Tenant issues next door...Any advice please?

Travelling_Man

Hi, I live in a semi next door to a property that has been rented out for six years with no issues. New tenants, a couple, arrived in July and for the first two months there were again no problems.

About ten days ago, two new people seemed to have arrived at the property to join the couple. There was an instant increase in noise, particularly slamming doors and stamping through the house, during a party a ball was kicked against my fence, individuals briefly stood on my front half of lawn ( it adjoins ) to send texts, a car was parked with its tyres on my lawn.

I was annoyed so I went to the ( v.reputable ) letting agent, not for a major rant but just to see if a call could be made and these issues nipped in the bud.

The slamming and stamping has subsided a bit and no balls etc have been kicked against my fence but the two new people still appear to be there. I know the landlord to speak to when he visits the property to tidy up after a tenancy, he has told me in the past he had no intention of letting to a house share scenario.

My questions are...at what point do guests become occupants?

If they are guests, surely this should be for a fixed time scale?

If it is now a shared house of 3 or more, surely there are regulations re fire doors, extinguishers etc...I'm pretty sure these don't exist, would there be a case for contacting the council at some point?

I wish to deal with the situation because I don't want to live next door to an unsanctioned noisy house share.

Of course the landlord may have given permission for all this...fair enough...but I then need to know and make plans to sell up and move on!

Many thanks for any advice offered.

McKneff

If the issues that affect you have been dealt with, the noise and the ball kicking i cant actually see that its any of your business who or how many people live in the house.

If you dont want to live in the house with the neighbours as they are then make plans to move. Now that's your business.

Travelling_Man

The noise has subsided a bit but the situation still isn't satisfactory. Sorry I wasn't clearer. As far as I am aware there are different rules for multiple occupancy and insurance conditions to be satisfied. We share a party wall. The landlord and agent probably don't know that long term guests are there either. If they were quiet then fine but this isn't the situation. I think that because of this the additional guests / occupants are my business.

ILW

I would suggest that the insurance arrangements of your neighbours are no concern of yours.
Regarding the noise issues, are they bad enough for you to report to your local environmental health department? If not I doubt if there is much you can do except sell up as you suggest, bearing in mind that if you do take any action regarding the neighbours, you will have to inform any potential purchasers which may cause further problems.

McKneff

Even with 2 people in the house you will never get quiet. It would be 10 times worse if they (the original occupants) had 4 kids. then you really would have something to complain about.

If you moved another 3 people into your house, and they came round complaining about the amount of people in your home, wouldn't you (in fairness) tell them to 'mind your own business'.

phil1873football

ILW wrote: »

bearing in mind that if you do take any action regarding the neighbours, you will have to inform any potential purchasers which may cause further problems.

Only if the potential buyers actually ask

ILW

phil1873football wrote: »

Only if the potential buyers actually ask

I believe that it is on the standard disclosure form. So you will be asked as a matter of course.

Pepzofio

Travelling_Man wrote: »

About ten days ago, two new people seemed to have arrived at the property to join the couple... at what point do guests become occupants?

I would certainly not consider someone staying with me for 10 days to be a "joint occupant".

Travelling_Man wrote: »

If they are guests, surely this should be for a fixed time scale?

Yes - to be determined by the hosts, not their neighbours! How would you feel if they took it in their heads to object to you having houseguests? It may not be their house, but it is their HOME.

Travelling_Man wrote: »

If it is now a shared house of 3 or more, surely there are regulations re fire doors, extinguishers etc...I'm pretty sure these don't exist, would there be a case for contacting the council at some point?

I always thought HMOs were to do with the number of (bed)rooms being let, rather than the number of occupants, but I could be wrong.

Travelling_Man wrote: »

a ball was kicked against my fence, individuals briefly stood on my front half of lawn ( it adjoins ) to send texts. I was annoyed so I went to the ( v.reputable ) letting agent

And... really?

Travelling_Man wrote: »

Of course the landlord may have given permission for all this...fair enough...but I then need to know and make plans to sell up and move on!

I would say this is almost certainly your best course of action.

anselld

Pepzofio wrote: »

I always thought HMOs were to do with the number of (bed)rooms being let, rather than the number of occupants, but I could be wrong.

3 or more occupants from 2 or more households and for both households it must be their main residence. In this case it is not clear if there are 2 households or if it is both household's main residence.

kunekune

All I can say is that if this is bad enough to consider moving, you are a very sensitive soul. Someone stood briefly on your side of a lawn (which isn't marked off, from what you say). A ball hit a fence on the other side from your garden. I am glad you are not my neighbour! We sometimes actually sing. The tv is occasionally on before 7 in the morning or after 10 at night. The children run around, and once one of them had a tantrum ... Totally unacceptable. Oh, and we own our house, so there is no LL you could complain to. We have lived next door to extremely bad tenants and I know how stressful it is, but this seems to be pretty minor in the big scheme of things.

DVardysShadow

Travelling_Man wrote: »

The noise has subsided a bit but the situation still isn't satisfactory. Sorry I wasn't clearer. As far as I am aware there are different rules for multiple occupancy and insurance conditions to be satisfied. We share a party wall. The landlord and agent probably don't know that long term guests are there either. If they were quiet then fine but this isn't the situation. I think that because of this the additional guests / occupants are my business.

The problems resulting from extra occupants are your business. But the solution [removing the extra occupants] is for others, not for you. If you want that much control, you must buy the next door property.