Any landlords in here? I need some advice - PITA neighbours
Discussion
I'm seeking the wisdom of the PH collective, my girlfriend owns a ground floor flat in a converted house, the other part of the house is a single unit and rented. Never had a problem with the previous tenants, but the current lot are causing some problems, basically just by being inconsiderate.
The two main problems are that they are very noisy, and keep odd hours which means that they are (by the sound of it) jumping around in the living areas (which are directly above the bedrooms in my girlfriend's flat).
She doesn't feel she has any right to dictate the hours people keep - especially as at least one person up there does shift work, but the sound insulation is non-existant, and getting woken at 2.30 by someone having a dump in the bathroom isn't pleasant(!) - usually accompanied by enthusiastic and plegmatic throat clearing noises.
The other problem is that they regularly over fill the bins (both theirs and hers), they were full this morning - the bin men don't come until Thursday which means the seagulls, urban foxes, cats, homeless folk will spread junk all over the front yard again and she can't use her bin.
The two things I'd like know is:
1) Does the landlord have a responsibility to do something about the noise in so far as getting some sound insulation installed - the noises from upstairs are loud enough to wake you up, and do affect her quality of life.
2) Are there (and how would I find out) limits on the number of occupants of properties? Part of the problem seems to be the number of adults living there - with the amount of people that come and go, if there are limits on occupancy in leased properties, they are bound to be exceeding them. As an aside, we've taken to moving the mattress into the lounge as it seems to be under their lounge and it sounds like they pull out a bed about 11pm so at least it means a decent night's sleep for us.
The landlord for the upstairs flat has been politely approached, but he doesn't do anything about it - upstairs isn't kept in a great state of repair, so it makes me wonder if he's fulfilling his obligations in as much as getting proper checks done (e.g. gas, etc.).
Girlfriend wants to involve the council having had no joy from the landlord, but is there anything they can do? Also that suddenly officially documents the whole affair and she's trying to sell-up at the moment... feedback from the agents is that potential purchasers have been put off by the upstairs neighbours.
It's a bit of a nightmare, she's been very patient and tolerant and has already tried everything she can think of including approaching the neighbours directly (again very politely), but nothing seems to make any impact.
Can anyone offer any advice?
Thanks, CH
The two main problems are that they are very noisy, and keep odd hours which means that they are (by the sound of it) jumping around in the living areas (which are directly above the bedrooms in my girlfriend's flat).
She doesn't feel she has any right to dictate the hours people keep - especially as at least one person up there does shift work, but the sound insulation is non-existant, and getting woken at 2.30 by someone having a dump in the bathroom isn't pleasant(!) - usually accompanied by enthusiastic and plegmatic throat clearing noises.
The other problem is that they regularly over fill the bins (both theirs and hers), they were full this morning - the bin men don't come until Thursday which means the seagulls, urban foxes, cats, homeless folk will spread junk all over the front yard again and she can't use her bin.
The two things I'd like know is:
1) Does the landlord have a responsibility to do something about the noise in so far as getting some sound insulation installed - the noises from upstairs are loud enough to wake you up, and do affect her quality of life.
2) Are there (and how would I find out) limits on the number of occupants of properties? Part of the problem seems to be the number of adults living there - with the amount of people that come and go, if there are limits on occupancy in leased properties, they are bound to be exceeding them. As an aside, we've taken to moving the mattress into the lounge as it seems to be under their lounge and it sounds like they pull out a bed about 11pm so at least it means a decent night's sleep for us.
The landlord for the upstairs flat has been politely approached, but he doesn't do anything about it - upstairs isn't kept in a great state of repair, so it makes me wonder if he's fulfilling his obligations in as much as getting proper checks done (e.g. gas, etc.).
Girlfriend wants to involve the council having had no joy from the landlord, but is there anything they can do? Also that suddenly officially documents the whole affair and she's trying to sell-up at the moment... feedback from the agents is that potential purchasers have been put off by the upstairs neighbours.
It's a bit of a nightmare, she's been very patient and tolerant and has already tried everything she can think of including approaching the neighbours directly (again very politely), but nothing seems to make any impact.
Can anyone offer any advice?
