Hi

We started renting a beautiful home in December. We pay £1,800 a month for the house which is a hell of a lot of money.

We have had a letter saying building works begin on a patch of land next to our garden next week and the foundations mean they will have to take down our fence and work in our garden!

We both work from home which will be impossible with the noise. We also have a dog who will go berserk at the builders in the garden and she wont be able to go outside.

We are absolutely gutted that our dream home has become such a nightmare and we will not be able to use the garden for over 2 months! Well, we can, but not privately!

Any advice on if we can refuse to pay rent? or at least get a reduction? The landlord knew about this and did not tell us before we moved in. My other concern is that our garden will now be completely overlooked by the new house.

Any advice please?

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Regards

Andy

Hi

You do not say who the letter about the works was from? (landlord, contractor etc)

I would not under any circumstances refuse to pay rent as all you would be doing is giving the landlord ammunition to use against you if they wished to take it further if you do.

Your the lease holder, if they come kick them off, its your right.

The landlord can do diddly squat about it. Just in the same way the landlord cannot just walk into the property when they feel like it.

Its your home, you signed the lease.

So kick them off, if they refuse call the police, show them the lease and tell them you want them off. If the police say its a civil issue, just say you'll be removing scaffolding etc at night and putting it back on their property.

Just seen a better point.

The builders want to remove a fence.

Without your permission, not the landlords its criminal damage and they could be arrested.

the builders can go to court to enforce the access so i would suggest that you refuse them access UNLESS they compensate you for your loss of amenity. so how long will the work take if they are paying you £1800 a month for the access? i bet they can do it quicker. If they trespass you can sue them and even get an injunction to prevent them reoffending. this is expensive but they will foot the bill so let them know in your letter demanding compensation that this will happen if they cant reach an agreement.

Now, being realisitc I would have thought that £600 a month is reasonable for the loss of use of the garden but start off with the higher figure aand see waht they come back with. it is only the cost of an extra labourer for a week for them

so get your letter drawn uop and given to the company or better still the landowner pronto

planning has already been granted so you have no say in whetehr it goes ahead or not, just how it impacts on you