Help!!!Neighbours From Hell

[Garden32]

Can anyone help me??

I have the neighbours form hell and I wish to put a letter together to the letting agents, complaining about their tenants.

They are the **** of the society, loud music, boisterous behaviour, dog barking, etc!

Not to mention the house is falling to pieces!

I understand surrounding neighbours have aslo complained to the letting agents but no action has been taken.

Seeing as Im the lucky person to actually live next door (no-one warned me about my lovely neighbours when I was buying)to the accused, I have to make a formal complaint myself.

 

Are there any templates that I can use to get me started?

 

Would appreciate any advice!

 

Regards Desperate

[barracad]

There is nothing you can do about the dog barking - there is only an issue if the dog is being kept in unhygenic or unsafe conditions. Also "**** of the society" and "boisterous behaviour" is very subjective and doesn't really say what inconvenience you are being caused - to be classed as a "nuisance" it would need to be substantial interference and not a trivial matter. The house "falling to pieces" would be the responsibility of the landlord, not the tenant.

 

Apart from this, the only thing you have mentioned which could be a nuisance is the loud music - but again, this would depend on if it is a one-off or regular occurence, if the music is played at unsociable hours, and just how loud the music is.

 

In any event, the first thing you should do is try and resolve it informally - i.e. speak to your neighbours. If this fails, keep a log of all noise etc with the date and time. Keep a note of any conversations, letters, phone calls, etc and take photos if this is of relevance. If you can't resolve it informally then you are best complaining to the council instead of the Letting Agent.

[Garden32]

Thanks for your reply Barracad.

I didn’t feel like I should go into detail (didn’t want to bore) but to give you more of an idea here goes.....

They are a young couple (early 20's) with a young child (2ish), claiming off the social. I would say they are a dysfunctional family, as they don’t work, stay up late & sleep all day.

The dog is not really an issue; it’s the constant arguing & fighting they have with one another. Also, the lad fights with his friends & any immediate family, when I say fight; I mean aggressive actual bodily harm.

I have had to call the police out several times.

Of course, this all takes place at any time of the day, usually 2, 3 & 4AM!

Then I hear the child screaming, as she gets to witness all of this. An actual punch up took place last week in the street, right outside my house and right in-front of the child.

I’m told he had the child in a head-lock whilst in a rage, only a couple of months ago.

They have damaged nearby residents cars, again in a rage, the list is endless.

I am not about to approach my neighbours about their behaviour, for fear of an attack. They are not reasonable, normal people!

I feel intimidated by the male, as he has given me some very weird looks! I am a young female professional who lives alone!

Surely the letting agents have to take action, otherwise what is the point of a tenancy agreement??

I have reported them to the council & a warning letter has been sent.

Meanwhile, I & surrounding residents live in misery. We will not be happy until they are evicted!

desperatly seeking Garden

[barracad]

There's nothing really the Letting Agent can do unless they are in breach of their tenancy agreement, and you're not privy to what this says.

 

The Antisocial Behaviour Act 2003 does make it possible to curtail a tenancy agreement from 12 to 6 months, but this would not be down to the Letting Agent, it would be down to the Antisocial Behaviour Unit The Home Office Anti-Social Behaviour Website and they rather than doing this they would most probably issue an Antisocial Behaviour Order (ASBO) or Acceptable Behaviour Contracts.

 

If you have complained to the council then they should be able to help as they have a duty to investigate nuisance under Section 79 of the Environmental Protection Act - although their powers are restricted to what is classed as a "nuisance" in the eyes of the law.

 

If the council can't help then you can take legal action yourself under Section 82 of the Environmental Protection Act which would need you to prove to a magistrate beyond reasonable doubt that what you are complaining about amounts to a nuisance.

[Nightmare4banks]

Hi all!

 

Garden32,please answer the following questions:

 

1.How long have these anti-social antics been going on?

 

2.Have you had any clashes with these folks personally?If yes,please eloborate further.

 

3.If the answer to question 2 is yes,

 

Have the police been involved?

 

The answers to the bove questions should enable me to hopefully assist you further.

[Garden32]

Hi Nitemareforbanks

 

1.How long have these anti-social antics been going on? I moved into my house in May, so since then

2.Have you had any clashes with these folks personally? If yes,please eloborate further. No personal clashes, I try to stay out of the way & not get involved. I dont dare!

3.If the answer to question 2 is yes,

 

Have the police been involved?

