Selling Your Home With an Unresolved Noise Dispute: What You Must Declare

When you sell a residential property in England or Wales, your conveyancing solicitor will have you complete the TA6 Property Information Form. Section 2 asks directly about disputes and complaints — not just legal proceedings, but anything that could reasonably be called a dispute, including noise. That covers complaints you made about a neighbour, complaints a neighbour or the council made about you, and anything currently unresolved, even if it never went further than a conversation or a letter.

The guidance is deliberately broad. “What constitutes a dispute is left open to interpretation” is the actual wording used to explain it — which means the safe assumption, if you’re unsure, is to disclose rather than guess that it doesn’t count.

This is the part that surprises people. If you answer TA6 incompletely or misleadingly — including by simply not mentioning a dispute you had — a buyer can bring a claim against you under the Misrepresentation Act 1967. And critically, this isn’t limited to the weeks after you move: these claims can surface well after completion, sometimes years later, when the new owner experiences the same problem you didn’t declare.

It’s tempting to think the safest move is to say nothing and hope it never comes up. It’s the opposite. A dispute that happened, was handled reasonably, and is properly recorded is a manageable, honest answer on a form. A dispute that gets hidden and later discovered by the buyer is the scenario that actually ends up in court. The problem was never that you had a noisy neighbour once — it’s what you do, or don’t do, about the paper trail.

If you do need to declare something, a clear, factual account protects you far better than a vague one:

• What happened — the nature of the noise and roughly when, not every individual incident.
• What you did about it — whether you spoke to the neighbour, contacted the council, or took no formal action.
• How it was left — resolved, ongoing, or simply stopped without a clear outcome.
• Any paperwork you have — letters sent, council correspondence, a diary — even if you never ended up needing it.

This is exactly what a properly kept noise diary gives you: not just leverage while the problem is live, but a clean, factual record you can hand to your solicitor honestly when the time comes to sell, rather than trying to reconstruct what happened from memory under time pressure.

If things are still unresolved, the strongest position — for the sale and for your day-to-day life — is to actually resolve it, not just document it. See our guide on what to do when the council won’t act, including the Section 82route if it’s gone on long enough. A resolved dispute with a clear outcome is a much easier line on a TA6 form than an open one.

A noise dispute doesn’t sink a house sale. An undisclosed one, discovered later, can cost far more than the discomfort of declaring it honestly today. The Noise Case Pro Evidence Packgives you the structured diary and letter templates that make sure that, whenever you do come to sell, you have a clear, factual account ready — not a gap you’re hoping nobody asks about.