[Shooms]

Originally Posted by Ed

Any lawyer worth his salt will have removed all liability for the agency. Whoever has the head lease (the freeholder probably) is the person you want, unless theres an association involved in which case it'll be a shared responsibility. Have a good look at the lease you signed, there should be clauses in there related to noise/nuisance etc....

Have you spoken to the people upstairs?
Your local council will also have rules etc in place, but basically unless they are playing stuff really loud at unsociable hours, there won't be much they could do.

Thought you wanted to get on the property ladder anyway....

The owner of the flat above me bought it as an investment & rents out via a 3rd party leasing agency. Never had a problem before until these ASBO scum moved in.

The block is 4 flats, 2 of which are owned by residents (myself & another couple), we pay ground rent to the freeholder bi-annually.

The current occupants of the leased flat are taking the piss big time:

Here's a note in draft

Dear Beals,

I am writing to you in sheer desperation & frustration at the people you have leased Flat 3 St Josephs Court to.

Ever since they moved in there has been a constant barrage of unacceptable noise (music, shouting, screaming & doors slamming, full scale parties) at all times of the night.

I had previously written to the residents as per the attached email & it had some short-term effect & a letter of apology from Amanda however Friday night just gone was the final straw.

From 8 PM onwards there was a full scale party going on with screaming / shouting & the whole building was vibrating to music. The owners of Flat 4 had asked them to keep the noise down & recieved a mouthful of attitude from Amanda saying that 'she knew her rights'.

I arrived home late on Friday night but went upstairs at 11.45 PM to ask them to turn the noise down - I was met with an agressive & belligerant attitude from a very drunken lad (Ben ?), I called & left Sherri a message letting her know that once again her property & the neighbours were being abused.

They left the flat about midnight but came back about 2AM & again started up with extremely loud music & shouting. This seemed to turn into an open house with the front door left open & people running up the stairs shouting & screaming - in fact I heard one person shout "The neighbours have complained so he said to be as loud as you can". In addition to the music & general rowdiness there was also the sound of slamming doors, breaking glass & screaming between Amanda & Ben.

I went upstairs after this & again asked Ben to turn the music down & again was met with agressive & drunken attitude as he seemed to think himself untouchable with a houseful of his friends (who were also very drunk) but he did turn it down to a lower level but as soon as I went downstairs he turned it up full volume again. Once again I went upstairs to ask for the music & screaming to be turned down, once again met with drunken agressiveness from Ben.

Amanda's brother was also there to take her back to her parents house as apparently, according to Amanda, he had been physically abusive to her. On the way out she knocked on my door to apologise & told me that she wanted Ben out & had also called the police to attend Flat 3 midweek for a domestic as Ben had also been abusive to her then. However hearing conversation from Flat 3 last night it seems that they are back together again as both were in the flat together.

Speaking with the owners of Flat 4 on Saturday morning they confirmed that they had also had to call in both the police & the environmental health on a number of occasions in recent weeks (they are home more than me).

I understand from speaking with Sherri that she has contacted yourselves to instigate eviction proceedings, however I do feel you have let Sherri down in placing these people into her flat, they are not suitable or compatible with the lifestyle of the other residents, they neither seem to respect neither the neighbours or the flat they live in.

Can I ask you to provide me with a copy of the terms & conditions that your lessees sign up to as I find it hard to believe this type of behaviour is tolerated within your T&Cs

Original letter

Dear Flat 3 occupants.

I wanted to give you formal feedback following your move into 3 St Josephs Court about 3 weeks ago.

St Josephs Court is a quiet, residential block & every occupant has respected the fact that it IS a residential block with working occupants (& one with a small child). This means we respect noise pollution wherever possible; both within our flats & in the communal stairwell.

Unfortunately since the 1st night you moved in (on a Sunday about 3 weeks ago) there seems to been regular full house parties (or certainly sounds like a full house from my flat) during the week & well as the weekends, these tend to go on until at least 4 - 5 AM. The disturbances include:

Loud music
Shouting (including one lad who for reasons known only to himself shouts at the top his voice every 10 minutes 'OI OI !!', 'Are you Ready ?!' or just generally screams/howls !!)
Running up & down & shouting in the main communal stairwell at early hours of the morning
Shouting outside your front window to friends in the street below

Dates I can definately say this has happened apart from the initial Sunday party midweek were last Thursday 19th July (I was kept awake until 5.am) & last night Tuesday 24th July (kept awake until 4 am)... Fridays & Saturdays it seems to be the norm.

This would be bad enough on a regular basis at the weekends but to do this during week days when other residents have to get up & go to work is totally unacceptable & totally disrespectful to the other residents in the block.

I am writing this at work after having yet another disturbed night with approx 3 hours sleep, my work is suffering & my health is suffering through stress - I actually dread coming home.

I put the other flat residents on copy for awareness & copies have also been sent to Beales & the Flat Owner (whom I am in contact with).

Please rectify this situation forthwith