If you are selling your home, you will have to inform the buyer of any neighbourly disputes which have involved official bodies is considered as a dispute. If you leave out on one, you may be sued down the road.
What are neighbourly disputes?
If you have ever made a written complaint to the council or any other authority against your neighbour or made a formal written complaint directly to your neighbour, you will have to tell the buyer this.
What are the common types of neighbourly disputes?
- Shared Spaces - Disputes relating to anything which involved shared house maintenance. For instance, it can be a dispute regarding the repairs required for shared facilities.
- Boundary Disputes – any dispute concerning condition, location, or responsibility for a fence, boundary line between properties, or a wall.
If you settled a boundary dispute with your neighbour, your buyer would probably ask for you to provide evidence of the settlement agreement.
Seller’s Property Information Form – TA6
You will be required to fill out a lengthy form by the buyer’s conveyancers. This is known as the “TA6 Form”. Do not give false or misleading information; neither leave anything blank. You must provide correct and accurate information.
What type of questions will TA6 have?
You should expect to provide information regarding the following, amongst others:
- Any boundary feature which has been moved in the last 10 years or during the entire period of your ownership
- Any disputes you may have had regarding the property and a nearby property
- Any information you may have regarding something which might lead to a dispute
- You will have to confirm who owns which boundary is owned by you and which is shared
- Any notices and awards relating to party walls
- Whether you have sold your entire or part of your garden
- Have you purchased any adjoining property or land
What type of issues you do not have to tell the buyer?
If for instance, if you had an issue with a neighbour, but he caused it to stop, you do not have to inform the buyer about this.
Similarly, if you had an issue with your neighbour and which was settled amicably, there is no need to mention this to the buyer.
Get advice before you market your home which has an ongoing dispute
It will help if you are quick to engage a solicitor, which is a property specialist. As a property specialist solicitor will focus on ensuring a successful sale instead of winning the dispute. Litigation can take a while and disrupt the sale of your home.
Early legal advice in this matter can save you hundreds of pounds.