Family living in 1 bed flat above me

beatthebookienet

I live alone in a small 1 bedroom flat (house conversion). There are two guys living above me also in a 1 bedroom flat, which is already a squeeze but bearable. However 2-3 times a year their family visit and live there for a couple of weeks which means there are 4 or 5 people in the flat above me. I don't really speak to them and some of them don't speak English.

Having several people in a flat which is designed for a single person leads to a lot of issues for the other residents, but more for me since I'm below them.

Loudly moving their beds and furniture up the stairs in the middle of the night which has also damaged the hallway.
Lots of steps/jumping which can be heard on my ceiling.
Ocassionally water dripping through to my bathroom from all the showers they have (which once also got into the electrics and tripped my shower so I was unable to use it until the box dried out).
Laundry constantly in use making it difficult to get my washing done and also communual credit being used up.
Bins overflowing.
Strain on the sewers which seems to bring up more drain gases through the laundry drains.

What would you do in this situation? I am not a confrontational person and would feel bad complaining to the letting agency. I assume they already know and turn a blind eye as they must see all the beds when they empty the electric meters

RhondaD

You can't really assume anything. They may not have a clue the property is being over crowded. The only option you have is to tell the letting agency what is happening. 

JReacher1

Is this actually against the lease or anything the letting agency can do? Having family to stay temporarily for 2 weeks at a time doesn’t strike me as being anything you could actually really complain about. 

Although I do agree with you it would annoy me. 

GrubbyGirl_2

If it were me I'd be looking for a new flat

MalMonroe

If it were me, I'd also be looking for another flat, too.

BUT have you ever had a word with the two guys? That'd be my first stop before going to the letting agency. Lots of people do have people visiting once a year and that's understandable but as you say, the flat's not really meant for that. They probably can't afford to stay in a hotel or motel either.

It isn't confrontational, and there are nice ways of doing it, to tell your neighbours that what they are doing is disruptive, annoying, noisy and downright antisocial. You have your rights and they are being thoughtless. But sometimes people are just really thoughtless and are shocked when they're told that they are upsetting their neighbours (that happened to me when I moved into the flat I'm in now. My neighbours' TV was so loud every single night for six hours or more but when I went to see them they were horrified to know that their noise had been so bad and were so apologetic and stopped turning up the volume. The husband was deaf and I think he started using his hearing aids properly after I'd been to see them. They didn't stop speaking to me or act too offended afterwards.)

But I digress. Do try to tell them, first and if they take no notice or are rude, then report them to the letting agency. They must have a tenancy agreement, as all of us who rent do. And there's probably something in there relating to being a nuisance.

Doesn't matter if it's only a couple of weeks a year, it's disruptive and they've actually caused leaks! I'd have had to see them immediately about that. But not aggressively, obviously. Two weeks can seem like two years when you have neighbours like that.

There's no excuse for behaviour like theirs and they do need to be told. If you don't want to actually see them, I'd tell the agency now. Enough is enough. 

All my own opinion, obviously but you pay your rent, as do they. The big difference is that they take advantage.

WhiskersTheWonderCat

MalMonroe said:

It isn't confrontational, and there are nice ways of doing it, to tell your neighbours that what they are doing is disruptive, annoying, noisy and downright antisocial. You have your rights and they are being thoughtless. 

That's rather extreme, don't you think? 

From what has been described, it simply sounds like they are merely existing. It's not as if they are having a rave up there.

The trouble that I have found is, that people don't understand how loud very normal things sound from the floor below. I've heard people describing their upstairs neighbours as stomping around, when they are simply walking from one room to another. Even in OP's description, it says "Lots of steps/jumping", but are they REALLY jumping around up there? 

pickledonionspaceraider

Those house conversions really are the worst in terms of noise transference - especially from the flat upstairs.

I had a relative who lived in one for about a year, and their upstairs neighbour noise, well I would not have believed how bad it was until I witnessed it - and that was noise only from one person going about their normal life, ie not being particularly disruptive - but the noise was huge

JReacher1

I would worry about the water leaks as no matter how many showers someone has it shouldn’t mean water drips into the flat below. 

FreedomBringsPeace

I pray this is sorted amicably or you find a new place. The shower shouldnt be dripping regardless. I know you dont want to cause any upset especially as you have to share communal areas. If they are still there id suggest putting a note on the machine advising you want to use the machine. It seems they are bringing everything there to do instead of going to a laundrette as its*free* but what may end up happening is your landlord increasing the rent. Do you have an option to move? 

kinglewis121

there's less people reacting the way i usually see, i live in a somewhat similar complex although they're purpose built and not conversions, don't worry about any confrontation just bring it up, if they're ignorant enough to say screw you then go to the agency, contrary to certain views just because you don't live in a fully detatched house in surburbia doesn't mean you can't live in peace. the issue is people from time to time who move into these sort of dwellings have lived in houses and don't quite understand when moving to somewhere like that you need to have consideration for others rather than just themselves.

KxMx

It's a difficult one with flats, I also live in a purpose built block of 4.
When I moved into my ground floor one bed (generous double bedroom & lounge size) I expected at most a couple with a baby above me, what I got was a single person who has 3 children (2 high school age, one left school last year) who stay for about 6 nights a month.

Max occupancy for these flats is 2 so it does irritate me sometimes, this situation is fully sanctioned by our landlord and I've accepted their right to have children overnight does override the over occupancy and any niggles I may have from time to time about the situation.

To be fair they aren't a nuisance but I have come to realise through their stays that neighbours stairs probably aren't carpeted!

OP does sound to be in a worse situation though and I do sympathise.