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Have we rendered our home un-sellable?

149 replies

SaveMeTheWaltz · 20/12/2020 16:58

I'll try to keep this brief. In October we purchased and moved into our new house (one street over from our old flat - we've lived in the area for years and it is generally considered a 'nice' area, so what has happened has taken us by surprise). It very quickly became clear that the tenants living in the council-owned property next door had a major marijuana habit - think acrid skunk, smoked from around 11am until bed time most days. We initially tried to address it with them politely in person, which resulted in the female tenant threatening me; after a quick call to the council we decided route go down the route of police and council involvement.

Fast forward a few months. The police have visited the property several times, and the tenants have admitted marijuana use on camera. The police have issued a community protection order against the tenants, who don't seem bothered at all and are still carrying on as they were before. The council is now refusing to acknowledge the problem, and will not respond to my emails.

This was supposed to be the home that we'd bring our children up in and live in until we got old, but the whole situation is so horrible that we'd like to cut our losses, sell up and move on. However, there's now a record of anti-social behaviour at the property next door, which we'd have to declare. Has anyone managed to sell a house under these conditions? Has anyone managed to get their local council to take drug smoking tenants seriously? Can anyone give me advice? I'm feeling increasingly desperate and trapped and would very much appreciate an outside perspective on this. Thanks for reading this.

OP posts:
Mugsen · 15/06/2021 16:38

I'm sure you've thought of it but could you part exchange for a new build? They sometimes buy your old place off you.

PhilCornwall1 · 15/06/2021 16:44

@GreyhoundG1rl

I reported the neighbours to the council in our old place. We didn't declare it and nothing happened. The point is that the new owners could have taken action against you. It's good that nothing happened, but it could have.
Yes, they could have. Was worth the risk.
GreyhoundG1rl · 15/06/2021 16:48

Yes, they could have. Was worth the risk.
Yes, it was Grin

Ostara212 · 15/06/2021 16:49

Re suing the previous owner

I live in a small flat. The neighbours smoke weed. I moved here while working very long hours and didn't notice much till lockdown. But when I smelt it, it didn't register. The smell of cooking annoys me more.

I don't mind even now. Touch wood, I don't hear noise from them, just smell the weed when windows are open. I know them to say hi to in the hall. They don't cause trouble. If I had an emergency I think they'd help. They did shopping for the old lady opposite in the shielding phase.

I know others who have had issues with flats - wardrobes on adjoining walls making clothes smell of weed. Is it like that?

It might be different in flats but it wouldn't occur to me to see it as a problem as it's so commonplace. So the previous owner may not have cared or noticed.

I know the previous owner here was a heavy drug user too so wouldn't have cared about next door. She has a good career and has moved to a nice house and garden nearby.

PhilCornwall1 · 15/06/2021 16:56

@GreyhoundG1rl

Yes, they could have. Was worth the risk. Yes, it was Grin
Oh bollocks, that should have said "it was worth the risk".

That'll teach my for actually saying on a work call "was it worth the risk" and then typing on this at the same time.

For me it was, for the unfortunate on the other end of my call, who I asked the question to, not so much.

GreyhoundG1rl · 15/06/2021 17:00

I got what you meant, Phil
Did you have the same conversation with a client?!

SirenSays · 15/06/2021 17:01

I think I'd have bought either him or you an air purifier before getting the police involved.

MsMitford · 15/06/2021 17:07

So sorry that this also happened to you @ItsSnowJokes. Glad to hear that it is all resolved now, although it must have been awful at the time, especially during lockdown.

I had a long chat with the nice (but somewhat ineffective) chap from the council today. They told him that they had been smoking marijuana in the property for years(!) - they are literally outraged that we have an issue with it. They also told him that they deliberately damaged the shared fence to get back at us for reporting them to the police. (We've got a lawyer sorting out the fence situation). They're operating under such a radically different moral code to me that I don't even know what to think of this.

Swapping the house for a new build is really not an option. We're on a Victorian conservation estate in London - there are no new builds anyway around here so we'd have to move schools etc. Even if there were, I don't want to give up my pretty period house.

Thanks for the messages of support everyone. It really does help.

osbertthesyrianhamster · 15/06/2021 17:17

@TheInfected

Can you go down the legal route and sue who sold to you as they obviously didn't disclose the issue?
They don't have to unless they, too, raised it to police/council level. And no, they didn't have to disclose it.
Wegobshite · 15/06/2021 17:19

With hindsight If I were you I wouldn’t have got in touch with the police for the problems that you have now
However you have so you have nothing to lose now
So go to your MP & local Counciller email them and keep a record of any ref numbers you get from the police
Contact the council and ask to speak to estate management
If you go on line and put the name of the council in and estate management housing officers you should be able to get the name of their housing officer for your street / that block - that’s what I did 😂

I’ve just succeeded today in getting the council to do a managed move for a very very anti social Tennant a lot worse than yours as they were convicted in court but I pursued it after the convictions when others would have left it alone
It’s taken 14 months of me being Miss Bloody Marple and learning w lot about the councils own rule book with regard to anti social behaviour but it’s worked
They have gone and I am sat in my garden sunbathing drinking wine
I kept my MP & local Counciller in the loop at all time and they really hassled the council pretty much every month

Orf1abc · 15/06/2021 17:19

Realistically, it will be the end of the year before the neighbours are evicted, should the council decide to go down that route. Can the council advise on how you can minimise the smell in the meantime? If they can't, I'm sure there are some resources online that can offer suggestions. Try not to fixate on the issue at the expense of your mental health.

osbertthesyrianhamster · 15/06/2021 17:19

@Porridgeoat

It wouldn't bother me. It’s probably on par with drinking alcohol in my mind. Be honest. Police and council contacted 2020 due to tenants smoking cannabis.
It wouldn't bother me, either. We had a massive weed smoker downstairs, it used to come up through the floorboards. He was very quiet, though. I just lit candles.
osbertthesyrianhamster · 15/06/2021 17:23

You need to convince all of these people that the problem is serious and get them to badger the council.