 

I have only spoke to the neighbours form hell a handful of times, and this was only because the young girl came knocking on my door asking to borrow money!!! I dont even know them! Of course, I said 'NO'!

Any advice & guidance will be greatly received.

Thanks Barracad... I will have to read about the ASBO issue. It all sounds slightly daunting though, particularly as Im tring to keep a low profile at present. I certainly didnt think my first house would cause me so much aggro!

As for seeking legal help, this would be great if I could afford it!

Thanks Guys

 

 

[Nightmare4banks]

Garden32,after reading your posts and in my view:

 

1.The tenants are clearly in breach of their tenancy agreement.However it seems the agent is not bothered as long as the rent is paid.

 

2.In order to gather evidence,buy a cheap cctv camera that can be plugged into your video recorder and then any "ant-social antics" can be recorded on a video tape.

 

3.If you get any grief you should go to the Police and have some evidence as I suggested in point 2.The video tape and a sworn statement can be used in court proceedings.

 

I have 2 further questions for you to answer:

 

1.Do you know when these "neighbours from hell" moved into the property?

 

2.You say that you bought this property - Was anything mentioned in the paperwork from the sellers' solicitors about "neighbour problems"?

Please explain with as much detail possible.

 

 

The answers to these questions may enable me to assist you further.

[fairclaire]

The most alarming thing i have read in your post is that there seems to be a young child caught up in all of this...and one who is suffering.

 

A call to social services may be in order. I know it doesn't sove your problems but i would be disturbed by it.

[gizmo111]

The most alarming thing i have read in your post is that there seems to be a young child caught up in all of this...and

A call to social services may be in order. I know it doesn't sove your problems but i would be disturbed by it.

 

Absolutely - look here for annoyomous advise NSPCC - Who to turn to - Helpline

 

and who is the landlord? Is this a family that have been offered emegency accommodation by the council in a private tenancy?

[davethorp]

I sympathise with the OP. My family and I are in a similar predicament. Unfortunately, if their landlords are anything like our landlords, as long as they get the rent coming in they wont care (I'm in the process of standing for election to the tenant board of my housing association in order to try and make a difference though as you own your house and they rent this wont help you).

 

The noise, I would complain to environmental health. Unfortunately, this may not be very effective as each time an item of noise making equipment is siezed, the offender simply buys another and then goes back to the old behaviour rather than learning from their mistakes and so the cycle repeats (our neighbour has had 4 stereos siezed so far and still hasn't realised what he needs to do to stop it)

 

Social services probably wont do much. We complained to them about our neighbours having drug raves almost every night when their baby was trying to sleep. SS warned them when they were coming for an inspection and gave them plenty of time to get rid of any incriminating evidence.

 

Good luck anyway, you aren't alone with this kind of problem. Just need people to stand up and make sure they are taken notice of. Personally I think all neighbours like yours or ours should be moved into the same area of a town then they all have to put up with each other and we get to live in peace

[electron99]

When you bought the house, the sellers were under a legal obligation to reveal any problems with neighbours.You should contact your solicitor for advice, with a possible view to claiming compensation from the vendors.This is important, as if the worst happens, and you can stand it no more and have to sell up, you will have to tell prospective purchasers of the problems, which may devalue your property, or make it difficult to sell.

[MrShed]

Electron, you make a valid point. However, and forgive me if I'm wrong, doesnt that legislation state that you only have to declare a "dispute", not "problems", with neighbours? This is a significant difference, especially in this case...

[Garden32]

Thank-you so much to all of you for you help & guidance!

 

Ok, firstly to answer 'Nitemare4banks' questions:

 

1.Do you know when these "neighbours from hell" moved into the property? From talking to other neighbours they have been in here approx 18 months

2.You say that you bought this property - Was anything mentioned in the paperwork from the sellers' solicitors about "neighbour problems"?

Please explain with as much detail possible.

Not a dicky bird! And I didnt think to ask?? Its my 1st house, so a novice!

 

I have considered very seriously ringing Social Services & I even looked the number up in the yellow pages, but since I have complained to the council, they have been behaving. Its been nearly 2 weeks. Well they had a fight in the street last week, but that doesnt count, cos that's not a council issue! So, I though I would see what happens over the next couple of weeks. As, Im sure this wont last. As soon as there is another kick off, I will report them! In the meantime, I think I will give the NSPCC a ring for some advice.

 

'davethorp' - Love your idea of putting all of these scumbags in 1 town! See how they would like it!

