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

olly300

Fraise wrote: »

There should be an article in the lease that states all people living in the property are entitled to quiet and peaceful living. If people are causing a noise nuisance they are in breach of the lease, and can be sued.

It's not so blanket as that.

I've lived in more than one flat - they clearly give a time which is a "quiet period".

Fraise wrote: »

The landlord of the flat above you is ultimately responsible for his tenants behaviour. If they are flouting the rules of the tenancy agreement, it is his duty to warn them and eventually serve them notice if they refuse to behave in a sociable manner.

Nope the landlord is not.

The landlord cannot serve a tenant notice during the fixed tenancy period.

After that if you have complained to environmental health and the freeholder, the freeholder will contact the landlord and remind them of their legal obligations. The landlord will then have an incentive to give the tenants notice. This takes months.

Fraise wrote: »

Also, most maisonettes or conversions/flats have clauses in the lease that stipulates no wood/laminate flooring on upper floors, unless the owner supplies soundproofing between his floor and your ceiling.

Most leases do not state that.

Most properties in England are not modern and were built at a time before people had fitted carpets in every room.

Leases do have nuisance clauses - some are defined while others depend on reasonableness. For example using a vacuum or drilling at 2am in the morning isn't reasonable but a lease can't list every instance of noise disturbance.

af2909_2

bazra wrote: »

Be a bit careful just how 'proactive' you are when the new tenant moves in.

There were similar problems between the previous tenant in my flat & the owner across the hall. He also decided to be 'proactive' as soon as i moved in and embarked on a 10 month campaign of bullying and harassment so that 'he' didn't have to go through it again when i moved in.

Upshot being that he became viewed by his own freeholder as the problem tenant and has now been forced to move away after being interviewed for being in breach of the terms of the freehold.

All i am trying to say is just go a bit easy when the new tenant moves in and don't be too proactive to the point of trying to have some sort of control over the next tenants movements in thier own home.

It wasn't exactly pleasant being at the time i was grieving after 2 bereavements in 14 days,just lost my home and had to start again, and having treatment at the mental health unit for a stress related illness, and recovering from 3 bouts of major surgery for a disability.

My life would have been a lot easier while i was struggling with so much upset and trauma if the owner in question had not allowed his own issues with a previous tenant to dictate how he was going to behave toward me before he had even met me.

To be fair I like to think of myself as a reasonably happy go lucky kind of character (at least that's my perception ) - will just try and be friendly and state the obvious (i.e. ceiling is thin as hell in the bedroom, please let me know if we are being too noisy, days of the refuse collection, get yourself an external stopcock key off e bay incase we are out and your internal one doesn't work so you don't have to call out an emergency plumber like we did :rotfl:).

Looking back I should have gone round again, in my defence the current tenants don't really strike me as the type to compromise, given their conduct. "Lives and learns" as the saying goes :beer:

JennyW_2

af2909 wrote: »

To be fair, I'm thinking of putting in a plasterboard ceiling with insulation, as there is lining paper there and I want a pristine finish .

We did this when we lived in a flat. Hubby put up a false ceiling....plasterboard packed with loft insulation. It did help

af2909_2

JennyW wrote: »

We did this when we lived in a flat. Hubby put up a false ceiling....plasterboard packed with loft insulation. It did help

:beer: one of my tasks for the summer sorted then :rotfl:

Fraise

JennyW wrote: »

We did this when we lived in a flat. Hubby put up a false ceiling....plasterboard packed with loft insulation. It did help

That may help to a small degree, but it won't make much difference to airborne sound. Soundproofing is a specialist job, and airborne sound will find ways of penetrating through gaps in floorboards, corners of rooms, window frames, walls etc...plasterboard and insulation won't help very much in stopping the sound penetrating.

To soundproof a room is very expensive and needs to be done expertly.

I think the OP needs to sort this somehow, as her new tenants could be worse than the current ones. By the way, on the subject of purchasing the freehold, you will still both need a lease, and if your co-freeholder is difficult in any way, just because you have both purchased the freehold does not mean he will carpet the floor above you or have soundproofing fitted.

af2909_2

Fraise wrote: »

That may help to a small degree, but it won't make much difference to airborne sound. Soundproofing is a specialist job, and airborne sound will find ways of penetrating through gaps in floorboards, corners of rooms, window frames, walls etc...plasterboard and insulation won't help very much in stopping the sound penetrating.

To soundproof a room is very expensive and needs to be done expertly.

I think the OP needs to sort this somehow, as her new tenants could be worse than the current ones. By the way, on the subject of purchasing the freehold, you will still both need a lease, and if your co-freeholder is difficult in any way, just because you have both purchased the freehold does not mean he will carpet the floor above you or have soundproofing fitted.

To be fair the process is just to sell the flat and share of freehold and to move on. :beer:

Fraise

A lot of banks won't give mortgages to people buying a SOF (share of freehold) property as there's often so many problems attached, especially when it's a SOF of just a few flats. You need to form a company instead.

af2909_2

Fraise wrote: »

A lot of banks won't give mortgages to people buying a SOF (share of freehold) property as there's often so many problems attached, especially when it's a SOF of just a few flats. You need to form a company instead.

Yup - will be doing that in due course. Notice has been posted in the London Gazette, local paper to follow soon.

It does help that my best friend from school is a chartered accountant, so once the company is formed he can do the articles of association. Saves cost thankfully :money:

Fraise

af2909 wrote: »

Yup - will be doing that in due course. Notice has been posted in the London Gazette, local paper to follow soon.

It does help that my best friend from school is a chartered accountant, so once the company is formed he can do the articles of association. Saves cost thankfully :money:

Have you bought the freehold already?

You can only form the company once you're both co-freeholders is my understanding? Also it's the solicitor who sets out the articles of association and the lease. If there's just two of you it's an unnecessary expense having an accounts manager or managing agency as there's nothing really to account. You only need an accountant and management agency if yu have a large block of flats but for just two flats it's a real waste of money.

af2909_2

Fraise wrote: »

Have you bought the freehold already?

You can only form the company once you're both co-freeholders is my understanding? Also it's the solicitor who sets out the articles of association and the lease. If there's just two of you it's an unnecessary expense having an accounts manager or managing agency as there's nothing really to account. You only need an accountant and management agency if yu have a large block of flats but for just two flats it's a real waste of money.

Not yet - we are in the process of enfranchising the lease and as such I believe we need to set up the "company" as a vehicle to enfranchise to comply with the legislation.

The reason why I am using my friend to set up the company/articles of association is that, registration fee of freehold company apart, articles of association and HMRC paperwork will be dealt with by him gratis (obviously I'll be rewarding him with quite a few beers :rotfl: ).

As both flat owners have leases we are just going to continue with the terms and get our sols. to ratify both them and the articles (thus saving £££ )

Now - here is the $64,000 question. When we come to sell, what do we do with our 50% share of the freehold company? Can this be bought with a mortgage during a standard conveyance, or are there other issues that will arise with this? Is it just worth retaining as an investment? :eek:

Thanks for your help:beer: