Hello,
I've come to this forum, because I'm exhausted being fobbed off by all of the free government advice services who clearly either don't have enough expertise to answer my questions or judge me the moment I say the word "eviction." The background is quite extensive, and I don't want to bore you, so I'll be as brief as I can... feel free to ask for more details, however.
My husband and I rent through a letting agent. We have been served with a 2 month notice that the owner requires possession of the flat. Initially, we thought that the owner must either want to sell the place or live in it. Within a week, after speaking to the letting agent, we were informed that the owner just wants us out after receiving a letter of complaint written by the managers of the building (who are a registered as a limited company). This letter detailed a myriad of both utterly false and grossly exaggerated complaints against us that originated from the flat directly below us.
It's very important to mention that this person who has complained about us has been harassing us almost since we moved in. His harassment escalated to aggressive and frightening behaviour, and the police became involved. We reported His behaviour to our letting agent, but not to the managers of the building... we don't know whether the owner of the flat was made privy to this information by the letting agent and have no way of contacting her directly.
What our downstairs neighbour complains about varies, but the consistent thing is that he's completely unreasonable, both in the way he talks to us (or shouts) and in his requests. His most recent complaints have been that out son plays on the floor. His complaints to the managers of the building were never addressed to us. When the owner of the flat received this information (without the context of his abusive and agressive behaviour toward us) she decided without evidence (for example, bringing in sound measuring devices from the council) and based on hearsay that we were to be thrown out and new tenants found.
We just cannot believe that this is legal.... to throw a tenant out, because a 15-month-old plays! I am not a lawyer, but I have found in my research that it is a violation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Children Article 31, which states, "All children have a right to relax and play."
I have so many questions... first and foremost.... is a private letting agent exempt from follow the proper procedures with regard to noise complaints? Second, is the managing group of this building (who are a registered limited company) responsible to follow a proper procedure when complaints are addressed. (Notifying the people who have been complained about BEFORE the owner of their flat, to give them an opportunity to rectify and/or explain the situation?) Third, are we entitled to see all of the documents and communications between the building managers, complaining tenants, letting agent and owner regarding us and our flat? Last, and most importantly.... is this a a violation of my son's human rights?
Thank you so much for reading this and all of your help!
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Eviction for 15-Month-Old Playing.... Is It Legal?
45 replies
maity101 · 01/05/2013 08:47
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