What would you do…rental property?

gazfocus

We rent a house to a family with a young child (about 2yrs old) and we’ve become aware from neighbours on the estate that the tenants ‘may’ be smoking cannabis in the garden which is causing the neighbours to be unable to use their gardens due to the smell. We’ve also been made aware of other issues with the tenants that could affect the neighbours. 

Obviously we don’t know if this is true but we’ve been approached by multiple people now so feel we need to do something.

The trouble is, the tenants have always paid rent on time every month so I’m reluctant to do anything that could jeopardise that but I have to think of our neighbours that are being affected. 

What would you do in this situation?

elsien

I wouldn’t do anything. If the neighbours wish to report to the police or anyone else, that is their decision to make. The neighbours are also free to have a word with the tenant themselves, if it’s such a massive issue for them. 
And I say that as a single woman who was quite happy to talk to the  tenants next to me when their use of cannabis outside my back gate was causing a problem.

You are a landlord, not an arbiter of someone’s morals. If it was an owner occupied house, what would the neighbours do then?

They are also free to report to social services if they feel there are child protection issues.

propertyrental

You really need to decide what outcome you want ie

1) to see them arrested and end the tenancy using S8 G7a (or G14)

2) to change their behaviour (and placate your neighbours)

3) to maintain your rental income flow

4) to end the tenancy using S21 without involving the police

4 will be slow, affect your income, and assumes you have met ALL the requirements for a valid S21

1 depends whether the police have the time, inclination, and resources to take action.

2 is, well, interfering with their 'quiet enjoyment'. In one sense it's really none of your business how they live (unless you do 1 above)

3) is easy - do nothing.....

Albermarle

Not sure that the occasional whiff of weed would stop me using my garden. Better than them swearing at the tops of their voices or similar.

Schwarzwald

I would not to anything that cld jeopardize your relationship with the tenant.

if the neighbor has such an issue with it, they beed to discuss the matter with the resident or speak to police.

RHemmings

The question in the OP is 'what would you do?' Not what is the best thing to do.

If it were me, then I would send the tenants an email or text saying that the neighbours had complained about the smell of marijuana, and ask them to please be considerate of the neighbours. I would feel obliged to, given that the neighbours had come to me with the problem. 

Then, I bet I'd end up with a situation where the problem isn't alleviated at all, except that now the tenant is p'd off with me as well. The neighbours would be p'd off with me not being able to solve the problem. So, an even bigger problem and everyone would hate me. 

Not smoking anything at all, I wondered if marijuana smoke causes houses to have a long-term smell like tobacco. It seems that marijuana smoking can make houses smell, but overall it's not as bad as an equivalent amount of tobacco smoking. I wondered that in case getting the tenant to not smoke in the garden meant that they're smoking in the property instead.

Grumpy_chap

gazfocus said:

We rent a house to a family with a young child (about 2yrs old) and we’ve become aware from neighbours on the estate that the tenants ‘may’ be smoking cannabis in the garden which is causing the neighbours to be unable to use their gardens due to the smell. We’ve also been made aware of other issues with the tenants that could affect the neighbours. 

Obviously we don’t know if this is true but we’ve been approached by multiple people now so feel we need to do something.

The trouble is, the tenants have always paid rent on time every month so I’m reluctant to do anything that could jeopardise that but I have to think of our neighbours that are being affected. 

What would you do in this situation?

I would do nothing.

All this is hearsay and it is quite possible the neighbours simply do not get on with the tenants.
Who would the neighbours raise their concerns with if the tenants were owner-occupiers?

You could request the Letting Agent to consider the comments received as and when they next carry out any inspection of the property or need to attend for a maintenance purpose.

As a LL, I had a similar thing when the owner-occupier of the upstairs flat disliked the cooking smells from the kitchen of our rental property.  Tough.  If we got involved, it was difficult to see where the end would ever be.

gazfocus

Thanks for all the comments.

Yes I agree that there’s a risk that not only will the tenants be annoyed but neighbours will be annoyed also but I do feel obligated to do something given that it’s not just one neighbour that’s complained but several.

I’ve never smoked but I have viewed houses for sale that have clearly been smoked in and it was really off putting to the point we wouldn’t have bought the house so my worry is that if they smoked indoors it would have a similar affect (though they did tell me they didn’t smoke when they viewed the house!)

RHemmings

gazfocus said:

Thanks for all the comments.

Yes I agree that there’s a risk that not only will the tenants be annoyed but neighbours will be annoyed also but I do feel obligated to do something given that it’s not just one neighbour that’s complained but several.

I’ve never smoked but I have viewed houses for sale that have clearly been smoked in and it was really off putting to the point we wouldn’t have bought the house so my worry is that if they smoked indoors it would have a similar affect (though they did tell me they didn’t smoke when they viewed the house!)

I think we are similar, and there is advice in this thread that we should both think carefully about. (You as you have an immediate problem), and me for longer term understanding. 

You could say to the tenant that you have received the complaint, don't feel it's your business to intervene or tell the tenant what to do (provided property is not being damaged.) But, the tenant can talk to the neighbours if they want to. 

That is still going to be a potential can of worms. 

Bookworm105

gazfocus said:

Thanks for all the comments.

Yes I agree that there’s a risk that not only will the tenants be annoyed but neighbours will be annoyed also but I do feel obligated to do something given that it’s not just one neighbour that’s complained but several.

I’ve never smoked but I have viewed houses for sale that have clearly been smoked in and it was really off putting to the point we wouldn’t have bought the house so my worry is that if they smoked indoors it would have a similar affect (though they did tell me they didn’t smoke when they viewed the house!)

i very much doubt they are going to change their lifestyle simply because you have a quiet word with them
so you are left with either do nothing or evict them whilst the law still allows you to do so.

LinLui

Not sure what the "other" issues are.  But I'd ask the neighbours how they know the smell of cannabis. It's the sort of thing that they might only know if they've enjoyed it?  Seriously... you'd need to smoke an awful lot of anything to make the neighbours gardens unusable. 

Unless there is something really serious here,  I suspect it might be a neighbour problem not a tenant problem.