Neighbour and I fell out over a fence – now I’m selling and he’s putting off buyers: DEAN DUNHAM replies

I fell out with my neighbours over a broken fence. I’m now selling my house and every time I’ve had a viewing they deliberately cause a nuisance to put off potential buyers. 

Now the estate agent says we may have to reduce the asking price to get a sale. What can we do?

W.V., via email

As with all neighbour issues the first port of call is to try to resolve the issue amicably, here perhaps reminding your neighbour that it may benefit both parties if you are able to move house.

If that is fruitless, you will need to look at other options. The first is that you could report the matter to your local authority.

Before doing this, take a precise note of when your neighbour has caused a nuisance with details of what they did, times and dates. 

If you have any evidence to back this up – a video recording or even a statement from your agent witnessing the nuisance, this would be very beneficial.

You can then approach your local council and complain that your neighbour is causing a ‘statutory nuisance’. 

This is any activity that is unreasonable or excessive and causes substantial interference with the enjoyment of your home, recurring on a regular basis (daily or at least three or four times a week). 

By law, local councils must investigate complaints of statutory nuisances. If the council does not help, perhaps because the nuisance is not recurring on a regular enough basis, you will have to go down the court route.

Given the significant impact this is having on the sale of your home, I would advise using a local solicitor as you will want to make sure that court papers are drafted correctly and that the case is presented perfectly to the judge, to give you the best chance of a successful outcome.

Also, in my experience problematic neighbours tend to act more positively to a formal solicitor’s letter than they are

to your request for them to cease and desist the nuisance behaviour, so you may find there is a quick resolution.

Whatever the outcome, it is highly likely that you will have to disclose details of the long-standing dispute to any buyer of your home, and this, of course, could also put them off the purchase. 

So it is worth trying to control the narrative now so that you can say, ‘we had a dispute but we resolved it and are now on good terms’, which sounds better than ‘we have been in dispute for years and still do not talk’.

Car cover pulled after one missed payment 

My car insurer cancelled my cover after I missed a monthly payment. Will that stay on my file for life?

A.B., via email

There are two issues to consider with this: firstly, the impact on your ability to obtain car insurance in the future and, secondly, the impact the missed payment will have on your credit file.

Many car insurance providers have a grace period for missed payments, typically giving you between ten to 30 days to make a missed payment.

It is worth finding out what the terms say in your insurance policy, as if the terms do not contain a grace period, your provider can simply cancel your policy following the missed payment. 

This can leave you in a very difficult position, as not only will you now be left uninsured, but you will likely either find it difficult to obtain insurance from another provider or you will be faced with higher premiums. 

This is because, when you take out insurance, one of the standard questions asked is whether you have had an insurance premium cancelled. It’s a loaded question designed to filter out applications that answer ‘yes’.

In relation to your credit file, a missed payment won’t stay on your record for life, but it will show up for seven years. 

The effect of the missed payment on your credit worthiness will reduce over time, as long as you have paid the outstanding amount.

It is therefore worth remembering that your payment history is the single most important factor in your credit scores, so if you have a missed payment it is important to get it paid as soon as possible.

If you dispute a missed payment, explain why in a short note and ask the credit reference agencies (such as Experian) to attach the note to your credit file.