To want to change the way excessive noisey neighbours are dealt with and Landlords

[elizaregina]

We had a problem house next to us, it was always rooms rented out - and for two years it was fine, never a noise problem, high turn over of nationalities there, Australian, South African, German, etc etc. Once a guy had his music up really loud, as soon as I knocked on the door " Its the music isnt it, I am so sorry" and it was down and never went back up, They had BBQ's, parties, lots of noise chatter, a battery radio playing music, it was never really disturbing and they for some reason always finished before or dead on midnight. And that was occasional.

Two years ago new LL took over and a new breed of tennant moved in, young, rough ( one 17 year old lithianian stabbed a 34 year old man in the face on our road), dont speak english and it was hell. Music in the day in the house, loud boom boom, rude and cocky when asked to turn it down, tons of parties usually on week nights, Environmental health wrote to him, he responded by having a party on a Tuesday night, with club style speakers outside. I called the police for that one. Anyway, the Landlords when confronted by me and the family on the other side - was rude ( one doesn't speak english), aggressive and said its their house. He didnt give a flying *uck about us - our children etc.

Anyway there was a house fire there soon after, we then had to leave our home due to water damage!!!! The council with the help of my MP, then became a littl more helpful but its all loaded to the landlords " we cant make them do this and that"

There is another problem house - exactly the same set up a few doors down, makes families in eithr sides life a misery...EH written about noise, but to no avail and last night - party affected me several doors up - trying to sleep in bed.

So, - instead of just writing a letter to the lodger in question, I think councils should also contact the landlord and give them three warnings to sort out the lodger OR he will be fined. As well as fining the lodger after three warnings. If the landlord gets 5 fines, then his ability to rent out houses should be looked at to be withdrawn.

Why should landlords be let off and be making money off houses with lodgers who are destroying the quality of life of people around them?

I think the UK needs a serious review of anti-social behaviour like this, and yes, I think for rentals they need to put the onus on the landlords.

It's not taken seriously but it can seriously impact quality of life of a lot of people and cause huge stress. The process for dealing with it is ridiculously drawn out.

YANBU. I think this sort of behaviour can have a serious and detrimental effect on people and is selfish in the extreme.

We have a family next to us now, and I can now have a second child, I couldn't before because it was too stressful, also aside from the noise, we had at least 4 + people all smoking by the back door so smoke would come straight into my living room, so i couldn't even open windows. I would wake up with them at 6ish and go to sleep with them - any time from midnight on wards. Smoke alarm going off all the time, meaning when there was a fire, no one responded, thankfully no one was hurt.

Some landlords do not care for a letter but to say they are going to loose money - i think would jolt them into action and controlling of their tenants.

If i rented a house out I would want to know if my lodgers were disturbing the peace, i would have no problems saying - if we get three neighbors complaints your out!

As with alot of other things in the law it seems to me it favours dody landlords and noise perpetrators rather than the peopl affected!

We got the phone number of the landlords house. Everytime we were disturbed we rang him up, at all hours of the night and day. He moved pretty fast actually. Amazing what having their own nights sleep can achieve! [evil grin]

At least if you live next door to nuisance neighbours who rent or are in council accommodation you have some hope of eventually getting them out.

We live next door to people who own their property and there is NOTHING you can do. Yes, they'll get the odd £200 fine but it isn't a big deal to them - they're loaded.

I live overseas and basically if anyone complains about the noise, the police will come and give you a warning. If they have to come out again same day, your sound equipment is confiscated/ you're in a cell for the night.

It works.

Downer is you cant really have parties at home, but I'm happy to sacrifice not to have the risk of neighbours from hell.

OP, contact your council and find out if your postcode is part of the 'selective licensing scheme'. If it is, the landlord of this property should be registered by law. As part of the scheme he has to address the issues you are experiencing. If he doesn't then he is in breach of his license and it may be taken away from him. If this happens then he won't be able to rent out his property.

Your local Environmental Health dept has a duty to resolve these issues even without the help of the LL.

info

Halfpastwine,

Is this something about HMO's - houses of multiple occupancy? The lady next door said she told council it should have correct this and that as HMO but when council go - they all say they are just visiting! The council believes them for some reason.

Also alot of the info is totally out dated. the people in the house that was next to me didn't have tenancy agreements and they couldn't speak english. Just like the lot a few doors down, there is a high turn over of people as well, so if someone does get thru to noise perpetrator - they soon move on and a new one moves in.

This is why I think it should be a simple system coming back to the landlord - if he gets complaints then he gets fined, a large sum, quickly and if gets 5 fines, they have to look to take his license away.

elizaregina A HMO license is separate to a 'selective licence'. Not all areas run the selective scheme but it's worth finding out from the council if your's does.

I think a LL who allows a high turnover of tenants, especially non english speaking requires investigation. It is likely he is cutting corners and his poor tenants may be living in unsafe conditions.

Halfpastwine,

most sane people agree but the council seems determined not to follow anything up. With our problem house after the fire and the LL told them all to get out - stuff out in half an hour and not come back......we knew where a lot of them moved too, a few doors down, one was up in court for stabbing, but the council said when they visited the addresses, the result was negative but we saw them every single day, me and my other neighbours!

Its like they are being paid back handers or simply have a policy behind closed doors that they will not use resources for this.

Not just cutting corners in terms of safety, for his lodgers and the people in the terraces next door ( if one roof goes up - they are all in danger), but what about tax, and all the rest of it.

I did see a panorma program a while back about all kinds of dreadful landlord, some packing people into shanty homes in the bottoms of gardens, AND getting them fake passports to live here, others had vulnerable tennants living in disgusting mould and filth.

They said a very small neglible per cent of ll are ever taken to court. They have nothing to be afraid of so why should they care, some of them don't have a moral consciousnes.

will def check if this scheme runs where I am.