Does anyone have experience of anti-social neighbours affecting a rental property?
In my case the neighbours are leaving rubbish bags on the communal landing area between their property and the one my tenants live in. Because of the layout of the landing area this means the bags are left more or less outside my tenant’s front door, sometimes for days on end.
I’ve obviously contacted the freeholder (in this case the local council) about this and although they make the right noises and have spoken to the neighbours the problem persists.
I’m not sure what more I can do, and my concern is that eventually my tenants will get fed up and move on and this will be a repeating pattern with future tenants too.
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Didn’t you already post this query last week?
I posted it on another forum, but had no response. I suspect it’s one of those situations with no easy answer tbh.
What’s your relationship like with the neighbours? Have you ever spoken directly to them (about anything) or had any interaction with them? How long have they been there? It would be helpful to know more about the neighbours and the tenants you have to be able to advise you.
Yes I’ve spoken with the neighbours, they don’t appear unreasonable on the surface and agree to move the rubbish bags. Then a month or so later it all starts up again.
well that’s definitely a plus that you are on good speaking terms with them. And where are they supposed to put the rubbish bags they’re leaving there?
They’re supposed to put them in the bins outside the building like everyone else does.
What about marking out an area around your front door with tape on the floor and putting up a notice not to leave rubbish near the door. Would that work?
I hadn’t thought of that. It might work for a while, although the floor markers would almost certainly be removed by the council at some point. They have previously told me they can’t put any notice up as that would be “targeting” the neighbours.
Ok so why don’t your tenants simply take their neighbours’ rubbish out when they pass on their way out? If i lived there that’s exactly what i would do. Much more preferable than having a stinky rubbish bag outside my own door for “days on end”.
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I haven’t discussed it fully with the tenants yet, I’ll be doing that shortly but I can think of a number of reasons:
It’s not their job to dispose of other people’s rubbish.
The rubbish bags are usually large and heavy.
It would mean taking them down three floors of stairs.
Once they start taking the bags down for the neighbours they will be doing it forever more.
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We always hope other people act within the boundaries of what we would consider socially acceptable behaviour and when they don’t, it’s disappointing. But when we respond with kindness and go the extra mile, my experience has proved that 90% of the time, it changes situations for the better in quite unexpected ways.
If I had someone dumping bags of rubbish outside my door and my requests for them to move them had fallen on deaf ears, I’d start taking them out myself. And the next time I happen to bump into the neighbours, I’d genuinely say, “Hey, I can see that taking those large and heavy rubbish bags down three floors of stairs is difficult for you so I’m happy to do it for you when you can’t manage it. Let me know if there’s any other way I can help.”
Typically, a response like that disarms people and pours oil on what may be in danger of becoming troubled waters. I may end up carrying their rubbish down for months more. But at some point, my hope would be that they remember the kindness and pay it forward and that, when either of us goes through those really tough patches life throws at you, we’d be there for each other as neighbours.
I haven’t always succeeded, but I’ve done my best to do it wherever I’ve lived for decades with neighbours, colleagues, etc… whoever has been difficult. This isn’t an ideal. It’s a way to combat anti-social behaviour with social behaviour - behaviour that creates society rather than undermines it. It’s a really easy way for people to make the world a better place to live in that it currently is.
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Thank you, I will put this idea to my tenants when I see them this weekend. Unfortunately I’m at the property rarely these days due to distance, so it’ll be their choice how they wish to proceed.
I think they key is pinpointing why the neighbours are behaving in this way. From past observation I don’t think they have difficulty with the stairs - I’ve seen them move fast enough when they want to, so that leaves either sheer laziness, lack of understanding of what’s acceptable behaviour, or possible mental health issues. I suspect it’s a combination of all three.
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I have two similar property’s ex -council and I know exactly how you feel, had such trouble with one neighbour in past. But I have noticed a quicker response from different authorities. I think we just have to complain more and point out hazards. The council are cracking down on nuisance tennents more than thy did in past. Any agro and I go to police now, that seems to work
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Interesting to hear Tracy thank you. The authority I deal with says all the right things e.g. “zero tolerance for rubbish in communal areas, fines will be issued” etc yet still it continues. I also get the feeling it’s different rules for different tenants - these neighbours are basically allowed to get away with anything with no more than a slap on the wrist, yet one of my other tenants (similar property, same local authority) left a pushchair outside her door (blocking nothing) and was told it would be confiscated if she didn’t remove it.
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I think you are missing the point here. I assume the building has a manager or managing agent (the person who tests the emergency lights and arranges repairs etc)
Just tell them to sort it. They have powers to force compliance which you don’t. They also have obligations and I can tell you that anything left in the common areas is a fire hazard (and possibly a health hazard too if it is there long enough)
Make it clear to them tgat if it doesn’t stop your next report will be to the fire service
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Yes the building is managed by the council, and I’ve told them many times the bags are a fire hazard and a health hazard as well as blocking a fire escape route, but they tiptoe round the issue and seem to have no appetite to force compliance.
I hadn’t considered taking it to the fire service. Thank you for that.
Ask the council who is the “responsible person”… That is the legal term for the person who could be going to prison if there is a fire and the corridor is found to have been blocked.
Any problems just take a photo and email it to the council CEO with a copy to the local Fire Brigade.
You don’t say if the neighbours are owners or are renting, but leaving anything in the corridor (rubbish, bikes, push chairs) will be a breach of the lease and they can be evicted. It won’t come to that but when enforcement is coming from someone with those powers they will comply.
Will do thank you. I have dealt so far with the Housing Manager for the area, who seems scared to take any meaningful action, so it will have to go higher.
There is now a new issue with the same neighbours allowing their dog to foul the landing area between the two properties. Again I think council CEO with a copy to Environmental Health.
OK forget everything I wrote above about loving your neighbour. Instead, round em up, put em in a field and… well if you’re a fan of 80s comedy, you’ll know how that ends.
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