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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Charity HMO of drug users set up next door to me

55 replies

Changeling123 · 04/09/2023 23:40

Hi All,

this is not an AIBU question, I’m posting here for traffic as I need advise as I’m at my wits end.

There is a terraced house next to me which is usually rented by students. The landlord has had trouble renting it out due to its poor condition, so this summer they opted to rent to a “charity”. At first I thought it would just been for the summer, so I’ve bared it, but now I can see they’re staying on and I need advice on how to manage this, as I had my first baby during the Summer - now a 3 month old.

They’re a HMO of about 6 minors. They look around 15-17 year olds. They’re constantly outside the house shouting, smoking weed, we barely have a front garden at all, and they sit on the wall with a boom box at 10pm on weeknights. I challenged them once to turn the music down and move on, but they got confrontational. I can hold my own usually, but I’d just had a baby and it really gave me the chills - they were so intimidating and happy to fight me. I’m too afraid to challenge them again in fear of reprisal - they know where I live.

I’m afraid if I call the police, they’ll know it’s me. And will they even respond for minors standing on the street smoking weed and disturbing in the early hours?Apparently there is a supervisor in there 24/7, but they don’t seem to have a hold on it at all. I have tried knocking on the door for the supervisor, but no one answered. I could hear people in there.

I’ve watched them looking in our car (parked on the street) - presumably for valuables. I close the curtains now because they stand so close outside the house, looking in. Most critical, can’t open the windows to get fresh air - the scent of weed is just so strong. So I was in with the baby in sweltering heat today. They dump refuse over the back garden wall including cans and blunts.

They wake up the baby every night. Just the other night, we were awoken by one of the teens on the phone at 3am, highly strung shouting down the phone because he’d just been let out of the police station. Not all the residents there are bad; there’s a sweet Afghani guy and he goes somewhere every morning in a school blazer (during holidays), and my heart breaks for him living with these idiots.

I have said it to the landlord multiple times, and he apologised and said it wasn’t his intention for that to happen. I’ve emailed him again with pictures to say it’s still not resolved and to please consider new tenants. but I don’t think he cares, really, he just wants his rent sorted. I asked him for the name of the charity and he hasn’t replied.

I feel unsafe for my family, particularly my new baby. He’s not getting a night’s sleep - I’m defs not. And there’s just weed fumes blowing into in a house I’ve worked like a dog to buy. We can’t live like this.

Has anyone got any suggestions on what to do?

OP posts:

Twistingskies · 04/09/2023 23:46

Wow that sounds bloody shit.

They opened one in our little village, right in the centre where all the shops are and it’s been awful.

I’d probably report them to social services and constantly phone the police community team. Keep on at the LL and hopefully the lease won’t be extended.

junbean · 04/09/2023 23:55

Another angle to consider is that the situation next door is bringing down your property value. You could sue the landlord next door for this. I would let him know in writing that you’re pursuing legal options. Maybe he’ll reconsider. No one is going to care you and your baby are suffering. But when you bring money into it they will snap to.

mumda · 04/09/2023 23:57

Local councillors. Ask them to visit the street.

HirplesWithHaggis · 05/09/2023 00:01

I really don't think you can sue your ndn for reducing the value of your property. How would you evaluate this? In which court would you sue?

Underminer · 05/09/2023 00:04

No advice re rental situation but when my gran had trouble with a drugs gang sitting on her wall the police advised her to put cooking oil on the wall to make it sticky/tacky and it stopped them sitting there. My uncle put the oil on in the middle of the night so no one saw him and they moved on very quickly. Not ideal I realise but it worked.

Lavender14 · 05/09/2023 00:05

I actually used to supervise a hmo like this and I'm really surprised that the supervisor of the charity hasn't been round to make contact with you. The young people living there are vulnerable, likely leaving care and learning to live independently or have been made homeless but are almost too old for the trust to take any responsibility. They'll be traumatised and have their issues but the entire point is to help them learn how to be good tenants and neighbours. I would contact your council and see if they know what charity are managing the building. Or if you ring some who work in that vein in your area they might know or be able to hazard a guess. Your local trust 16+ team would also know because if they're minors they will have social workers. Your local community policing team will also know. If you can get in contact with the charity I'd ask for a meeting with them away from the location to talk about your issues and agree a way to manage them. The noise at night will be hard for them to manage because there will naturally be nights where the young people will struggle but they could move them on from the front smoking, and could manage the rubbish and littering and will do their best in terms of managing noise. It depends a lot on the young people who move in. I've had times where the house has been really quiet and everyone at school etc and other times where a lot of them are really struggling at the same time and it's tougher. The bit that's hardest is when it's not the residents but their visitors. Often other vulnerable young people will congregate around the front of the building because they want to see people and are bored. Ultimately, while it's a pain, these are still children who need a home and services like this are essential because they would be sleeping on the streets and vulnerable to exploitation or dead otherwise. Noone wants it to be next door to them but they have to exist somewhere. Hopefully you can develop a good relationship with the supervisor and agree some compromises because with a wee baby myself I'm sure it's very frustrating.

Malapataraso · 05/09/2023 03:54

Get a lawyer to find out what your options are.

MidnightOnceMore · 05/09/2023 04:32

If this is a HMO the council are responsible for licensing it - start keeping a record and make enquiries/complaints.

You say your area is terraced - I would advise approaching other neighbours to set up a Neighbourhood Watch group for solidarity. Also ask for an appointment with your neighbourhood policing team and explain the situation.

