Forum Topic

Landlord and property let

Morning.  I've been out to litterpick my street and I'm already despairing at at newly let property.  The tenants (haven't met them yet) have bagged up their rubbish but left it mounting all week in the front garden (not a crime) but it contains food waste and the foxes and other vermin have scattered it wide and far.  A real mess.  Happened last week too.So, I picked it all up and popped a very nice note into their door along with Council literature on how to bag it and recycling dates.  However, on closure inspection of the property it's a real mess with junk littering the frontage and even a spring based bed leaning against the front.  As there's a to let board outside, I phoned the Letting agent who say it's not their property and they haven't let it.Any suggestions about who to complain to please?  It's not a crime, unfortunately, to allow your property to look like this and, apart from the waste, it's not infringing on the highway, but my goodness, how is this landlord allowed to rent out a dump?  My pet hate....irresponsible landlords.  Any suggestions welcome.  Thanks.

Angela White ● 5089d8 Comments

If the letting agent is also the managing agent, then indeed it is their problem. If they are just letting the house/flat, then the owner needs to go round and tidy up a bit. The tenants will have the contact number for the owner in such cases. Focus on the public health issue. Could you possibly have seen a rat?

Maire Lowe ● 5089d

Yes Maire, I did see a rat!! ;-)  I couldn't possibly say that if I hadn't but I appreciate where you're coming from!  However, I did see vermin - foxes and pigeons.I have just spoken to the lovely man who is renting with his friends.  He got my note and said the Landlord was going to supply the said bins from the Council.  I hope he or she does.  Tenant seemed very nice.  I didn't mention the rubbish in the garden as they've only been there a week or so, so I thought I'd give the Landlord and the tenants a couple more weeks to get rid of it.  Having spoken to him now, I'm sure he'll want to live in a tidier place anyway.  Not fair to expect people to live in such mess.  They're all young tenants and probably can't afford more but just because they can't afford more doesn't mean the Landlord shouldn't clean it up for them.Thanks Maire.

Angela White ● 5089d

This issue lies firstly within the tenancy agreement which should contain a clause concerning the correct way of disposing of rubbish.  It's called 'Duty of Care'.  Most say if this is not carried out properly the tenant can be evicted. (Housing Associations do enforce this I understand - as with unsocial behaviour, which I suppose not upkeeping the frontage properly and leaving waste food littered about is in fact unsocial behaviour.)I find that photographing the problem and sending it to the agent/owner can work.  This is just not acceptable in 2012 irrespective of how much disposable income the 'lovely' tenant(s) has(ve).  If it is a health hazard (vermin of any sort), the Council's Environmental Health Department should be informed, they will inspect the problem and if deemed a hazard will ask the landlord/owner to clean it all up, and if they do not do so within a reasonable period of time, will do the job for them and then recharge.  They have the powers to do this.If the 'to let' board is incorrect, it should be removed forthwith by the agent.  This is an advertising scam.

Dee Cook ● 5089d

A softly softly approach with the new tenants though sounds more conducive to good neighbourliness.And it is surely the landlords responsibility to leave it in a fit state for the new tenants - even if they are not paying a fortune.It may be the tenants need to ask the landlords to act: my son's girlfriend sho is surprisingly forceful for her age and tiny size, has just got her landlord to jump through hoops, engage a professional cleaner, buy new mattresses and sort out the garden. And she's only a student-tenant.Maybe you can give the tenants support in doing this Angela.

Sara Nathan ● 5089d

Agree with the softly softly approach since the tenants are so nice. I've lived next door to students attending Arts Ed for five years and we have all got on just fine. They invite me to their parties and although I don't go, neither am I surprised when there is loud music. It isn't all that often. However, the new lot haven't got to grips with rubbish either and dump it outside in Tesco bags over the weekend, giving the 'vermin' plenty of time to eat the leftovers before the rubbish is taken away on Wednesday. Being terribly afraid of rats I have been tidying up quietly but will probably have a word one day.

Maire Lowe ● 5089d

From the Ealing Gazette.Abu Hamza linked to flytipping in ActonOct 10 2012 By Poppy BradburyTerror suspect Abu HamzaA WOMAN who confronted a neighbour about persistent flytipping was shocked to learn this week it was the wife of terror suspect Abu Hamza.Diane O’Neill contacted the Gazette in June after enduring months of builder’s rubble, mattresses and rubbish being dumped outside her home in Sir Alexander Road, Acton.Flicking through the Daily Mail this week she recognised a picture of the Muslim cleric’s Shepherd’s Bush council home in nearby Aldbourne Road, days after he was extradited to the United States on terror charges.Mrs O’Neill said: “Oh my God, I’ve gone round to Abu Hamza’s house to complain about flytipping. I just thought it was really funny.“I saw the picture of the house in the paper and I remembered it was the same house I had gone round to in June. I could recognise it because it’s got a white picket fence and none of the other houses have that sort of fence, and two cameras above the front door.”Fed up with the constant mess - which was costing the neighbours £200 a time to hire a van to remove it - Mrs O’Neill searched through dumped bin bags for clues and found a letter to N. Mostafa with an address in Aldbourne Road.She now believes it to be hook-handed Hamza’s wife Najat who is being asked to downsize her Hammersmith and Fulham council house.Mrs O’Neill recalled: “I got really miffed about the flytipping, it had gone on for ages in our street. I got my husband to look on our estate’s CCTV and we saw two guys dumping a big bag of builder’s rubble and an ironing board outside our house.“I thought that’s it, I’m really annoyed this house, just two streets away, is coming around here to dump their rubbish.“So I went round there. I noticed they were very security conscious with a CCTV camera above the front door and one above the window. I just thought it was a normal street.“She opened the front door and I said is this your name and she said, ‘Yes, that’s me’. I stepped backwards, kept the letter in my hand and said, ‘Then you can come round and pick up the stuff you’ve dumped outside my house or I’m going to the police.’“Within two hours someone came round and took the whole lot away.”Thirty neighbours in Sir Alexander Road had appealed to Ealing Council to stop the mess, but were told the authority could not intervene because it was a private estate. Mrs O’Neill says the flytipping continues.Ms Mostafa was not available for comment.

Nicola Howard ● 5089d

Infuriating.

Angela White ● 5089d

.......and interesting bearing in mind the religious nature of the people causing the problem.

Dee Cook ● 5088d