Problem Neighbours In Rented Property UK

Ian McEwan, Property Disputes Solicitor

Do you have problem neighbours in rented property nearby?

Are they trespassing on your land or causing a nuisance?

Perhaps they are noisy, rude or abusive.

Are they ignoring your requests for them to stop?

Unfortunately, this is a common problem.

Quite often, as they are only there for the short to medium term, tenants really don’t care about how their behaviour effects those around them.

There are however a few things that you can do to get them to stop.

Letter Threatening Court Action

In most cases a properly worded solicitors’ letter, known as a “letter before action”, will do the job.

This letter formally puts the problem neighbour on notice of your complaint, and that you require it to cease or be remedied within a short period of time, failing which you will then apply to court for an order to force them to stop the unacceptable acts or behaviour.

That letter will also put the offending party on notice of your intention to claim your legal costs from them too.

The threat of this is often sufficient to bring matters to an end, without the need to apply to court at all.

As we’ll see below, we usually also write to the landlord to put them on notice of the issue in question, and they will often intervene.

Your Options

The type of remedy available to you will depend upon the problem that your neighbours are causing.

Nuisance

Nuisance is the most common complaint from our clients when it comes to problem neighbours in rented property.

A nuisance occurs where someone does something on their own land which they are allowed to do, but which interferes with the use and enjoyment of a neighbour’s land.

Such acts can come in many shapes and sizes.

The most common types of nuisance complained of include:

Noise
Vibration
Smells
Pets
Children
Rubbish
Parking
Flooding
Tree roots
Invasive plants
Drug abuse
Antisocial behaviour

Sometimes these nuisances involve one-off events which might cause physical damage, and in other cases they are ongoing acts which continuously interfere with the use and enjoyment of your property.

With most nuisances you will be entitled to apply to court for an order called an injunction, which will require the problem neighbour to cease the nuisance.

Your claim might also be for damages, being a payment of money to compensate you for the loss of enjoyment that you have experienced as a consequence of the disturbance.

In most cases you will want to put a stop to the nuisance, so threatening an injunction is usually preferable.

That said, a letter before action will usually resolve matters.

Trespass

If the problem neighbours are trespassing on your land, perhaps by erecting a fence in your garden or building a wall that encroaches into it, you will have a claim against them for trespass and could apply to court for an order that they return possession of the land that they have tried to take from you.

A letter before action coupled with photographs will usually put an end to something like this, although in some scenarios a specialist plan might need to be prepared.

To find about more about the process involved take a look at my article on trespassing neighbours here.

Interference with a Right of Way

Another common problem that we are often contacted about occurs when neighbours in rented property interfere with or block a right of way.

This most commonly happens when they park cars or other vehicles over an accessway, or leave rubbish or other objects in your way.

If the interference is considered substantial, you could in theory apply to court for an order to stop them from doing this, and for them to pay your costs of that process, which is often a big deterrent.

In circumstances such as this we usually send a carefully worded letter before action requiring the neighbour to remedy the situation immediately, and that often does the job.

You can read more about how to deal with a neighbour obstructing a right of way here.

Harassment

There will be occasions where a neighbours unacceptable behaviour constitutes a harassment, rather than a nuisance.

If that is the case the problem tenants might be guilty of both a criminal and a civil offence.

It is possible therefore for criminal proceedings to be brought against the offender as well as a civil claim to restrain the behaviour and to recover damages for things such as anxiety caused by their behaviour.

The threat of this dual approach is often a sufficient deterrent to most people.

Anti-Social Behaviour

If the individuals in question are acting in an anti-social manner, it is possible to obtain a civil injunction against them to stop that behaviour from continuing.

Breaching the terms of an injunction is a criminal offence, so this can be a powerful remedy.

However, only specific organisations can apply for anti-social behaviour injunctions, including local authorities, the Environment Agency and the police.

You might therefore have to go through them, with no guarantee that they will action your requests.

Criminal Activity

If the problem tenants are committing a crime the appropriate authority to report this to is obviously the police.

If you do that you should keep a record of your communications with them as that may assist when contacting the landlord of the property.

Try To Get Them Evicted

Getting problem neighbours in rented property evicted can’t be guaranteed by any means, but there is certainly the possibility of trying to get them evicted if the landlord is of a similar mindset.

The terms of the tenancy might dictate the circumstances in which a landlord can terminate the tenancy in question, as will the relevant legislation.

It is likely that the tenancy agreement will include obligations on the tenant not to cause a nuisance or disturbance, and generally landlords can serve notice on their tenants to terminate the tenancy if they carry on such behaviour, or commit any crimes and so on.

Informing the owner of the property of the problems being caused by their tenants might help convince them to start the eviction process (which would solve your problems) especially if the tenant is already causing other problems for the landlord, such as not paying the rent or not keeping the property in repair.

Similarly, if the tenancy is coming to an end in the near future, your complaint to the landlord might help convince it to find new tenants who are less likely to cause problems, rather than let the troublesome tenant remain.

Write to the Landlord

It is usually quite easy to locate the contact details for the property owner and we often find that once we write to them they will usually get in touch with their tenant to try to resolve matters.

Can A Landlord Be Held Liable For Nuisance Tenants?

Landlords can only be held liable for nuisance caused by their tenants in very limited circumstances.

Those circumstances include where the nuisance caused is deemed to have been authorised by the landlord by it having granted the tenancy in the first place.

Landlords are unlikely to be liable simply by being aware of the tenant’s intended use of the property in question that might give rise to a nuisance.

Tactically, if nothing else works, it is possible to try to convince a landlord to act by arguing that by being aware of the problems complained of and doing nothing about them the landlord is “knowingly permitting” them to continue and should therefore be liable as consequence.

That argument is unlikely to succeed from a purely legal point of view, but the threat might be sufficient to get the landlord of the property to take action against the tenant.

The Dual Approach

Tactically it can be beneficial to write to both parties – the problem neighbours and their landlord – to require the issues to cease or be remedied, and to let the tenant know that you’ve contacted the landlord too.

The fear of being evicted can often put a stop to things.

An Example

We were recently contacted by a property owner whose neighbours were trespassing on to her land, damaging it, and being abusive.

The evidence of this was quite clear and supported by third parties, so we wrote to the offending party putting them on notice that unless they the stopped trespassing and abusive behaviour immediately, they would find themselves in court and subject to various claims that would be very costly to them.

It was nothing that the client hadn’t already said, but the sight of a solicitor’s letter can often be quite impactful, as was the case here.

The letter resolved of all matters so that our client could once again enjoy her property without the constant worry of being disturbed.