6).

It is going to make selling your property harder as it is going to make a potential buyer cautious. The last thing you need when you move house is to walk into an existing argument.

Boundary issues are especially troublesome. If you can’t lay legal claim to all of the area you are selling then you can imagine the complications.

It is also possible that, even if the buyer agrees to take on the challenge, they will ask for a discount on the sale price.

If this has got you thinking get in touch and we’ll be help you understand what’s possible, or sign up to our monthly newsletter, to keep your finger on the pulse.