I'm losing a tenant every 6 months! Please Help!

[Mark 78]

Hi all,

My fifth tenant has now decided to leave after having been subject to 6 months of abuse and hell from the neighbor adjoining the maisonette. All 4 previous tenants have lasted 6 months and have all cited this neighbor from hell as the culprit for their misery and reason for leaving. This has put me at substantial financial loss not to mention the stress. This is my first property and subsequently my first time as a landlord.

I have exacerbated all my options. The troublesome neighbor likes to throw his weight around and seems to relish bullying my tenants he is also very devious, he has filed noise complaints with each one of my tenants with the council, complains to both letting agencies about the noise, my current tenant mentions that the last straw was when they abused and threw stones at his mum while she was visiting instigating my tenant to angrily shout at the neighbor who recorded the interaction on his phone. When my tenant called the police they did nothing as the neighbor had footage of my tenant shouting. Emails from my previous 4 tenants include incidents where the troublesome neighbor, grabbed Tenant A round the throat and threatened him in my property. He jumped over the garden fence and threatened Tenant B. Threats to steal, shoot, beat up Tenant C and Tenant D apparently used to come home from work and watch TV wearing headphones so as not to disturb him, the list is a lot longer than this.

Police have been called on 6 separate occasions by 2 different tenants (the other two were too scared to).

I have contacted the landlord of the property direct, and their letting agent who is not prepared to do anything about it giving the excuse that it is one tenants word against another. I am have now lost my fifth tenant, is this not evidence enough that the neighbor is the cause of the problem?

My letting agent has tried to influence the other letting agent but I feel both have dragged their feet hoping that the dust will settle. My letting agent now is refusing to re-let the property due to this neighbour.

I feel like I only have two options: Reluctantly sell the property or try and re-let the property by switching my current agent to the same letting agent who oversees the troublesome neighbour - this eliminates the denial that there is a problem and who causes it by meaning one letting agent gets to hear all the problems at both properties without any middlemen diluting the seriousness of the allegations, the problem here though is whether the letting agent would evict the troublesome tenant or just be happy to allow my tenants to leave and be renewed.

What other options do I have? Please help.

[Richlist]

What other options do I have?

Have you tried contacting any of the following ?

* Police.

* Local Council (environmental health).

* Managing Agents/ Service Charge Company.

* Freeholder.

* Local Councillor.

* Any trade bodies that Lettings Agent belongs to.

[Melboy]

Probably not the answer you are looking for but if I was in your position the neighbour from hell would have been visited by my "friends" and politely given a warning about his anti social behaviour. I don't think he would have done it again as some people I know can be very persuasive to To$$ers like this who are nothing more than bullies and deserve a good talking to.

You are not going to alter his behaviour no matter what path you take on the legal route and that's a fact. Your first step though is environmental health and good luck with that because it can months to build up a case against him and even then you don't always get the right result.

[Grampa]

Some thoughts:

Could you get statements from the previous tenants regarding the neighbours behaviour?

You need to built up a log of incidents with dates and times. This is very important.

You could put in tenants on a 12 tenancy so you get at least 12 months out of the though that may not be fair on the tenants.

Find tenants who will not be intimidated.

Equate a cost of the empty periods in-between tenants and threaten to take the landlord of the property to court via a solicitors letter and also name the letting agent a second defendant. That should stir things up a bit.

Is there a freeholder? If so write to him or the managing agent and quote a few breaches of the lease which there will be and they should then contact the landlord/leaseholder and lay down the law.

As said by melboy you are unlikely to change the persons behaviour and the aim should be to work at getting him to be given notice by the agent and landlord. So keep complaining to both on the phone followed up in writing by recorded delivery listing incidents. I am sure if you keep up the pressure doing it on a regular basis they will get fed up and think it is not worth it to keep him there. Also have you spoken to any other neighbours and try to get them on board and do the same.

