Bad Neighbour Problem...

[fossyant]

We'll all bring our fixed gear bikes round, with a limb dangling closely between the chain rings and the chain....one slip and it's gone......

Nightmare..........why the hell do they rent flats out to scum like this. Bet there are plenty of decent folk desperate for somewhere nice....

Feel for you..........

 

[2Loose]

Bankruptcy is a good option for some (it was the best and only option for me

), but seeing as this is none of your doing Buggi, I would seriously consider all other avenues first. I can't believe that the LA are being so flaccid about the entire thing. Actually, scrap that...I can.

 

[slowmotion]

Make sure you now document EVERYTHING.

Every incident, 'phone call, meeting and details of the situation. Get a diary and keep it updated religiously.

.

Excellent advice!
You simply must keep a detailed record of all your dealings with the neighbour, police, LA etc. Without it, the problem doesn't "exist".

Very best wishes.

 

[Crankarm]

Buggi have you considered a video diary?

Just thinking if the situation got too bad your tenant could just leave. I think you would find it hard to recover any rent owed as in your lease with her she may claim that a major term of the lease has been broken in that how could any one be expected to put up with being subjected to what you describe? She could also argue that you broke your duty of care to her by not putting a stop to it .................. I think you would have to return any deposit as well.

I think you need the advice of a solicitor tbh. A few hundred pounds now might save you thousands later.

If you voluntarily go bankrupt it can be quite expensive in terms of the fees so best to make one of your creditors apply to make you bankrupt. Whether you actually go bankrupt or enter into an Individual Voluntrary Arrangement or some other scheme you will have your financial affairs turned inside out. You will find it very hard to get a mortgage or even a bank account without special terms or increased fees. As a bankrupt you would be barred from certain professions which might be a good thing depending on your view.

 

[Crankarm]

i was just reading the letters page in the local rag. i might write one to them asking all the people who have been on the waiting list for years to write to the council and ask how this peanut has got in first.


I said the Council "what am i going to do if i lose my tenant" and their answer was "you can always rent to us" !!!! WTF... that is going on record with the solicitor and yes i will sue for loss of earnings.


done, done and done. As for your last point, there are rules in the lease.. this was the conversation with the council:-
Council: What we're gonna do is go around and ask him to sign a non-legally binding behaviour contract, so that he know what rules to abide by.
Me: What if he doesn't want to sign it?
Council: Well, we will get hiim to sign a disclaimer stating he doesn't want to sign the agreement.
Me: I've got a really good idea...
Council: What's that?
Me: You know that thing he's already signed? the thing called "a Lease". The thing that IS legally binding? Why don't you use that to take him to court with?
Council: O I'm sorry, maybe i haven't explained it to you properly...
Me (interrupting): O you have, I'm just wondering why you think a non-legally binding contract will stand up in court when you've already got a legally binding contract that will, and i'm wondering why you are wasting your time getting him to sign the legally binding contract when you've already got one that IS legally binding.
Council: Well, we have to show the judge that we have done everything we can to solve the situation.
Me: O, ok then, how about you just write him a letter telling him he's broken the terms of his lease and if he does it again, you will evict him.
Council: he might not of read his lease.
Me: Really? blimey... perhaps i should phone my credit card company and tell them i'm not paying them back because i didn't read the agreement before i signed it and didn't realise i had to pay back the money? [can you sense the sarcasm is my voice?]




It's Leasehold. The Council is the leaseholder. The solicitors said they are therefore my landlords, even though i own my flat, and therefore have a duty of care towards me. i can sue them for stress and damages but it's gonna cost a lot of money so they are hoping that a few threatening letters might have some effect.

to be honest, i was chatting to my mum the other day. This is the situation as you may already know. i'm in sh*t with my credit cards and my flat is in negative equity. I am at my mum's for a year paying my credit cards off. So that problem will be solved, but now i don't want to go to my flat. To get rid of my flat i would have to raise at least £20k and with that and the amount i owe on my cards, quite frankly i'm not sure if it's worth the fight. i feel like jacking the whole lot in, going backrupt and starting again. The card situation i can cope with, but i cannot bear the thought of going back to live there at the moment. I wouldn't blame my tenant if she did a runner.

The council have also told me that when they go to court there is a chance they will get some do-gooder judge who will give him another chance and suspend the ASBO, which means they won't be able to proceed to evict. Again, good citizens get ****ed over.

I've spoken to my mum, i can tell she is worried about me going back. I'm not the kind of person that will back down for starters, i think you just make a rod for your own back, if i show em i'm scared i won't be able to even walk through the communal area without them hassling me, but on the other hand i can see her point. I've already heard this lad has pulled a knife on someone and that's not a situation i want to be in either. And when i drove by the other night after my niece's party, there was a whole gang of em outside and my mum said "what if you have to walk past them when you come back off a night out all dressed up?" i knew what she was getting at. No woman in her right mind would walk past a gang of aggressive blokes smoking weed, especially if they knew you were already scared of them (and the fact i was seriously assaulted by two men some years ago does not do much to relieve my anxieties. So what do you do... stand your ground or get walked over??

