Anti social neighbours written off car, what is the housing associations responsibility

AdrianC

Ditzy_Mitzy said:

The problem we are finding is the only places where 'these sort of people' fit in, reasonable mass employment in manufacturing, mining and steelmaking, no longer exist.

Umm, somebody with a 5yo kid is probably mid-late 30s. Born in the mid-1980s, left school this side of the Millennium.

If the education system through the late 1990s and early 00s left them inadequately equipped for the 21st century, I'm not sure harking back to some rose-tinted utopia of heavy industry dependent on human gruntwork is the right answer.

Automation, easy international transport, and the development of other parts of the world are what removed most of those jobs from the UK. They aren't coming back.

TheLastMinute

As others have said, a landlord (private or social) is not liable for the actions of their tenants. There isn't much anyone can do about the damage, and that's one of the things the car insurance is for. 

That said, it has been recognised that chronic anti-social behaviour can have a profound negative effect on neighbourhoods, particularly those that contain significant social housing. Many (if not all) social housing providers will have anti-social behaviour policies that they can use to manage and even evict problem tenants. Have a look at the advice from the Housing Ombudsman Service to get an idea of how it should work.

If you feel you want to make something of it  and you're sure the family are HA tenants (not always the case - they could be private tenants of someone who has bought the property), the best place to start would be to contact the HA and ask for a copy of their antisocial behaviour policy. Once you know what the HA should be doing, make sure to put in a formal complaint and insist they follow their own procedure. How well each HA performance in response to ASB varies from one to another, even from one housing officer to another. Also worth saying that as social tenants tend to have secure or assured tenancies, the bar for taking formal action is quite high.

Don't expect a quick resolution and don't assume you won't make the problem worse by complaining. Also, try and keep it in prospective - while you're upset about the car, and understandably so, it's likely to be at the lower end of what the HA deal with. 

Salemicus

I'll extend an olive branch to Alan, by agreeing with him that poor and needy people don't deserve nightmare neighbours. How you get from there to penal colonies, I'm not sure, but we can't all see eye to eye.

OP - you are in an unfortunate situation, and I feel for you. However, the neighbours are the ones responsible for their own disgraceful behaviour. The HA is not obliged to do anything about these miscreants, and they may not even be able to, depending on the tenancy agreement. Worse, the HA might be obliged to house these people, so even if they moved them, they'd just be someone else's problem. You might have to assume that this is going to be ongoing behaviour, and consider how best to manage it.

[Deleted User]

Smellyonion said:

Thanks for the response. My thought process is that if I were a private landlord and my tenants were causing trouble in the neighbourhood and not looking after their kids, I would want them out, out of sheer respect for the neighbours and the property. I would feel a level of responsibility as a landlord to ensure that tenants were not horrible people since I made a decision to lease to them.

I just cannot comprehend the lack of respect people have for other people and their property.

And in the next thread you will get people advising tenants to call 101 and change the locks in advance should the landlord even think of coming round to knock the door. 

Titus_Wadd

I thought victims of ASB could complain to Social Landlords along with the Police and Council? 

My only caveat would be that the Police and Council in my experience have been of very little use.  By all means report the behaviour in the hope that enough reports will result in action being taken, but don't have very high expectation of action to help you in this instance.

teachfast

GDB2222 said:

teachfast said:

Small claims for uninsured losses is your only means to reclaim anything at all here. An added bonus is this will cause the family significant issues and may just possibly encourage some future parental responsibility; but probably not.

You are going to sue a five year old?

No, the parents, for uninsured losses.

Murphybear

A landlord is not responsible for the the behaviour of his tenants, whether it’s social or private landlord
What would you do if the neighbours owned the property?  Would you expect the mortgage company to get involved?  Of course they wouldn’t.

What would you do if the neighbours owned a property outright?  You could complain to them directly, but that’s all

GDB2222

teachfast said:

GDB2222 said:

teachfast said:

Small claims for uninsured losses is your only means to reclaim anything at all here. An added bonus is this will cause the family significant issues and may just possibly encourage some future parental responsibility; but probably not.

You are going to sue a five year old?

No, the parents, for uninsured losses.

Why just the uninsured loss, and not the whole loss? 

The fact that the parents are not liable is a small detail, I suppose.

https://www.inbrief.co.uk/child-law/child-accidents-compensation-liability/

teachfast

GDB2222 said:

teachfast said:

GDB2222 said:

teachfast said:

Small claims for uninsured losses is your only means to reclaim anything at all here. An added bonus is this will cause the family significant issues and may just possibly encourage some future parental responsibility; but probably not.

You are going to sue a five year old?

No, the parents, for uninsured losses.

Why just the uninsured loss, and not the whole loss? 

The fact that the parents are not liable is a small detail, I suppose.

https://www.inbrief.co.uk/child-law/child-accidents-compensation-liability/

My understanding is that if you can demonstrate negligence on the part of the parent, then they can be held liable. But I am sure an actual lawyer will rock up and answer to that shortly. Of course, if it's a conveyancing solicitor they may get around to it after golf a week on Thursday... Possibly. 

ripplyuk

I’m a council tenant and these types give people like me a bad name so if there’s any way to sue or use the small claims court, I hope you’ll do so. Even if you only get £1 a week or whatever. My council tenancy agreement makes it very clear that I’m responsible for the behaviour of anyone living in, or even visiting, my home (including children and pets) and that any antisocial behaviour could lead to eviction so I’m surprised the HA are not offering any help at all. 

I’d also report them them to social services. A 5yo should not be running the streets unsupervised. It may even help with moving them on. It’s social services who end up paying for housing (private rented) for the worst of these obnoxious families, because the HA’s eventually refuse to house them.