I have a building with seven apartments. I own them all. I am at full capacity.
I have a couple who have moved into one of the apartments and are causing chaos. The police are around every 7-10 days.
As a couple they’re screaming and shouting at each other. Then she calls the police. When they are not shouting at each other, they are otherwise ridiculously loud.
They ended up in a pushy shoving situation with one of the other residents. Police called.
Three of the tenants live in fear of raising any issue with them directly because of his threatening behaviour. they hear him shouting and stomping about. They want to knock on the door at 1 o’clock in the morning to say ‘do you think you’d like to keep it down a touch’ but they dare not.
The other residents now know that the man of the couple knocked out one of my other tenants just before the New Year, after a misunderstanding following some Christmas drinks! Police were called again. The other tenant has now handed me his notice today. He’s one of my best tenants. But he won’t press charges for the assault on him.
They’ve only been in 10 weeks!
I’ve got complaints coming in from neighbours.
I’ve been and had very diplomatic conversations with them several times. As expected, it’s everybody else’s fault. They’re not doing anything wrong.
They have to go.
I’ve dealt with strong tenants before and I have managed to calm them down. Get them on a good footing and have become excellent tenants
Is there such a thing as an emergency eviction for their threatening behaviour.
The police are happy to provide any thing that I might need.
Many years ago when I was about 16 I was bullied by a neighbours son. One day I gave him a belt back . Never had a problem after that . Just saying.. Start eviction now they will not change
This is really tricky. You aren’t a social worker nor responsible for resolving neighbour disputes. Is there any sound proofing (eg at bottom of flat entrance doors) which would help? We can’t control our neighbours nor force them to behave well whether as owners or tenants. Advice is not to deal with at 1am but wait to another time and avoid blame (eg “Some neighbours have to be up for work at 6 AM” instead of “You need to be quiet”). There is advice online (Google Resolving neighbour disputes) that you can share with other tenants - they can call the council. A visit from the council and the threat of a 5000 quid fine may have more impact than your diplomatic chats
There is no such thing as an ‘emergency eviction’ but you and other tenants can agree to record every incident to help provide evidence of their poor behaviour. Serve a s21 but see if you can get badly behaved tenant to leave voluntarily and mutually surrender the tenancy saying that irrespective of their opinions of who’s responsible it’s clearly not working out with ongoing complaints from multiple neighbours.
Collate all the evidence from all the neighbours, anonymise it and share with the difficult tenants - explain that their anti social behaviour is in breach of the tenancy agreement (OR ast is clause
9.30 Not to do or permit to be done in the Premises or elsewhere anything which may be or become a nuisance, annoyance or inconvenience to the Landlord, the owner or occupiers of any adjoining property, the neighbours, other adjoining residents or people in the immediate area.)
And it doesn’t matter whether they claim it is others fault, others can’t be causing the noises from the flat at 1am.
Explain you are already suffering damages due to their behaviour with tenants leaving. So you will have to find new tenants at your own cost as well as lost rent during the void period. Explain that if they do not behave better straight away and until they leave you will have no choice but to pursue them for damages and will send in bailiffs if needed.
However if they are willing to leave in the next two months (say) and behave properly till then then so long as they have caused no damage they will get their deposit back in full
Due to the ongoing situation you will be visiting to inspect more frequently
You cannot afford to get stuck with these tenants, as David says use section 8 and depending on the length of the AST you may also be able to serve a section 21 . Id hate to pay someone to leave but that may be a cheaper option if your other tenants vacate in the time it will take for the eviction process to progress . Did you carry out reference checks yourself or through an estate agent?
As far as I am aware, they have not been charged with any offence, despite the number of times they have been taken away by the police
I have spoken to them several times during daytime hours and I don’t get deep debate about the intricacies of the information I am receiving. But it is all catalogued, and logged, and CCTV footage is now being collected.
Last night was ridiculous.
I’ve spoken to a legal representative this afternoon. And basically, I cannot touch them whilst they are in their protected six months tenancy agreement(unless they leave of their own accord).
After a further discussion, I have got them to agree to leave and that I will release them from contract and I will help them find alternative accommodation.
I hope that I am not asked for a reference!
I did all the references and credit vetting through open rent. Spoke with their previous landlord who moved them on because he was moving back in from abroad. Said they were perfect tenants. The property was spotless when he moved back in and they never deferred on rent.
They have paid their rent four days early since they’re moved in and when I was there last week to talk about a previous issue the property was in really good shape. Very tidy. Delicate decoration.
Yes i have had this in both a 12 flatted place and a 9 flatted place. You will lose every good tenant you have if you do nothing. What i have done is spoke to them direct (with a witness) and said you need to go. Essentially said they will have to go sooner or later anyway. Said just forget about notice and walk away. It has worked for me. They dont want to get wrong with the landlord usually. You might need to get creative on what you tell them. Think about what else you can do to make staying there uncomfortable. Dont let them get too comfortable in there, do your checks or repairs bright and early, ask other tenants to get the police round. If he hits his partner and there are visible bruises they wont let that slide thats instant arrest.
Reporting anti social behaviour to the police and council is ok but it is very time consuming for you and takes a long time long by then everyone else has moved out and you have 6 lots of unoccupied council tax to pay plus standing charges
It is highly stressful for you, i can emphasise. But dont sit on your hands give them some heat by whatever way you can. Let other tenants know you are doing all you can to buy time
Please don’t help them find alternative accommodation, it lacks integrity to lumber another landlord with the problem and although you may not be lying directly it’s still the sin of omission and therefore disingenuous. I wouldn’t get too involved if I were you, it could have consequences.
I wouldn’t lumber them onto anyone else. The tenants know that I will be giving a honest reference
anyhow!!! - they are out! They left at 11pm last night
I give them their Deposit back, paid them back the January rent, gave them a lift to a local hotel.
Lock’s changed and a bio hazard clean team going in today!
from my original post we had another incident. A domestic, she stabbed him!
Had a length of chat with him after he came back from the hospital and he agreed that it wasn’t working out.
Had a length of chat with him after he came back from the hospital and he agreed that it wasn’t working out. She was still in custody I helped him pack, and he was out within 35 minutes.
I slept like a baby last night! By the time I finished I’ll be about £500 out of pocket!
I can live with that.
Thank you to everyone for their supportive comments and advice