If these people are under 18 there are serious safeguarding issues by the sound of things too. You could therefore also report to your social services team.

PostOpOp · 05/09/2023 05:52

Is there a neighbour on the other side of them? Or even the other side of you, or opposite who you could also get involved. A group of you asking for a meeting with the supervisor (away from the location, as suggested above) might give more weight.

I'm all for kids like these being supported and protected, but they're not being adequately supported if they're on drugs and being antisocial. I understand they're some of the most vulnerable and traumatised young people in our society. For that reason they should be having more help in understanding how to live with others. It's not their fault, or the supervisor's, but they're being sheltered, not adequately supported in places like this. They need a lot more help than this. None of that helps you, OP, but the behaviours highlights the extend to which they've been failed, and still are. It's very sad that we as a society think that the most vulnerable kids that age need less support than a child from a loving, supportive, 2-parent family!

Rentyhouse · 05/09/2023 06:01

I would speak to the housing standards dept in the council. As someone already said, they license HMOs.

Cardifflost · 05/09/2023 06:27

Not exactly the same but similar issue with a problematic hmo. And you approach it like you're disrupting the mafia. So start emailing all your local councillors with issues of noise, asbo, litter, drugs, fighting. As well as landlord, community police. Is the house a properly registered hmo. Is it over 3 floors ? There are lots of regs they are meant to comply with. Then get on to the charity get a direct number for supervisor
. You can also write to the senior management of the charity etc.

bge · 05/09/2023 06:33

We had similar but less bad. Find your ward councillors and email them, your MP, the landlord your local policing person, the elected police chief, and the council rough sleeping chief. Write an email full of evidence and email ALL THE TIME. Every week, if needed, with evidence from the last week. Be polite, but let them know. They can’t do anything if they don’t know - as far as they are concerned it is probably a success as no complaints!

if you can get all the neighbours to band together do so and ask for a community Meeting about it. Don’t do anything to the teens or get into slanging matches. They need to be supervised much more strongly and that is the council’s role

NorthWestThree · 05/09/2023 06:33

Contact your MP

rwalker · 05/09/2023 06:37

Diary everything noise complaints to council

email CEO of charity

Ilovegoldies · 05/09/2023 06:38

You need to check with your local council. If the HMO is run by a housing association it may well be exempt from a HMO licence. It is in my LA.

Sarfar45 · 05/09/2023 06:39

Do as people suggest above and start writing down everything in a diary. My sil had issues with neighbours and she used a noise app to record the disturbance too.
Share the diary weekly with everyone people suggest above.

Sarfar45 · 05/09/2023 06:40

Definitely find out contact details of the charity. They should be monitoring this properly

loislovesstewie · 05/09/2023 06:52

Contact your local authority, they should have a dedicated person to deal with this sort of issue. There was a similar property near where I live, it was not on my street, but anyone walking past the house was verbally abused and residents had tons of ASB directed at them. In the end the L/A closed the property and the residents actually were banned from being in the town. The volume of complaints was too big to ignore.

budgetingnovice1993 · 05/09/2023 07:23

Did you get notices put up prior to the HMO ? They should have been displayed outside property before they moved in.

Goldencup · 05/09/2023 07:29

I’m afraid if I call the police, they’ll know it’s me. And will they even respond for minors standing on the street smoking weed and disturbing in the early hours?

You said 10pm- annoying but not the "small hours". As others have said these are very vulnerable and traumatised children. They have to go somewhere, having said that if you really can't stand you'd do best to move.

Motomum23 · 05/09/2023 07:29

You can also buy fairly cheap security cameras - mine are TAPO for about £50 each - pop them up with an sd card in and wireless recording. Keep evidence of their noise/behaviour/smoking... it may even be enough to drive them away from the front of your house.

MrsToothyBitch · 05/09/2023 07:30

Not much to add to the good advice above but you have my sympathy. My neighbour was struggling to sell her studio flat and let it out around about May. From what she told me of the expected tenant vs who seems to live there, it's either fallen through last minute and she found a hasty replacement or it has been sublet. The new tenant smokes SO much weed and listens to noisy music. We can't enjoy our living room- shared wall- or our garden or leave our backdoors or windows open in the afternoons. Can't keep my washing out. Even my car stank of it the other day as my parking space is by the neighbours wall.

We have finally had enough and are emailing our neighbour and if she's not much use, our freeholder.

Allthegoodnamesarechosen · 05/09/2023 07:36

Goldencup · 05/09/2023 07:29

I’m afraid if I call the police, they’ll know it’s me. And will they even respond for minors standing on the street smoking weed and disturbing in the early hours?

Maybe you would like to do a house swap with the OP? That would probably suit you both. You could practice what you preach, and she and her bay could have a quiet nights sleep.

AllOfThemWitches · 05/09/2023 07:47

They may well be 'traumatised' but so are lots of addicts, doesn't mean they can be 'fixed,' given they already don't give two shits about intimidating women.

Thestruggler · 05/09/2023 07:58

We had this situation, the kids in the house opposite were constantly smoking, settling fire to things in the house/garden, the carers who supported them were helpless from what I could gather. Many incidents where emergency services had to come out just a complete mess of a situation.
it was absolutely awful and the local Councillor got involved.
Sadly the elderly lady who lived next door to these kids had to move out, she couldn't take the noise, trouble and intimidating behaviour any longer.
The councilor held a meeting with the locals to hear concerns which she then took forward to the police, council. SInce then the incidents are less frequent as I think they have got an extra carer in BUT its still horrible living on edge all the time.

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