Thanks, CH
Dr Bob said:
I'm seeking the wisdom of the PH collective, my girlfriend owns a ground floor flat in a converted house, the other part of the house is a single unit and rented. Never had a problem with the previous tenants, but the current lot are causing some problems, basically just by being inconsiderate.
The two main problems are that they are very noisy, and keep odd hours which means that they are (by the sound of it) jumping around in the living areas (which are directly above the bedrooms in my girlfriend's flat).
She doesn't feel she has any right to dictate the hours people keep - especially as at least one person up there does shift work, but the sound insulation is non-existant, and getting woken at 2.30 by someone having a dump in the bathroom isn't pleasant(!) - usually accompanied by enthusiastic and plegmatic throat clearing noises.
The other problem is that they regularly over fill the bins (both theirs and hers), they were full this morning - the bin men don't come until Thursday which means the seagulls, urban foxes, cats, homeless folk will spread junk all over the front yard again and she can't use her bin.
The two things I'd like know is:
1) Does the landlord have a responsibility to do something about the noise in so far as getting some sound insulation installed - the noises from upstairs are loud enough to wake you up, and do affect her quality of life.
2) Are there (and how would I find out) limits on the number of occupants of properties? Part of the problem seems to be the number of adults living there - with the amount of people that come and go, if there are limits on occupancy in leased properties, they are bound to be exceeding them. As an aside, we've taken to moving the mattress into the lounge as it seems to be under their lounge and it sounds like they pull out a bed about 11pm so at least it means a decent night's sleep for us.
The landlord for the upstairs flat has been politely approached, but he doesn't do anything about it - upstairs isn't kept in a great state of repair, so it makes me wonder if he's fulfilling his obligations in as much as getting proper checks done (e.g. gas, etc.).
Girlfriend wants to involve the council having had no joy from the landlord, but is there anything they can do? Also that suddenly officially documents the whole affair and she's trying to sell-up at the moment... feedback from the agents is that potential purchasers have been put off by the upstairs neighbours.
It's a bit of a nightmare, she's been very patient and tolerant and has already tried everything she can think of including approaching the neighbours directly (again very politely), but nothing seems to make any impact.
Can anyone offer any advice?
Thanks, CH
Im a landlord and have seen this before. 1st step is to politely speak to the noisy neighbours, and write to your landlord.The two main problems are that they are very noisy, and keep odd hours which means that they are (by the sound of it) jumping around in the living areas (which are directly above the bedrooms in my girlfriend's flat).
She doesn't feel she has any right to dictate the hours people keep - especially as at least one person up there does shift work, but the sound insulation is non-existant, and getting woken at 2.30 by someone having a dump in the bathroom isn't pleasant(!) - usually accompanied by enthusiastic and plegmatic throat clearing noises.
The other problem is that they regularly over fill the bins (both theirs and hers), they were full this morning - the bin men don't come until Thursday which means the seagulls, urban foxes, cats, homeless folk will spread junk all over the front yard again and she can't use her bin.
The two things I'd like know is:
1) Does the landlord have a responsibility to do something about the noise in so far as getting some sound insulation installed - the noises from upstairs are loud enough to wake you up, and do affect her quality of life.
2) Are there (and how would I find out) limits on the number of occupants of properties? Part of the problem seems to be the number of adults living there - with the amount of people that come and go, if there are limits on occupancy in leased properties, they are bound to be exceeding them. As an aside, we've taken to moving the mattress into the lounge as it seems to be under their lounge and it sounds like they pull out a bed about 11pm so at least it means a decent night's sleep for us.
The landlord for the upstairs flat has been politely approached, but he doesn't do anything about it - upstairs isn't kept in a great state of repair, so it makes me wonder if he's fulfilling his obligations in as much as getting proper checks done (e.g. gas, etc.).
Girlfriend wants to involve the council having had no joy from the landlord, but is there anything they can do? Also that suddenly officially documents the whole affair and she's trying to sell-up at the moment... feedback from the agents is that potential purchasers have been put off by the upstairs neighbours.
It's a bit of a nightmare, she's been very patient and tolerant and has already tried everything she can think of including approaching the neighbours directly (again very politely), but nothing seems to make any impact.
Can anyone offer any advice?
Thanks, CH
If things persist then you could go to the local council and complain about the noise, there are laws against it.
hth
Cheers Uncle Mark(!),
Having spoken to the neighbours and written to the landlord already her next step is the council.
