War Zone tenant v neighbours

[markp]

Hi
There is a war on between my tenant and his neighbours. Court action threatened, bottles thrown,ADO orders issued etc, etc...The tenant has upset a few neighbours because he restores furniture and the noise is disturbing their peace. Only problem is that things have esculated into a war zone. I get a constant stream of phone calls and letters of complaint from adjoining neighbors. They want him out. Him and his wife pay the rent and keep the place lovely.
My question is can the neighbours apply to the courts to make me evict him? Or am I breaking some law letting him stay in the property?
cheers
Mark

 

[The Y-man]

In Victoria, there is a law in the RTA regarding the peaceful enjoyment of boht tenants AND neighbours.

The tenant can be served with warning(s), and then served a notice to vacate.

Cheers,

The Y-man

 

[wylie]

If he is making excessive noise then it is up to the neighbours to report him to the local council, who should deal with him. This is a tough one because you want your IP neighbours to be on a good footing with you but your tenant has his rights.

We had a similar situation occur last year. Two nice young men rented one of our IPs and they asked another chap in to help pay the rent. This boarder caused all sorts of trouble, loud music all hours (although the original two also were home late at night and didn't turn down the music until neighbours asked them to). This third chap was driving too fast down the street and doing handbrake turns into the yard, bringing his mates round for late night booze-ups and just annoying the whole street. Neighbourhood Watch was notified plus the police. Neighbours called us and we spoke to the original two, who were really great about it, but could not control the third chap because he was home all day.

Basically, I quietly spoke to the original two and told them that the police were very interested in what was happening in our house and suggested that they would be better off finding something else and to disassociate themselves from this other chap. RTA told us that the third chap living there without our permission was a breach and we could issue notice to quit.

We didn't want to upset anyone, especially this ring in as we didn't know what he was like. Any time the neighbours approached our tenants or the third chap, they obliged in turning the music down. There was no animosity, but they kept doing it. They were just young and a bit silly.

Our original two were very grateful that we gave them the "heads up" and certainly didn't want any police attention. They were really nice young men, who learnt a good lesson about letting someone in to share costs without knowing the other person. We told them they could find somewhere else and we would not penalise them in any way for breaking the lease. They found a flat together and the ring in left as well. It ended well, no damage to the house and happy neighbours, but had we come down heavy, the third chap could have trashed the place, I suppose.

Sorry about the long story, but your tenants may want to find somewhere else where he can work and make noise without annoying the neighbours. On the other hand, the neighbours need to respect his right to use his equipment if he is using it within the hours he is allowed.

I would try to let the neighbours know that you sympathise with their plight, but that they have to go through the proper channels and ringing you is not the right thing to do. If he is within his rights, you cannot just ask him to leave and his neighbours need to understand your position.

The bottle throwing thing is a bit of a worry. Obviously things are not going too well. I'd leave it up to your tenant and the neighbours. It really is an issue they have to work out themselves if he hasn't breached the lease.

Keep us posted.

Wylie

 

[Programmer]

As Wylie said, it really comes down to the local council.

At what times is he 'disturbing' them?
What's he doing that disturbs them?

If he's using machinery etc after, say, 9pm weekdays then the neighbours have a valid complaint.

You've likely already addressed this, but it's probably time to be proactive and suggest that any non-compliance to local rules etc is going to get him in trouble.

Try your best to get it settled before it escalates any further...

Whether legally, you're problem (as LL) or not - isn't what I'd be immedately thinking. I'd just want resolution, preferably win-win. He's gotta respect their right to some peace (within reason), they (neighbours) have to respect his right to do what he likes on his (your) property, again, within reason.

 

[lizzie]

i can understand where the neighbours are coming from. it all depends on when the noise is happening - if it's during the day during the working week, then okay, but he should also have the property then registered with the council as a place of business.

if it's on the weekends or after working hours i can understand the neighbours getting really peeved. it seems so trivial, but we had a neighbour who used to run their very noisy pool filter (up against our fence) at breakfast time and in the evening - the two times of day we used to love sitting out the back of the house and listen to the birds in the backyard reserve - problem is, once the new neighbours moved in we couldn't hear a thing except their filter humming and rattling. i did ask politely if they could change the time to the middle of the night - but only got surly replies and nothing changed.

the quality of life wasn't ruined - but we were very irritated by the noise.

