Noise from rented property

[zcacogp]

Hi,

I have a question to which I suspect I know the answer, but I'll ask it anyway.

We live in a house whose garden backs onto other gardens. One of those houses is let to a group of students.

The students are given to making noise in their garden, particularly late at night. We knocked on their door at 10.0pm last night to ask them to turn the music in the garden down but were woken just after midnight by shouting and whooping from the garden. I knocked on their door again and was greeted with abuse, but the noise stopped.

Sadly this is not the first time this has happened; last summer they had a very loud party that didn't wrap up until just after 5.0am. A complaint was made to the council who wrote to the occupiers of the house in question and the noise was considerably less from that point on. However it now seems that things are ramping up again. Last night wasn't the first disturbance this year and I fear that things will get significantly worse as the weather improves and we wish to sleep with the windows open.

I have been a letting agent and own rental properties elsewhere. Previously when neighbours of tenants of mine have approached me with similar problems then I have been happy to step in to resolve them although understand that I have never been under any obligation to do so. Should things get to be a big problem then is there any way of forcing the landlord or agent to take action? I suspect that the answer to this is 'No', in which case what would be the best advice to someone in my situation?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[DoricPixie]

Start keeping a log of all noise incidents and complain to the council. Also worth checking if the rental property needs a HMO licence and if so that it has one.

[theartfullodger]

Treat as any other issue with neighbour, owners, tenants... Good guidance on CaB website re neighbour disputes.

Can just about remember how I acted when a student in the 1960s.....

[ash72]

I'm sure the students will only be gone in a month, and you will most likely get more students........

[Hudson01]

You have done what i was about to suggest - Contact the environmental health dept in the council, if you can track down the landlord it maybe worth your while dropping them a line with the issue, but as you say they don't have to do anything, the HMO licence side of things mentioned above is a good route. But other than that you will be out of luck until another batch of future leaders coming rolling in !

[zcacogp]

Thanks for the help everyone. We've made (indirect) contact with the landlord who has been helpful, which is great. The council will be the next port of call if things don't sort themselves out.

Interestingly, the local university (Alma Mater of the students in question) seems to take complaints of this type very seriously and seems not to hold back on dealing with them, which is VERY encouraging!

[DPT57]

Interesting, but it sounds like the university is definitely exceeding its authority and a clued up student could easily challenge any sanction they tried to impose.

[doobrey]

as you say they don't have to do anything

... and moreover there is a limited amount that they can do if they want to.

[gnvqsos]

| would inform them at 8am the following day ,and this may mean they are forced to leave their beds a little earlier than planned ..You could also turn off their water at the mains in the street-harmless but very inconvenient .A lot of students are superannuated school children from soft middle-class homes .A war of attrition would be short-lived especially in exam season.