Taking the ...... ?

Strider590

I'm not one to put down people who are genuinely stuck, genuinely having a hard time of things, but I have neighbours who are quite frankly taking the p*ss.

We have a young lady, late teens with two children, her mother, her boyfriend and now two more adults living in a 3 bedroomed house, none of them work (except the boyfriend might do).
The house is private rent, terraced. I own my house (got lucky on some investments 10 years ago).

I've turned a blind eye to the loud clubbing music belting out between 9am and midnight each day (even sundays).
I've turned a blind eye to.......... A lot of stuff that I won't go into.
Fortunately when they blocked the drains with nappies, I wasn't upstream (so to speak).
Their overfilling of bins has lead to cats dragging rubbish across the street and my garage+shed to be full of crawling maggots during the summer.

There was also an incident where my car was damaged following false accusations verbally thrown over the fence at me.

The parking is becoming a big issue, because I have two spaces (one in front of my garage) and I keep finding their cars in the way. Leaving me and my GF having to park in such a way as to cause friction with other neighbours.

I'm pretty sure the only person who's supposed to be living there is the young lady and her two children.

I don't want to do this, because it could affect innocent children, but what's the course of action in situations where people are claiming benefits and not declaring the additional people "living" there?

topaztiger1983

Well if she and the kids are the only ones who are supposed to be living there then surely the other people living there is a case for benefit fraud, but I am not sure

Surely that many people should not be living in a 3 bed house anyway

JaneDoeJohnDoe

Probably best to tell local council & ring local Job Centre & ask them how to report someone.

rogerblack

Strider590 wrote: »

I'm pretty sure the only person who's supposed to be living there is the young lady and her two children.

I don't want to do this, because it could affect innocent children, but what's the course of action in situations where people are claiming benefits and not declaring the additional people "living" there?

Neglecting all of the behavior issues.
There will be one set of housing benefit paid.

I'm assuming the children are under 5, so she will be entitled to income support.
From an overcrowding perspective - perhaps not.
You can count other rooms than bedrooms.
The mother needs one room, the children one room, grandmother/bf one room.
This fills up 3 bedrooms.
However - if there are other suitable rooms available, the two other people (if a couple) would need one, and two if they're not.

If she does not have anyone else sharing her house, she likely would get hit with an effective penalty for the 'spare' rooms.
On the overfillling of bins - my understanding is that the council can in some cases issue bigger/more bins.

Strider590

Just to add, my suspicions were raised after the grandmother (i suppose) had her shout at me, because suddenly and for about 6 weeks, her car was no longer parked in the local area during the week......
Also when they'd moved in a couple of years ago, the Police came around asking questions as to who was living next door. I guess alarm bells should have been ringing back then!

The eldest lad BTW, looks over 5 years old. I have a nephew who is 7.

fabforty

Re the parking, have you asked them not to park in front of your garage? Is it clear that this parking space is yours - i.e. is it allocated, or first come first served?


As for overcrowding, the number of people that should be there depends on her tenancy agreement, but if she only has two very small children then it sounds as if she is possibly renting with her mother, as she would only be entitled to the two-bedroom rate for LHA.


Even benefit claimants are allowed to have people stay/live with them, even take in lodgers. If that person works, there will (or may) be a non- dependent reduction made to the benefits that they receive, but that does not mean that they will not lose their entitlement completely.
As with all of these cases, you have no way of knowing who earns/claims/has what or what has been declared to the various agencies. If it annoys you that much, just report them and see what happens. Or you could try speaking to them about the various antisocial behaviour issues that are obviously irritating you.

lazer

Strider590 wrote: »

I'm not one to put down people who are genuinely stuck, genuinely having a hard time of things, but I have neighbours who are quite frankly taking the p*ss.

We have a young lady, late teens with two children, her mother, her boyfriend and now two more adults living in a 3 bedroomed house, none of them work (except the boyfriend might do).
The house is private rent, terraced. I own my house (got lucky on some investments 10 years ago).