 

'gizmo111' - Is this a family that have been offered emegency accommodation by the council in a private tenancy? I have no idea?! But I very much doubt it, I think they have moved from stoke because her parents disapproved of her fella (The Nutter)! Though she gives as good as she gets!

 

I've heard the landlord lives out of town, so he doesnt care becasue he is getting his lovely cheque each month! Yes, I do belive the the letting agents doesnt care either! It infuriates me, as Im sure they wouldnt like it, if they were in my position.

 

So do you all think, its a waste of time complaining to the letting agents?

 

I will definately find out about whether or not the sellers should have informed me! Cant believe the neighbours didnt say anything!

 

I have been in touch with the police again & they are going to send a CBM (Community Beat Manager) around to see me, I have also discussed this with other neighbours & they said they will get involved. As I have good intelligence, that if enough people complain, an eviction could be possible. It just takes forever! Depending on how many hits the offenders have had!?!

 

1 step nearer maybe?

[davethorp]

You have one advantage in that the other people in the neighbourhood seem to be on your side which may well help with the police, environmental health and their landlords.

 

Unfortunately in our case most of the people in the neighbourhood (least in the direct vicinity) are mates of his and take part in his regular drug raves so we're kinda out numbered in this battle.

 

I wouldn't get hopeful for an eviction, we've been subject to ASB from our neighbour for over 18 months and all our landlords seem to want to do is issue him warning after warning after warning. We thought we'd got somewhere last summer when they issued him an eviction notice though all that happened then was they made him sign an acceptable behaviour contract that he has violated more times than I care to mention so isn't really worth the paper it is written on (and seems to effectively be simply another warning!)

[Nightmare4banks]

Hi all!

 

Garden32,following reading your other posts and in my view:

 

1.I feel that you may be able to sue the previous owner(s) from concealing the fact that he/she/they had troublesome neighbours.

 

2.When a property is being purchased a seller must fill in pages associated with anything to do with neighbours/boundry disputes etc.You need to go back and see what the answers were.Post them here.Then we can suggest the best way forward.

Bad neighbours would have an impact on the value of your house now - not to try and depress you but being very honest and blunt with you.This is a fact.However,knowing this is not going to resolve any of your ongoing problems caused by them.

 

3.If the tenants are private tenants this will only leave the landlord/agent to be in a position to evict them.In saying this,there is nothing wrong with having several of your neighbours and yourself putting forward a complaint to the agent to put pressure on evicting the "neighbours from hell".Your situation would be much better if your "neighbours from hell" were council/housing association/trust tenants.

 

Anyway,I hope this helps.

 

If you have any questions,just ask.

[jansus]

I agree with the above post - there are specific questions that the previous owners should have answered in the questionaire which your solicitor should have in the paperwork. I would contact them straight away to see what was said. We even mentioned we had a dispute with a neighbour about our trees - glad we did as they consequently made our buyers down more trees ( promise you the trees not causing problems)

 

Best of luck you certainly seem to be getting some good advice-such a shame as it is your first home.

 

Jan:-|

[rosysparkle]

 

 

3.If the tenants are private tenants this will only leave the landlord/agent to be in a position to evict them.

The agent has to act on the landlord's instructions, so unless the landlord agrees to eviction, there will be little the agent can do. If the L is getting regular rent and not suffering the problem at first hand, he may not be prepared to issue NTQ, particularly as it will cost him money if he has to go to court for possession.

 

By all means register your concern with the agent, they should send the tenant a standard nuisance letter pointing out the breach of the AST, and pass on your concerns to the L. Unfortunately, there is little else they can do.

[davethorp]

Your situation would be much better if your "neighbours from hell" were council/housing association/trust tenants

 

Trust me, me and my neighbour are former council (now housing association) tenants and they couldn't care less so don't think that would help the OP

[Nightmare4banks]

davethorp,in reply to your post:

 

1.There are much more proactive laws/rules associated with social housing than private housing.

 

2.I am not surprised at all about the way you have been treated.

 

3.The poster's local authority/housing association could be more proactive with carrying out evictions.But who knows?Anyway,this will not help the poster with the ongoing problems.

[Nightmare4banks]

rosysparkle,I would like to just add:

 

1.If the "neighbours from hell" are that bad,there is nothing to stop the poster with some of the other neighbours backed up with evidence i.e.cctv footage and any other form of evidence in threatening to sue the agent/landlord for not ridding the neighbourhood of this "neighbour from hell".

I am sure this would "wake the agent up"!

