Anti-social Tenants in the flat above

Anti-social Tenants in the flat above

15:09 PM, 12th April 2018, About 6 years ago 5

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I am having problems with anti-social tenants at the moment – not in my rented flat, but the one above.

About 9 months ago the flat above was rented out and it soon became clear that the tenants liked to drink and subsequently have full blown marital disputes with foul language. My tenant at that time decided that he could no longer bare to live there and handed in his notice.

I was lucky to get another lovely tenant straight away, but sadly four months into the tenancy, she telephoned me last night in a complete panic as she was terrified at the noise going on above her and the abusive language. She told me she would be leaving as soon as her tenancy ended as she was too frightened to live there.

I telephoned the police and met them at the property and was told that they were often called to the property. There are 20 flats and we use a management company. I have telephoned them today, but they say they cannot do anything apart from pass the concerns on to the owner. It would appear the owner of the flat has let the property to a company called “Mears” who are a social housing company and who in turn have let to a ‘problem’ couple.

Any solutions as to what I can do as I really cannot afford to keep losing tenants.

Arthur


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Comments

Neil Patterson

15:11 PM, 12th April 2018, About 6 years ago

Hi Arthur,

Do you have to get permission from the freeholder every year to sublet the flat? If you do surely the Freeholder can just decline permission for the flat above next time.

Ian Narbeth

17:55 PM, 12th April 2018, About 6 years ago

I would write a polite but firm letter to Mears setting out what has happened and asking them to take action to control their tenant or to evict the tenant. They are a substantial organisation and on their website href="https://www.mearsgroup.co.uk/hub/ Mears refer to
"We do all of the above [describing what they do] with a strong sense of social responsibility and every one of our branches has an active social value plan." I would give them the opportunity to put matters right.

JohnCaversham

10:22 AM, 13th April 2018, About 6 years ago

Your main freeholder/leaseholder agreement will have a clause that states something like "you have the right to quite enjoyment of your property" This is your leverage tool with the current owner regardless of agent/subletting as you can use this clause to pursue the matter through appropriate routes ie the court. However i feel your pain as you now have a problem flat not of your making, be firm with the owner, council & environmental health/the social housing group and offer to make official complaints to Mears/write to their director and pursue it through the courts if they don't rectify the situation. Good luck though.

Hattie

10:23 AM, 13th April 2018, About 6 years ago

We had this problem in a block of 3 -we owned the ground floor flat, the middle flat was causing problems with their loud music at unsociable hours and suspected drug use. The top floor flat was also very unhappy about the situation. When my tenant gave in his notice after 4 months citing the reason as the flat above - I contacted the Environmental Health department of the local council who visited the flats and asked them to fill out a log for 2 weeks of the noise and disturbance of the middle flat. The EH were able to have the tenants removed from the middle flat (they also found that it was an unregistered hmo). So my advice would be to contact the local Environmental Health dept and explain the noise pollution.

Ian Cognito

12:32 PM, 13th April 2018, About 6 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Maggie Howell at 13/04/2018 - 10:23
I agree with Maggie. Firstly, contact both the Lettings Management Company and the block Management Company to find out if complaints have been received from other residents. Then, contact EH citing as much evidence as possible.

You should have done this 9 months ago.

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