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ask tom ...
Resident Agony Uncle, Tom Entwistle,
answers readers’ questions.
Tom Entwistle is a founding director and editor of LandlordZONE.co.uk
He has been a private investor in residential and commercial property
for over 30 years.
Q
Anti Social Behaviour – I have
been contacted by neighbours
at my rental property
complaining about the behaviour of my
tenants, which is causing them nuisance.
They are telling me that my tenants are
my responsibility and they say I must
do something about it. What can I do?
Anti social behaviour is, without doubt, one
of the most difficult problems landlords
have to deal with. It’s bad enough when a
tenant or a group of tenants is upsetting
neighbours, but even more painful when
bad behaviour is driving out other tenants,
say in a multi-occupation house.
According to Government guidelines, as
a general rule landlords cannot be held
responsible for the actions of their tenants,
as long as they have not ‘authorised’ the
anti-social behaviour. Landlords can
resort to eviction but, otherwise, except
in circumstances where the premises are
being used for illegal purposes, landlords
are “free to decide whether or not to take
action against their tenants”.
A number of test cases have confirmed
that no claim can be sustained in nuisance
against a landlord when caused, for
example, by tenants being noisy or using
drugs on the premises. The rationale here
is that it is up to the victim of the nuisance
to take action against the culprit.
However, most responsible landlords
want to help neighbours and other
tenants by taking action against anti
social or criminal behaviour. Also bear
in mind that local authority mandatory,
additional and selective licensing
schemes usually impose management
obligations on landlords for tenant
behaviour at or near the premises. Whilst
in some cases it can be shown that
local authorities are imposing rules on
landlords which are far too general to be
enforced at law, they are still something
to be considered as important.
Most tenancy agreements have
provisions included about anti-social
behaviour but it’s important to make
sure yours does and forms the basis of
your contract with your tenants.
As with all tenant matters which may
have legal implications, it’s important
to start off dealing with the problem
with the intention of building up
a solid documentary evidence
base, contemporaneous notes and
correspondence, in case you end up
in court. If you do, you will have to
convince a judge of the efficacy of
your case.
Start off by meeting the tenant/s and
tackling them about the alleged antisocial behaviour. Take along a reliable
witness – in case you are later accused
of harassment and to confirm what
is said – and later put everything in
writing in the form of a letter to the
tenant. In effect, this is a first warning
pending further action and it should
give the tenant a limited period of time
to change their behaviour.
Secondly, you should contact
neighbours and other tenants who
may have complained, interview
them about