Neighbour issue - breaches of leasehold

william_r

I live in (and own) a purpose built flat, I'm on the 5th floor and there is one flat above me. It is a large 3-bed duplex, so has an internal staircase.

I've lived here for a year and up until two months ago did not have any issues with the neighbours above (I did sometimes get awoken by noise late on a Friday night etc, but obviously that is to be expected occasionally).

In November new people moved into the flat (99% sure they are renting and have not bought it). I can't fully work out what their exact situation is but in summary:

1) I would guess that there is either between 5-7 men in their 20s living there, or less but with frequent visitors/people staying.
2) They appear to have regular "gatherings" during the week where the total number of people in the flat is probably between 10-15. Based on their dress and ethnicity, and advice from a Muslim friend, I imagine that these might be prayer meetings of some kind.
3) In relation to 1 and 2, there is a lot of coming and going from the flat. Often I look out and there is taxi after taxi dropping people off, picking people up, etc. It feels a bit like the building has become a community centre.
4) Either the residents or their visitors are coming and going all through the night quite frequently, i.e. up until 5.30am.

The main way in which this is affecting me is that despite being built in 2001, the sound insulation between floors is inadequate and I believe they have wood flooring throughout their ground floor (the one directly above me). Note there is nothing in the lease about having to have carpets. As such their movement around the flat, particularly them "thundering" up and down their internal staircase creates a lot of noise (I am fairly sure they are wearing shoes also). Obviously if there were one or two people living there and keeping "normal" hours, this would be annoying occasionally but not really an issue. But this noise is quite constant, particularly in the evening and during the night.

I did leave a very polite note for them a couple of weeks ago asking them to make some effort to be more careful during the night, but this has been ignored. I am yet to speak to them, and to be honest am a little weary due to the possibility of an adverse reaction. Also, I am now at the point where I feel that it is beyond them just "making some effort" and I am simply not happy with the way in which the flat is being used.

I have gone through the leasehold and identified various clauses that are being breached such as:

1) Property must be used by a single household only. I believe based on the definition of a household, 5-7 probably unrelated males would be 5-7 households.
2) Property must be used solely as a residence. Admittedly this clause is aimed more at not using it as a place of business, though I would argue that the "gatherings" breach this.
3) Property must not be put to any use that causes issues for other neighbours.

So, I am inclined to put everything in writing and send a letter to the management company. They would then I assume put this to the owner of the flat who I imagine would be very concerned about what is going on (bear in mind that he is almost certainly using a rental agency and assuming that the flat is being rented to a "normal" tenant, i.e. couple/individual, etc). The end result would I hope be that they would not have their tenancy renewed and/or ended early unless they drastically change their behaviour (this I cannot see as it feels like the flat has probably been rented for this purpose).

So really I am just looking for opinions on my intended cause of action as I am still unsure as to whether this is the correct route, having never dealt with such an issue before.

Edit - just to reiterate, I understand the usual recommendation for noise disputes is "try talking to them amicably first", which I totally understand. I suppose what I am saying is that I feel it is now beyond the noise issue, and I really want them out as I do not think that their use of the property is acceptable (and in anyway compliant with the leasehold).

Thanks.

eddddy

In most leases, the freeholder covenants with leaseholders to enforce covenants on other leaseholders.

Put another way, if you complain to the freeholder that your neighbour is breaching the terms of the lease, the freeholder must take action.

However, a formal written complaint about noise should then be declared when you come to sell the flat at some point in the future, which might worry buyers.

So if it is possible to resolve the issue by having a 'discussion' with the neighbour or their LL, that might be better.

bouicca21

Leaving notes and writing to the management company may seem like an easy option but your neighbours will almost certainly interpret it as an aggressive tactic.

Go and speak to them, invite them in for tea and cake (quick nod to GM). In the meantime suss out the situation a little more. Has the place been turned into an HMO? Is it one very large family?

william_r

Thanks for the reply eddddy.

The issue about having to declare the dispute upon sale is something I have considered (and am constantly reminded about by my father!). However on balance I have concluded that I am highly unlikely to be selling anytime soon and, touch-wood, the neighbours will be long gone by then regardless of my involvement. As such I assume I could state that there was an issue with a rental tenant who moved out some time ago.

To be honest I'm hoping to "never" sell the flat as I would like to keep it as an investment property if I do ever leave it.

william_r

Thanks for the reply bouicca21. I would agree with you in a more normal noise dispute. However as I stated I feel like my issues are now beyond that, i.e. I can hardly ask them to stop using their flat for the purpose for which they have probably rented it. Or ask most of them to move out leaving just 2 or 3.

It is just a group of men in their 20s, unlikely to be from the same family I would think. I would also be extremely surprised if it has been turned into an official HMO (indeed as I stated above, the leasehold on the property states that only one household may occupy it).

G_M

You can find out the name of he owner of the lease from the Land Registry here.

You might find out who is living there from the electoral register, or by looking at names on the post if it is acessible (ie not put into individula boxes).

That might help determine if the leaseholder lives there or lets it out to tenants. The Land Registry might also give the address of the leaseholder if it is let.

Your options are

* speak to the occupants. If intimidated by numbers try to fin a time when it is quiet an just a few people there. Take a friend (& a cake?). Keep very polite and friendly. Listen as well as speak!

* contact he landlord/letting agent if you can identify them and if it is let

* contact the freeholder

* contact council Environmental Health regardig : noise; over-crowding; mis-use under planning regs

Noe: under Planning use, "places of worship, church halls, etc" come under D1 Non-residential institutions.

william_r

Thanks G_M. I have obtained the owner's details from the land registry. He is actually a partner at a large law firm and as such, assuming the registry is yet to be updated with a sale, they are definitely tenants. I did consider writing to him but thought he may view this as somewhat intrusive, therefore I thought it would be better to go via the management company.

Unfortunately I've been unable to identify the letting agency. I did contact the one that I guessed could be correct but they confirmed that they were not representing the property.

moneyistooshorttomention

It does sound to me that they are in clear breach of all 3 conditions you quote.

As such - I think it highly unlikely that they would do anything other than smile/nod politely/agree to keep the noise down - and then carry right on as they are doing.

You could try an initial polite request and see if it does work. My suspicion would be, however, that you will then have to put in an official complaint against this.

So - a two-step approach then. Just in case I'm wrong and the polite request works (but with the fallback position a couple of weeks later of making an official complaint if need be).

Irratus_Rusticus

william_r wrote: »

I have gone through the leasehold and identified various clauses that are being breached such as:

1) Property must be used by a single household only. I believe based on the definition of a household, 5-7 probably unrelated males would be 5-7 households.
2) Property must be used solely as a residence. Admittedly this clause is aimed more at not using it as a place of business, though I would argue that the "gatherings" breach this.
3) Property must not be put to any use that causes issues for other neighbours.

So, I am inclined to put everything in writing and send a letter to the management company. compliant with the leasehold).

As others say, and as you have checked the LR title, the flat above is on face value in breach of the lease.

Just check that the lease does not require a complaining leaseholder to indemnify the landlord if requiring action against another leaseholder for breach of lease. This may seem unfair but pretty much all leasehold is unfair. If the lease has this clause, don't demand action, just inform the landlord's agent and explain the nuisance to you and require not to be revealed to the neighbour under data protection in the event that they decide to act (onus on them then). If the agents are half-competent professionals they should cope from there without embroiling you.

Meanwhile keep a nuisance diary in case they don't act and you need to involve the local authority.

william_r

Thanks Irratus Rusticus, I will check for that clause in the lease and will definitely reference the data protection act in my letter in the hope of keeping my involvement private.