tenant from hell - daily mail story

[Tanza]

Article about East Dulwich's 'tenant from hell' from the Daily Maildailymailtenantfromhell

[DJKillaQueen]

Dreadful for the Landlords. But surely the real question should be why aren't letting agencies doing a better job of keeping track of the homes they rent out. After all they get paid to oversee and take care of repairs as part of their role in managing a let. Councils have the same problems with properties being sub-let but housing officers do at least look out for that as part of their job.

[sweetgirl]

disgusting!!!!!!!!

[Lost Yorkshire Man]

The firm that did my tenants references gave me free insurance. Meaning that if the tenant defaulted they would be liable to pay the rent due to myself.

Of course this means that they do better checks and my tenant is perfect.

[MissSophie]

Can I ask - what is a legal standpoint with this? I live next to a house that was converted into a bed-sit and have all walks of life living there. We live in a quiet, residential road and whilst I don't begrudge anyone living in the area, the tenants clearly don't respect the road, their own noise levels or of those around them. The owner of the property is nowhere to be found and I can't find the letting company, despite calling some agencies in the area.

It does seem ironic that once someone owns a property they are able to do what they like with it and walk away, yet if you were renting it's a completely different story.

Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks

[DJKillaQueen]

There is quite a bit that can be done. The laws on noise nuisance apply to everyone and the local aurthority services for dealing with noise nuisance and anti-social behaviour can be used by anyone in the borough. Your local environmental services officer can take action against the tenants and/ or landlord for a whole range of issues and Southwark has a 24 hour dedicated noise nuisance team that can visit properties making excessive levels of noise.

Everything you need to know is here -

http:// www.southwark.gov.uk/info/412/noise_problems

[dubluke]

DJKillaQueen Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Dreadful for the Landlords. But surely the real

> question should be why aren't letting agencies

> doing a better job of keeping track of the homes

> they rent out. After all they get paid to oversee

> and take care of repairs as part of their role in

> managing a let. Councils have the same problems

> with properties being sub-let but housing officers

> do at least look out for that as part of their

> job.

I work for an agent in East Dulwich, my opinion on this is that whilst it is the job of a managing agent to keep an eye on the property they are managing, it is customary to only do inspections and checks every 4 - 6 months, more often than this and you begin to impeach on the tenants right to not have excess intereference from their landlord or managing agent. This also leads me onto my next point, as you must by law obtain permission from the tenant before entering a rented property to do an inspection, if you do not get this permission and enter the property then you are flouting the tenants rights and breaking the code of conduct laid onto lettings agents by the property ombudsman scheme. From the sounds of things this woman moved everyone in and then cut off all ties with the managing agent, so getting hold of her to arrange checks would have been impossible, and entering the property without this permission would therefore have been unlawful.

On the flipside of this, they may have just been very poor managing agents who never bothered even attempting to check on the property, which of course is pretty crap.

[MissSophie]

Thanks DJKillaQueen, however I have tried to call Southwark with this, (it's more about over-crowding in a small flat, making all rooms bedrooms etc) they won't come and see the property as it's not a specific noise-related issue. I'm at a loss of what to do, I just want to inform the owner of the property as I don't think he knows that it's been used for these purposes.

Dubloke - as an estate agent, what could you recommend?

Thanks again

[dubluke]

MissSophie Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Thanks DJKillaQueen, however I have tried to call

> Southwark with this, (it's more about

> over-crowding in a small flat, making all rooms

> bedrooms etc) they won't come and see the property

> as it's not a specific noise-related issue. I'm at

> a loss of what to do, I just want to inform the

> owner of the property as I don't think he knows

> that it's been used for these purposes.

>

> Dubloke - as an estate agent, what could you

> recommend?

> Thanks again

Hi Sophie,

Unfortunately as you are not the owner of the property that has been converted into a bedsit then there is not a lot you can do directly in order to get the tenants to calm down. If you do manage to eventually reach the managing agent then you may be able to get something done as they will be able to send letters to tenants indicating there have been issues with noise etc.

However as Killa Queen said - if it is a general noise pollution issue then you can have southwark get involved to try and sort it out without having to go through any kind of managing agent.

Best of luck with it, send me a message if you have any other questions about this or other property stuff.

PS. - its dublUke :)

[MissSophie]

*sigh* bang goes my property value.

Thanks and sorry for getting the wrong name!

[cate]

MissSophie Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Can I ask - what is a legal standpoint with this?

> I live next to a house that was converted into a

> bed-sit and have all walks of life living there.

> We live in a quiet, residential road and whilst I

> don't begrudge anyone living in the area, the

> tenants clearly don't respect the road, their own

> noise levels or of those around them. The owner of

> the property is nowhere to be found and I can't

> find the letting company, despite calling some

> agencies in the area.

>

> It does seem ironic that once someone owns a

> property they are able to do what they like with

> it and walk away, yet if you were renting it's a

> completely different story.

>

> Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks

If the house is in bedsits then it is an HMO. House in Multiple Occupation. It should be registered with the council as such. Why don't you check this with them? There is a housing department in each borough.

[DJKillaQueen]

Unfortunately what constitutes as overcrowding in this country is a grey area. Single rooms accomodating two people are fine. Where there are children under a certain age then a bathroom and kitchen is also considered an ok place to sleep. The law is completely outdated on this matter. Kate is right though...it should be registed as an HMO with your local council.

[Karrie]

[Deleted] Safety reasons

[DJKillaQueen]

It is a legal requirement under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 that both a Landlord (or the Letting Agent representing them) give upon request the primary address and name of the Landlord within 21 days. It sounds as though that landlord was probably breaking the law in other respects too.

If other parts of the house were 'unfit' and they were being rented out then the ESO should have taken action irregardless of whether the Landlord played ball or not. They don't need the co-operation of the Landlord to condemn a property. The ESO can in fact order repairs to be done by the local authority and then charge the Landlord if serving a notice of disrepair fails. Again, the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 is vey clear on what is deemed unfit and the consequences to landlords if they ignore the law. Similarly there are records of who owns property elsewhere. If there has been a fraud committed in relation to that then it becomes a police matter and again the ESO could have referred it over. The bank statements in different names alone sounds highly suspicious of ID fraud.

It sounds as though the ESO ignored their resposibility to enforce the law going by your account above.

[Karrie]

[Deleted] Safety reasons

[TJ]

I notice PeckhamRose has gone all quiet?!