Bad neighbours affecting house prices they are refusing to fix

[Ledmondson1]

I'm hoping to remortgage my house in the summer, once I've saved enough. My house is an ex council house and the last one on the row is still owned by the council. Nearly every window in the house has been smashed (in October) and the family are refusing to have the windows replaced, it feels very unfair that people who have had the chance of living in subsidised housing, are potentially going to cost me getting a mortgage on my house as I've read about bad neighbours devaluing houses. I'm wondering if there is any legal route that I could take, which might help?

[Diana M]

Re: Bad neighbours affecting house prices they are refusing to fix

Antisocial neighbours shouldn't have any effect on a remortgage which is basically about the lender being satisfied that there's enough equity in the property to meet their LTV criteria, and whether you have sufficient income to pass their affordability checks.

But it could cause you problems if/when you come to sell the property since you have a legal obligation to disclose any known neighbour disputes to the purchaser.

This is the risk you take when buying ex-local authority property and why they are frequently sold below the market value.

The "legal route" you've asked about would be to report them to the police and your local council which may result in an ASBO. These can be checked on a central register so made public. Perhaps it'd be best if another neighbour reported the problem which would distance you from the issue.

Why did your neighbour smash the windows in your house, or do you mean that the windows in their house have been smashed?

It's not only people in subsidised housing who behave badly

Di

[Ledmondson1]

Re: Bad neighbours affecting house prices they are refusing to fix

Thanks for replying, the problem neighbours have had their windows smashed, the family have some kind of mini war going on. I thought I was going to have to sell my house last year and had it valued. The house next door to us has gone up for sale recently for quite a bit less (it's attached to the house with broken windows) and I'd thought that the valuation would affect the LTV on a mortgage application. I know it's a risk to but on ex council roads, but the majority on this road are owned. My ex husband bought this house and shortly after decided that he wanted a new life in Spain, he cleared both the kids and the joint savings accounts and left me with the mortgage to pay and a car on finance (which got repossessed ). I've been working at getting everything stable and thought that this might now hinder a mortgage offer, the one at the moment is interest only and I'd prefer repayment. I was hoping that the council might have to force them to replace the windows? Or that I might have grounds to take legal action for the loss in valuation? I wish people would stand up to their responsibilities. Thanks Di, I appreciate your help

[Diana M]

Re: Bad neighbours affecting house prices they are refusing to fix

the problem neighbours have had their windows smashed, the family have some kind of mini war going on.

. . . . I've been working at getting everything stable and thought that this might now hinder a mortgage offer, the one at the moment is interest only and I'd prefer repayment. I was hoping that the council might have to force them to replace the windows?

Two things

Windows don't get broken without making a noise. If there's a mini war going on then contact the council's Environmental Health Team and report a 'noise nuisance'. You'll probably be asked to keep a diary of the disturbances (they'll send you forms to complete) and hopefully the council will take some sort of action if they are in a council property.

Your remortgage is a different issue. You've implied it's necessary to stabilise your finances and you're wanting to change your mortgage from interest only to repayment. If that's because you'll get a better/lower interest rate then it may be a good idea unless the cost (broker and legal fees, survey etc) outway the saving.

But if you want to change to a repayment mortgage so you can reduce the capital balance outstanding then consider whether your current lender would allow you to make random overpayments without charging any penalty for doing that. Then if you have any cash flow issues in future you won't need to keep up the higher monthly payments to service a repayment mortgage.

Di