I’m losing a tenant every 6 months, please help!

I’m losing a tenant every 6 months, please help!

17:23 PM, 29th October 2013, About 11 years ago 58

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Hi all,

My fifth tenant has now decided to leave after having been subject to 6 months of abuse and hell from the neighbour adjoining the maisonette. All four previous tenants have left after six months and have all cited this neighbour from hell as the culprit for their misery and reason for leaving. This has put me at substantial financial loss, not to mention the stress. This is my first property and subsequently my first time as a landlord. I am losing a tenant every 6 months

I have exacerbated all my options. The troublesome neighbour likes to throw his weight around and seems to relish in bullying my tenants. He is also very devious, he has filed noise complaints against each one of my tenants with the council and complains to both letting agents about the noise. My current tenant mentions that the last straw was when the neighbour abused and threw stones at his Mum while she was visiting, thus instigating my tenant to angrily shout at the neighbour who recorded the interaction on his phone. When my tenant called the Police they did nothing as the neighbour had footage of my tenant shouting.

Emails from my previous four tenants include incidents where the troublesome neighbour, grabbed Tenant A round the throat and threatened him in my property. He jumped over the garden fence and threatened Tenant B. Threats to steal, shoot, beat up Tenant C and Tenant D apparently used to come home from work and watch TV wearing headphones so as not to disturb him, the list is a lot longer than this.

Police have been called on six separate occasions by two different tenants (the others were too scared to).

I have contacted the landlord of the property direct. Their letting agent is not prepared to do anything about it giving the excuse that it is one tenants word against another. I am have now lost my fifth tenant! Is this not evidence enough that the neighbour is the cause of the problem?

My letting agent has tried to influence the other letting agent but I feel both have dragged their feet hoping that the dust will settle. My letting agent now is refusing to re-let the property due to this neighbour.

I feel like I only have two options:

1) Reluctantly sell the property or

2) Try and re-let the property by switching my current agent to the same letting agent who oversees the troublesome neighbour. This eliminates the denial that there is a problem and who causes it due to one letting agent getting to hear about all the problems at both properties without any middlemen diluting the seriousness of the allegations. The problem with this option is whether the letting agent would evict the troublesome tenant or just be happy to allow my tenants to leave and enjoy the inctreased income from the renewals.

What other options do I have?

Please help.

Mark Lintern


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Comments

ian

17:43 PM, 31st October 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Industry Observer " at "31/10/2013 - 07:57":

I actually was referring to marks flat to move into now its empty & observe, as this will take months to resolve & stress to mark, if I was in this position I would sell flat at auction & cut my losses start up elsewhere with a lot of area research first. Sometimes its easier to walk away from a situation, health is more important than money.

Industry Observer

19:46 PM, 31st October 2013, About 11 years ago

@ Ian

Agree 100%

ian

19:47 PM, 31st October 2013, About 11 years ago

Industry Observer

I have been reading some of your comments on your members profile you seem to get a lot of members backs up, you requested that Dilemma of a Croydon Landlord to be removed , light humour should be band in your opinion & as you wish your identity to be withheld I will refer to you as AKA Victor Meldrew. Hope that brings a smile to your face.

Fed Up Landlord

8:38 AM, 3rd November 2013, About 11 years ago

I agree with DCs comments a few posts back. Certainly the police are the first port of call here. This is Anti- Social Behaviour. But you have to be persistent. Write or email in to the Chief Inspector of the Neighbourhood Policing Team. Use his name. Detail the catalogue of incidents in a letter no more than two pages long. Keep it objective and non-emotive. Ask for his help. Add that you will ring him in a few days to discuss the matter. You may find that one of his Sergeants will contact you to discuss it. If you get no response or feel fobbed off by what happens write a letter of complaint to the Chief Superintendent in charge of the station where the LPT (Local Policing Team) Commander works from. Or write in to the independent Police Complaints Commission with an ASB complaint. This goes to the Chief Constables Office ( but not to him) and then gets passed down the lline. But the fact that it gets passed down the line means that senior officers see it and will want it responded to. I wouldn't guarantee that this will get you the response you want but as part of an overall strategy along with everything else it's worth a try. They may try mediation (with the appropriate interpreter) and this may help.

Vanessa Warwick

9:35 AM, 3rd November 2013, About 11 years ago

I agree with Ian.

This sounds like a nightmare.

There are two other possible options:

1. Put the property onto a Guaranteed Rent Scheme.

2. Sell the property to a tenant buyer.

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

11:56 AM, 3rd November 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Vanessa Warwick" at "03/11/2013 - 09:35":

The guaranteed rent scheme is a great idea Vanessa, especially if Mark's mortgage lender and lease will permit it. Maybe his local Council or Housing Associations run such schemes? Must be worth checking out. Also, it the property is a certain distance from a Post Office then Group4 security may also be interested in offering a guaranteed rent schemes. Last I heard they were using http://www.ewemove.com/ to manage their scheme. Also see the member profile for Glann Ackroyd who is a director at Ewemove >>> http://www.property118.com/member/?id=594
.

23:41 PM, 20th November 2013, About 11 years ago

Find an ex service tenant (royal marine, para, infantry) who won't take crap, give him half price rent for the 1st 6 months of a tenancy.

That gives him 6 months to sort out the problem neighbour. You will still be getting in some rent money without the worry of your tenant being upset etc.

Mary Latham

19:36 PM, 21st November 2013, About 11 years ago

A very interesting discussion.

For me there is only one solution SELL IT ASAP.

My reason. The landlord who owns the property next door is obviously not fussy about who lives there nor in a hurry to deal with problems and I would not trust that removing this tenant would be the end of the problem.

Mark I am really sorry for you - a horrible situation. Whatever you decide to do Good luck

Follow me on Twitter@landlordtweets

My book, where I warn about the storm clouds that are gathering for landlords is here >>> http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1484855337

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