Help! Noisy neighbours

[wotsit]

When I was a baby my mum and dad rented a flat where there was a neighbour who played very loud music. When my dad had a word the neighbour very thoughtfully asked my dad what sort of music he liked as he had a large collection and could prob cater to requests. Doh!

[wotsit]

But Hissie ..hugs. Neighbour problems are horrid. Luckly the house next to us is empty atm but I dread new neighbour mainly because I think we are fairly loud and my doggies can bark when there is someone at the door. They arent barky all the time but I do worry if new folks will be unhappy with any noise.

[Scylla]

I hate the sound of a dog barking when it's because it's been left outside on its own for hours You just reminded me that a neighbour out the back used to do that but, thank goodness, I haven't heard it for a long time.

scylla

[jaki]

I totally sympathise with you Hissie.

We are landlords and have had our share of problem tenants. One, a teenage mum, really upset the neighbour, out in the garden drinking and swearing at the top of her voice in the early hours, then when the neighbour asked her to stop she totally flew at the poor woman calling her every name under the sun.

The neighbour complained to me and the tenant was spoken to very firmly and told that we would not be renewing her lease if it happened again as it's not good for us as landlords. It is part of her tenancy agreement that she is a decent neighbour and doesn't cause trouble, although I can't remember the exact wording of the tenancy agreement. Complain to the council and also the landlord/managing/letting agent. Just thought - we always offer an assured shorthold tenancy, with a minimum of 6 months on it. To get a tenant out before that time is up is incredibly difficult and the minimum notice to serve a section 21 to end the tenancy is 2 months. It can still be contested, so it looks as though if they don't settle down, you've at least 6 months of wearing ear plugs to look forward to

Have a look on the forums at www.landlordzone.co.uk - there are some top notch people on there who know the law inside out and have dealt with every conceivable problem and will be able to advise you better than I can.

[hissie]

They are so oblivious to everything, they didn't smell a major gas leak in their house

When I woke yesterday morning & walked into the landing, I was hit by a very strong smell of gas. Obviously I thought it was my house with the leak, so I telephoned transco & they came and checked everything out. They then had to go next door to check the neighbours' gas & low & behold it was their house.

For a few days I thought I could smell gas, but just thought it was my nose playing up, turns out it's a major gas leak.

So Jaki, I appreciate what your saying about landlords, but unfortunatly, the landlord who owns the property basically dosen't give a toss & just wants the rent money.

Whilst the property was empty, someone broke in & tried to steal the boiler. The landlord sent someone to fix everything, but obviously the person was a cowboy & the property has been left in a dangerous way because of it.

[camperman]

i ended up reporting the woman who lived next door to us before the numpty who lives their now as she was exactly the same with her music only hers was worse, she would continualy taunt us on purpose and no matter how many times we went to complain she would just turn it up even louder.
what we did in the end was report her to her landlord who turned out to be as much use as a chocolate fireguard so we took it further and reported her to the council who over a two month period got her turfed out and her landlord a warning for not keeping his tennants in order.
i sound like a right moaning mini as the last two people who have rented the property have been really noisey but also very young and have no scrupples on who they upset.
my house has been in the familly a long time so i have known everybody in my street for years and have seen a lot come and go and as the private buyers/tennants get younger they have no concideration for anybody but themselves.
weve always brought our daughter up to be conciderate and i know when the time comes for her to move out and get her own place she will have concideration for others so really i guess what im saying is here is the blame lies with the parents.

[Chrissie]

Feb 14, 2011 12:30:41 GMT hissie said:

They are so oblivious to everything, they didn't smell a major gas leak in their house

When I woke yesterday morning & walked into the landing, I was hit by a very strong smell of gas. Obviously I thought it was my house with the leak, so I telephoned transco & they came and checked everything out. They then had to go next door to check the neighbours' gas & low & behold it was their house.

For a few days I thought I could smell gas, but just thought it was my nose playing up, turns out it's a major gas leak.

So Jaki, I appreciate what your saying about landlords, but unfortunatly, the landlord who owns the property basically dosen't give a toss & just wants the rent money.

Whilst the property was empty, someone broke in & tried to steal the boiler. The landlord sent someone to fix everything, but obviously the person was a cowboy & the property has been left in a dangerous way because of it.

OMG Hissie If your landlord didn't use a "Gas Safe" registered plumber, I believe he could be prosecuted. I wonder if there is anyway of finding out?

[hissie]

Don't know Chrissie. In the 10 years I have lived here, this has never happened before.

It has totally freaked me out to be honest. The thought of my house potentially exploding dosen't bare thinking about.

I love my home & don't really want to move, but the area I live in isn't very nice & now I have creepy, useless neighbours. I don't even think they have contacted the landlord re: the leak as no workmen or anyone has been today.

It's going to be difficult to find another house. I live in a social housing property & they are very few and far between since the council demolished a large number of social housing properties. Also, at present, I'm not entitled to another house unless I find a mutual swap. However, I am going to look into it & see if I can somehow become eligible for another house.

[Perpetua]

I thought that having a boiler checked by a registered Corgi engineer ( it might be called something different now ) is one of the conditions for a Landlord to get building insurance on a rented property . . . sounds a horrible situation for you to be in Hissie.

[hissie]

Well you would think so Perpy.

Not sure whether it is the boiler or the pipework.

[Chrissie]

Oh (((Hissie))) I'm not at all surprised you are freaked out

Perpy, instead of Corgi, it's now "Gas safe" & any landlord that doesn't use a Gas safe registered plumber to install/carry out work on a tenanted property is breaking the law. Landlords also have to get a Gas safety certificate on every gas appliance every 12 months.

www.hse.gov.uk/gas/domestic/faqlandlord.htm#faq2

[Perpetua]

Ah, thanks Chris . . . it's a long time since I've had any experience of this and things have moved on since I did.

Don't you have to send the appliance inspection certificates off to the insurance company?

[Chrissie]

No Perpy, well I've never had to. However, my building insurance on the properties I let does state that all safety checks must be carried out by fully qualified persons & certificates must be produced if/when requested.

Edit - Should imagine though that means if you are making a claim then yes, you will have to send off the safety check certificates to them.

[Perpetua]

Yes, that all makes sense now Chris . . . I forget more than I remember thesedays. . . used to have such a good memory as well.

[Scylla]

I cannot believe that Transco would not have reported any infringement or dangerous installation "up the chain" ???

scylla