Struggling with landlord

[KatBag]

Our landlady has always been a bit flaky and unprofessional but lately I'm at a complete loss at what to do about her.
A few months ago I realised that the nursing home next door to our building was using our bins for medical waste (obviously a complete no-no), the bins were extremely smelly (don't even want to think!) and bearing in min 6 flats share the bin, there was rubbish strewn all over the driveway. I tried to contact her several timesto see of this was a personal arrangement, but didn't get any reply. After a few weeks of this going on I called the council for advice and they werestraight out to give next door a stern talking to over the situation. It turned out it was a personal arrangement a her friend owns the home, but still was illegal.
Anyway, ever since she's been extremely difficult with us. She comes round most days, drives around the backof the house, stares in through thekitchen window, thn parks in our spaces for a few hours every day (and goes off and does whatever, she doesn't sit there).
She also keeps posting snotty (and totally unreadable) notes through the door blaming us for things that aren't us eg, today we've had one demanding that we clean up cigarette butts outside our front door - there arent any! And we only smoke very occasionally and never at home!
I feel like we are constantly being watched when we're actually good tenants, always pay rent on time, take good care of the property.
AIBU to take this further? And WWYD?!
(I shouldapologise for being very Miami todayon MN but it's been a long day of procrastination and this note finished me off!

Move.

And by Miami I obviously mean moany! Thanks a lot autocorrect!

In an ideal world that would be brilliant but we just dont have the income to save for a deposit/ 1st months rent on another place and we actually love where we live.

Write her a letter telling her she is interfering with your quiet enjoyment of the property, and to stop it.

Then be prepared for her to give you notice.

Contact Shelter for advice - they are really helpful.

Def move. No good can come of this. Clinical waste should be in yellow bags anyway. Report the NH for good measure.

It would be much better or us if we could resolve this and stay put, even just for the short term. I'm in my last few months at Uni and my dp is currently trying to find a job with more hours, hence the money being tight and stress running high. After Uni I will happily toss my hair and give HER notice, along with a big 2 fingers up!

does your council have a landlord/tenant dispute team? i would be getting in touch with them and they will take it up with her. keep a diary of the times when she is prying and keep all the notes. My previous landlord left us with raw sewage coming up the loo for four months, as soon as the council team got onto her she had the problem fixed.

Thanks Trotters, il look into it. Are they more about mediation? That's what I'd like. I'm totally prepared to defend my action re NH, but cant really do that when the bloody woman doesn't answer her phone. Suppose I could just pop a note up in my kitchen window where she can't miss it when she's nosing lol.

I think they will be able to advise you on how to proceed, and will intervene on your behalf if necessary. Its a good idea to read through your tenancy agreement so you can see which parts she is breaking, ie the 'quiet enjoyment' part. hopefully if the council contacts her regarding this she will realize she can't behave in this manner and is breaking the agreement and back off.

In my case they gave my LL a stern talking to and reminded her of her legal duty and this was enough for her to get the problem sorted. if she had still not fixed it,they said they would get the work done and send her the bill.

as queenoffeckingeverything says, the LL may serve notice to quit, this is a real worry, I have been kicked out of places for asking for repairs to be done and it does sound like, from your OP that her behavior is a result of the bin situation. She might be trying to find reasons to boot you out, or trying to intimidate you into moving. Remember that most councils offer a 'deposit scheme' should you have to move.

I hope you get this sorted, it must be very stressful for you.

According to Shelter, it's harassment and is a criminal offense.

Thanks for all the advice. I guess I just have to weigh up whether it's worth putting up and shutting up until WE want to move or getting it sorted and standing up for ourselves. If it was just this on it's own I think we'd be able to take it with a bit of humour but on top of everything else it's just a worry! I will look into the council deposit scheme though :)