Advice Needed - Re Neighbours, Landlord & Contract

onedaymyfriend

Evening guys!

I'm writing in on behalf of my uncle and aunty who don't have internet access. Just to give you an idea of the situation: - In December '09 they signed a one year contract to live in one of two brand new attached bungalows, which are owned by the same landlord. Since they moved in, they have had problems with the neighbours (man, woman and child) being noisy at ridiculous times of the night; anywhere from midnight to 6am. There's been hoovering, banging nails in to wall and shouting just to name a few. The man is the worst out of the three.

The landlord has been made aware of the situation a number of times and to honest he seemed quite concerned to start with. He has written several letters to the neighbours asking them to respect their neighbours (my unc & aunt) etc.. After each letter, the neighbours go quiet; but within a few weeks the noise is just a bad as before. It has got that bad, that my aunty is suffering with stress because of the whole situation and the lack of sleep; her doctor has even prescribed her something for it.

In numerous conversations, my uncle has mentioned to the landlord that there is a man living next door; pointing out therefore the woman is committing benefit fraud.

The landlord is now not bothered and has told my uncle to deal with it himself. He even said to my uncle to report her to the benefits people.

Needless to say my uncle has had enough and wants to vacate the property ASAP, is there any legislation or ruling that would allow him to do so without being charged by the landlord for the remainder of the rent until Dec '10? and would also allow him to get his £700 deposit back.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks,

D~

DVardysShadow

onedaymyfriend wrote: »

... In numerous conversations, my uncle has mentioned to the landlord that there is a man living next door; pointing out therefore the woman is committing benefit fraud.

The landlord is now not bothered and has told my uncle to deal with it himself. He even said to my uncle to report her to the benefits people.

My wife is not committing benefit fraud, even though she lives with a man [me]. There must be more to benefit fraud than just living with a man, surely?

If there is benefit fraud, of course, the LL will shoot himself in the foot to make an issue of it, because he will then have tenants who cannot pay the rent. You need to get realistic here. The tenants might be a right royal pain in the brass, but you need to deal with them for what they do, not seize on some random pretext to justify an irrelevant moral crusade against them.

Landlord probably realises this, but probably looks on the situation with the 2 properties as being a bit like getting the wolf the sheep and the cabbage across the river - the solution is not necessarily getting the other family out, it is getting either family out and away. Perhaps the way to go is to look at an early surrender of the tenancy.

onedaymyfriend

DVardysShadow wrote: »

My wife is not committing benefit fraud, even though she lives with a man [me]. There must be more to benefit fraud than just living with a man, surely?

Thanks for your reply DVardyShadow,what I meant was, receiving full housing benefit being registered as single mother living on her own and unemployed, when the childs father lives with them, works full time and is registered at a different address. Surely if he was registered as living there, her benefits would change.

I've just realised I didn't include that before. Sorry.

D~

DVardysShadow

onedaymyfriend wrote: »

Thanks for your reply DVardyShadow,what I meant was, receiving full housing benefit being registered as single mother living on her own and unemployed, when the childs father lives with them, works full time and is registered at a different address. Surely if he was registered as living there, her benefits would change.

I've just realised I didn't include that before. Sorry.

D~

You miss the point. It is not going to help you one little iota to resolve the benefits problem. It is not the benefits which makes them noisy. I doubt you know enough about their situation to be really sure there is benefit fraud.

All that is going to happen is that aunt and uncle will now be living next door to an even more stressed out household - with a basis for a grudge.

onedaymyfriend

When my unc mentioned to the LL about the benefits, he hoped that the LL might ask them to leave. My unc will not say anything to the benefits people because of any hassle that might come there way because of it.

Geenie

onedaymyfriend wrote: »

Thanks for your reply DVardyShadow,what I meant was, receiving full housing benefit being registered as single mother living on her own and unemployed, when the childs father lives with them, works full time and is registered at a different address. Surely if he was registered as living there, her benefits would change.

I've just realised I didn't include that before. Sorry.

D~

Good point, and one that needs reporting. http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/BenefitFraud/DG_10014876

PasturesNew

If they can't/won't report them to the benefits, then they should at least put it in their diary to do it the day after they move out .... as a sort of "thank you" present. Revenge is a dish best served cold I find.

Annisele

Have your aunt and uncle told anybody other than the LL about the noise problems? The other tenants? The local council?

Some local councils are pretty good about dealing with noise problems (though some are useless), so if they haven't already they should at least try to get help that way.

princeofpounds

The benefits and the noise issue are separate.

Regarding the benefits, report them and get on with your life. If you are lucky they will get investigated and they may lose benefits which means they fall into arrears and get evicted. Multiple complaints from different people might lead to more likelihood of investigation.

The noise... your relatives are lucky in that they don't own the place. This means they can raise a neighbour dispute without having it hanging over any future sale of the house. They have a couple of options beyond talking to these people directly:

- Environmental Health. It takes time, but with enough evidence they can serve noise abatement orders on people. This is the way you are 'meant' to deal with problem noise through the authorities.
- Forcing the landlord to take action. He obviously doesn't care that much as he hasn't taken firm action, so make him care. Their power to do this isn't high at the moment as they are contractually bound but it will become much higher as the end of the tenancy approaches. They need to make it a them-or-the neighbours decision for the landlord and to refuse to commit to a fixed term continuation until the neighbours are out.

Your relatives can't really get out of the contract early and easily. There are some slightly esoteric nuisance grounds that might work (the landlord 'adopting' the nuisance through inaction and preventing quiet enjoyment for your relatives), perhaps getting a lawyer to write a letter on these grounds would get a response, but it's a long short.

The folks on landlordzone might have more to say on this (and on the problem generally) so give their forum a shot.

You might also wish to try nfh (neighbours from hell) forum.

Good luck