anectodal evidence, but yes, an apartment I lived in was 30k cheaper than everything in the house, and the estimate. So I was really happy to have caught a bargain.
Then after moving in it turned out the neighbors were unbearable. The father had developed a DIY habit during covid and he would regularly put together furniture at 11PM. Then they had two monsters for kids. Would literally jump around uncontrollably for hours, and for some reason, through some defect or lack in the sound proofing, the sounds were even amplified. Every time they went down to the playground the kids were literally screaming at the top of their lungs the whole way down. I nearly lost my sanity and fortunately could sell it at at 2k loss in a year.
Apart from that of course you can sue anybody for anything (with more or less success); why would that be the case here? I mean isnt if neighbours are annoying a subjective thing? Do you know of any court ruling which implies one has to disclose the state of the neighbours?
There is a famous (among first year law students) case[1] that seems relevant given the nature of the issue is one a buyer would not reasonably be able to ascertain on their own. One possible point of differentiation: ghosts are a permanent defect on the value of the property while loud children living next door would probably only torment the homeowner for a decade or so at most.
The opinion is famous not just for its unusual fact pattern but also because the Judge clearly had quite a lot of fun working in other-worldly puns and references while writing it.
Despite quoting the ruling at length multiple times in the article, there's not a single link to the actual ruling on that page, so far as I can find. Never change, Wikipedia.
Yes, and even if something is super annoying, it might be legal. For example they listened to music until 2-3 in the morning a lot of cases. Thumping reggaeton. And while it for sure wasn't over legal limit by decibel, the bass made my bed shake.
You indeed can if there are nuisance neighbors and I believe that is considered a material fact in most states. However, most documents, I believe contain a Real Estate Transfer Disclosure Statement which would have had a line indicating a "yes" if there were nuisance neighbors and it would have been up to you to ask for more details.
Yes, you'd have to be prepare to counter that with e.g. testimony from neighbors, or friends who heard the previous owners complain. It's not a slam-dunk, but it is an actionable tort.
Also good luck getting positive ROI on that multi-year lawsuit over things that buyer can reasonably say ‘never bothered me really, I don’t know what they’re talking about - sounds like they’re just irritated at life’. Especially when you factor in all the legal fees and several years of hassle going through the courts.
None of these things are necessarily unusual in most neighborhoods. All at once is irritating to most people - but hard to objectively prove are a true nuisance in a legal sense.
