Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Help and advice sought over neighbouring HMO
Hello Harringay,
Being woken up at 4:30am this morning by my neighbours has inspired me to do something about the House in Multiple Occupation next to our home, and if anyone can offer any advice regarding the following matter, I would be really grateful. The council have so far offered no useful advice and I'm not sure what steps to take next.
At the moment, the house next to ours is being occupied by 8/9 people, which, for a terraced property on the ladder (normally be a three-bed house), seems too many. The tenants (possibly foreign students; possibly holiday makers) usually stay for only a couple of weeks at a time, which means we never know what to expect with regards to noise and general disturbance. The landlady lives abroad. The property itself is in general disrepair. I don't know if the landlady has planning permission to run the property as she does, but there seems to be a kind of self-contained annex inside which perhaps allows her to lease the house to so many people.
The problem is that the over-crowding leads to noise and bins over-flowing with rubbish. Our complaints are in vain as the tenants soon move on. We work hard and are completely exhausted when woken at 4:30am etc by late-night drinking, music and socialising during the week. This is our permanent home; we don't have the choice to move.
Can anyone advise me over what steps I might take to ease the situation? I have written to the council but they have taken over a month to reply so far and as much as I pester them they keep passing the buck between themselves. Is there anything else I can do? I understand there is new licensing legislation concerning HMOs coming into action soon. Could this help us? Should I be gathering some sort of evidence?(!)
Thanks so much for any tips or advice you might have.
With all best wishes,
Alice
Tags for Forum Posts: noise, noisy neighbours
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by maggie on
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I sympathise. From experience I would,
1/ keep a diary of noise etc,
2/ take photos of overflowing bins etc,
3/ every time there is noise after 11 pm I would ring the noise team. Its not always convenient to wait up until they come and investigate however they will log the complaint and this is further evidence. If you can wait up until they visit then they will tackle the tenants and will do this anonymously.
4/ I expect that it is rented out through an agency. Do they drop off the tenants in a van with phone number/ address, or can you ask the tenants for the address of any possible agents?
5/ Do you know when the changes were made to the house, any structural changes, have you seen any work being done?
Hopefully the knew licensing regulations will fill the loop holes in the present legislation. If you would like to talk further you can PM me and in the meantime I will try and think of anything else that may be useful.
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Permalink Reply by Alice Mezzo on
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Dear Maggie,
Thank you so much for this response! I feel quite alone in this matter so your help genuinely means a great deal to me. I will certainly follow your advice. I managed to intercept a builder recently, who told me the name of the Agents who manage the property ( I probably shouldn't name them here). This for me was a small victory as the tenants gave nothing away! I have written to the Agents today so perhaps this will solve things, if only temporarily. I think the changes to the house were probably made years ago, although I have seen a few builders around (including the one I intercepted) but they are only ever there sporadically, so I don't think they can be converting the property.
Thanks again for your help which was gratefully received by these tired eyes!
Alice
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Permalink Reply by Harringay SNT on
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Contact Steve Russell at the council. Tell him I suggested you do so.
He deals with private landlords and can advise you of what influence can be brought to bear.
Jono
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Thanks Juno. Will definitely follow up. The council sounded quite confused about the existing rules about over-crowding, so someone in the know would be really useful.
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Permalink Reply by Julie - WPRNW on
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which dept does he work in?
Alice, i think there are numerous situaton as your - we also in exact same. the council does tend to take the attitude of 'you are the only one who as complained, it cant be a problem' however, you are doing the responsible thing by making the problem know. its not an offense to ask people to play by law.
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Permalink Reply by VIX on
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PM me too Alice and ill try to help.
I have total sympathy for you as we have lived next door to HMO/illegal conversion for four years. The council need to sort these rouge landlord letting agents out.
Maggie has covered quite a bit, but i can give you a few more tips/advise. Happy to chat to you about this.
Best
Vix
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Thanks Vix; I really appreciate your support.
I'm quite suprised how poorly organised/ineffective the response to my complaint to the council was. It seems to me that this is a real problem in Harringay (having just moved here from somewhere else) and we somehow need to address the issue, which sees tenants living in miserable, over-crowed housing and neighbours suffering the susequent noise and anti-social behaviour.
Turns out the house I am talking about is not registered as an HMO which I think could make things problematic for us. Does anyone know how to make the landlady get a proper license for her property?
I really appreciate your taking the time to write.
Best wishes,
Alice
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Permalink Reply by Betty Careless on
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Totally sympathise. I've moved now, but for a long time I lived on a property on St Anne's Rd, and the house next door was a similar set up. Tenants only stayed for a few weeks at a time, so there was no chance of getting to know them, and coming to some kind of understanding. The house was so rammed that if they wanted somewhere to sit and chat they generally used the garden, which meant any room overlooking the gardens were really noisy. Generally the tenants were OK, and they did used to quiten down if you asked, but once you've been woken up and had to stick your head out of the window and ask someone to be quiet, the damage has been done!
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Permalink Reply by David Schmitz on
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If you wish to give me some further information, either via a public posting or by email, (either via this site or via David.Schmitz@haringey.gov.uk) I'll be very happy to follow this up for you. That goes for anyone else with a similar problem
David Schmitz
Liberal Democrat Councillor for Harringay Ward
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Permalink Reply by Protheroe O'Shea on
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Hi Alice. Sympathies with what you are gong through. You are not alone I can assure you.
Personally i think you should post the details of the letting agent then more of us can complain. Also the chances of the agent managing more HMOs in the area is probably quite high. so if anyone has a problem with another property they could always call them on the off chance they manage it.
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Thanks Tunbridge Wells. I'm timid about posting any details about this case for now but certainly will do if problems continue. Thanks again for your support.
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Hi David,
Thanks so much for your response; it's great to hear from an actual Councillor for Harringay! Silence has prevailed after my complaint to the Estate Agents who manage the property. However, I do have a sneaking suspicion this won't be the last of it, so I may well take you up on your generous offer.
All best wishes,
Alice
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