Tenant constantly harrassing me; Much Ado About Nothing!

[Nikesand]

I have given up communicating with my only tenant who leases my building's only flat; last five years has been a circus of harrassment, from verbal to physical. Its a lovely property, no problems except on her part. Have given up on maintenance charges and asking her to abide by the lease requirements she is liable for. Here's the latest quip:

Nice one John but would prefer you to use the correct title 'owner of the downstairs flat'!! Get rather tired of your attitude. Thank you.
On 17 Dec 2013, at 16:33, John wrote:

Dear Dave.

When the scaffolding company were removing the scaffolding they accidentally broke one of the downstairs tenant's flower pots, A nice blue and white china one. They tried to tell the downstairs tenent but no one was home and they told me that their boss would contact Mrs XXXX and resolve the issue. I mentioned to Mrs XXXX that they would be contacting him and left it at that.

Today, 3 weeks later, I received the following e-mail. Can you please take care of this matter urgently. You can contact the tenant, Mrs xxxxxxxxxxxx, yours, John
__________________________________________________ _______________________________-
ADDENDUM: This is pretty mild, there's a lot more including her telling the local council that she owns the building while I was out of the country so she could illegally install exterior and interior hardware; I installed a beautiful new garden arch and gate between our two gardens and her reaction was to pile rubbish up against the gate and send an email telling me it is "too ornamental"; writing to English Heritage after the building listing was ammended to complain that I had entered her flat illegally (she was there and had given written permission);. More, but not worth writing down. She has a behavior problem; fine, except I don't want it to become my problem.
This is the first tenant, in the last 45 years of being a landlord, that has given me so much grief about nothing. John

[leaseholdanswers]

The trick is to negotiate with those that will negotiate. For those that will take great pleasure in an argument be clear and to the point, then sue.

[Nikesand]

Thank you, and you are correct. Even our solicitor is baffled because this has gone from the sublime to the ridiculous. He has informed me that the tenant's continuous and contentious behavior is so carefully crafted that it is below the legal radar; that it's a personality problem and we are her victims. In addition, she is wealthy and we are pensioners in our seventies.

We would just simply like the tenant to "cease and desist" so we can live in peace. Every attempt on our part to me agreeable and socially polite is met with more contention, to the point of her calling us derogatory names in public and threatening us with a lawsuit for harrassing her.

For the last several months we simply avoid the tenant and continue to make sure we are in compliance as Landlords. But even doing that is difficult, as when we had the roof repaired last month she insisted that we use "her roofer" which we did just to keep her quiet, and it is her roofer who damaged her flower pot. She has not washed her windows in nine years, and we offered to have our window washer do hers for free; The retort was "Stay Away from My Windows".

We could jump through Hoops on Fire and she would not be happy. John

[islandgirl]

Tenant? That means you can get rid. Why is she still there?

[Pixilated]

Sorry, not very clear on the situation. Is she a tenant (paying rent) or a leaseholder (paying ground rent and maybe a service charge)? Presumably you are the freeholder?

If she is a tenant you just get rid. If a leaseholder, then you need to acknowledge that she does own her flat and may well be insulted by use of the word tenant.

[andydd]

Well.. leaseholder does still rent the flat, just on a very long term.

[Pixilated]

Yes, Andy, but the question here is about the precise status of this woman and her flat, because that influences the type of action OP can take.

[leaseholdanswers]

It is the other flat owner. They are a tenant, with a long lease at a low (ground) rent. Sounds like a case of not rising to the bait and keeping it simple and clear and abandoning any notiion of neighbourly living.

Though tenant is incorrect, you are only giving them something to e mail about. "Don't feed the downstairs troll!."

Bill service charges under the lease, correctly, and dont engage in discussion or extended exchanges. Its for insurance, risk assessments etc. If unpaid give her the letter before action and then sue. The amusing part of these peoplees issues is that rather than engaging, less is more, and they inevitably undermine their own credibility, like sawing a branch while perched at the tip, not the stem.