 

2.This is because if the agent is aware of problematic tenants,he/she should notify the landlord and a warning should be issued followed by eviction/NTQ.

 

3.On a seperate note,I have done this in the past and it did work -

I demanded from the landlord to evict a very bad noisy tenant.The landlord was very concerned that he had upset me - one of his sitting tenants but less than 2 months down the line peace and quite ruled!

 

Anyway,I hope this helps.

[rosysparkle]

Whilst I am sure that pressure from the neighbours would ensure the agent contact the landlord, the agent cannot undertake eviction proceedings unless instructed to do so by the landlord. The agent can notify the landlord, advise the landlord, write to the landlord, but only the landlord can authorise eviction. It's not a matter of waking the agent up, the agent has to operate within the law and within the terms of their agreement with the landlord.

 

The tenants' contract is with the landlord. The neighbours cannot sue the agents for the landlord's failure to issue eviction proceedings.

 

I deeply sympathise with the OP, and hope she can get these neighbours moved on (where they'll be someone else's problem, but at least the OP will get some peace!)

 

But it can only be the landlord's decision to evict, not the agent's.

 

In reply to the OP, no, it isn't a waste of time complaining to the letting agent, they should do everything they can to pass on your concerns to the landlord, and take the landlord's instructions. But legally, that's ALL they can do. The landlord is the one with the ability to put the situation right. You could write to the landlord directly (send it care of the agency if you don't have the L contact details) if you think that would have more impact.

 

Garden, what did the previous owners say on the SPIF form about any neighbour problems?

[Nightmare4banks]

I would just like to add:

 

1.If a landlord uses the service for managing a tenanted property this probably would include dealing with evicting tenants should the need arise.

 

2.The neighbours can sue for failure to see to remedy the current situation which does not essentially mean evicting the tenants.Although it seems clearly that the tenants are in breach of their tenancy agreement whether ly implied or otherwise.The reasonability test would apply here i.e. would it be expected that a neighbourhood put up with such folks?

OF course,the simple answer is NO!

 

3.Regarding writing directly to the landlord,I doubt very much that the landlord would receive this letter.At the end of the day,this is what the agent is paid for - to deal with the day to day management/headaches associated with property lettings in return for the ongoing commissions.

 

Anyway,this is my 2p's worth!

[rosysparkle]

I'm grateful for your input, NfB, but have to reiterate that an agent cannot act outside the law or outside the terms of the agreement they have with the landlord.

 

1. An agent can only start eviction procedures if authorised to do so by the landlord, as the tenants' contract is with the landlord, not with the agent.

 

2. I do not know if neighbours can sue the landlord, a solicitor would be able to clarify this, but they would not be able to sue an agent unless the agent had been negligent, and even then it would be very hard to prove that an agent (who cannot take action without the landlord's express authorisation) had caused or contributed to a tenants breach of an agreement.

 

3. I can assure you that a properly run agency will forward on all corespondence addressed to the landlord, we do this hundreds of times a week, and will act on correspondence addressed to the agency as far as the law allows.

 

[Nightmare4banks]

rosysparkle,I would just like to add:

 

1.To be perfectly blunt and honest with you and no offence intended I could not care less if you appreciate my input or not.

 

2.At the end of the day,I would suggest that you read through my previous posts giving guidance to posters which are replicas to what you have just said yourself.

 

3.Another thing I would like to mention is that you are making some form of assumptions regarding the poster's agent/landlord based on no concrete facts/input from the original poster.

 

4.I am very pleased to read that you are involved in running a properly run letting agency.However,do you really think that the agent associated with the "neigbour from hell" is run well - based on what the poster has stated?

 

Like many others - the simple answer is NO!

 

Finally,I have no intention in entering a flaming match or rude/offensive posts with you but I find your post slightly patronising and unpleasant.

 

Mods - Sincere apologies but I have said my say again and that is the end of this matter.

[rosysparkle]

Eh?

 

I appreciate you don't want to get into a discussion with me and apologise unreservedly if my tone to you or anyone else has been anything other than polite. Tone is a difficult thing to get across in a textual medium, but my intention has only ever been to state the law and to help, and I have never been anything other than polite to you and everyone else.

 

I'll leave this here, which is a shame because leading Garden to believe that the agent can evict without the landlord's authorisation or in any way act outside the law is not helpful.

 

Sorry folks, I thought that as a responsible letting agent I could help on this board, but it seems that my input and knowledge is less than welcome.