Neighbour is complaining about my tenants - what can I do?

[midlandslandlord]

Three persons sharing a flat does make an HMO.

If it requires a license and you are not licensed, then you are in criminal offence territory.

And if N downstairs starts complaining officially someone will notice...

ML

[Interlaken]

My mistake there ML - I missed out NOT.

3 persons sharing a flat does NOT make an HMO.

[DNM2012]

3 persons sharing a flat does NOT make an HMO.

Wrong.

I said it is in "HMO territory", strictly speaking it is a HMO, if the 3 tenants are unrelated and share facilities, but, if they rent the whole property as a group as opposed to individual rooms it could be argued they are a "family group" and therefore not a HMO.

It comes down to what the local authority says at the end of the day.

[mystery]

Thanks for everyone's comments - although opinion does seem a bit divided.

The council permit 3 unrelated people to share without it being classed as an HMO, however it is a selective licencing area and I have fully complied with all the regulations attached to that and the flat has been inspected by the council.

The lease contains nothing about floor coverings and while I do realise the tenants will generate some level of noise they also neighbour plays music loudly in the morning when he gets up and they are still sleeping, so it's tit for tat.

I had a long conversation with the tenants yesterday and they are adamant that they are not causing a nuisance and in fact we are wondering if some of the noise that he is hearing is actually coming from flats to the side rather than above.


I think I might consider carpeting one room as an experiment to see if it makes any difference, but I'm not hopeful as the stairs are carpeted already and he complains about people walking up them. I am also a bit sceptical as I've had a couple in the flat before with a newborn baby that he never complained about because the mum and his girlfriend got on well together. His complaints seem linked to whether he likes the tenants or not and I think he's just someone who likes to find something to moan about.

[Galatea]

The lease contains nothing about floor coverings and while I do realise the tenants will generate some level of noise they also neighbour plays music loudly in the morning when he gets up and they are still sleeping, so it's tit for tat.

se.

Do u live under laminate floor?

When your neighbor will try to sell his place the buyers will make enquiries about noise from your laminate flat. When you will try to sell with the laminate floor you will find it even harder nowdays because buyers know they are going into dispute. So, try to carpet as much as you can.

My upstairs neighbour has laminate floor! She rents to people working in restaurants. On average each night around 5-7 adults walk at all hours plus 2 children jump all sat and sunday. Acoustics engineers told me that the only option I have is is to insulate my own flat with an independent ceiling underneath the existing one. Carpeting will not completely deaden the impacts.The carpets do not totaly resolve the impact noise. The laminate floor amplifies the noise

The Councils consider your described noise as domestic: they do not become involved. However, the boundary between this and antisocial behaviour overlaps and may have serious consequences for all of you.

Do you have a rent issue with the tenants? tenants will want to keep the rent increases under control and probably will raise issues and excuses.
Finally you do not know when u will need your neighbour

[richardpowel]

Hi there,

The problem seems to be very complicated while carpet will solve the issue to a certain extent still he might cause trouble as his second name is menace. Try consulting solicitors as they must have all the possible legal fixes to the problem and he seems like a person who might understand it only in a legal way. But you might need to collect possible evidence that might catch the eye of the law thereby proving that he is guilty in one way or the other.

These are just my persona views of how you can approach the whole situation.

Thomas George - Cardiff