Tenant problem

GeorgePowerFinch

Hi all,
Me and my partner own a ground floor flat where we live, it’s a share of freehold with a concurrent lease, the other freeholder who owns upstairs rents it out.

The person he rents it out too we got on with, he smokes weed a lot which we could smell however to keep things civil we did turn our nose up at it, but now we have decided to sell our flat and have asked kindly for there to be minimal noise and absolutely no smoking weed, in which he replied it’s not illegal to smoke weed in his own flat and has carried on doing so.

The tenant is also paying for major renovation work and he is getting his front door changed at 8am this morning with loud banging and drilling, we have a communal entrance and we told him we have property viewings at 9am so could they please keep the noise down and tidy up before the viewing, bearing in mind he never let us know about the work prior.  He then complained that he has paid over £50k in rent and renovation and that he can have one day of noise which we respectfully said that of course anyone can do renovation work but there has to be notice and a good time to do it, not on a Saturday before our viewings. (I am aware that it’s not ‘illegal’ to do building work, but some sort of notice would of been nice, then we could of reschedule our viewings). 

We phoned the other freeholder who said something along the lines of “we have an agreement where I cant evict him and there’s not much I can do apart from have a conversation with him”.

Sorry for the rant but I’d love some advice as to where we stand with all this, we don’t want any hostility but we cannot spend money selling our flat and the tenant upstairs says that because he’s spent £50k + in rent he can do what he wants without letting us know.

I’m also not sure if it’s legal to smoke weed in a premise that you rent from? 

Any insight would be great, cheers! 

Wanderingpomm

Pretty sure smoking weed is actually illegal 

csgohan4

Tenant can do what he wants in his flat including building works and needs not notify his neighbours, would be nice, but not mandatory.

Careful about reporting any noise or illegal activities as you will need to declare this as a neighbour dispute to your buyer

Take a pragmatic view, is it worth reporting over selling your house?

davidmcn

Wanderingpomm said:

Pretty sure smoking weed is actually illegal 

Strictly speaking, no it isn't, but possessing it in the first place is...

theartfullodger

This isn't a "tenant" problem but a neighbour problem.  What would you do if the owner of the property was smoking weed there?

Simple follow CaB neighbour dispute process on their website...

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/housing/problems-where-you-live/complaining-about-your-neighbour/

Grumpy_chap

I am not sure that a prospective purchaser would be put off by the neighbour having a new front door fitted while viewing.  They might see it as a sign that the neighbour takes pride in their property.

NinjaTune

I can understand you not wanting building work as the first impression when potential buyers arrive but you can't expect your neighbours to arrange their lives around your viewings.

No, it isn't legal to smoke weed in your own home in the UK but to be honest the police wouldn't be interested unless he's also dealing it.

If he's upstairs and having his front door replaced, then why is the communal entrance messy?  I could understand if he was on the ground floor and you upstairs as the viewers would need to walk past the ongoing work to get upstairs.

Just tell your viewers in advance that your neighbour is currently renovating hence the reason for any noise/mess.  Unless the work is likely to go on for many months then it should be completed by the time your potential sale completes.  As Grumpy_chap says, it shows that your neighbour takes care of the property which is a positive sign for buyers.

greatcrested

Out of interest, why is a tenant doing renovation work? That is the landlord's responsibility ie the leaseholder/joint freeholder.

Possession of weed is illegal in England whether in the street, the park, a car... or a home. Whether the police enforce is another matter.

If he has a fixed term tenancy contract, his landlord cannot evict him without one of a number of reasons. Illegal activity in the property IS one of those reasons, but it would require police action and a conviction to prove the illegality was taking place. Plus of course because of COVID-19 the courts are not curently evicting.....

So, yes, all the LL can do is speak to his tenant.....

Durban

Police have no powers to enter a property without a warrant and I can assure you very few police forces will be obtaining a warrant for someone smoking weed in their own property.

Obviously if he is dealing or the property is being used as a drugs den , that will be a different matter

If you're trying to sell , don't make waves because as soon as you start going down the official route - ie  calling police , councils , etc you will have to declare this when you sell and this will put people off 

HampshireH

Having read the above I'm not really sure what your neighbour has done wrong. (Aside of smoking weed which you dont like. Whether its illegal or not is irrelevant for the purpose of the thread as the police have far more important things to deal with)

He can start maintenance at 8am. Doesnt have any obligation to tell ypu or avoid your viewing. For all you know that door could have been on order for 8 weeks and booked before your viewing. Regardless it's irrelevant.

A new front door being installed isnt going to upset a potential buyer.

GeorgePowerFinch

csgohan4 said:

Tenant can do what he wants in his flat including building works and needs not notify his neighbours, would be nice, but not mandatory.

Careful about reporting any noise or illegal activities as you will need to declare this as a neighbour dispute to your buyer

Take a pragmatic view, is it worth reporting over selling your house?

He never inform his landlord, his landlord being the co freeholder for the property, shouldn't we have a right to know what building work he intends to do, especially when its taking place in our communal entrance?