I have tenants in a flat on a GRL AST which only started on 4th August.
There are only 2 people named on the AST but it has come to myself and the landlord’s attention that soon after beginning the tenancy, the tenants moved their 2 young children in from Bulgaria as well as their parents. This is a large 1 bed flat. The tenants seem happy enough with the temporary living arrangements but clearly this is too many people for a 1 bed property. They have asked me to find their parents alternative acommodation but there is none at present, especially as they are wanting a furnished property.
The neighbouring tenant called today to inform me that she has called the Police twice in the last week to complain about their noise late in the evening. The neighbour is 36 weeks pregnant and tells me she feels intimidated by the new tenants. They in turn had previously told me that they find her aggressive.
What can be done? I have sent them messages (translated via Google as their English is not good) a couple of times before regarding noise levels and asking for consideration for other residents.
I would appreciate some advice as I don’t want to get into trouble for overcrowding when I had no idea it was the tenants intention to move their family over.
2 Comments
Hopefully you will have used an application form which will ask who is to occupy and that will show at the time of applying and on the tenancy your intention was only for the two people. That way, if there is a query about overcrowding (from the local authority for example) you will be able to show the intentions and we can’t see there being any issue.
With respect to the anti-social behaviour, unfortunately that’s not so easy and in reality all you can do for the time-being is what you are doing.
If it persists, you could serve a section 8 notice on ground 14 (anti-social behaviour) and 12 (breach of tenancy) although we wouldn’t recommend going to court on the notice as possession can be very difficult indeed. No harm in serving the notice though to see if that does anything. The notice period for ground 14 has been significantly reduced when other grounds were extended to six months.
Ultimately, the realistic way will be to serve the section 21 notice after the first four months and obtain possession that way.
So, as far as anti social behaviour is concerned, there is no notice period, except 4 days? But if I add Ground 12, it would have to be 6 months? It’s so confusing now.