Yep, and I wouldn't bother because this doesn't bother me at all. Loud trance music at all hours, constant loud music, that's about the only thing I'd be bothered about.

Ostara212 · 15/06/2021 17:29

@MsMitford

So sorry that this also happened to you *@ItsSnowJokes*. Glad to hear that it is all resolved now, although it must have been awful at the time, especially during lockdown.

I had a long chat with the nice (but somewhat ineffective) chap from the council today. They told him that they had been smoking marijuana in the property for years(!) - they are literally outraged that we have an issue with it. They also told him that they deliberately damaged the shared fence to get back at us for reporting them to the police. (We've got a lawyer sorting out the fence situation). They're operating under such a radically different moral code to me that I don't even know what to think of this.

Swapping the house for a new build is really not an option. We're on a Victorian conservation estate in London - there are no new builds anyway around here so we'd have to move schools etc. Even if there were, I don't want to give up my pretty period house.

Thanks for the messages of support everyone. It really does help.

Sorry, are you the OP?

Damaging your fence is terrible.

Did this all start because of the smell of weed?

Is it worth fake apologising?

Ostara212 · 15/06/2021 17:30

And how bad is the smell, I'm guessing there's a shared wall?

If you fake apologise, then maybe an agreement can be reached where they only smoke it away from the shared wall?

Iusedtoliveinsanfrancisco · 15/06/2021 17:35

Rent it out to the council and use the proceeds to rent your own place. That way you can move back in when they’ve gone.

Rosehip10 · 15/06/2021 17:37

"It's a very mixed area, think council houses next to identical properties close to the million pound bracket, which is usually a good thing"

Is it? Problem with any rented houses is that you can go from lovely neighbours to ones that are awful. "problem" tenants are very, very rarely evicted from social housing.

Wegobshite · 15/06/2021 17:38

You want to look up the councils Tennant handbook it will be on line
Look for the bit about not harassing neighbours or visitors to them harassing neighbours
Become familiar with the councils own rules on ASB
In my council if your convicted of ASB you can’t go on home choice and bid to move for 3 years
Also if you don’t live in the house for more than 42 days your in breach of your tenancy
So in my case The AS tennants have to accept a managed move due to their conviction or be evicted which they obviously didn’t want .?
So Are they working
Who’s the actual Tennant
Are they claiming benefits - not hard to figure out if they are at home all day not working .
Is the partner supposed to be living there
Are the kids if so how old
If there are - report to SS for the weed around the kids
You can find out a lot of this stuff from the electrol roll with regards to how long they have been living there and who she tennant is

Google the house number and street
I found that my AS neighbour was banned from our city center for 2 years non stop thieving and knife crime previously and was on a suspended sentence when he was convicted of a much serious crime 😂
The only reason he didn’t go to prison was because of Covid
Granted my AS neighbour was a lot worse than yours in many ways but honestly their is a lot you can do to make the council take notice

GreyhoundG1rl · 15/06/2021 17:40

"It's a very mixed area, think council houses next to identical properties close to the million pound bracket, which is usually a good thing"
It's very, very usual for London.

partyatthepalace · 15/06/2021 17:43

God, so sorry OP.

Obviously you could do a cheap fast sale to a landlord, but the most satisfactory albeit slower route is to get the council to move them. I’m not sure them having been there for 30 years makes any difference, if they are smoking that much skunk it isn’t habitable long term ie you couldn’t have kids in it - so they are way unreasonable.

Could you stand to give yourself an 18 schedule to get them out?

osbertthesyrianhamster · 15/06/2021 17:45

Did the OP namechange in the middle of the thread Confused?

osbertthesyrianhamster · 15/06/2021 17:47

@partyatthepalace

God, so sorry OP.

Obviously you could do a cheap fast sale to a landlord, but the most satisfactory albeit slower route is to get the council to move them. I’m not sure them having been there for 30 years makes any difference, if they are smoking that much skunk it isn’t habitable long term ie you couldn’t have kids in it - so they are way unreasonable.

Could you stand to give yourself an 18 schedule to get them out?

In London? Yeah, that's so going to happen. Haahaahaa. Yeah, you can have your kids in it. It doesn't bother a lot of people, plenty of said so on this thread.
sparemonitor · 15/06/2021 17:50

@ImPrincessAurora

I successfully sold a property after declaring a neighbour dispute. There was no police involvement and I probably could have got away without declaring it but it didn’t feel right. The issues we had was noise day and night, alcohol abuse, fights, the list goes on.

I sold it to an investment buyer who turned it into a house of multiple occupation. Still gives me a chuckle now knowing our old neighbours swapped a lovely, quiet couple for a HMO.

It sold at market value but it did take longer then expected to sell.

that's karma for you!
Beeeeeeeeeeeeeep · 15/06/2021 17:55

@osbertthesyrianhamster

Did the OP namechange in the middle of the thread Confused?
The last update was December so not really in the middle of a thread. She probably forgot she had changed since starting it.
Egeegogxmv · 15/06/2021 18:01

It's just a smell fgs, I'm a vegan and I tolerate the smell of meat cooking from the neighbours