Problem neighbours, advice please

drc

Hello, have moved into a rented flat in a block of flats approx 7 weeks ago. We have had problems, one after the other.

We live on the 2nd floor. The people on the ground floor are a group of about 5 male students livng in a 2 bed flat. They play their music loud most nights and what sounds like a recording of the religious call to prayer. They have an unlicenced, unregistered car which is parked in the communal (not private) parking lot which they rev up and drive onto the main road, occasionally very fast. They almost knocked me over on one occasion. I have reported the car to the DVLA, local council etc but nothing has been done yet. It means we can't park our car because they take up one of the few valuable spaces.

We have had a cockroach infestation which the pest control man said was almost certainly coming from their flat.

They have ripped up all the carpets from their flat and these are piled up outside on their balcony, accumulating rainwater and dirt. There is also some furniture out there. My elderly neighbour who has lived in the block for 47 years is so upset and distressed about all this and wants to get these people out as she has seen rats by their ground floor balcony and cannot sleep from their blearing music. The people who manage the block and live on the ground floor don't want to get involved and seem reluctant to challenge these students.

We don't know what to do as our baby gets awoken by the noise, although it is not every night. The council are coming in to spray the whole block for cockroaches but I am certain they will come back.

The old lady neighbour would like to find out the landlords of the students flat, so that she can write to them and tell them what is happening. She also wants to know how she can find out the LA who manage their flat and speak to them.

I said I would ask online and see what we can do as she does not have internet access.

Does anyone know what can be done, especially regarding finding out who manages the flat (LA) and who the landlords are. I am a little scared of messing with these guys because they are quite aggressive and I am a small woman with a baby and we don't want our tyres slashed or abuse or anything but need this sorted as we still have ages left on our lease and the old lady does not want to move out of her flat.

Thanks in advance.

milkydrink

I don't have any answers, but I do hope someone here can come along & give you some good advice as it sounds like a terrible situation.

Doozergirl

You can find out who owns the property from the Land Registry. It will cost you £3.00 to obtain a copy of the 'title register'. It will give the name of the registered owners and their address (hopefully not the flat )

Then you write a politely worded letter explaining what they are doing to their property.

clutton_2

you are perfectly within your rights to write to the council Environmental health department, and ask them to investigate this Noise nuisance.

The Council, should, then write to the owner/payer of council tax/managing agents - (whoevers details they have) - asking them what they will do to reduce this nuisance. Landlords/Agents ARE responsible for their tenants behaviour, and if they do not act, after a council letter, the landlord can be prosecuted. The council will not divulge who wrote to them, but will simply, say, a concerned neighbour.

keyboard

Hi

I too am a LandLord and have had complaints from my neighbours about my tennants being noisy. My neighbour has threated to prosecute me... but i have spoken to my managing agent who got me the tennants and he explained im not the one making the noise, so it will be tennants who will be spoken too........ so im not sure you can prosecute the landlord after all its hardly time making the noise is it now ?

clutton_2

in law, under the 2004 Housing act landlords can be prosecuted if their tenants behave in an anti social manner. If a landlord is seen to be "working" with the council to minimise the nuisance s/he will not be prosecuted. keyboard your agent does not know the law and is being lazy. in law landlords are ultimately responsible for the actions of their agents also - it wont be your agent who is in the dock - but you !!! - (worst case scenario)

""The people who manage the block and live on the ground floor don't want to get involved" - if they are paid to manage the block - why aren't they doing it ? management of antisocial behaviour is part of an agents job .

tenants who do this on a consistent basis can be removed quite quickly if the landlord takes them to court, provided neighbours will provide "noise diaries" as evidence.

Gillianh2

You should contact Enviromental health, these will help with the mess and cockroaches. They will also give you a phone number so that when the noise starts you can phone and they will come out and assess the noise. They will speak to the neighbours immediately. They can then take steps to remove the stereo or whatever is causing the noise.
Have you contacted the Police about the dangerous and aggressive way the untaxed and therefore probably unlicensed vehicle is being driven.
Good Luck. Nothing worse than xxxxxxy neighbours

sooz

Call your council - speak to environmental health, both about the vermin and the noise (2 different sub depts). You can ask the noise team for diary sheets to record every time it is noisy, and get them to come round and witness it. They will eventually serve a notice against the LL. Get the other dept to send pest control round, and charge it to either your LL, or the LL of the students, or the block!

Also call the HMO dept of your council, to complain about them. With 5 in a 2 bed flat, unless they are related, it is an HMO. It may or may not need a licence, but probably still needs to be upgraded to meet fire regs. They can send notices to the LL to comply, or face huge fines.

Write directly to the managers of the building, setting out your complaints against these people. There is probably something in the LL's lease which means that such behaviour is against the terms of the block. See if you can get others to write too, or all sign one letter.

ahsanjalil

answer is very simple, call the police, they will sort out everything for you, however they are not bound to force them to take their garbage out but indirectly police visit will leave very long lasting effects on them... if they are all students, trust me... And what police can force is level of noise they create..

all the best

sooz

If you know which uni they are at, also write to their university, making a complaint about them. If possible, get others in the block to sign.

My uni had very strict rules about not getting your degree if you didn't pay your rent, or were convicted of behaving in an antisocial manner.

pinkshoes

I would call the police next time they're being noisy too, and make sure it's when they're revving their untaxed car!! In our region, the police are having a clamp down on unregistered cars, so they'll hopefully take it away, and the owner either has to get themself insurance and taxed very quickly (presenting documents to police before they get car back - after paying fine and daily holding fee!), or the car gets scrapped!

Police are often much more helpful (and quick to respond) than the council!