Neighbours from hell...please help!

Kildavin said:

Incredible! So neighbours have an effective veto on your tenants ?

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I wouldn't put it like that. But I can tell you this, if I had a tenant like the OP described I would certainly want to know about it. No other human being should have to live beside what is described.

You mention veto, I try to always get good tenant's. Including warning them that my neighbours cannot stand any noise, will call the gardai and not to take the place if they can not comply to try and deter would be party hellraisers. Have not always been successful. But it is damn hard to get rid of bad tenants.

Workingclass, it is good to know that these things can be sorted.

Kildavin said:

Incredible! So neighbours have an effective veto on your tenants ?

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It isn't like they can have them evicted out because they don't like the look of them. If there are real and serious issues related to anti-social behaviour or other factors impacting on the neighbours quality of life then they should be allowed seek a resolution.

Landlords shouldn't be able to place whoever they like in a property and then wash their hands of it.

Kildavin said:

Incredible! So neighbours have an effective veto on your tenants ?

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Yes, provided those neighbours are prepared to stand in a court of law with evidence to prove that your tenants are extremely disruptive and are negatively impacting their ability to use their family home. (does this honestly seem unreasonable to you?)

It's not like the neighbours can simply decide they don't like a tenant and move to have them evicted. It is up to those neighbours to actually prove the tenants are disruptive.

Now the bit where the law gets interesting seems to be the fact that you are legally liable for the tenants in some respects, so if you choose to ignore these complaints when then come up, the neighbours can take you to court and sue you.

At the end of the day, if I ever again need to make the decision between listening to my kids crying for hours in the middle of the night because some a-hole thinks it's ok to blare music at full volume at 4am or take a some landlord to court who I've already made numerous complaints to, well I'll be dusting off the suit again. I'd strongly suggest that anyone else in a similar position do the same.

Also, if I were a landlord (which I may very well be shortly) I would want to know right away if I had anti-social tenants, because they tend not to be the kind of people who are going to take any kind of care my investment.

I second the comments about the Gardai, they are surprisingly understanding in cases like this, and I myself have been assured that its very common for people to come to them regarding neighbour issues.

Last year we got a new neighbour who - because he wasn't working - could sleep in until all hours of the day. I on the other hand, had to go out to work. He liked to do things to stir up my dogs, keep me awake - such as chopping timber in the house, tapping on the windows at night, playing the tv loudly etc.

It all came to a head when he drunkenly smashed one of the windows in the house. I called the Gardai in the morning, they had a word and things have been peaceful since. My advise, speak to your local Gardai.

I wanted to update you on our neighbour situation....

Things continued as they were. We felt very helpless and afraid of them. One day a fire started in their house, which caused a bit of damage in the house but not serious thankfully. Next thing landlord turns up with a few guys to fix all the damage. We spoke to him and discovered he was landlord. He was quite aware of the type of people he had in the house and said they had been there for 7 years and had more rights than him or he would get move them on 'but his hands were tied'.
I lost the head. Walked over to his van and took down reg etc and told him my father worked in revenue my husband in the guards (all lies might I add) and I'd be passing on a complaint, causually dropping in 'I'm sure if you are paying tax you have nothing to worry about'. He said nothing and I left him to it.

The tenants disappeared when the work was going on. Next thing skips appeared and more workmen appeared on site. House was being gutted. Spotted landlord a few days later and he called me over. Was very friendly and said he had managed to get rid of bad tenants and had a lovely family moving in who were very nice and would not cause any bother. He also gave me his mobile number......

New neighbours lovely - not a peep out of them. Normal decent people and our lives have changed for the better. Still, it was more chance than anything that sorted it.

Am delighted for you. I had really bad neighbours before, too, so can sympathise. and the relief when they finally moved out! Happy days!

great news Emmaf...no one should have to live like that but this is a broken country, and good people are ignored in favour of the take take cohort that live amongst us.

Interesting that the mention of the Rev Comm may have inspired the change in attitude with that landlord....I would have thought that if Welfare were paying the rent, then all landlords have no choice but to be registered and tax compliant. But this is Ireland, and I suppose I should'nt assume anything as basic as that

Delboy said:

I would have thought that if Welfare were paying the rent, then all landlords have no choice but to be registered and tax compliant. But this is Ireland, and I suppose I should'nt assume anything as basic as that

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That would mean that computers in one department would have to talk to computers in another department. Things like this dont happen in Ireland's 'Smart Economy'

While the computer systems don't "talk" directly to each other, there is exchange of data between Dept of Social Protection and the Revenue Commissioners.

For properties where Rent Supplement is in payment, the amount of Rent Supplement paid, along with landlord information, is sent every year to the Revenue Commissioners. It is now a legal requirement for a landlord to supply his/her tax reference number as part of a tenant's application for Rent Supplement.