What a nuisance! How to deal with vandals, annoying neighbours and other police matters.
Posted 20 July 2020
Having a nice place to live is something we all want and strive for, and as property managers, we consider this a vital aspect of what we achieve.
Most of the time the environment we live in does not cause any issues, but from time to time there can be situations that are unpleasant, create a hazard, or may even cause a threat to our safety. Instances of vandalism to property or the grounds are bad enough, as is dog fouling left behind by thoughtless owners, but when it comes to drug users taking up residence on the development it goes beyond being a nuisance and is cause for alarm. So, what can we do?
Dogs, vandals, and litter
If it’s a minor or mildly annoying problem, you should report it to Crabtree by contacting the POD managing your property, but as residents will hopefully appreciate, there is often limited action we can take. If we can identify the culprits as residents, we may be able to recharge clearance costs to the leaseholder of the property so as much information from residents as possible is key to getting something done. Where areas of your development are publicly accessible, we are more restricted in preventing anti-social behaviour
Issues we can attempt to resolve include:
- Vandalism to plants and gardens
- Broken doors or locks
- Broken gates
- Littering in the grounds
- Leaving obstructive items in the corridors
- Fly-tipping in entrances
- Damage to equipment
- Dog fouling
- Graffiti on external walls
- Overflowing bins
Noisy neighbours
Dealing with excessively noisy neighbours is a tricky issue. Whilst to some music or party chatter is acceptable to hear through the walls or over the garden fence, to others, it’s an annoyance they didn’t sign up for when moving into their home. Whilst the legal documents relating to your property will often detail when noise should not be audible outside the property, common sense usually tells us what is acceptable and when to be more courteous and considerate of neighbours. However, when all that literally goes out of the window tempers will flare and it may be time to take action.
In the first instance please do let your Crabtree POD know about the situation, and provide as many details as you can; offending property address, name (if you know it) dates, times, type of noise etc, whether it’s a one-off or a repeated annoyance. We will write to the resident and/or property owner informing them of the issue requesting it stops immediately.
Our powers in dealing with noise nuisance are however limited if an initial written warning is not followed.
Your local authority has quicker and stronger powers to deal with persistent noise nuisance matters. You can report this online by typing your postcode into the following link to go straight to the correct authority
https://www.gov.uk/report-noise-pollution-to-council
Please keep a diary of all dates, times and details of the noise as this will be required by the local authority.
Drugs
For more serious matters such as any form of drug activity or homeless individuals living on site. you should take the following swift action:
- Immediately report to the police. The more reports they get from residents the more important they will class the issue and increase patrols to the area going forward.
- Report to your Property Manager via your relevant Crabtree POD so we can log the issue with the Client and look to see if we can take any preventative measures to stop it happening in the future.
- Make notes or take pictures that could be used as evidence if required.
If you have any issues you think we can help with, please contact us as soon as you can – acting fast can make a difference!
So to recap:
- Act quickly
- Call the police if necessary
- Provide as much information as possible
- Keep a record of repeat occurrences for future reference.
