Is this matter worth getting our LL/agent involved?

Tygermoth

As you may know we already have issues with our tenancy as our LL died which is yet to be resolved. However the four cottages are fully managed by the estate agent who is still dealing while Probate is sorted.

Could lovely ladies and gents have had a gander at the letter below and can tell me if I am making much ado about nothing. Or offer a better way to phrase things as I am basically making some very strong allegations about behaviour that have not be observed but we know is the children. Should i let sleeping dogs lie as the child has proven to retaliate (keyed a car) when called up before (prev occupant of this house)

Just to make you all aware we have the same landlord/agent. The children in question are 9 and 11 - in the discussion with L she advised her son was out of control (at 11?) was about to be expelled from school and she was trying to get them to see it’s not his fault and he has ADHD and Ashbergers (sp?) the drive i talk about is a shared lane for our two houses to which at the bottom it splits to our respective houses.

Good morning ‘agents name’,

I trust you have had a good weekend.

We have had a few incidents occurring lately that we thought we best bring to your attention so you may just note our file. We do not need the matter taken any further at this stage but felt it best to have a record.
While tidying upstairs on Sunday ***** happened to look out of the window and notice L’s daughter doing damage by pulling parts off both the gate and fences on our side of the drive. (she was trying to make a hole so the chickens would escape)

I went over to advise L as this is not the first time and she said she would ‘have a word with them’. The damage has now been put right by us.

We also advised her of other incidents occurring in the last couple of months namely:

We believe her children are coming in to the garden while we were not here and taking things (admittedly small inexpensive things such as pegs and garden items). I should mention we have never given permission for her children to come in to the garden nor have they ever been invited to use the garden.

They have been placing obstacles in the ruts of the drive and watching from their garden to see if we will drive over them on returning home. These can be large lumps of tarmac, piled up small rocks or the items taken from our garden.

The most worrying event by far - We also caught her Son and his friend tempting our pets over to them with food. They then proceeded to throw rocks/ large bits of tarmac (which had been gathered in advance) at them. Ongoing from this occasion our pets have had a number of unexplained injuries and have become skittish and fearful and now avoid the front and side of the house. Of course this could be attributed to any number of events but would like to note our concerns.

Since the above occasion we have regularly been finding large rocks cement or tarmac all over the garden which seems to have been thrown from the fences or gate into the garden. I understand, of course, that as the rocks arrival in the garden was unobserved it may have been anyone who has done this..... but as stated above we wished to highlight this is occurring in light of the possibility of further property damage.

The discussion with L was very civil and she has explained that she is having issues with her son presently, who when asked by her, not to damage our gates or fences immediately proceeded to do so in front of her and me nor heeded L’s admonishments to stop.

phew! long one, sorry

BitterAndTwisted

It's my understanding that no agent or landlord will concern themselves with neighbourly disputes as that is something for you and your neighbour to resolve on your own. Local Authorities take a dim view of anti-social behaviour by their tenants these days but private landlords rarely want to get involved.

If you feel the need to let the agent know that damage has been occurring and you want it noted on your file that you and your family are not personally responsible for it, then go ahead and write to them about that only. It may not result in you not being charged for any damage once you have to move in any case....

Tygermoth

Thanks bitter and twisted,

This is what we wanted. He has caused loads of damage and ill be damned if i lose my deposit because of it.

Its not a dispute as such, I just despair of inability to control her children. They are up untill 0100 on school nights and wander aimless looking for trouble, the grandmother takes them to school or they just wont bother to go. Gawd help us (if we are still here) when they are in their teens!

Sagaris

You could always try contacting your local council to see if they have a department that deals with anti social behaviour? Ours does, they are pretty good at clamping down on this before it escalates to something more serious. It's really annoying to have to put up with though, we've had the neighbours from hell next to us a couple of years ago (prostitutes LOL!) and it just takes over everything!

grey_lady

Actually i think you're being far to nice and polite about this, i also think that the agents should be informed, because if damage is occuring, the agent would probably want to write a warning letter to the tenant.

Good advice about seeing if there's an anti-social behaviour team at the council. As for harassing your pets maybe contact the RSPCA.

faerie_girl

could you look into getting CCTV installed? Then you have the evidence that they are doing the damage and hurting your pets. As a PP mentioned, report this to your councils ASB department, hopefully get it stopped before it gets worse!

msb5262

Have you considered talking to the local police? I think I would, even just on an informal basis. It sounds as if the children concerned are heading for a fall, one way or another, and the police will have to pick up the pieces if things go horribly wrong.

Brighton_belle

I would expect a good landlord/agent to be very concerned if their tenants were making life miserable for anyone else, whether it is more of their tenants or not. Antisocial behaviour can be a breach of a tenancy agreement.
I think you should write to them and have it noted on file if nothing else. Particularly with regard to the actual damage and your deposit.

Savvy_Sue

CCTV can only cover your own property, and I believe you have to have warning signs up.

Tygermoth

Thank you all.

In the end (and after i calmed down) we decided to hold off sending a letter to the LL. I have kept it though.

As we had some news that pretty much confirms the house is to be sold by the estate we have more to worry about presently than the neighbours children.

How we are going to get any normal landlord to take on 11 chickens, four cats and one dog + 2 cars for a resonable sum - as i dont want to hang on indefinatly waiting for the hammer to fall.

Grrrr Stressed

floss2

As a temporary measure, I would suggest contacting your Community BEat Manager (look on your Police website, and enter your postcode for the details of your local team) and ask them to stop by regarding the "unexplained" items in your garden, you could have an open discussion in the driveway when the kids are about....