Emyr Pierce

Professional Legal Services | Cardiff

Cardiff: 029 2061 6002

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Can I be forced to paint the outside of my house?

MY neighbour is having the outside of his house painted to put on the market and mine is looking very tatty next to it. He says the state of my property is now affecting the value of his and has asked me to get mine repainted. He is threatening me with his solicitors. Can he do this?

NO he cannot. If your property is very dilapidated due to lack of maintenance then the only remedies available to your neighbour would be a local authority enforcement notice declaring the property to be in a dangerous state which would require you to carry out urgent repair works for health and safety reasons, or action by an estate owner who may have the benefit of a restrictive covenant for repair should you live on a development where all properties are subject to various covenants including an obligation to keep the property in a good state of repair, and to decorate the exterior of the property, say, every five years.

Do I need to tell buyers about my house’s history?

I have decided to sell my house which was the scene of a violent and tragic incident before I moved in 12 years ago and which attracted a lot of media attention at the time. Is this something I need to declare to potential buyers?

There is an obligation on all sellers to disclose all information about the property which is within their knowledge.  This has been the subject of extensive case law which has established that substantial damages may be awarded to victims of misrepresentation where this can be shown to have an adverse effect on the valuation of the property, or its saleability.

While sellers may choose to rely on the concept of “caveat emptor” or “let the buyer beware”, it is now an established principle that sellers are obliged to disclose all relevant details relating to the property which are within their knowledge. This can range from the existence of any structural issues such as dry rot or damp, to a long-standing neighbour dispute.

Damages were assessed at £67,000.00 in 2008 following a failure on the part of a seller to disclose the existence of an ongoing dispute with a neighbour.  Please also note that your Solicitor is also under a duty to disclose information of which he is aware and may have to refuse to accept instructions from a client who is is unwilling for such information to be disclosed.