In a way I think you are lucky that the person is a tenant and not an owner as it maybe easier (not much) to resolve.

Are you sure he isn't a drug dealer? Maybe you should confide your suspicions anonymously to the police.

[Mark 78]

Thanks for your replies.

The police:

Can do nothing for me as any complaint needs to come directly from the tenant, unless of course I happen to invovled in an incident.

The Council:

Have been notified by one of my tenants, however the problem is that the neighbour has done the same so there is no advantage here, also the complaint to the council cannot be issued by me, only the tenant.

The landlady:

I knew her as she lived there when I did, I have emailed her about the issues with evidence given by all the tenants, but she has turned nasty stating that she doesn't want anything to do with it, that I am no longer to contact her direct. Which was a shock.

I've been round and talked to neighbors, and have many accounts in email format from 4 tenants stating the problems they faced, in light of this the Letting Agent refuses to believe their tenant is at fault.

I'm unsure legally where I can claim and who I can threaten with what - I suppose my next course of action is an expensive solicitor. Or look for some big scary hairy biker tenants!

How would the trade bodies be able to help?

[Grampa]

The police:

Can do nothing for me as any complaint needs to come directly from the tenant, unless of course I happen to invovled in an incident.

I'm unsure legally where I can claim and who I can threaten with what - I suppose my next course of action is an expensive solicitor. Or look for some big scary hairy biker tenants!

Anyone can make an complaint to the police of suspicious activity.

Anybody (well nearly)anybody can also take someone to court via the small claims route no matter how weak or strong the case is legally. Regardless to how strong the case is, the objective is to make a enough nuisance of yourself to make the agent and landlord decide it is too much hassle to keep the tenant in the property.

If you were to attempt to claim 3k in lost rental and lose, it will only cost 80 quid but how much aggro has it cost the landlord and agent.

First you send a well worded letter before action (no cost) by recorded delivery to L/L & agent and attach the completed court forms explaining they will be submitted to the court on xx/xx/xx.(still no cost at this stage). The point of attaching the court forms is to show you are serious and not just threatening.

You could word the claim on the lines off:

The claimant is claiming £xxx for lost rental income of the address xxxxx due to the defendants (landlord and letting agent)repeated refusal to address the anti-social, violent and criminal behaviour of their tenant Mr xxxx of xxxxxxx which is the address next door to the claimant's rental property.

The defendants inaction has resulted in four tenants vacating the claimant's rental property resulting in vacant periods of xx months at £xxx pcm equating to £xxxx in lost rental income.

Doing the above wont cost until submitting the forms to the court and if you do I,m sure you could get enough evidence from former tenants, neighbours, your letting agent to give you a fighting chance. If the defendants don't turn up you win by default.

Put your self in their shoes, would you go to the trouble of putting in a defence and taking time off work to attend court or finally think about addressing the problem? If they haven't had any past experience of court they will be very worried.

https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome

[Richlist]

Probably not the answer you are looking for but if I was in your position the neighbour from hell would have been visited by my "friends" and politely given a warning about his anti social behaviour. I don't think he would have done it again as some people I know can be very persuasive to To$$ers like this who are nothing more than bullies and deserve a good talking to.

Some might suggest 'a good talking to' is a little on the soft side, given the aggro he's caused....unless 'a good talking to' is meant as a metaphor for something all together different. I often read about these incidents in our local paper from time to time......now I'm beginning to understand why.

[Melboy]

Probably not the answer you are looking for but if I was in your position the neighbour from hell would have been visited by my "friends" and politely given a warning about his anti social behaviour. I don't think he would have done it again as some people I know can be very persuasive to To$$ers like this who are nothing more than bullies and deserve a good talking to.

Some might suggest 'a good talking to' is a little on the soft side, given the aggro he's caused....unless 'a good talking to' is meant as a metaphor for something all together different. I often read about these incidents in our local paper from time to time......now I'm beginning to understand why.

