Who to Contact When in Rented Accommodation

Originally written by Jeff Durham, updated by the editorial team on 21st May 2026

Your Rights as a Tenant

Tenants have specific legal protections when it comes to neighbour disputes. While the legal recourses available to you differ from those of homeowners, you still have the right to enjoy your property without unreasonable disturbance.

Who you should contact about a neighbour problem depends on several factors, including the nature of the issue and whether you rent privately or through a social landlord. In some cases, your landlord will need to be involved. In others, you may deal with the matter directly through your local council or other agencies.

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Renting from a Private Landlord

If you rent privately and live in a self-contained property, you will often handle neighbour disputes in a similar way to a homeowner. For noise complaints, boundary issues, or antisocial behaviour, your local council is often the appropriate starting point. Most councils have dedicated teams for environmental health and community safety matters.

Your private landlord may not be directly responsible for disputes with neighbours who are not their tenants. However, landlords do have obligations under the principle of 'quiet enjoyment', which means they must ensure you can live in the property without significant disturbance. It is worth letting your landlord know about serious or ongoing problems, as they may have a role in helping to resolve them. Keeping them informed also protects your position if matters escalate.

If there is any immediate threat to your safety or someone else's, contact the police. This applies regardless of your tenancy type.

Your situation may be slightly different. ask a question below ↓ and our editorial team will reply with our advice.

Renting from a Council or Housing Association

Social housing tenants have an additional route for raising concerns. When you signed your tenancy agreement, you agreed to certain conditions around behaviour and how you use the property. Your neighbours in the same housing stock will have signed similar agreements.

Some councils and housing associations provide a tenant handbook alongside the agreement, which may explain what is expected of you and what standards you can expect from those living nearby. It should also set out how to report problems and what the landlord can do in response.

If a neighbour is breaching their tenancy conditions through antisocial behaviour, excessive noise, or other disruptive conduct, your housing provider may have powers to investigate and issue warnings. In serious cases, they may take enforcement action, though this typically involves multiple steps including mediation and support services before possession proceedings are considered as a last resort.

Contact your housing officer or the customer services team to report an issue. Keep a record of incidents with dates and times, as this will help them assess the situation. If your complaint remains unresolved after following your landlord's process, the Housing Ombudsman can review how your case was handled.

Other Contacts

Depending on the problem, other organisations may be able to help.

Your local council's environmental health team can investigate statutory nuisances. To qualify as statutory, noise or other disturbances generally need to be frequent and severe enough to significantly affect your quality of life.
Mediation services offer a structured way to resolve disputes. Many councils provide access to free or low cost neighbourhood mediation, which can be effective for ongoing disagreements where communication has broken down.
Citizens Advice can help you understand your rights and suggest next steps if you are unsure how to proceed.
The police should be contacted if you feel threatened or witness criminal behaviour.

GOV.UK provides information on housing and local authority responsibilities, though interpreting how regulations apply to your situation may require advice from a housing specialist.

Always keep written records of any issues and communications with landlords or authorities, as this will support your case if the matter needs to go further.

The Next Step

Now that you have read through the advice above, you might want to put it into practice. Our Noise Complaint Letter Builder lets you generate a formal noise complaint letter ready to send. Takes 2 minutes. Try it now →

Showing 20 of 58 questions

Ask Problem Neighbours a Question

ProblemNeighbours Editor 23/05/2026 at 9:15 am

@Mik Please report the assaults to the police on 101, or 999 if you're in immediate danger, and ask for a crime reference number. Racial abuse is a hate crime and they're obliged to take it seriously. Tell your landlord or letting agent in writing, and contact your council's housing or anti-social behaviour team about being rehoused as a priority. Shelter (0808 800 4444) and Citizens Advice can also help you push things along and give free legal guidance.

Mik 03/09/2025 at 10:57 am

I am living in the most dreadful situation.

I have been assaulted in the property on a number of occasions ( double bullying), have been racially incited and 3 other tenants are al ganging up on me.

I am trying to get rehoused.

I need help please to confront the fear and violence.

Who can I turn to please ?

