Recently moved, problem with neighbours

[Paddlechick666]

Hi I'll try to keep this brief and clear!

I purchsed my flat in December. It's top floor of a low rise block and ex-local.

My neighbours below were very friendly and I tried to reciprocate at first but it got a bit oppressive so I backed off a bit.

By that I mean she was banging on the door constantly day and evening. Giving dd soft toys she told me she'd had for 10yrs waiting to give away. Him offering me whisky on the stairs and generally being a bit creepy etc.

Around 7pm one night she bangs on the door, I ignore it (putting baby to bed). She continues banging louder and louder till I open it and she demands I come downstairs to help with some DIY. I said I couldn't as the baby was just in bed and asked her not to bang in the evenings again.

Two days later she puts a note thur the door asking me to keep the noise down between 6am and noon.

A couple of days after that I spoke to her and said she was being pretty unreasonable. DD is 2yrs old and really isn't that bad plus we are out of the house 4 days from 7 by 7:45am. I also pointed out that I don't complain about the noise he makes between midnight and 3am several nights a week. Long story short she denied any noise on their part and went off in a huff when I said it wasn't worth discussing if she wouldn't admit it.

For the record it was definately him/them and they fight quite a bit in the night.

Subsequently neighbours on my floor and over the way have warned me off them as they have caused problems in the block already.

Apparently the son was dealing from the flat last year and went to prison, due out in March ie: now.

I've had very little to do with them for a few weeks now. In fact haven't seen him at all and barely seen her.

Yesterday a whole bunch of boys and girls rocked up with a dog (late teens I'd say) and thru the afternoon/evening there was heaps of shouting and screaming (fun stuff not fights) and thumping and crashing. Door slamming so the building shook and smoking on the stairs etc.

About 9:30ish a carload left and things calmed down. By 10:30ish the stereo went on and for the next hour or so they blasted out half a track, skip to next track, blast again half a track, silence for 5 mins, blast another half a track then skip to next then blast again etc turning up and down then off then up and down again.

I couldn't hear either of his or her voices but again a few "lads" voices.

So, my property was a private rental before it was sold. The vendors did not include any information on neighbour disputes but I cannot believe that they wouldn't have known if there were problems with this family.

I am concerned about a) the son moving back home after leaving prison and b) making a formal complain to the housing partnership as this will have to be disclosed as and when I come to sell.

I only have what my neighbours have told me to go on and it could, of course, be untrue.

Any advice on how to proceed would be appreciated.

I've knocked myself out to buy a home for me and dd to live in and be secure. I try to keep the noise down as much as possible with a 2yr old but am already feeling the strain of living on eggshells. DD already says "must be quiet as a mouse, people downstairs don't like noise" etc.

Can I find out if this lad was dealing and arrested and if he is allowed back into the property if he has been released. A friend said that he might not be allowed back to the house as part of his release or something.

I work full time, long hours and very hard and I need to get a decent night's sleep!!!

Any advise anyone?

TIA

ps: I did call the housing partnership and they have complaints on record about this family. All the other tenents are quite old apart from one young family. The lady below them is housebound and very frail and was made quite ill by all this before he was arrested apparently. I'm just really worried this is going to be home from hell.

sorry that should say the housign partnership have no complaints on record about them.

It sounds awful for you. I think the first step is to go back to your solicitor and ask about the previous owner's response, which they're obliged to give, to the questionnaire where it asks about disputes with neighbours etc. Of course, if they didn't have a formal dispute then they may not have needed to disclose it. However, it's a starting point. Your solicitor will advise on what action from there if they've not answered honestly.

You must keep a record/diary of any incidents of noise/antisocial behaviour etc that occur, no matter how minor, as that may help you in the future too.

Regarding the son, can you google local press reports at the time of his conviction, if you know his name, that may lead you to more info. about the terms of his release? Not sure if info about this is publicly available at courts etc, but worth a try. If not, your solicitor may again be able to advise.

Good luck, and live your life as you normally would with your DD - don't walk around on eggshells, as there's no reason you should have to put up with that stress as well.

hi maggie, thanks for replying. I have spoken to my solicitor who basically said it would be virtually impossible to prove that the vendor knew etc.
There being no previous complaints doesn't help.
I don't know the son's name unfortunately.
if they keep it up I'm quite happy to let dd dance her heart out at 6am in future LOL.
I just feel a bit intimidated at the mo!

Presumably they don't own their home?

Can't the Housing Association help you, if you start to log complaints againt them?

hi fimbo, yes that's the route I'll have to take but then I will be required to disclose it at the time I come to sell which concerns me.

I see your point.

Thing is though if say they got evicted and then you sold, would you really need to declare it, as your complaints would have been against the original tenants?

