Selling house but neighbor telling lies to viewers

[bawpie]

We have recently put our property on the market, and this week had our first viewing. Feedback from the viewer was very positive, and she came back to have another look at the area/property. When she did this, our next door neighbor approached her and told her that our property was structurally unsound and that he was currently taking us to court for damage we had done to his property. Neither of these things are true, but our neighbor has always maintained that the previous owner had damaged his property and has now decided that we have aswell.

Understandably the viewer was completely put off despite assurances by our estate agent that what our neighbor had said was untrue. We are now faced with the prospect that our neighbor is going to continue telling these lies to other viewers and prevent us from selling the property. He is retired, so it's likely he will be around to speak to other potential buyers.

I don't know what we can do, but it seems wrong that he is allowed to lie about our property to other people. We have been in the property for five years and replaced roof and windows (which our survey had said needed doing). There are no other issues with it, and if he is taking us to court, it's the first I've heard of it!

Is there anything I can do to stop this man from spreading his lies?

[nemesis45]

Re: Selling house but neighbor telling lies to viewers

Hi welcome to LB,

You should send this neighbour a Formal cease and desist letter, stating the he must not communicate with prospective buyers visiting your property and he must stop spreading lies in regard to the structure and safety of your property.

The final part of the letter should include the statement that if he/she continues conduct themselves in this manner you will have no option other than to issue a letter before action and if he/she does not cease this conduct you will issue court proceedings immediately.

Gives them a chance to be reasonable and if they aren't then they take the consequences.

Also contact your estate agent and inform them their prospective purchasers are being approached
by the neighbour and mention what is being said.
You could have a survey done by a qualified person and have copies to give to prospective buyer
but there is of course a cost to this.
Unfortunately prospective buyers are supposed to be informed of " neighbour problems" past and present,
there could be a comeback if a buyer gets the same problem as you are having with this person.

nem

[wales01man]

Re: Selling house but neighbor telling lies to viewers

Now the neighbour has told one person this surely becomes a dispute between neighbours that must be disclosed as for estate agent saying there is no problemunless there was roof to back this up it means nothing they will say anything for a sale

[Crazy council]

Re: Selling house but neighbor telling lies to viewers

Hi

can be a nightmare to deal with, because depending on the type olf person your neighbor is, anything you do will feed into there belief that they will make you back down.

Both Nemesis and wales01man are correct,

You should send this neighbour a Formal cease and desist letter, stating the he must not communicate with prospective buyers visiting your property and he must stop spreading lies in regard to the structure and safety of your property.

The final part of the letter should include the statement that if he/she continues conduct themselves in this manner you will have no option other than to issue a letter before action and if he/she does not cease this conduct you will issue court proceedings immediately.

Do the above but fully detail the financial consequences to them.

Every prospective buyer they make turn away by making false statements, £ 1000

Order them to ceace any allegations until they have a surveyor's opinion on the matter.

If they will not, getting a surveyor to disprove any of the claims and then taking action against them to recover the monies may be the best way forward

Although loads of stress to deal with, a LL i was dealing with years ago, managed to claim 15 k for nuisance, disturbance and loss from a neighbor that purposefully bully the owner into submission when trying to interfere with a sale . ( he was blocking the access drive, telling buyers that the services run under his house and he was going to dig them up and, like you, there was a dispute prior)

[wales01man]

Re: Selling house but neighbor telling lies to viewers

If the neighbour is telling lies the truth must be proven to counter this. Then you can take action for damages.
Be very sure there is no truth in what they are saying and don't get into a verbal or written argument without getting advice this could soon escalate if the neighbour wants to be an Ahole seen to many times by all of us .

[Hatman]

Re: Selling house but neighbor telling lies to viewers

I am just starting to have the same issue in Ontario Canada. We have an end unit townhouse (3 unit building). The current owner of the middle unit approached prospective clients and told them we have major electrical issues in the home (which is fully BS). and scared them off.
Her anger stems from when I renovated my back yard last year. For two years we had been on "good" terms, chatting non-chalantly..etc. I had said when we moved in (three years ago) that I was going to remodel the back yard (it was a mess). She said she wanted to do the same. That being said we agreed to possibly split costs and do them at the same time. After numerous month intervals, reminding her of my intention, I decided to just blow her off and redo my own... Cant wait forever. Now she is a neighbor from hell., although she is more than happy we are gone, she wants to cause us money and frustration while the house sits vacant. (Her fancy BMW is starting to look like a target to me - Kidding but oh it would feel great just for that moment)
We have heard back through our agent that a neighbor has told viewers of "problems" on the vacant property. The house inspection we had originally when we bought is spotless. We had a sale but the buyer failed financing at the 11th hour and even his inspection ruled the house a solid purchase. Albeit we are unable to get a copy of that report.
We are friends with the agent (as he lives behind our townhouse) and he is doing what he can to ease viewers without scaring them off. But this is nightmarish.
If another encounter arises, we are going to send her a cease and desist for intentional (tortuous) interference with contractual relations with little hope that it will make a difference.

Calgon, take us away...

[Diana M]

Re: Selling house but neighbor telling lies to viewers

the viewer was completely put off despite assurances by our estate agent that what our neighbor had said was untrue. We are now faced with the prospect that our neighbor is going to continue telling these lies to other viewers and prevent us from selling the property.

Why do you think your neighbour would be so spiteful ? Unless he's completely loopy (which is possible) what would make a rational person want to sabotage your sale?

Is there an underlying argument about something else which can be sorted out before this situation escalates?

Firing off "cease and desist" letters is certainly not going to calm things down. If you really wanted to go in guns blazing you could consider an injunction against him which may work but at the same time it would render your house unsaleable for years to come.

My personal view is you should find a way to make peace with your neighbour however much the idea sticks in your throat.

You also hint that there is history of a dispute between him and the previous owner of your property in relation to possible damage. What was that all about? And how do you find out? Did it flag up when you bought the house?

Di