disclosing "neighbour issues" on house sale

Keith,

i'm with you on this one... people who put up windchimes are completely selfish and insensitive. and probably deaf ;)

however unless the the windchimes are noticeably noisy, would they put buyers off? some may even like them.

it's sad when situations like this escalate. naturally your neighbours don't like the idea of being bossed around by you and if they were to take them down, they must be able to do it without any loss of face, i.e. let them take the moral high ground if it gets you want you want. i guess you've tried asking nicely but sometimes it's not enough...

good luck,

Norm.

On the contrary. Your house would probably have sold with or without the neighbor's wind chimes. The fact that you will now have to declare the fact that you've complained about him might prove to be a bigger obstacle to the sale that the original subject of the dispute, though.

I suppose it depends on how noisy the chimes are as to what potential purchasers think. They are really noisy - you can hear them through our double glazing all night long, and in the street at the front..

However I think this tells me :

1-See if the house does sell anyway - even if at a lower price. A few thousand gets lost in the noise in the long run with rising house prices. Although we might have to trade up more times if we get less for this one. 2-Don't make any further requests, & certainly not official ones 3- If it doesn't sell, try to find out if the chimes were the reason . If so, then it seems I have nothing to lose by reporting him - er....except possibly the risk of escalating reprisals - which might make it definitely impossible to sell...e.g. loud music indoors all the time. Hmm, looks like no point reporting at all. Just keep waiting/lowering price. 4- If it does sell, be very careful about answering the form - but don't risk misrepresentation. (Some might say that you balance the risk of having to recompense the buyer for the loss of value against the certainty of taking the same loss by dropping the price to sell cheaper - presume no actual penalty for misleading , just "putting the buyer back where they were") 5-Presumably if the question says "have you ever complained", I can put "I asked him to quieten his wind chimes" and leave it at that as a fact. Probably a common enough statement. The fact that I can't stand them whereas someone else might be OK is not in the question - Whether they actually are quiet enough / too loud is presumably a matter for the buyer to satisfy themselves ? A risk here that this might prompt someone to ask who hadn't noticed...but I can't avoid this honestly.

Or does "complained" mean to an official body? Is the question meant to encompass all occasions when someone has ever asked a neighbour to change something? I expect that'd mean an awful lot of people would answer yes to this one....wonder how many do.

6-er.. a lateral thinking solution is to offer them money to take them down or put something less annoying up instead! (But this hardly seems a sensible precedent to set...) 7-Make sure to check out what I'm buying! 8-Why are people so ******* selfish ! (they've put 2 more chimes up today) I just want to be able to sleep indoors & sit in the garden without having tubular bells & a glockenspiel rammed in my ears. It just makes you want to put speakers in the garden & blare out noise to get even. Seems to me that there's no problem if they end up complaining about me - that doesnt stop me selling! Unless it implies that neighbours are unusually quarrelsome - but then the more unreasonable I am the less they look quarrelsome! Looks like the law protects the bad guys mainly. Best advice seems to be "never complain - move instead!". 9-Sorry for long usenet post - getting to end of my patiece and wife going mad with stress, spending all day trying to talk things out, dreading going home, waste nights out discussing what we're going to do, bore friends, plagued by thoughts of violent solutions - if only. How dare those B**** put us through this. Thanks for listening. I know there are worse things going on in the world, it's just unusual for us to met people this nasty & I don't know how to cope....I suppose we all have to learn.

I have said this before - I'll repeat it - and heed it! ( I know I was told the last time that people like me should be committed under the mental health act but....)

I practice Feng Shui.

IF your neighbour is practising Feng Shui ( not just putting up wind chimes) , then you have probably escalated the problem.

In this situation the wind chimes would be there for a reason ( to calm negative energy - and since they are noisy enough to be heard I might suggest there is some sort of continual movement in that position!)

You have said yourself they put up extra chimes after the argument with you. It may be they have analysed the problem, rightly or wrongly as a chi ( sha or negative energy problem) and have put the chimes up to try and stop the arguments! That may sound cussed but in feng shui, relationships and disputes of same are cured by removing negative energy ( ie wind chimes).

