Some advice if possible please

[Hello Doris]

Hi

Not sure if anyone here will be able to help or if you would be willing to give a tenant some advice.

We moved into our lovely ground floor flat 10 months ago in a lovely quiet area and we thought everything was perfect. That was until we learnt we have a Godzilla living above us.

I've made numerous complaints to both the tenants upstairs and our landlord, and nothing has been resolved. We have to deal with slamming doors, stomping up the stairs, bellowing out of the front windows, smoking outside our front window with front door left open, loud conversations in the hallway, people round at all hours, children being cared for (one of them is a nanny) upstairs etc. We were never informed of any of these problems when we moved in, just that a couple lived upstairs. We've since found out that a couple and her sister live upstairs - the sister is the main issue.

As I've said I have complained to both them and the landlord. The couple seem more willing to be considerate but the sister is prone to throwing a hissy fit when ever I point things out to her.

All this has come to a head with us finding out we are paying for the hallway light which is constantly left on. I've grown tired of switching it off before I go to bed and have resulted to removing the lightbulb (and every one they put in there) which has resulted in more stomping. The landlord has said he will put in a motion sensor switch which will cut down on the time it is left on, but I worry this will end in more problems. I've reached the end of my tether with it all, but being both stubborn (and broke!) I refuse to move out. I consider myself a good tenant - pay rent early, tell the landlord when problems occur, nice to elderly neighbours etc but feel that I am being done over.

Please help me with some advice of where to go now with resolving these issues and making my house a home again.

Thanks :)

[mind the gap]

I am sorry to hear about the situation - it must be very frustrating for you.

Your first port of call should perhaps be the freeholder, who may be able to require their LL to enforce any clauses in their leases about quiet, etc.

What you also need to do is keep an accurate written log of the disturbances every time they occur: times, type of problem, any contact with the Noisy Ones. Keep a log for two weeks then if the freeholder/LL has had no success in getting them to be more considerate, contact your local council and make a complaint to the Environmental Health Officer or Noise Abatement dept. They can visit your upstairs neighbours and put pressure on them to be quieter.

If the LL for both flats is the same person then you could tell him that due to the unbearable levels of noise from the flat above, you are considering moving out as soon as your fixed term ends. If he has any sense he will serve notice on the upstairs tenants.

Also, if one of them is effectively running a childminding business from home, she is probably breaching the terms of her lease which will prohibit using the premises as a workplace. If she is or should be a registered childminder, the flat may be unsuitable anyway as there are a whole host of regulations (fire, safety etc) - standards which the property may not come up to. Tell the the freeholder and tell the council.

You might find this related thread interesting/useful:

http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=27174

[P.Pilcher]

Hello Doris, don't worry please about asking for advice on this forum. All individuals involved in letting property are welcome here be they tenants, landlords, property agents - and in at least one instance to my knowledge a practicing conveyancing solicitor! We are all happy to help anyone we can either with common sense advice based on our experiences in the property market and some of our contributors are property or legal professionals.

P.P.

[Hello Doris]

Thank you for all the information - I am going to put the log advice into action this weekend!

Hopefully something can be sorted soon, but don't worry I will be back if they try something else :)