It's difficult, they aren't having all night parties all the time, there are just too many people living in too small a space resulting in excessive noise (it really does affect her - sometimes they wake the kids up in the middle of the night too), made worse because there's FA sound insulation. The number of people also must contribute to the sheer amount of rubbish they generate (3 wheelie bins [including my girlfriends!] full in less than a fortnight).
Anyway, thanks, CH
Having spoken to the neighbours and written to the landlord already her next step is the council.
It's difficult, they aren't having all night parties all the time, there are just too many people living in too small a space resulting in excessive noise (it really does affect her - sometimes they wake the kids up in the middle of the night too), made worse because there's FA sound insulation. The number of people also must contribute to the sheer amount of rubbish they generate (3 wheelie bins [including my girlfriends!] full in less than a fortnight).
Anyway, thanks, CH
Whether or not you make the complaint to the council, if the solicitors for anyone who puts an offer in for the flat is doing their job correctly they should issue your GF with a questionaire which will cover such things as noisy / problem neighbours so it will have to be declared on that.
If the flats are leasehold is there anything in the lease stating that the occupants of one flat cannot cause a nuisance to the others? If so could this be used as the noise could be avoided or reduced with some maintenance.
Failing that do you have high enough ceilings to look at installing some noise insulation, I was talking to an acoustics guy last week who suggested I used a suspended ceiling to help reduce a similar issue I have at my flat. It would also help if the landlord upstairs was prepared to replace the existing floorboards with a floating floor.
Failing that do you have high enough ceilings to look at installing some noise insulation, I was talking to an acoustics guy last week who suggested I used a suspended ceiling to help reduce a similar issue I have at my flat. It would also help if the landlord upstairs was prepared to replace the existing floorboards with a floating floor.
Cheers,
AlexS - hopefully will have sorted out the problems prior to selling, but you make a good point.
Andy - not sure what their lease says, but we talked about how to word a stronger complaint to the landlord in the hope of actually getting him to do something about it... floating floors sound great but it ain't ever gonna happen!
Similar with the ceilings - they are high enough to add insulation, but the expense isn't affordable at the moment...
...also as the problem wasn't there with the previous tenants, I don't think she wants to spend more money on the place.
Ta, CH
AlexS - hopefully will have sorted out the problems prior to selling, but you make a good point.
Andy - not sure what their lease says, but we talked about how to word a stronger complaint to the landlord in the hope of actually getting him to do something about it... floating floors sound great but it ain't ever gonna happen!
Similar with the ceilings - they are high enough to add insulation, but the expense isn't affordable at the moment...
...also as the problem wasn't there with the previous tenants, I don't think she wants to spend more money on the place.
Ta, CH
Puggit,
He's not a slum landlord or anything, but we suspect he may be a bit out of his depth and doesn't have the inclination to do anything that might cause him any hassle with his tenants... It's a good idea though - I might see if we can get a copy of the lease and see if it says anything about causing a disturbance.
Cheers, CH
He's not a slum landlord or anything, but we suspect he may be a bit out of his depth and doesn't have the inclination to do anything that might cause him any hassle with his tenants... It's a good idea though - I might see if we can get a copy of the lease and see if it says anything about causing a disturbance.
Cheers, CH
Dr Bob said:
Puggit,
He's not a slum landlord or anything, but we suspect he may be a bit out of his depth and doesn't have the inclination to do anything that might cause him any hassle with his tenants... It's a good idea though - I might see if we can get a copy of the lease and see if it says anything about causing a disturbance.
Cheers, CH
As a landlord I have several properties, some set out in bedsits, and some set out in blocks of flats.He's not a slum landlord or anything, but we suspect he may be a bit out of his depth and doesn't have the inclination to do anything that might cause him any hassle with his tenants... It's a good idea though - I might see if we can get a copy of the lease and see if it says anything about causing a disturbance.
Cheers, CH
The most common complaint in all properties is noise from other occupants/tenants, and particularly the outlandish hour of the day/morning the noise abuse is taking place.
If the block of flats your GF lives in has a Management Company or Landlord, then approach either of them, if that does not work, then contact the local Council’s Environmental Health Department, who will come out and carry out an acoustic sound test, and possibly leave sound equipment to monitor the noise
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