Noisy Tenant, Should I evict?

Hi Gary

My view is that you should evict, or at least get involved and try to get it sorted.

Think about what you would do if the shoe was on the other foot.

What would you do if you lived in one of the other flats?
What would you do if you owned the other three flats and kept losing tenants due to to the one person who was causing the problem?

We recently ran another readers questions post from the opposite perspective. It was a very interesting thread and one which I think you really ought to read for greater perspective - please see >>> http://www.property118.com/losing-a-tenant-every-6-months/44582/comment-page-6/
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Hi
I did have this situation myself, but in a block of 16. On making enquiries I found that NO other residents had a problem with my tenants. They had had a couple of noisy rows over a period of months, but nothing the others felt was worth complaining about. I spoke to my tenants and they promised to try and be quieter. I thought the problem was sorted until about three months later when the management company sent me a copy of a very vitriolic letter from the original complainer. The way it was put left me little room to protest and i had to ask my tenants to leave at the end of the tenancy. I had later problems with this person over a number of issues and was very pleased when she finally left. As she was a serving police officer It was very difficult to prove what she said was untrue or exaggerated.

It isn't always the complained about tenant who is at fault - you do need to talk to her!

do you have any proof your tenant is making all this noise? or is it just to word of this one neighbour

some occupants dont like having DSS tenants living next door and will do all they can to get them kicked out.

if your agents referenced the tnt and there was no previous issue from the last property then you would need to be very sure you were evicting for the right reasons.

in my opinion, if the property is fully managed then at this stage it si the property managers role to meet with your tenant, meet with the accuser and mediate, if this doesnt resolve the problem and your tenant truely is noisy then evict if you think that is the right thing to do.

One option is to say you will evict if the local council brings (and wins) court action against your tenant for noise.

1st step is always mediation between all parties. If not resolved amicably and the noise problem continues then yes, eviction notice served to your tenant. This sharpens the tenants mind and makes them concentrate on the problem..
Been there and done all of this.

The neighbour who is complaining should contact the Local Council Noise Officer if they think they have a justifiable complaint but this does take time and effort to prove with recorded evidence of the actual noise, time and date etc.

Percy is the only commenter to mention that the Local Aurthority have juristiction and powers to deal with noise and that compllaining tenant should be referred to them

As a landlord who manages the lettings myself, I would initially speak to the tenant and get her side of the story, whilst reminding her of the Noise and Nuisance clauses in the AST. Depending on what she told me, I may suggest that she talks to her neighbour and apologises, if appropriate.

Assuming that the complaint arrived via the block management company, I would then tell them that I had spoken to the tenant and suggest that, if the problem persists, the nehghbour(s) call Environmental Health. If the visiting EH Officer deems there to be a problem, a verbal warning will be issued prior to an Abatement Notice.

Taking this course of action demonstates that I am not ignoring the problem and may encourage all parties to follow my reasonable approach to resolving matters.

Ultimately, I may decide that the tenant should go, in which case I would issue a Section 21 giving 2 months' notice (assuming 4 months had already elapsed of the 1 year AST with 6 month break clause). The tenant will be out far quicker than leaving it to EH who have too many hoops to go through before bringing the tenant to court.

But would a S21 be more likely to lead to the tenant stopping paying the rent then leaving it to EH?

(Remember that a S21 can take many months to enforce and cost well over £1K to enforce after the 2 months notice is up.)

If your tenant pays on time and keeps your place nice I wouldn't recommend evicting her, good tenants are hard to find. You should get your agent to write her a letter saying that the way she wakes her child in the morning is annoying the neighbours and maybe she could try a quieter method (cup of water). I think this is one of those 'blown out of proportion' complaints that could be easily fixed.