Sellers risk losing home sales due to nightmare neighbours – research

The majority of buyers would offer less for a property or even pull-out of a transaction if they discovered a nightmare neighbour.

Quick-buy firm the House Buyer Bureau surveyed more than 2,000 UK homebuyers on the topic of nightmare neighbours to see how it can impact their appetite for a property and prevent a seller from making their move. 

The survey found that for most, nightmare neighbours aren’t an issue, as 45% stated they have an excellent relationship with their current neighbours. 

However, 95% of sellers surveyed said they would offer less for a property they were interested in if they knew it was next door to a nightmare neighbour. 

Previous research has found that this could mean an asking price reduction of around 8%, which might not sound like much, but equates to £22,869 on the current average UK house price. 

Another 98% of buyers told House Buyer Bureau that a nightmare neighbour would deter them from offering on a property in the first place, while 97% went as far to say that they discovered a nightmare neighbour, even after having an offer accepted. 

If a nightmare neighbour were to move in while they live at a property, 63% of those surveyed also said they would move house as a result. 

Noise disturbances ranked as the number one trait of a nightmare neighbour, followed by invasions of privacy, problems over parking arrangements, disagreements over property boundaries and pet-related issues. 

Chris Hodgkinson, managing director of House Buyer Bureau, said:  “For the most part, we all learn to get along well with our neighbours, but some of us will inevitably run into the dreaded nightmare neighbour at a point in our lives. Not only can they be incredibly hard to live with, but they can also prevent us from achieving the best price for our property when we do come to sell, or even worse, they can deter us from selling at all. 

“As our research shows, the vast majority of buyers would pull the plug on their purchase, even after having an offer accepted, if they found out a nightmare neighbour was living next door. This is certainly the last thing a seller needs in current market conditions where motivated buyers are hard enough to come by as it is. 

“It can be a real headache, particularly for those who need to sell their home quickly, and in many cases, they may have to look to alternative methods such as quick sale platforms. At House Buyer Bureau, we’ve seen numerous examples where they’ve done just that.”