That's correct RL a metaphor for "something different" by way of action. Never any violence on the first visit but just a warning to behave themselves and to stop causing grief and anti social verbal behaviour. The second visit, if required, normally goes a bit deeper..........and all this for £50 a time. Bargain!

The only case I can remember in recent years whereby Mark 78 problem was being experienced by the next door neighbour of severe anti social behaviour was that the neighbour ( Big Fella ) asked the noisy neighbour not to play loud music all hours of the day and night as it was driving him mad and the noisy neighbour didn't take it seriously enough. So Big Fella chain-sawed his front door down, smacked him one for good measure and then put the chainsaw through his oversize boogie box with floor standing speakers.

Big Fella was arrested and fined and bound over to keep the peace by the magistrate but interestingly enough he was not charged with payable damages. Next door neighbour got the message, never made another sound, and had moved within 3 months.

Direct action can work sometimes.

[Grampa]

. So Big Fella chain-sawed his front door down, smacked him one for good measure and then put the chainsaw through his oversize boogie box with floor standing speakers.

.

I would also say this is my preferred course of action as a last resort and would call in a few favours if it was my personal property.

[bdh198]

There is an alternative option to taking a civil claim and that's to take direct action through the magistrates' court under Section 82 of the Environmental Protect Act 1990. It's not a very well know route as most actions under the Act come from a local authority such as the Council, but Section 82 is specifically designed to be as straight forward as possible to allow an aggrieved person, without legal assistance (very important as it keeps costs down), to bring a complaint against a neighbour who is causing a 'statutory nuisance'.

Essentially, Section 82 allows you to make a complaint (and as the owner of the property you are able to make the complaint yourself), and if the complaint is upheld then the defendant (your tenant's neighbour) would be given an 'abatement notice' which if he breaches is a criminal offence. He can also be fined by the court when they make that order.

I have had experience of this piece of legislation in action, and in practice it worked remarkably smoothly. This involved a tenant of a London flat being caused a statutory nuisance from her neighbour playing loud music. The aggrieved neighbour complained to her landlord who, after trying and failing to resolve the problem, instituted proceedings against the neighbour. The landlord was able to do this as the nuisance from the neighbour jeopardised the letting potential of his property. In this case all it needed was a letter (a notice) sent to the neighbour in accordance with Section 82(6) & (7) below. When that failed to resolve the nuisance, proceedings were lodged with the local magistrates' court. The court upheld the complaint and a noise abatement noitce was issued along with a fine and an order for the landlords costs.

Below are the relevant parts of the legislation:

82.— Summary proceedings by persons aggrieved by statutory nuisances.

(1) A magistrates' court may act under this section on a complaint... under this section on a summary application, made by any person on the ground that he is aggrieved by the existence of a statutory nuisance.

(2) If the magistrates' court... is satisfied that the alleged nuisance exists, or that although abated it is likely to recur on the same premises ... the court ... shall make an order for either or both of the following purposes—

(a) requiring the defendant ... to abate the nuisance, within a time specified in the order, and to execute any works necessary for that purpose;

(b.) prohibiting a recurrence of the nuisance, and requiring the defendant ... within a time specified in the order, to execute any works necessary to prevent the recurrence;

and , in England and Wales, may also impose on the defendant a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.

...

(4) Proceedings for an order under subsection (2) above shall be brought—

(a) ... against the person responsible for the nuisance;

...

...

(6) Before instituting proceedings for an order under subsection (2) above against any person, the person aggrieved by the nuisance shall give to that person such notice in writing of his intention to bring the proceedings as is applicable to proceedings in respect of a nuisance of that description and the notice shall specify the matter complained of.

(7) The notice of the bringing of proceedings in respect of a statutory nuisance required by subsection (6) above which is applicable is—

(a) in the case of a nuisance falling within paragraph (g) or (ga) of section 79(1) above, not less than three days' notice; and

(b.)in the case of a nuisance of any other description, not less than twenty-one days' notice;

...

