Advice sought RE - problematic neighbours, looking for an amicable solution

af2909_2

dorisday wrote: »

Ive been in this situation myself and ive found the only way to sort it is to make their life hell I did it and it worked. Tit for tat really works in many cases. Frighten the life out of them youll get some peace guarantee it being nice gets you nowhere.

Frighten them - do you mean jump out from behind a bush and shout boo or something more industrial?

Unfortunately myself and the better half have a lot more to lose than them, so shoving a solid implement where the sun doesn't shine is'nt really an option :rotfl:

BitterAndTwisted

I think dorisday's idea of tit-for-tat is to wait until you know they have gone to sleep and then give them a taste of their own medicine.

Not necessarily to be recommended unless you relish a spot of fisticuffs when you least expect it

af2909_2

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

I think dorisday's idea of tit-for-tat is to wait until you know they have gone to sleep and then give them a taste of their own medicine.

Not necessarily to be recommended unless you relish a spot of fisticuffs when you least expect it

:rotfl:

Diplomacy will be tried first - although the landlord has said that they will look at invoking the break clause (they have it in 6 monthly review dates). Hopefully it will work out and we can all move forward

olly300

af2909 wrote: »

:rotfl:

Diplomacy will be tried first - although the landlord has said that they will look at invoking the break clause (they have it in 6 monthly review dates). Hopefully it will work out and we can all move forward

To ensure the landlord does this:
1. Go to the neighbours from hell website and download their noise diary and complete it in full. You need to do it for about 3 weeks. (You need to keep a couple of pens by your bed as well as a clock.)

2. Once you have contact your environmental health. They will ask you to complete a noise diary as you have already done so you can send them what you have. (Send it by recorded delivery and photocopy it for your records. )

3. The environmental health will acknowledge your complaint in writing. You then should tell the landlord you have complained to environmental health. (The tenants will get a letter as well if they know they have a break clause in their contract they may cotton on that they are going to be thrown out.)

4. The landlord should decide to evoke the break clause to avoid having an ongoing dispute.

5. If they don't then you are going to have to get a solicitor involved who deals with noise disputes.

When you sell you both will have to declare the dispute however you can both state clearly something like - you initially had issues with noise nuisance and when the extent of the nuisance was realised it was resolved amicably.

In future don't expect people to be quiet before 10pm - most flat leases have 11pm-7am as their quiet time.

BTW I have been involved on both sides of a noise disputes. The worst one involved a solicitor as there was no freeholder and was resolved as soon as the solicitor got involved.

af2909_2

olly300 wrote: »

To ensure the landlord does this:
1. Go to the neighbours from hell website and download their noise diary and complete it in full. You need to do it for about 3 weeks. (You need to keep a couple of pens by your bed as well as a clock.)

2. Once you have contact your environmental health. They will ask you to complete a noise diary as you have already done so you can send them what you have. (Send it by recorded delivery and photocopy it for your records. )

3. The environmental health will acknowledge your complaint in writing. You then should tell the landlord you have complained to environmental health. (The tenants will get a letter as well if they know they have a break clause in their contract they may cotton on that they are going to be thrown out.)

4. The landlord should decide to evoke the break clause to avoid having an ongoing dispute.

5. If they don't then you are going to have to get a solicitor involved who deals with noise disputes.

When you sell you both will have to declare the dispute however you can both state clearly something like - you initially had issues with noise nuisance and when the extent of the nuisance was realised it was resolved amicably.

In future don't expect people to be quiet before 10pm - most flat leases have 11pm-7am as their quiet time.

BTW I have been involved on both sides of a noise disputes. The worst one involved a solicitor as there was no freeholder and was resolved as soon as the solicitor got involved.

The only other thing could be to hold out as the flat will be sold pending the acquisition of the freehold and the granting of the new 999 year lease (the landlords had a sale agreed but it fell through in May due to issues with the lease) - we are both about to start acquisition proceedings in the coming weeks and there is a good chance that the flat will be sold with vacant possession (fingers crossed anyway )

bitsandpieces

olly300 wrote: »

To ensure the landlord does this:
1. Go to the neighbours from hell website and download their noise diary and complete it in full. You need to do it for about 3 weeks. (You need to keep a couple of pens by your bed as well as a clock.)

2. Once you have contact your environmental health. They will ask you to complete a noise diary as you have already done so you can send them what you have. (Send it by recorded delivery and photocopy it for your records. )

3. The environmental health will acknowledge your complaint in writing. You then should tell the landlord you have complained to environmental health. (The tenants will get a letter as well if they know they have a break clause in their contract they may cotton on that they are going to be thrown out.)

4. The landlord should decide to evoke the break clause to avoid having an ongoing dispute.

If they do this, worth considering that the tenants will have little reason to avoid annoying you for the rest of the time their in the property (they're already getting kicked out of their home because of noise - so there's not much worse that's likely to happen to them as a result of continuing with the noise or getting a bit worse!) They may not be happy about being asked to leave, and if the landlord needs to go to court to evict it could take months.

This doesn't mean you shouldn't pursue this - but it may make for a very awkward few months.

jamie11

af2909 wrote: »

:rotfl:

Diplomacy will be tried first - although the landlord has said that they will look at invoking the break clause (they have it in 6 monthly review dates). Hopefully it will work out and we can all move forward

It is not the landlord's place to involve himself in neighbour disputes. Why should he risk a void to keep you happy?

Ivana_Tinkle

This is a very "tough" route to be going down if all you essentially want is a quiet life. Even if the landlord agrees to kick them out, and they go when they're told to, won't he have to give them two months' notice? That's two months when they'll be making as much noise as they possibly can out of spite.

Then there's no guarantee that your new neighbours will be any quieter. Other people's noise drives me nuts, so I'm not unsympathetic, but what you're describing, while undoubtedly very annoying, really isn't "neighbours from hell" territory. If the next people go in for loud music, or have a lively toddler, it's going to be MUCH worse, and I can't see the landlord or environmental health being very sympathetic a second time.

I relly think you should consider apologising for involving the landlord, perhaps saying that the lack of sleep really was getting to you, and seeing if you can resolve this "amicably", as you said in your thread title was your intention.

af2909_2

Ivana_Tinkle wrote: »

This is a very "tough" route to be going down if all you essentially want is a quiet life. Even if the landlord agrees to kick them out, and they go when they're told to, won't he have to give them two months' notice? That's two months when they'll be making as much noise as they possibly can out of spite.

Then there's no guarantee that your new neighbours will be any quieter. Other people's noise drives me nuts, so I'm not unsympathetic, but what you're describing, while undoubtedly very annoying, really isn't "neighbours from hell" territory. If the next people go in for loud music, or have a lively toddler, it's going to be MUCH worse, and I can't see the landlord or environmental health being very sympathetic a second time.

I relly think you should consider apologising for involving the landlord, perhaps saying that the lack of sleep really was getting to you, and seeing if you can resolve this "amicably", as you said in your thread title was your intention.

Yep I think that's the route we are trying to go down. Will be asking for a meeting soon to try and resolve the matter. Lesson learned!

af2909_2

jamie11 wrote: »

It is not the landlord's place to involve himself in neighbour disputes. Why should he risk a void to keep you happy?

Yep - like I've said previously I now know this and will avoid the "bull in a china shop approach"