Need advice: bad neighbours

Icarus01

We had a similar issue at my old place, except the people in question were in a HA home. The husband of that family was awful. He was in and out of prison for drug and robbery charges. Openly talked about heroin deals in his garden, drove a car without tax and insurance, threw his rubbish into other peoples gardens, smashed his gate and anothers to pieces just because. And no matter how many times we contacted the police nothing ever seemed to be progressing, even though they were well aware. It took 3 years for them to finally move.

I would recommend that you and your neighbours contact the police anonymously, for anything that worries you or makes you feel unsafe. In hindsight it's what I should have done instead of making it clear I disliked them. That led to a fight at 3am when he was asking for 'tinfoil for my kids lunch tomorrow'..in the middle of the summer holidays, and some lovely key marks on my car a few days later.


Maybe there's a way of contacting/finding out who the landlord is? They may not be aware of how bad their tenants are, and any damage they may be doing to their property. They'd have good reason to evict

need_an_answer

Go down the crime stoppers route you wont be identified to the neighbours as the one who has spoken out and it may encourage others to do the same.


One thing I will say is don't really expect the neighbouring LL to do a lot about trying to evict them.Whilst they are paying the rent there is little that can be done and if they signed a 6 or 12 month tenancy it will be difficult to get them moved before that expires.

No comfort to you but in my experience those who cause the most trouble to their neighbours tend to become the model tenant to a LL paying on time etc etc.

Its probably a good idea to keep a diary as you have been,however if you are not going to present the evidence to anyone then why bother.


I have in the past had to contact crimestoppers regarding anti social behaviour and in absolute honesty we couldn't have been treated better by the local PCSO's who then got involved to sort out the problem.

We had regular meetings and updates and from start to finish it took around 12 months to gather evidence and get the offending tenants moved on.

westernpromise

Sounds like there is general agreement landlords should have the the power to terminate a bad tenant's tenancy then?

InterestedParty2018

Inconsiderate neighbours are a nightmare.

It is my experience that as long as they are paying the rent on time their landlord is unlikely to be interested in their behaviour. (Of course, there are some landlords who expect their property to be kept perfectly, and that the relationship with the neighbours is keep on good terms. However, sadly there are many landlords who have very little interest further than financial.)

If you witness any illegal activity (drugs), report it anonymous to the police. If you believe that children or partners are being subject to violence/harm/threat/abuse, then again, please report it to the police immediately.

I do feel it is terrible when neighbours move in, disrupt the community and have no consideration for anyone other than themselves. It is also terrible that the only way you can control the situation is moving... which is so sad after 5 happy years.

Unfortunately I dont think there is an easy answer to OP's original question: "the best route to get them removed from the property?" .. other than to report illegal activity and hope they are found guilty and subsequently incarcerated.

Icarus01

westernpromise wrote: »

Sounds like there is general agreement landlords should have the the power to terminate a bad tenant's tenancy then?

You would think there would be clauses in the agreements for something like this. 'X number of late payments, X number of complaints and LL has a right to terminate the tenancy'

need_an_answer

Icarus01 wrote: »

You would think there would be clauses in the agreements for something like this. 'X number of late payments, X number of complaints and LL has a right to terminate the tenancy'

its not as easy as saying x number of complaints as even that can be a subjective thing.


I'm in no way saying that what the OP is experiencing isn't a justifiable complaint but there are neighbours who simply don't like tenants and will do what it takes to make them unwelcome.


I have a property as a LL and even before I moved a tenant in I was given a set of "rules" to apply when choosing the tenant by my very helpful and intrusive neighbour ranging from professionals only to the tenant must not use the vacuum before 9am!!!!!!


I have gone on to have 3 sets of tenants in that property over a 5 year period and I can guarantee the neighbour will make at least 4 complaints to me a year over something that they find unreasonable.


I've even spoken to other neighbours who are nearby and the answers I get all seem to back up my theory of its the neighbour being "anti tenant" rather than there ever being an issue.


So how do I deal with your suggestion based on my experience?


There is also a mechanism in place to deal with a tenants late payments and to a point theres little reason to add a clause to a tenancy agreement to remind them.

westernpromise

I am merely pointing out the ludicrousness of the fact that there is always vociferous support for any measure that is anti-landlord and pro-tenant, yet when an obnoxious tenant with lots of ill-deserved legal protections moves in somewhere, suddenly it's all about what is the landlord going to do?

The answer is nothing because landlords have no power to end a tenancy. They need a court to do so even if the tenant is causing criminal damage.

You could make it the landlord's job to remove obnoxious tenants, but of course you'd have to give landlords the powers and the free legal support, like the scrote tenants get.

Otherwise the country gets the tenants it deserves. Good to see that working out for everyone.

Out,_Vile_Jelly

westernpromise wrote: »

You could make it the landlord's job to remove obnoxious tenants, but of course you'd have to give landlords the powers and the free legal support, like the scrote tenants get.

Otherwise the country gets the tenants it deserves. Good to see that working out for everyone.

It would be interesting to know exactly which the country has more of; bad landlords or bad tenants.

westernpromise

Out,_Vile_Jelly wrote: »

It would be interesting to know exactly which the country has more of; bad landlords or bad tenants.

Yes it would. The assumption by lawmakers is clearly that it's the bad landlords who are the real problem. This appears to be based on no data. A bad landlord is typically a problem only for individual tenants whereas a bad tenant can be bad for a whole street.

Chappers27

(1) How did they get references to rent their place?
(2) Trying to get them out will cause you hassle and then if they find out, threats and violence potentially.
(3) A better, safer route is to move, locally. You might even be able to save on monthly rent. How long do you have on your agreement?
(4) You say that you cant afford the deposit, but presumably you have a deposit on your existing rental. Can you borrow temporarily until you get your deposit back?