You may not like it. You may not believe it, but if you at least recognise and respect the possibility of the belief you might get a hell of a lot further - without environmental health.

You are trying to sell and think you cant because of your neighbour? Well you certainly are not going to sell with a neighbour dispute on your hands now are you?

And what did it really matter ? Your leaving anyway! A totally "daft" suggestion - get a book on feng shui and feng shui your house too. You might do yourselves and your neighbours a favour. It could just be the sha (negative energy) is from your house. That would not only make them put up windchimes , but also stop you selling your own house.

You may not believe in feng shui, thats up to you, personally from a purely rational point of view I cant see a few windchimes stopping the right person buying - you just havent found that person yet.

However, also from a purely rational point of view , you will never sell now you have a neighbour dispute.

mich, thanks for pointing out something I'd never considered at all!

I can't say I believe in F.S, but I do accept that 200 years ago electricity, even aeroplanes, were just magic - there have always been things science can't explain & always will be so we shoudl never say something is scientifically impossible. (I 've debated this point with my work colleagues...) And I often read in NewScientist about things that I was told were impossible in science at school! But from a practical sense:

1-The only evidence I had was that they were just being selfish - the neighbours have never complained about me - But perhaps I was somehow "creating the negative energy" by something I was doing (any ideas what ?) - or are chimes put up to guard "just in case" ? - in which case I suppose they've failed. They're about 18" long , about 6 tubes with a central pendulum, one chime set is made of metal & one of bamboo, both placed at the end of their garden on a new pergola. Is this a clue to their purpose? 2-Is there something I can do to be more "positive energy" - put up some chimes or **something else** of my own? (but woudln't that look like escalation in a Non-FS sense..) 3-IF chimes are put up just in case, and the correct response to a complaint is to put up more of them but not explain why, or what the original cause was, er......don't we just end up with a world overrun by chimes?

Hope you don't think I'm mocking, I genuinely want to resolve the problem and would really apperciate some guidanec as to this one possible solution.

"Mich" wrote

Sounds more like a religious nut-case to me!

In article , keith writes

Whilst I certainly would not advocate arson as a solution, one might nevertheless wonder what manner of energy might be released were the pergola (and its accursed chimes) to burn down...

In article , keith writes

Why not put up your own set of "windchimes"? Make sure they're all nicely out of tune -- an odd assortment of sharps, flats and semi-flats should work nicely -- and if they're made from scaffolding tube or even

3" steel pipe, so much the better. After suffering a week or two of a tuneless and incessant racket of clonk-clank-clunk, your neighbour might begin to see reason...

First thing. I cant feng shui your house or even suggest anything - except get a book and a compass. Feng Shui is not as simple as most people have it down for. Its about placement and balance and direction ( leaving aside any chineese astrology). In fact without being aware of it, often these TV designers such as fancy Bowen and Linda Barker etc. are actually using the prinicples. A book would help you work out your own positioning. You have to be in the house and garden and using it to know what has to go where. Its quite individual.

The problem with Feng Shui is most people dont realise its being done. For example I have number of wind chimes around my house. They are positioned. However, my neighbour also has a windchime but theirs is just for show! Also very ordinary objects can be sited importantly. Lots of people think I have a think about garden orniments but I have two large ones, positioned strategically. Most people dont realise it.

a) Certainly, a new pergola ( depending on where it has been situated ) might need these. They are certainly of the feng shui type ( especially the bamboo one - I went miles to get a bamboo one its used as cure for to slow down chi ( thats good energy) coming into ones property. I had a windy corner I needed to "calm" in feng shui terms.

Now depending on whether the end of the garden where the pergola is is their "facing direction" it could be to slow down the chi and move it from a straight line and direct it around the garden. Sounds odd, but thats what wind chimes are supposed to do. Beyond that without seeing the house, knowing the directions etc. its hard to say.

One thing you can look for , without escalating anything , and without anyone even knowing. Is there any part of your house which is pointed and pointing directly at their house? Pointing things in peoples directions sends out "poison arrows" . And for a feng shui person that would send things very sour.

