Not aware of complaints and problems

967stuart

Good morning MSE members,

Will try to keep the description short:

Purchased a house last year.

Bus shelter right next to our new home is being used by local teens and drunks as a 'hangout'.

Constant problems (vandals, noise, drugs, bikes and motorbikes driving up and down the pavements, smashing glass etc.).

Apparently this has been an ongoing issue for years and there have been multiple complaints to the council and police.

We wasn't made aware of any of this when we purchased the house.

We've spoken to the police who said: "Just keep complaining to us so it's logged" ... (they haven't turned up once when we've called... apart to arrest a drug dealer and conduct a search of the area for his drugs...which they found).

The village council gave me a very cold and short email response informing me this was a public facility "and it shall remain so"
(No acknowledgement from them of all the issues)

What are our options here?
Legal?

Stevie_Palimo

Pretty much nothing here unless you wish to purchase said property and demolish it, Recording all the incidents will help but is very slow and drawn out. You could also look at one of the sound inducing gadgets that only younger people hear in the hopes of dispersing them, Not sure what they are called but may be worth a go.

967stuart

Purchase what? A public bus shelter??

Should we not have legally been made aware if there was issues ongoing before the purchase of the house?

Stevie_Palimo

Sorry thought it was shelter as in the property shelter, Look at one those gadgets that lets out a high pitched noise to kids ears alone, Ethically yes you should be told, Legally I'd think it would be hard to get anything to stick here to be honest.

moneyistooshorttomention

I'm in a similar position - re various issues regarding the surroundings of my house. I'm 99% sure the vendor would have known about these - but he didn't let on.

That's the problem and the conclusion I came to was the difficulty in proving the vendor knew and I didn't think it would be possible to prove he was aware of them.

I've had to leave it to karma and the local "grapevine" to deal with this - though that wont get me any money back for what he's caused me to get put through by those unmentioned isses:(

Hence - I rather think it sounds as if you are in the same position, ie of having to clear up a mess the vendor left for you and I doubt there is anything you can do to get compensation from him for it (any more than I could). Sorry...

967stuart

Ok, thanks.

I'm just wondering why these problems weren't found by the solicitor in the first place.
I've asked the council for a copy of all the previous complaints over the years.
If it turns out the person who sold us the house had made previous complaints and didn't mention it on the contract (there is a section on there that they signed saying there was no disputes etc) then maybe we'd have a leg to stand on.

Just a bit gutted that we are trying to do things by the book (police and council) and they couldn't care less.

We moved here to get away from a troubled area and have found ourselves smack bang in the middle of more anti social issues.

davidmcn

967stuart wrote: »

If it turns out the person who sold us the house had made previous complaints and didn't mention it on the contract (there is a section on there that they signed saying there was no disputes etc) then maybe we'd have a leg to stand on.

What exactly does it say? Having a dispute with a neighbour is different from complaining to the police about non-neighbours being antisocial in the street.

moneyistooshorttomention

I remember that question on the legal questionnaire the vendor has to fill in.

On reviewing that dispute question the wording is not just to effect of "Is there a dispute?". It goes on to say "...or anything that might cause a dispute?" or words to that effect. Let me see - the truthful answer to that question would have been "There is no current dispute - BUT there are four issues that might well cause dispute - ranging from absolute certainty to pretty possible" and then list those issues. The more I look at it dispassionately - the more I think "Its just as well I have no plans on selling the house on ever - because who would want it with all that hanging around its head?" .....and I thought it was just the state of the house itself that was the reason why the house had been taking a while to sell....duh!

I'm sorry to hear you have gone from frying pan to fire basically by the sound of it.

Don't give up hope of resolving it. In your position - I would buy one of those noise gadgets mentioned by previous posters. I've heard of them and thought they might very well be a solution in such situations.

I would say - yep...keep logging the problems and buy one of those gadgets and monitor the situation.

Meanwhile - get on with Your Life (whatever that Life consists of) and try, as far as possible, to put it on a back-burner in your mind whilst working on getting the situation sorted out.

bagpussbear

Is the bus shelter owned by the council, or the bus company?

Do they congregate there because it is a sheltered area, or the fact they are waiting for a bus?

Might be a long shot, but I wonder if you could approach the bus company to see if they could move the bus stop to further down the road, or ask them to demolish the shelter (but keep the stop itself).

If not, I would approach your MP if no-one is prepared to help.

moneyistooshorttomention

Its true that demolishing the shelter wouldn't actually cause the bus stop itself to go - just give a disincentive for hanging around.

Where I live now - very few of the bus stops have a shelter there by them. In fact there are a heck of a lot of bus stops that don't even have as much as a pole with timetable on and there is no sign whatsoever that it is a bus stop. The only reason I've learnt a lot of the local bus stops exist is just down to "local knowledge" (as, bit by bit, you see people getting on or off the bus at them and think "That's another bus stop I wasn't aware existed - because there is no indication whatsoever it is one").

bouicca21

Maybe the tack to take is not to ask for the shelter to be moved, but to look at approaches for mitigating anti social use. Presumably the problem is at certain times of the day/night? At other times the locals appreciate being sheltered from the rain? Keep a diary of the problems. Talk to the crime prevention officer and the parish council about possible measures to 'design crime out'.