 

[Bargain Hunter]

Mark,

If the neighbours have a valid complaint then the tenant will be moved on.

I wouldn't concern myself as long as the tenant is fully compliant on all fronts, and that you are covered for any downside.

Is the furniture restoration a full-blown business?

Does the lease allow for this type of activity?

Is the business registered with the council?

Are all OH&S and workplace requirements being met?

Furniture restoration would require timber, cloth, padding, and highly flammable chemicals which should all be stored appropriately. Is it?

Does your landlord insurance cover you if he is carrying out this type of business?

If you do not know the answers to these questions then you need to find out because you may be carrying a greater risk than simply upsetting the tenant or the neighbours.

Regards

Andrew

 

[BoatBoy]

Gee, I must have tollerant neighbours.


Sure we don't make noise at night, but we live in residential area on a 10m x 50m cnr block, so neighbour's are close.

I am building a 50 ft catamaran in the back yard, so grinders, jigsaw's, compressors,sander's and occasionaly a planer being used in an open shed.

Plenty of bog dust flying around leaving a coating on stuff, occasionaly fiberglass dust as well.

Two pack primer's and paint's being used, last batch was 60 litres in one session.

I do try and sweep and vacuam before blowing dust off boat and do let neighbour's know when spraying so they can go away for the day.

In 2.5 year's only had one complaint via council from a few door's down about the dust, which is fine, as I was in a sanding frenzy for a week, and there was plenty of it flying around.

Council never had a problem, they just had to appear to be doing their job, there was nothing they could do about it, and they never mentioned anything about the 20m x 10m temporary shed in the back yard.

As I said, tolerant neighbour's, reckon i'll owe them a bottle or 3 when the boat goes in.

Then to top it off, we hope to demo the house and build duplex on the site, so more racket.

But in all fairness, we did a door knock before purchasing the house and told the neighbour's what our plan was and had no objection's.



Gee, i'm glad I don't live next door to me.

BB

 

[lizzie]

i think you'll owe them a luxury, all expenses paid, seafood and wine day out on your cat - when it's finally finished!

 

[markp]

Sorry about the long story, but your tenants may want to find somewhere else where he can work and make noise without annoying the neighbours. On the other hand, the neighbours need to respect his right to use his equipment if he is using it within the hours he is allowed.

I would try to let the neighbours know that you sympathise with their plight, but that they have to go through the proper channels and ringing you is not the right thing to do. If he is within his rights, you cannot just ask him to leave and his neighbours need to understand your position.

The bottle throwing thing is a bit of a worry. Obviously things are not going too well. I'd leave it up to your tenant and the neighbours. It really is an issue they have to work out themselves if he hasn't breached the lease.

Keep us posted.

Wylie

[/QUOTE]
Hi Wylie
The above sums up the position pretty well and I have taken the action you suggest.

I originally sided with the neighbours but after speaking with the tenant I sided with him. He is not operating his machinery outside required hours and it is only a hobby for him not a business.

I sympathise with the neighbours but their intent is to make me evict the tenant. I have let them know that is not my position. Anyway there are now some court cases looming over the ADO orders. In the meantime I just have to keep my head down in case I get hit by a bottle.

Boatboy I think your boat has become a land mark and the neighbours will miss it when it is finally launched.

cheers
I should add that neighbouring tenants do get anoyed with landlords banging away (renovating) at all hours of the night. We were once told to leave our property by a tenant. Fair enough, it was 12oclock at night. Imagine that evicted by a tenant?

 

[natmarie73]

Your tenant should be letting the police know he is having bottles thrown at him (I presume he is not the one throwing the bottles). He will be able to press criminal charges against the neighbours, also, if your property is damaged by the bottles (or molotov cocktails if it escalates ) you will probably want some sort of record on file with the police that the neighbours are committing criminal acts.