neighbour problems

[sifly]

The flat I rent is the upstairs of a converted, end terrace house. This is rented to family members.

The 1 bed flat downstairs has been rented to through the housing association for a few years now.

I am in contact with the landlord of the downstairs flat (who lives 300 miles away) as we both equally share the freehold on the property.

Currently the tenant downstairs is meant to be a 18-20 year old male. Not sure how he got the flat, as they are usually way down on the list compared with single mums and old people. But anyway....

The tenant downstairs has not been seen in about 3 months. However, there have been large groups of his friends round nearly every night (including when he was actually there) making noise, playing music loudly, leaving the main shared front door open, parking in our flat's driveway, the smell of drugs mixed with takeaway food rising up the stairs into our rented flat. A classic case of everyone else living at home and therefore go round this chaps place as there is no-one to tell them what they can't do.

Needless to say our tenants are a bit peeved. They tried contacting the housing association but they didn't call back. I called the landlord and explained what has been going on. They called the Housing Association who have said that they have to wait for 2 weeks before being able to enter the flat.

Can they not take emergency measures and gain access to the flat to check it? There are random people entering the flat and using it, surely this is grounds for somehting. It's lucky that my tenants are not as intimidated by groups of 6 or 7 "youts", but what if my tenant was more vulnerable?

Your advice would be appreciated before I call the Housing Association myself.

[Nugget]

With any luck, it looks like in two weeks time the flat will have been cleared out. If it's really getting you down, next time there's a racket call the police, once an offical complaint has been launched, perhaps this will put pressure on the housing association to clear out the flat sooner.

Best of Luck