(8) A person who, without reasonable excuse, contravenes any requirement or prohibition imposed by an order under subsection (2) above shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale together with a further fine of an amount equal to one-tenth of that level for each day on which the offence continues after the conviction.

...

(11) If a person is convicted of an offence under subsection (8) above, a magistrates' court ... after giving the local authority in whose area the nuisance has occurred an opportunity of being heard, direct the authority to do anything which the person convicted was required to do by the order to which the conviction relates.

(12) Where on the hearing of proceedings for an order under subsection (2) above it is proved that the alleged nuisance existed at the date of the making of the complaint or summary application, then, whether or not at the date of the hearing it still exists or is likely to recur, the court ... shall order the defendant ... to pay to the person bringing the proceedings such amount as the court or the sheriff considers reasonably sufficient to compensate him for any expenses properly incurred by him in the proceedings.

...

[Melboy]

Good scheme Solent but in the final analysis of the situation you have to have hard evidence of anti social behaviour by this neighbour and that can take months to gather plus of course independent statements not to mention the cost of employing a solicitor maybe. Landlord's legal cover would be very beneficial in a case such as this I think.

[Carryon Regardless]

The T's that are leaving (already left) will perhaps feel ok to give a written explanation of why they have given notice.

I would involve the Police at every opportunity and record the incident numbers and a description of events causing the call.

Video is easy enough to record nowadays.

Other neighbours are likely to be aggrieved by this pillock. A joint action or at least a statement would be useful.

Their historical experiences should also carry weight.

Thanks Solent I like what I've read in your post. I've had similar issues with an aggressive neighbour at my flats for years. His behaviour has scared off many a good T and potetential Ts that are aware of him shy away.

Noise at all hours, threats to T's and myself, kicked in doors to my flats, fighting across T's cars....... His plot was lost a long time ago. The Police have arrested him (so he beat up their patrol car) many times for other crimes, but ineffective toward his nuisance at the flats. The council were useless regarding his nuisance.

I have been keeping a record and now I can see how it could be useful. The fines are of no value as would be a claim for my expences as he has nowt to be taken from him. But still my continual attacks through this route would cause his head to implode methinks. I would have a few windows to replace though.

[bdh198]

So long as you have an aggrieved tenant who is prepared to give evidence in court that's all you need to commence proceedings. If the neighbour really is as aggressive and unreasonable as is described then he is unlikely to be very credible as a defence witness (that's assuming he actually bothers to attend the hearing). Independent evidence of the statutory nuisance is obviously helpful, but not essential. The key evidence will be the tenant’s evidence of the occasion/s they have been subject to the nuisance and then explaining how that nuisance significantly interfered with the quite enjoyment of their property. As the owner of the property, you can also give evidence corroborating the complaints the tenant has made to you, and confirming that a notice has been sent in accordance with s82(6). In addition, if the proceedings are brought in the name of the landlord then you will be needed to explain how you have been aggrieved by the statutory nuisance (that it’s detrimental to letting business).

The legislation really has been drafted with the intention that individuals should be able to access the legislation and bring proceedings themselves without legal advice, and therefore the court will be accommodating and to any lay person appearing before it.

In regard to costs, the fact the neighbour might never pay is a risk. However, what is probably more useful is the fact that the court will make an abatement notice. If this is breached (by continued anti-social behaviour) it is a criminal offence and then any complaint of a breach will be taken much more seriously by the Council and the police as there is already a finding of guilty against the neighbour.

Waiting for the Council to bring proceedings on your behalf can take months and be very costly and stressful. The avenue through s82 allows you to avoid having the Council involved in the initial stages, and you can thereby obtain an abatement notice much quicker.

[Melboy]

Sounds good to me Solent......get onto the case Mark 78 ASAP and please keep us all updated on your progress.

If Plan A fails then you can always revert to my Plan A

God how I hate anti-social bullies!

[Grampa]

Any news Mark 78???