Yes that's true but I should imagine it would have to get a whole heap worse before eviction became an option.

The thought of living thru enough horrible behaviour to justify an eviction terrifies me tbh.

well it doesn't look good.

knocked on the door on my way in this eve to be met by a lad who did say sorry and soemthing about his mate coming home so a small party. then he said he didn't live there and it was just coz his mate had "got out yesterday" etc etc.

DM here looking after dd and asked if I'd seen some lads outside. Apparently she spotted some dodgy activity when drawing the curtains.

I haven't mentioned the drugs to her but she described what sounds like a deal being done in the garden.

bloody great

will phone housing partnership tomorrow.

Would drug dealing not be enough to get them evicted?

I suppose its catching them though.

It's a crap situation, especially when you have saved hard for your home.

sorry it has taken a turn for the worst paddle, sounds dire

but if illegal stuff is going on the police and the HA should really be involved, it is not like he is unknown to them

Paddlechick, sympathies, we had this in our previous house, and it is horrid.

I think you need to make a decision how you want to play it: your choices are (a) to cut your losses and sell up sooner rather than later (and next time spend a couple of evenings hanging round outside any place you want to buy, just to case the neighbours) or (b) fight it to the max and hope you can get an eviction.

We did the latter in our last house (series of nuisance tenants in neighbouring house culminating in one with serious mental health problems, drilling at all hours, music ditto, throwing mouldy food into our garden, racial abuse and general abuse shouted out of windows, blahdiblah) and it is quite a long and arduous path. You need to get onto community police officers, the Housing Association, the Local Authority's noise patrol, and pretty much anyone else you can think of. And really you need other tenants/owners to back you up, otherwise it can look like your own personal vendetta. You will need to keep a log of incidents and be prepared for a long haul. IME behaviour does need to be pretty extreme before HAs will evict, and things may get temporarily worse as well. If people are telling you there have been ongoing issues wth this family, but no formal complaints, then things are slightly stacked against you, as it suggests your neighbours may not be prepared to back you up.

Of course you have option (c) which is to wait and see how things develop, but that is probably just putting off the moment where you have to decide between (a) and (b). Once you've gone down the formal complaint road, it will be hard to sell the flat while the complaint is active, but if you do get an eviction, then you should be able to sell without issues, as long as you're careful wth wording on the disclosure forms. IIRC we put something like: "We have had no reason to make complaints against any of our current neighbours" which was entirely true at the time we sold, and this was accepted without issue.

Fwiw, in your position I'd probably try to cut my losses and go for option (a).

hth

thanks Frogs, all options scary at present.

we only moved in early December and with the current market i really don't think i could afford to move again. financially or mentally!

all quiet on the western front so far this evening so am taking this as a good sign.

will see how things develop over the next few days.

have already started a log of events and will think about speaking to neighbours. only 6 flats and 3 sets of occupants are elderly. the other a young family but keep themselves very much to themselves.

thanks for sharing your experiences, lots to think about......

I think just starting with a log and go form there and wait and see how it pans out. If you can clearly see that there is dealing happening after a while then I would be inclined to call the police with as much evidence as you can. I think there are anonymous ways to do this throguh crime stoppers if you don't want to run the risk that you will be identified.

I wish I could be more helpful.

oh paddle, you've worked so hard to get a home together for you and your gorgeous dd.
and your home should be your sanctuary, shouldn't it? not sometyhing that adds to stress instead of offering a respite from it..

agree with keeping a log, etc, and seeing how it goes. but inclined to agree with frogs and think about moving if things don't improve.

appreciate your comments about the market - and god knows it's easy for me to say when you've actually got to do it - but i bet the last thing you want or feel like is a battle.
like kew, wish i could help more

thanks all, i am really not feeling optimistic.

Around 11pm a car screeched up, que lots of door slamming and general noise whilst a few people ran up the stairs into the flat.

lots more loud activity and car honking for about 10-15mins then door slammed and off they screeched.

3am repeat without the horn honking followed by lung expelling coughing for about half an hour. this tells me the mother is still in the property at least.

well, you can believe one thing for sure, i won't be constantly trying to keep dd quiet any longer.

Spoken to my Estate Agent this morning and they've just sold 2 more properties in my street to a Housing Association for 15-20k more than I bought for.

They did say they were higher spec in terms of kitchen and bathroom but thought I would get at least £8k more than I bought for which would cover my costs.

I really don't want to move again. The property is great and has so much storage and a nice garden etc.

Intend to try to speak to my neighbours and see what they have to say in terms of making complaints etc. Will also try to speak to the mother if I can.

Guess I just have to wait and see what develops now.....