As a landlord must i declare ,to anyone i wish to rent my flat to,nuisance neighbours

[andyg1]

It may sound a little selfish but this is the situation i find myself in.

I own a flat and had a great tenant in my flat but she has had to leave because of a noisy neighbour.

The neighbour is directly beneath, is unemployed and makes noise all night long. The problem has been dealt with by Enviromental Health and Safer Neighborhood Police Team.

If i were to sell the property legally i would have to declare the issue , is there any law in place that requires me to do the same for a letting ?

Ethically it's an obvious answer but does is state anywhere in law that i must announce that fact or could i simply keep quiet?

I am taking the freeholder to court , they are the landlord of the problem tenant but ignored the situation.
They have written to me saying that i should let the flat but i think that both unfair and unethical to allow someone to knowingly walk in to a minefield.

I do need however to satisfy myself on a point of law that my actions are correct.

Thanks

[jeffrey]

I think so. F should be capable of enforcing (against the neighbouring leaseholder N) the covenant not to cause noise/nuisance. Even though the noise/nuisance is caused by N's sub-tenant, it's imputed to N who is thereby in breach of leasehold covenant.

[mind the gap]

However if a prospective tenant asked your or your letting agent whether there had been any problems with neighbours, you would be bound to be truthful.

[Hooper]

You mention that it has been dealt with by Environment & Police but I am not sure whether you mean that they have stopped the problem or just been involved.

Has the dodgy N gone or stopped being noisy?

[Poolboy]

I think you are being far too honest. I am 99% sure my agent (a large corporate) would not say anything & even if asked would just say look at the views, location etc & that a flat has several neighbours.

If they do it then I'd probably do the same.

I don't know how bad the noise pollution is but in flats you have to expect some, I am sure my Ts give as much as listen to others. No one has ever commented so I don't ask.

Clearly not a watertight legal solution so just my opinion.

[theartfullodger]

If you don't it will be rapidly obvious to T that you mislead him (most would say..): with the court case T find out I think. I wouldn't want to be in that position as a Landlord, might backfire.

Surely honesty & openness is the British way??

[Snorkerz]

They have written to me saying that i should let the flat but i think that both unfair and unethical to allow someone to knowingly walk in to a minefield.

I guess they are trying to force you to mitigate your losses to reduce their potential risk in court.

If you are sure of your case against them, then I would pay lip service to their request by advertising the property and doing a few viewings, but I would be honest with those viewers.

That way, your concience is clear and you can prove to the court that you have tried to mitigate the loss (as requested by F).

[andyg1]

Thanks for the replies and some good advice .

To confirm the tenant gave notice to quit one month ago , however as a DSS tenant they failed to leave.

Now the landlord who has known about this problem now for 6 months has only acted at the point the tenant became a problem to them , ignoring the noise issue for the previous 5 months.

The police ar regular visitors to the problem flat , i belive the social services are frequent visitors, there is a welfare , domestic violence and drug history connected to the tenants.

Incidentally there is only one name on the lease, the lady of the house who is in receipt of benefits.

The rows are caused by her and the boyfriend who is living there also.

I am seeking to recover my losses from the freeholder ( landlord of the problem tenant).

Surely they are wrong to allow another person to reside in the flat also ?

So until the tenant goes i will just invite a further problem for a future tenant and a further porblem for myself i will be the first person they come complaining to.

I have applied through the courts for a police call out report to back up my claim of the problems created by these people.

The idea of marketing the flat i think is a clever one and one i will follow up but i will make sure to advise any prospective tenants of the problem.

Many thanks for the advice but as i understand it there is no legal requirement for me to announce the problem in advance ?

Thanks Again

[andyg1]

On the subject of the police and enviromental health my flat is vacant so there is nio ongoing case with them as there is no one present to carry out noise reports and diaries.

The police have visited the landlord on my behalf to seek clarification of when the problem will be resolved but its as long as it takes now for baillifs to come and evict them.

[HairyLandlord]

If you don't it will be rapidly obvious to T that you mislead him (most would say..): with the court case T find out I think. I wouldn't want to be in that position as a Landlord, might backfire.

Not necessarily,.

Its quite feasible that the previous tenant could have left and not given the noisy neighbour as the reason.
As the LL is not living at the property, he could easily not know about the noisy neighbour.

There is wide variation about what people regard as noise (and unacceptable noise) and some people might not be bothered by what others regard as noise.

I had a neigbour once who thought nothing about working with an angle grinder on concrete slabs at 6.15am in a quiet residential road and on a flipping Sunday and when i went out to tell him to stop, he looked at me with the well known "Wot" face, as if what he was doing was perfectly normal.
I was the only person in the vicinity who ever said anything to this person, but I think other neighbours would just grind their teeth with anger rather than confront morons like this, another very British response.

[andyg1]

Thanks the tenant sent me around 30 e-mails detailing the problem and wrote to exercise a break clause stating " the situation with the people downstaris is making me ill" .

There is no doubt in the documentation that is the reason she left , also i wrote to the landlords in April as did my tenant as did her mother , as did a solictor i employed, as did another leaseholder.

The landlord has his offices downstairs , they have seen the police comings and goings , they simply chose not to do anything about it , they have other motives and seek to acquire the remaining properties within the block as it is prime development site.

Thanks

[HairyLandlord]

The landlord has his offices downstairs , they have seen the police comings and goings , they simply chose not to do anything about it , they have other motives and seek to acquire the remaining properties within the block as it is prime development site.

What a crap landlord. Gives us landlords who are mostly angels a bad name

[theartfullodger]

What a crap landlord. Gives us landlords who are mostly angels a bad name

Well said sir!