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Are they really allowed to get away with this?

3 replies

vyperboo · 16/08/2019 14:14

I own my home and live on a small street. The house opposite is a housing association house which is in close proximity and has a couple living in it who don't work so are always home during the day and they have a couple of pet dogs. As they are always home, their dogs very rarely bark, same as when they leave the house.

Now this couple have been baby sitting other peoples dogs (usually 2 of them at a time, soemtimes more) So that makes 4 dogs + that this couple regularly have in the house and this is when the bothersome behaviour starts.

They bark quite a lot whenever there is outside noise when the couple are in but as soon as the couple go out, they bark and howl non stop until they come home. As you can imagine when they bark after unsociable hours at night until the early hours, it is rather stressful when you have work the next day. We have to keep windows closed just to block it out and regarding that hot weather we recently had, it was awful. I have spoken to others on the street and they are fed up with it too. Luckily their next door neighbour works nights so isn't in when the dogs bark and howl non stop. Lucky them.

A couple of us have spoken to the couple directly but they just give a silly smirk back. Their face says it all really that they couldn't care less. Us and another resident reported them to the housing association as it says they are only allowed a dog by written permission and then it doesn't say anything about babysitting other people's dogs which I'm sure wouldn't be allowed. What do you think the outcome of the reports were? Absolutely NOTHING!

Still the non stop barking and howling when they are out of the house and have the extra dogs there, continues and it is getting on everyone's wicks! You can hear it through closed windows! What can we do other than put our house up for sale?

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Fucksandflowers · 17/08/2019 17:04

Put your house up for sale, nothing will change.

We also have nightmare (housing association) neighbours.

I won't go into details as it would be outing I'll just say they are well known to police, residents have complained many times and the housing association could not care less.

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daphine2004 · 17/08/2019 19:55

Maybe try the noise abatement team at the council.

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20mum · 13/04/2020 18:06

Antisocial behaviour needs better and independently enforced law. Keep dairy records, keep dated and timed recordings, keep protesting to council and police and anyone else.

If you market your house, the buyers may notice the noise, but in any case there is a catch-all question (rightly) now added to the enquiries before sale. Your legal obligation includes honesty about such matters. It's hard on you, but it wouldn't be fair, or legal, to trick others into the trap . They could and should take legal advice and sue you for the difference in value.

You could and should take legal advice to see if the owner of problem house, or the council, has a duty to act over the (probable) use of the house as an unauthorised dog minding business, the numbers involved, the failure to withdraw whatever consent was given to keep (probably a single) pet, despite being made aware (which you will have ensured, in writing, by recorded delivery) that the tenants are abusing their privileges (which are almost certainly conditional).

Housing association and council tenants often behave badly because management inertia encourages them. They think they have a home for life, no matter what they do, and can never be evicted. Sadly, the courts protect the guilty, and the law here needs logical tidying. Three written warnings or one court order should suffice as automatically making the tenancy short term, conditional on compliance, and immediately revocable at the first breach .

Court orders do have the merit that courts may or may not particularly care if anyone within a quarter mile gets a night's sleep, but they certainly do care about contempt of court, which carries possible arrest and imprisonment.

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