how on earth can we sell?

oldMcDonald

I'm sure if you shout loudly enough the HA will have to do something about it. It is in most leases (all that I have ever signed, anyway), that a tennant cannot do anything that causes the neighbours not to enjoy their property (we are HA now and it is in ours). Also, I think I am right in saying that a landlord is (for some reason) responsible for their tennants behaviour. If this is the case then you could get serious with the HA? Hopefully someone on here who knows more about if this is right can help you.

real1314

masted75 wrote: »

thanks for the replies so far.
they are tenants of the local housing association and they don't give a damn about the state of the house. the HA can't be bothered to do much either as long as they're getting their rent money (all from the tenants benefit money of course). the tenants are too busy hanging around selling drugs (and i'm not guessing here, i know for a fact) to worry about fixing anything and they certainly won't do us a favour by helping us sell.
so, is the auction idea a big gamble or will it work out?
is it a good or bad idea to sell directly to one of these house-buying companies perhaps?

Contact a solicitor with a view to taking action against the Hsg Assoc. You could probably sue them on multiple grounds.

masted75

yes, they've got kids (neglected ones) and they are breaking several parts of their tenancy agreement. sadly, we haven't got concrete proof of the drug dealing even though it definitely goes on. to be fair the housing association did take them to court (twice) but the court's are so soft on these 'vulnerable' people - it was having the kids and telling a few lies that saved them from eviction. so the HA say there's nothing else they can do. a private landlord would never put up with this kind of tenant (they have rent arrears too!), but the HA are too big to notice. i agree that if we can't sell the house because of them, we should indeed take further action against the HA. bit scary though! (would rather not have to do that, would prefer to find some way to sell up and move).

real1314

You hadn;t said that the HA had tried eviction. In that case there's little you can do - the HAs hands are tied by the court, so you can;t then sue them.

if you're really desperate, sell via auction or get a BMV merchant to give you a price.

Think of it this way, if you could pay £5k to see them gone, would you?
And don't think of it as them winning if you leave, think of it as YOU winning - you'll have a better life, less stress etc. We did it once and lost £5k back when you could buy for £33k and sell for £28k !!

loveandlight

You need proper legal advice. Be aware also that as you're trying to sell, any disputes/problems with the neighbours have to be disclosed to any potential buyer including any letters you send and receive about it. You are in a very difficult situation but not an impossible one. We were in a similar situation to you. We were trying to sell up and we had noisey next door neighbours who were renting from a private landlord. They were noisey day and night but because they had a very young child we were told legally the law was not on our side. They were apparently protected fully by the law despite the effect they were having on us. My health deteriorated dramatically and we suffered financially.

In the end I couldn't take anymore so I sent a threatening letter to both their landlord and them threatening to take them to court myself if they didn't shut up and allow us to sell up without them adversely affecting our sale. Their landlord couldn't care less even though I was threatening to sue him as long as he got his rent every month.(Landlords are vicariously liable for the actions of their tenants). Our neighbours eventually moved out two weeks ago and at last we are finally getting a good nights sleep and we are now free to sell up and disclose that we did have neighbour problems but they have since moved on.

You may have legal cover on your building and contents insurance.

I would phone the HA and tell them the problems you are having. You never know you may have the ammunition they need to refer the matter back to court. They may already have a suspended possession order. In any event, just because the HA can't enforce their tenancy agreement, doesn't mean you don't have a cause of action against the HA.

Another alternative is to get a Buy To Let landlord in, to see how much he/she will give you for your property and then sue the HA for the difference. You will need to give the HA a chance to try and fix the problem for you in the first place though before you go down this road. Good luck.

Running_Horse

Round our way the police are very quick about evicting dealers with less evidence than required for a prosecution. But it does require neighbours willing to stand up and collect evidence for various agencies.