Selling our house-do we have to disclose bad neighbours

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Complainer said:
Where did you get this from, that councils are responsible for the behaviour of neighbours of council properties?
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Where did I get what from? Where exactly did I say councils are responsible for behaviour of neighbours? Unless you have serious intelligence issues I think it is quite obvious that if a council owned property is failing to house tenants due to anti social behaviour from neighbours then the council will step in and get those anti social issues sorted out. Its hardly rocket science.
However - its irrelevant anyway as the OP cannot sell to the council.

Complainer said:
Well then the OP should advertise the house as suitable for hard core, deaf or Gardaí, and not seek to unload their problem onto some other poor sucker.
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Normally people are capable of extrapolating general cases from specific examples. Since you seem unable to do so let me make it a bit clearer - no one knows who would buy the property and if they would be bothered by the neighbours. It may turn out ok for the next people. Im sorry you couldnt understand that.

Do you actually have any constructive suggestion for the OP or would you prefer to continue to make her feel even worse about an already awful situation with emotive posts about the next poor suckers?
 
Where did you get the idea that the council will step in and get those anti-social issues sorted out? The council (or any owner of the private property) will have no special power over the neighbours. They will have no legal options that the OP does not already have. They have no magic wand.

I'll ignore the personal attack on me for the purposes of moving the debate forward. If you/OP believe that they can find people who would NOT be bothered by the neighbours, then they should disclose the problems up front. The chances of finding somebody who would not be bothered by the behaviours described by the OP are slim to none - you know that of course.

truthseeker said:
Do you actually have any constructive suggestion for the OP or would you prefer to continue to make her feel even worse about an already awful situation with emotive posts about the next poor suckers?
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I'm not going to make suggestions that are constructive for the OP if they are destructive from some other innocent party - the potential purchasers.
 
With all respect Complainer, if you don't have any advice to offer the OP, then perhaps you should step back from the topic and allow others that may have some suggestions to make, to voice them. This poor woman has had a very, very hard time and even though I know you have said your heart goes out to her, other posts are coming across very cold and must be making her feel terrible.
 
@Complainer - Im not even going to bother to respond as I feel your posts are really not helping the OP in this situation.

OP - I fully support your decision to sell the house. Its a terrible situation and you have been physically attacked, lost a baby, and your family, including your child are in danger. It is your responsibility to protect yourself and your family.The only option you have is to sell. As Ive already said, who knows who the potential buyers might be. It could be anyone and it could just as easily be someone who doesnt mind the neighbours as someone who does. Its not really your worry right now - you have got to get out of there and find a safe place to be.
 
It's up to any potential purchaser to do their own homework regarding the area and neighbours.

Before I bought my house, I spent weeks cruising around the area by car and on foot at various times of the day and night to get a feel for what it was like.

The OP should have no qualms about not disclosing the difficulties as it is completely outside her control.
 
I you disclose any of this to potential buyers you'll never sell the property. It's that simple. If you want to sell (which you should do ASAP) then market the house in the best way to can.

The new buyers may be better able to handle the situation.
(Maybe even worse scum will buy it)

Did you get forewarned about the neighbours when you bought?
 
Potential buyers can enquire at the Garda station before they buy into the area, so you can argue it is up to then to check it out. However, it seems to me that there could be a "karma issue" by passing the problem on. Difficult one. I like the idea about renting it cheaply to a garda!
 
Thanks to everyone who posted.

Vanilla, I never thanked you for giving me the legal side of things.Many thanks.

I didn't really want to get into the right or wrongs of the moral element of selling the property.I just really wanted to ensure that we weren't going to end up in further trouble legally if we were to sell.

This thread has kind of turned into a debate on the morality of what we are doing.

1. We were never told of any problems with the neighbours before purchasing.

2. We DID case the area, walked around, drove the area etc before we bought. Obviously we didn't case the place enough or we wouldn't be in this mess.

3. I don't believe that what we are doing will bring bad 'karma' to us as one poster suggested it would/could. I think we have already had our share of bad karma with these neighbours.

4.They will have caused us to have to give up our family home, directly caused us to have lost a baby, caused me physical harm, disturbed our home and peace and quiet, ensured we haven't had a full night sleep in months, destroyed our back garden, caused criminal damage to our property (again won't go into details as it's likely Gardai will prosecute them on this), damaged my husband's car, put poison (I kid you not) in our back garden and my little girl picked it up and almost ate it. We have very sufficient evidence to prove it was them too and they admitted it to Gardai although trying to cover their tracks they said it 'accidentally' fell over the wall and then changed their story to say they were trying to 'get' the cats in the area! (Yes, mad I know). Gardai were having none of it of course.