That can happen. But like me they may not be too happy saying its feng shui. I havent said anything to my neighbours, friends or even relatives , except my brother who was actually quite scathing and negative, so I shut up! As I said, many of the features in my garden are feng shui'd . But it lkooks like an ordinary garden. Its only if you took a compass to it and knew about Feng Shui you would know.

If you are wondering if they are feng shui -ing or just putting up pretties and being difficult with you , the sure fire way is to get a book and a compass, and map out their garden and the positionings. They dont even have to know you have done it!

That should give you a good idea. If it all appears to be in line with Feng Shui, odds are it is. ( borrow a book from the library , or buy one . I got one which only cost me about 5.00 and came with a compass. Its a beginners guide to feng Shui of house . I also have a garden book but the principles are essentially the same, or even look on the internet for information - although it can be confusing on the internet) .

I take it you dont know them well enough to know how serious they might be on the wind chimes.

"Paul C. Dickie" wrote

Nah - the neighbour would just put up a few hundred of his own windchimes, to try to counteract the "negative whatsit" caused by those out-of-tune clonkers...

And thats precisely the reason I dont normally disclose my interest in this area. For what its worth, I think it works. Whether it works on the principles its supposed to or just because balance and placement just make you feel better I dont know. And frankly, it doesnt matter to me.

"Mich" wrote

But wouldn't the size9 boots on the fence & in their flowerbeds give them a clue that someones come over into their garden? :-)

"Mich" wrote

I have a water feature - and it can be *incredibly* soothing just to stand by it for a while, just listening to the trickling water...

But wind-chimes have to be the most irritating noise there is. We just have one - *not* for F.S. - just inside the front porch, positioned so that the outside front door knocks onto them - we can then hear when the postman delivers the post! :-)

Would you need to do that ? if its possible to see whats in the garden, then its possible to take the compass directs and put a map of the garden on paper . Thats how I did mine. You would get a good enough idea of the general positionings from just looking into the garden from an overlooking windown or from the road etc.

You may have to guess at the point of the centre of the garden but that shouldn't matter too much and you may have to take a good guess at the facing direction - in most gardens that would be clear because its the direction one is facing when one comes out of ones door and into the garden. In a few cases ( like mine) its not so clear. In an urban house though, I am reckoning it would be fairly straightforward.

and it would seem it doesn't matter to you if you irritate the hell out of your neighbours.

just remember you may need the help and advice of your neighbours one day, so it would be prudent not to alienate them.

yes, you have the right to do whatever you want in your own house and on your own land but there's no need to inflict eyesores and earsores on other people. if only people could see (and hear) themselves from others' point of view!

Norm.

"Norman" wrote

Well, not quite "whatever you want", eh! - eg I'm sure you'd agree that you don't "have the right" to commit murder in your house, do you? :-)

Likewise my friend! Irritating neighbours cuts both ways. Selfishness seems to be a fact of modern living though.

I had an irritating neighbour who inflicted a leylandii hedge on me - and grew it deliberately in the hope it would reach mamouth proportions before I could sell my house. I had done nothing to her , other than own the house I was living in ( next door to her), a house, which I had in fact inherited. It was a relative who left me the property and they had purchased it over 20 years beforehand from the local council. She was renting from the council and as far as I can work out, her behaviour was based on nothing more than petty and unfounded jealousy.

In the event I moved and sold the house cheap ( this was before the days of disclosure). In those days I didnt practice feng shui.

I have never had any complaints about my wind chimes, and if I did , I would take those complaints seriously enough because it would indicate I did not have the balance right somewher in my home or garden. . However, the feng shui of my home is more important and if the windchime were there for a significant reason, I would not remove it unless I had another solution available.

There are far worse problems than a wind chime.

"Mich" wrote

Ah, so - feng shui does not tell you what to do, you decide yourself? Hmmm - I can do that without learning F.S.!! ;-)

Ive met this one. Sometimes it is possible to divide the garden down into two or more parts. However, usually, the person doing the feng shui makes the decision.