Property Information Form- 'Complaints and disputes'

havingaball74

Thanks. You can tell what a stressy person she is!

Guest101

Just to clarify:


Requests are not complaints or disputes


All disputes, verbal or written; official or unofficial should be disclosed.

havingaball74

Is 'I can smell cigarette smoke. I believe that your tenants are smoking. Can you ask them not to? How can we remedy this situation?' a complaint/dispute/request? Could this lead to a dispute with the new owner? Would people keep schtum or ask the solicitor? Does something which appears to be structural (albeit a seemingly common problem in terraces) need to be declared?

Guest101

havingaball74 wrote: »

Is 'I can smell cigarette smoke. I believe that your tenants are smoking. Can you ask them not to? How can we remedy this situation?' a complaint/dispute/request? Could this lead to a dispute with the new owner? Would people keep schtum or ask the solicitor? Does something which appears to be structural (albeit a seemingly common problem in terraces) need to be declared?

"Hi X, yes my tenants do smoke. As a Landlord I have no say on my tenants smoking habits. They are entitled to live as they wish and my interference with their enjoyment of the property would be a criminal offence."

davidmcn

havingaball74 wrote: »

Does something which appears to be structural (albeit a seemingly common problem in terraces) need to be declared?

If the problem is that there is air passing somewhere between the two houses, why can't your friend plug the gap without involving the neighbour? Even in 2016 it isn't reasonable to expect your neighbours not to smoke in their own houses.

lisa110rry

Except that the tenanted house is "non-smoking"...

Guest101

lisa110rry wrote: »

Except that the tenanted house is "non-smoking"...

That is meaningless.


The tenant has a lease, if they want to smoke they can. The LL can seek to recover any loss as a result of the breach of tenancy, they can seek to evict under a breach of tenancy, but they cannot force the tenants to stop smoking.

davidmcn

Guest101 wrote: »

The LL can seek to recover any loss as a result of the breach of tenancy, they can seek to evict under a breach of tenancy, but they cannot force the tenants to stop smoking.

And the terms of the tenancy agreement certainly have nothing to do with the neighbour.

havingaball74

She has had a builder round and he couldn't find the source of the problem. The initial phone call was to try and find the source of the problem. The LL said that the tenants definitely did not smoke and that it was a breach of their contract to do so. He said he would have a word. Whether he did or not is unknown. The tenants moved out and the problem has gone (for now). To rectify the problem would mean taking up all all floorboards, using insulating foam, ripping up laminate etc. Another friend had a similar issue and, even after doing all this, the problem only disappeared when the tenants moved out. I appreciate that you can't stop people smoking, but surely a gentle reminder from LL is ok if the contract is for non-smokers? Anyway, I digress. My friend has handed the forms in now. Is this something that should have been declared? It seems to fall under the question of 'Could cause a dispute in the future' depending on the tenants on both sides. Would it make things look bad to add the information once the forms have been handed in?

havingaball74

Or would you leave the forms now and think that it can't be a dispute in the future because there is nothing that the new owner can do about it?