Council tenants from hell moved in next door to my house. Help/Advice needed.!!

bikingbarney

Guys and Girls I am after some advice.

We have a property that we rent out, next door to it is a council house which up until a couple of months ago had a nice Polish girl living there.

The area where the houses are is a nice and friendly one where all the neighbors talk and have BBQ's out the front etc.

Anyway the Polish girl has moved out and bought her own house and the council have moved in a problem family from the really rough estate the other side of town.

Since then they have been non stop abusive to everyone in the close, blocking people in and telling them to "eff off" when they knock and ask them to move the car so they can get out. speeding up and down the close too.

It has come to a head now with our tenant who is a single mom with 3 kids as the council trash nearly ran over my tenants youngest child after he ran into the road to get his ball which resulted in the council trash swearing at the child which in my eyes is not on.

They have also threatened to put bricks through our windows and the council trash kids have also said "dont mess with us, we will kill you" to my tenants kids.

Last night my wife had a text from our tenant saying that she has called the police as they have been abusive to her again all down to her youngest child knocking on their door to ask for his ball back.The gran of the council trash family was saying "we are the R?:@~>es family dont fu@~ing mess with us"

The police where meant to turn up last night but didnt bother which is a poor show.

What can we do ??

We have contacted the councils housing people and they are aware of the family and the problems they are causing and are trying to find them a bigger home(currently 7 people in a 3 bed house. They have asked my tenant to keep a diary of events.

We are looking at selling the property but dont feel we should be pushed out of it because of this !!

RuthnJasper

I'm so sorry. It must be awful for you and an absolute nightmare for your tenants. Keep on at the Police. Get your tenants to keep a "nuisance diary" with times, dates, witness names, etc. of all incidents (however small), invoices for repairs to damage caused by the ne'er-do-wells. Some film/voice recordings and (date-stamped if possible) photographs can be helpful, though try not to openly film the situations as they may escalate the problem.

Send them to the City/Borough (not the County) Council's housing and/or environment department and copy in your local councillor and MP.

I don't envy you. Whilst my grampy was alive (and living in the Devon countryside) a 'problem' family was moved in next to him. The feral kids' "hobby" was to head out with an air rifle and shoot every tyre they could find. That said, however, once the abusive father had disappeared from the scene, the mother actually turned out to be quite nice away from his influence and the kids began to grasp that there were other ways of occupying themselves that didn't involve violence and destruction.

You're right as well - swearing at, or in front of, children is really out of order. Once this lot are out though, things may well be back to the peace you enjoyed before. Not all council families are pointless nightmares.

Good luck OP. x

Bantex_2

This is between your tenant, the neighbours and the police and basically not your problem.

BigAunty

I would get some decent hidden CCTV and miniature devices for face to face confrontations.

Although the council have asked you to keep a diary about their anti-social behaviour, I once had a council ask me to do the same.

They gave me the impression that they had opened up a file on the household and were keeping a serious interest in their behaviour.

Many months later when I asked for an update on the case, the Housing Officer in Brighton Council just shrugged off all complaints made by me and the neighbours as 'hearsay', saying they never opened a case as we never offered any actual evidence. They pretty much scoffed at the notion that they would act and made out that we were just reporting rumours to them. They encouraged us to report incidents and only at the end of the tenant's occupation, did they make clear it never stood a chance of being followed up, they never issued any guidance on the evidence they required. It was a total joke.

You may well find the council have just told you this to get you off their backs without actually wanting to really act at all. You need hard evidence.

Also, you should bring it to the attention of your local MP - they are there to serve you. If the council have dumped anti social tenants into your neighbouring property that have perhaps been evicted from elsewhere, you should let them know how ineffective the council are at dealing with families of this type.

TBagpuss

While unpleasant for both your tenants and you, the fact that the problem neighbour is a council tenant may help, as the council will/should have formal processes to deal with tenants who behave inappropriately.

Encourage your tenant to log every single incident with the council and (where appropriate) with the police, and to make a formal complaint to the police if their calls are ignored.

Is your tenant friendly with the other neighbours? If so, she can encourage them to log any problems with the council and police as well.

However unpleasant the neighbours sound this has little to do with the fact that they are council tenants and the references to 'council trash' come across as pretty intolerant.

Alias_Omega

As above,


The tenant can give notice to quit, but its not your problem. Looking at the JK Show on ITV, it appears that maybe some people cant live next door to each other...

Two things will happen, both parties will get on...or your tenant will move.

I suspect if your tenant cant afford to move, then the dust will settle, it will become the norm and everyone is happy.

bikingbarney

TBagpuss wrote: »

While unpleasant for both your tenants and you, the fact that the problem neighbour is a council tenant may help, as the council will/should have formal processes to deal with tenants who behave inappropriately.

Encourage your tenant to log every single incident with the council and (where appropriate) with the police, and to make a formal complaint to the police if their calls are ignored.

Is your tenant friendly with the other neighbours? If so, she can encourage them to log any problems with the council and police as well.

However unpleasant the neighbours sound this has little to do with the fact that they are council tenants and the references to 'council trash' come across as pretty intolerant.

Im sorry but I stick by my council trash quote, This is a known troublesome family in the area and they have recently been thrown out of their previous council house for the same issue, it seems the council do not know what to do with them.

The neighbors in the area are all of the same opinion and have all been in touch with the council about this family.

I should also point out that our tenant is my wife's cousin so it makes it a little more personal for me.

bikingbarney

Alias_Omega wrote: »

As above,


The tenant can give notice to quit, but its not your problem. Looking at the JK Show on ITV, it appears that maybe some people cant live next door to each other...

Two things will happen, both parties will get on...or your tenant will move.

I suspect if your tenant cant afford to move, then the dust will settle, it will become the norm and everyone is happy.

So are you saying that the threats of bricks through windows and also threats on your life will have to become the norm???

liamvad

I have had similar problems of anti social behavior,my local council(slough) was completely and utterly useless,sent me forms to fill in,sent them in for months,they did nothing,not even acknowledge them,as soon as I stopped sending them in,they sent me a letter saying as they had not heard from me,they gather it is all ok now!!!!But we had suffered months of anti social behavior,so,what I did was when an incident occurred of damage and anti-social behavior,I called the Police,the call is logged,and if they get a lot of calls the area is deemed a 'hot spot',you need to ask all the neighbours to do this as well,and they put extra resources in to stop the problem,this may help you if you also do this.Do not rely on your local council,the staff do not want to know,its extra work for them,and they don't live there,and don't care.

Bantex_2

bikingbarney wrote: »

Im sorry but I stick by my council trash quote, This is a known troublesome family in the area and they have recently been thrown out of their previous council house for the same issue, it seems the council do not know what to do with them.

The neighbors in the area are all of the same opinion and have all been in touch with the council about this family.

I should also point out that our tenant is my wife's cousin so it makes it a little more personal for me.

Not much the coincil can do, they legally have to house the family and all they can do is dump them on another set of neighbours. Crazy but its the way it is.

harrys_dad

Bantex wrote: »

Not much the coincil can do, they legally have to house the family and all they can do is dump them on another set of neighbours. Crazy but its the way it is.

That is not correct, if the family are deemed to be intentionally homeless through being evicted twice for bad behaviour then the rehousing imperative disappears.

On a separate note, I find the use of the term "council trash" by the OP offensive. Yes they may be council tenants, yes they may act like "trash", but the two do not have a causal relationship.