5. Myself and my husband are bordering on depression at this stage. It is a living nightmare. I am finding it hard to accept that we have lost the pregnancy as a result of what they did to me.

6.Luckily until now I have always been very healthy mentally but I am now seeing a counsellor and trying to learn ways to cope with the circumstances of all that has happened.

7. We have to, and owe it to, our daughter to ensure that she lives in a safe environment and that we ourselves, are not in any danger.

8. If we won the lotto or had enough money to be able to just leave the place, we would. Unfortunately we are struggling at the moment (isn't everyone!?) and we pumped all our savings into doing up the house. We haven't a red penney and we NEED to sell the house if we are to move elsewhere and be able to rent somewhere.

9. I realise that some of you are judging me on this. But I ask you, WHAT would you do in our situation??????? would you just stay because of what 'might' happen to the next people who live in the house??????????

10. Of course, I have dreadful guilt about selling the house to anyone else. I am plagued with thoughts of 'what'll we do if some other young couple puts a bid on?'. I wouldn't have any conscience if I wasn't plagued with guilt over it. I feel terrible about this whole situation.

11. The ideal situation would be that some investor would buy the house and be so loaded as not to care whether it was rented or not. OR people of the same calibre as the neighbours buy it.

I wish this thread had not turned into a moral debate on whether it should be sold or not. If we disclose to the auctioneer, we will NEVER ever be able to get out of here and the end result will be that one of us will end up seriously injured, having a mental breakdown, having a marriage break-up or dead (I know that sounds extreme but I dread to think what would have happened if my daughter ate the poison...she's at an age when everything she touches goes straight into the mouth).

We DON'T have an option. By God if we did we would certainly consider it! But we have thought of everything at this stage and we have decided to sell it. And I want to thank people for giving me the legal side of things. And let's just hope that bad 'karma' doesn't follow us for selling, as one poster suggested would happen. We've had enough of that at this stage and we deserve a break.
 
Mrs O'Brien, my heart breaks for what you and your family are going through at the moment and I hope things improve for you all very soon. My condolences on the loss of your unborn baby.

I wonder if you have tried talking to any local councillors or TDs? I know of a house near where I live where a drug dealer moved in (I think he may have been housed by the council though) where the problems were dealt with swiftly, and I think it was largely due to the efforts of a local councillor. I don't know if a councillor or TD could help you, but it might be worth a chat?
 
When you sell and move on, things should hopefully improve. The root cause of your problems will be removed. You may end up poor, but you have plenty time to make more money.


Why feel guilt? It's not you that should feel guilt, but your neighbours. They are the ones causing problems, not you. Whoever you sell to might be able to handle them better.
 
Are they the owners of the house or are they being housed by the council. I thought the council could take action against anti social behaviour by their tenants.

I hope it works out for you.
 
Mrs O Brien, I sincerely hope you and your family come out of all this ok. Apologies if my comments seemed judgmental on your moral position. That was not the intention. You have got more than your fair share of bad luck. I wonder, though, if there is a civil legal route which could be taken? Perhaps the house could be rented in the meantime.
 

Mrs. O' Brien, you need to sell this house, there is no other option. You've gone through all the other options. When you live beside someone who does not believe in the law and when the law cannot help you then you have to help yourself. That means selling this house at whatever loss.

The legal side is clear cut. You do not have to disclose anything in relation to your neighbours. You tell the auctioneer, the solicitor and anyone else involved nothing.

The only problem I can see if if you can sell for the mortgage amount. And if not the mortgage amount will the bank agree. If not and a fund were set up for you I would happily contribute. You have taken enough abuse and do not need it on here. There is only one short life, and all that is important is your family. Your only obligation in life is to ensure they are safe. May the love of your family guide you.
 
We bought our house in Dublin's inner city. Our neighbours weren't quite as bad but near enough. However, they moved out for a year for some reason and rented the place out. But then then the daughter moved back in and the nightmare continued. I was only home from hospital 2 days with the new baby when the girl next door came over banging on the door and shouting and screaming and swearing at me for off for asking her brother to turn down the music the day before, who the eff did I think I was, etc, etc. And so it began. So I know exactly what you are going through.

Go ahead and sell your house, forget about any potential purchaser's problems.
For all you know those people next door might be gone out of there in a year's time (moved to Spain due to gang problems - anything might happen). You can't be responsible.
Like any house that is a quiet house can suddenly become a noisy house with nightmare tenants, elderly people can move out and students or antisocial neighbours can move in - no one can predict the future.

Not your problem.

The new buyers may be people just like your neighbours who think they are great craic altogether and be only delighted to share a few cans and tales of who was in the Joy with them the last time they were in.
 
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