I've turned a blind eye to the loud clubbing music belting out between 9am and midnight each day (even sundays).
I've turned a blind eye to.......... A lot of stuff that I won't go into.
Fortunately when they blocked the drains with nappies, I wasn't upstream (so to speak).
Their overfilling of bins has lead to cats dragging rubbish across the street and my garage+shed to be full of crawling maggots during the summer.

There was also an incident where my car was damaged following false accusations verbally thrown over the fence at me.

The parking is becoming a big issue, because I have two spaces (one in front of my garage) and I keep finding their cars in the way. Leaving me and my GF having to park in such a way as to cause friction with other neighbours.

I'm pretty sure the only person who's supposed to be living there is the young lady and her two children.

I don't want to do this, because it could affect innocent children, but what's the course of action in situations where people are claiming benefits and not declaring the additional people "living" there?

A few thing shave stood out to me:
1 - The amount of people in the house in the house is perfectly feasible - Mum & 2 young kids in one room, gran/bf in one and the other 2 adults in the other.
2- How many people live in the house in none of your business
3- How do you know they are not declaring the additional people - if none of them are working it won't actually make a difference to the housing benefit paid (assuming no savings etc)


Finally, have 3 households living in one house is actually saving the taxpayer money, as only one set of housing benefit not 3.


The behaviour on the other hand - go through the normal procedures if you have any complaints.
Car damage go to the police
Trespassing on you parking spaces - is there a management committee to report it too?

Topcat1982

It's a private let, call the landlord.

Strider590

lazer wrote: »

The behaviour on the other hand - go through the normal procedures if you have any complaints.
Car damage go to the police
Trespassing on you parking spaces - is there a management committee to report it too?

The behaviour is a mild irritation, they play music downstairs, I spend most of my time upstairs where it's not so obvious (but this will change when my GF moves in). It's the children I feel sorry for, when there's a baby screaming for attention, being drowned out by "Greatest Chav Hits 2014", it's hard not to say anything.

I have no proof on the car damage, only coincidence that it happened hours after being verbally assaulted over the fence (for something I had not done). I do now have time lapse CCTV.

The parking is hard to explain, it's effectively a very wide road, where each home gets 2 parking spaces (not parallel parking) out front or out back, because some houses don't face onto the road.
In my case, one space is in front of my garage, the other (next to it) is in front of my rear garden gate (which is used as entrance to the property). It doesn't bother me if people need an extra space once in a while, but when my GF comes over, I don't want to cause conflict with other neighbours in the street. When she moves in I can see it becoming a big issue. At the end of the day, we have to work, whilst they can park where they like and not move for weeks on end.

Topcat1982 wrote: »

It's a private let, call the landlord.

I don't know who the landlord is, I suspect it's the son/daughter of the guy that used to live there (died in 2009), but I have absolutely no way to contact them.

philphil1

Strider590 wrote: »

I don't know who the landlord is, I suspect it's the son/daughter of the guy that used to live their (died in 2009), but I have absolutely no way to contact them.

You may be able to find out the owners contact details here
https://eservices.landregistry.gov.uk/www/wps/portal/!ut/p/b1/04_SjzS0tDQwMTIxMjLXj9CPykssy0xPLMnMz0vMAfGjzOKNjSxMDA1NjDwsjM3MDTxN3dyNDUNMjQ1MjPWDU_P0c6McFQH3SLFU/

it costs £3 though

it has worked for us in the past with problem neighbours, we contacted the letting agents and kept them updated with incidents as they happened.

Strider590

philphil1 wrote: »

You may be able to find out the owners contact details here
https://eservices.landregistry.gov.uk/www/wps/portal/!ut/p/b1/04_SjzS0tDQwMTIxMjLXj9CPykssy0xPLMnMz0vMAfGjzOKNjSxMDA1NjDwsjM3MDTxN3dyNDUNMjQ1MjPWDU_P0c6McFQH3SLFU/

it costs £3 though

it has worked for us in the past with problem neighbours, we contacted the letting agents and kept them updated with incidents as they happened.

Thanks, it's another angle I can look at to resolving this. I might try ringing a couple of letting agents first, because I'm sure I remember which one had a sign outside the house.