So anyway, after speaking to my mum we are seriously going to consider the bankruptcy route if the judge doesn't evict them.



Great idea!

Sorry missed this important bit .................. you purchased your flat as leasehold? The Council indeed have a duty of care to you. There will also be other clauses in the lease protecting your right to peaceful enjoyment of your property and being able to enforce them. You could argue that the Council as your Landlord has breached the major terms of the lease and sue for damages. One caveat, does your lease the headlease allow you to sublet with or without permission? If not then you are in stuck having let your flat to your tenant. And does your mortgage provider know that you are sub-letting as they generally want their cut to allow you to do so if they allow it?

 

[buggi]

i'm allowed to sub let according to my lease.

i never want another mortgage. i never want to be stuck somewhere again! i hate this place.

 

[potsy]

Just to let you know there is hope Buggi-

http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1316080_partys_over_as_musicrow_man_is_kicked_out

 

[Archie_tect]

Buggi, take a moment to look at the positives not the negatives.

You own a flat which is worth a lot [even if you don't want to sell it for a few years].

you have a rent paying tenant who isn't causing you any hassle.

The anti-social person is in someone else's flat so they are someone else's problem, not yours.

Your tenant hasn't moved out as yet and has the ability to look after herself if she chooses to. She can get in touch with her local council Environmental Health Department and have them assess the noise problem, if she so wishes.... you cannot do this on her behalf as he has to make a complaint, but she hasn't done so as yet.

Why do you need to ger involved and have all this aggravation?

 

[Brains]

Buggi,

I'm a landlord, so this situation is not unknown to me.

I had a situation a few years ago with a heavy metal guitarist next door.
My solution was to move in the rest of the band into my property.
They all moved out they they hit number one.

I also had a situation many years ago with an aspiring writer who did not believe in paying the capitalist pig rent for his garret. So I sub let part of the property to the local chapter of the Angels, they kept to their side of the deal, he moved out in under 24 hours.

Tenants come in all shapes and sizes, if your tenant moves out, then let the local agents know you have a property that would suit a financially stable problem tenant, it's amazing what you can find, the convicted pedophile, the strange woman in the stripy tights that insists on knocking on your door at 2am, the fundamentalist preacher (pick your religion with care, extreme Christians are better than most others, as tub thumping is seen as Gods will), go with singles, make the deal in advance that they get 3 months and then a rolling month thereafter, and it's amazing what a few quid in the right hands can do.

Basically, if you can't beat them, join them, just go one further.
It is also important to realise that renting out property is not a hobby, it a business, and like all small business you need to be a little underhand and cut throat

 

[buggi]

i need to get involved because i'm going back there is six months and i want this sorted before i go back and also they are breaking up my property (criminal damage reported but nothing done about it surprise surprise) which further brings down the value of my flat.

when i am eventually in a position to sell, i won't be able to show it to anyway with gangs of 18 year old hoodies hanging around all day and, furthermore, i will have to declare the problem to any potential buyer.

and besides which there is an old saying... something about evil prevailing while good men stand and do nothing???

anyway, as said, more than one way of skinning a cat. i think as he seems to think bed time is between 7am and 2pm and during that time there are no restrictions on my lease to the amount of noise i make, i think my base speakers will be coming out of the loft while i am at work and i'll be doing a lot of DIY at the weekends. it's about time i learned how to use a drill and my walls look like they need sanding. and i'll sleep at my mum's so he can retaliate all he likes (while further breaking the terms of his lease)

 

[Black Sheep]

Forum flat party at Buggi's?

 

[buggi]

[QUOTE 1175351"]
OK, absolutely seriously, do you know any gangster types? (I am not talking about weedy bloody cycling types here, some real tough blokes )

A few years ago, I had a mate from Belfast who rented out a terraced house in Swindon to some students. They stopped paying rent, and he went round really nicely to ask them for his money. He got told to f off. So about 4.30 the next morning they were visited by some balaclava wearing, Northern Irish accented boyos, who didn't exactly ring the doorbell. The rent was paid in cash by 8.30, they redecorated and moved out within a few days, with a letter apologising for the inconvenience.

As Brains said, it's sometimes about going one further.
[/quote]

Forum flat party at Buggi's?

Both great ideas!

 

[Headgardener]

Forum flat party at Buggi's?

I'll be up for that just name a time and date .

P.S. Oh yes and an address.

 

[buggi]

the party will have to be in the day so i can keep him up. is that ok?

 

[dmoan]

the party will have to be in the day so i can keep him up. is that ok?

No problem - we're 24 hour party people. I know lots of people from Belfast too - can they come?

Is it BYOB?

And yes, I do mean 'Bring Your Own Balaclava'!