Failed to inform them of the neighbours.?

Question

A few years ago my Mother moved in with her boyfriend due to ill health. My Sister and I were left to sell Mums house. Recently we have received a letter from a solicitor saying that the people who bought the house from us are suing us because of the noisy neighbours. While Mum lived in the house she sometimes complained about the neighbours being noisy and generally anti-social. She even contacted the local police station to see if they could help.
We are really quite shocked that now after 4 years the people who bought the house are asking for compensation because we failed to inform them of the neighbours.
Where do we stand? Mum is too ill do go to court and I am lost as what to do.

Answer 1

David P's answer is very accurate.
In the UK you do have to declare any problems/disputes you have with your neighbours.
However, in your defence, could you use your mother's ill health? Did she fill in the forms herself, or did she let you do it?
If she was too ill to do any of it herself, you could try saying that you personally were unaware of any problems. It's a bit of a long shot, though.
But I would check with a lawyer (Citizen's Advice Bureau is free) about a time scale on this, 4 years does seem a long time to suddenly decide to bring a complaint into the open.

Answer 2

This is seriously pathetic,, have the neighbours only recently been noisy or has it taken them 4 years to realise they were noisy. Do they have proof that the neighbours were noisey before you sold the house? What kind of drugs are these people on? Did they ask you if the neighbours were noisey? What Kind of drugs are these people on? Can't believe a solicitor would send such a letter, you should counter sue them, use the reason that they did not share the drugs they are on?
I would bin the letter, no just ring them and ask What kind of drugs are they on.

Answer 3

If you live in the U.K., and judging from your English you do, then you (or your mother) were asked to fill in a form before the sale of the house where you should have disclosed that there had been problems with the neighbours.

If you put yourself in the purchasers position they cannot sell the house without making that disclosure and maybe facing financial loss.

That's the bad news.

The good news is that it has taken them 4 years to act, so this begs the question 'Why has it taken you so long?'

Still, not an easy situation for you and you need professional advice.

My advice is that you go to your solicitor and discuss the matter there. If the matter goes to court (God forbid) you will need legal advice anyway.

But do not tell them to '**ss off' or similar, it will not help.

Good luck.

Answer 4

This is bull sht
we live in a sue each other society, but this is too far.
lawyers are just trying it on.
For mum's, and yours, piece of mind, you can get an initial consultation with a brief, free, or what was called green slip...the gov pays a fixed fee for it.
show em the letter........get legal feedback, for free, on the principal, and validity of the letter.
I once saw a legal letter, in the trade im in, directed at my boss, and i said, hang on, its forged? They had used a genuine solicitors stationary (turns out the woman cleaned for them), but he typing was obvious. Due to the nature, this dont sound so,and its from a genuine solicitor, but theyre trying it!
get an initial free judgment of its seriousness.
peace of mind to your mum seems the most important.
Now, seriously here, its your mum, in ill health, and legal claims are lengthy, and complicated.....so, if the verdict is there is a case, well its only relevant to the house.
If it could mean big money, and stress, ell, the law on minor crime is lax, graffitti, a broken window? This is your mums health, and you know where they live, and petty crime is difficult to detect, and prove, yet, intimidating.
Do you understand what im saying?
Not that im advocating violence, but they are obviously chickn shts by getting solicitors invloved, and unlikely to reciprocate.Also theyre immoral shts, for doing this! so its not morally wrong, if a friend, knows a friend, that knows an asbo young man to pass by the house drunk one night?
hell, make him young enough, and you could even compensate him, £5 an hour, for the 30 hours of gardening the courts would make him do, if he stood there and said yea, it was me.
You sold it, so, So can they.! After 4 years, these shts are really trying it on, after seeing ester on tv telling everyone to sue each other.

Answer 5

It seems like some crazy attorney has convinced them they may get some money by suing you. It depends a lot on where the house is (what country, state, etc).

Some places require "full disclosure" of faults with the house, but the neighborhood is not considered as part of the house. Unless you signed some agreement or contract that mentions the fine upstanding neighborhood then they don't really stand a chance. Nonetheless you may need to hire an attorney to protect yourself if they sue you. I suspect they are bluffing, if they take you to court and lose they have to pay your attorney fees.

Answer 6

tell them to go to hell, politely of course.
they viewed the house, they should have researched the neighbourhood and the neighbours before they payed for it.
it is there solicitor/ lawyer who failed to do the proper research on their behalf so ther complaintis with him/ her and not you and your family.
life is shite anyway where ever you are you are going to get noisey neighbours. Hell i'm in a one bedroom Ground floor flat (apartment in USA terms), I have noisey neighbours living above me, and there is nothing i can do about it.
So if they do not like the neighbours either move and take any loss on the property value as a result and sue the noisey neighbours for the reduction in house value.

I base my answer not on legality but comon sense. I'm not a lawyer. but seriously it in my opinion is a case they need to cue the peopel who did the back ground research on the property for them. if they did not do any research or did not have that research done it is there fault. not yours you knew nothing off it until you found out by getting the legl letter and talking about it with your mom.
so tell them to get real, and grow up.
with all that said i would still consult a lawyer or solicitor yourself a simple phone call is all it should take you may be billed for the advice. but better legal information from a professional than a bunch of questionable answers on y!answers. (and yes i include my own answer under questionable answers). each country has different laws, and as far as i know each us state has different laws. so depending where in the world you are a local legal professional should be your first call of action. In the uk you may be able to consult the citizens advice bureau free.

what ever happens good luck.
but after four years i think there case is blown out of the water. if they had claimed within the first year may be they could have a case (not against you but the researcher).

sorry just my opinion on the subject.

Answer 7

It would be useful to know in which country you live in.

As previously stated, changes in UK law mean that there is an obligation to inform new owners about problems like this in the past. The time taken for then to take action does help you, but the best thing you could do is seek legal advice on this one.

Assuming you are in the UK, you could try visiting your local Citizens Advice Bureau, and seeing what suggestions they have.

Answer 8

Contact your local MP,you can find him/her on the parliament web site,also your CAB. You can also check with the local council to see if they have reported this matter to the enviromental heath department first. I do not think the law on house is retrospective but would see the above for better advice. All the best Glyn

Answer 9

You sold the house. You didn't need to disclose anything about the neighborhood. The buyers were to do their own homework! It's 4 years later too? Their suit wouldn't be worth the ink on the paper it's written on in the U.S.
You had an obligation to sell a sound house. You did that. Now they have to deal with the "sounds" from next door. Tough luck for them, no liability for you.

Answer 10

(UK) I don't know where you stand (you need legal advice) but the questionnaire that property sellers have to fill out in England asks if there has been trouble with any of the neighbours & you have to be reasonably honest.