Dizzit 14/02/2024 at 11:33 am

I am a leaseholder and live in a flat, for a number of years we have had a problem with other residents in the block smoking weed. This has been reported by other residents past and present. It stinks the whole block out and seeps into my flat. I have respiratory problems, I end up having to use inhalers more. There have been phone calls to police, they give me a crime number and say it is the council's responsibility. It has been reported to health and environmental, who sent a letter to the two residents saying they would be fined.the council have done nothing about this. Residents have asked someone from council to witness the smell in the block but to no avail when you ask for the person you have spoken to, they are not in the office or they are in a meeting you ask for a callback,this never happens. We already have been down the road of form filling and got nowhere.

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Sisterofsalem 22/05/2021 at 10:17 pm

Are area used to be a good place to live but now we have to deal with people throwing parties 3 to 4 times a week and a neighbour who is constantly banging on the walls and in random moments just screams we have made complaints, especially when she started to throw threats around because we asked her to keep the noise down, nothing was ever done about it we have just given up due to the stress and are currently looking for a new home. It's sad considering we have lived in this house for over 30 years now but we can't cope anymore, We get no sleep on some nights and when the nightmare next door calms down another house on the street decides it's a great opportunity to have a rave ( I'm not exaggerating it sounds like a night club in the middle of the suburbs).

JJ 30/04/2021 at 9:57 pm

Neighbours in the flat above me party frequently, play loud music whenever home, but mostly at night and this continues into the early hours..they talk loudly, and and stomp around. Thos happens when the owner is not home. He goes out and the kids arrive, making our life miserable...I have left a message and they ignored it

zedexsevenar 27/02/2021 at 12:23 am

i have a ditch running down one side next to my garden and the neibour keeps digging the soil from the bank my side of the ditch and moving it onto the bank his side so my side erodes down and basically im losing garden now and the boundary line is both in and out of the ditch. i live in rented council property and my neibour lives in private owned property. What should i do ?

pat 17/02/2021 at 9:20 am

I live in a maisonnette in a block of flats. 75 % is owned by a landlord who rents it out to some kind of council homeless charity. since I arrived there have been all kinds of problems. the landlord does not seem to bother when contacted. I had to try and solve a few problems but it takes a lot of time. lately the neighbours have dumped rubbish in front and bird etc open the bags ... the place is stinking. I have written to Salford council but besides getting a case number nothing has been done.. is more than a week. The neigbhours are not to be seen.. What should I do.

Sarabande 20/10/2020 at 9:22 pm

I have a neighbour next door who slams their front door at all times of the day so loud it wakes people up .. this is done late at night and early in morning .. seems to be on purpose don’t know what to do that also they smoke a lot of weed also and I suspect them of having drugs dropped off outside my front door ..please help

Kez 26/06/2020 at 3:41 pm

Hi, I was just wondering whether anyone could give me some advice. My mum and I have lived in an Incommunities ground floor maisonette for the last 13 years, it has a little yard at the front (no fencing) and paving stones at the back of the property (also no fencing). We have experienced issues with neighbours not respecting our outdoor areas since we moved in (e.g. the neighbours who live next-door but upstairs regularly put their washing on our clothesline, they even once put a large heavy rug on there which broke the line, the same neighbour also put their bins out in front of my bedroom window, even though they live above the flat next door!). My main complaint is about another neighbour though, this neighbour let's her kids play right outside of my windows, I mean her boys favourite game is knocking on my living room window and playing with their toy cars on my windowsill. I have repeatedly asked her to move her children as my mum is medical vulnerable and currently shielding due to covid-19. I caught the neighbours boys climbing on my mum's bedroom window, posting toys and litter through the open window and tried to talk to the neighbour about it but she just took her kids inside and shut the door in my face. Then a few days later I could hear someone having an argument and it was the same neighbour screaming at someone on her phone- SAT ON MY LIVING ROOM WINDOWSILL! I walked into the kitchen to get the key for the door and when I came back she had gone, so I went back to what I had been doing. A few minutes later I heard her again, so I go to the living room window and that's when I notice her sat on the floor with her back leaning against the bricks underneath my living room window! I didn't bother getting the keys this time, I knocked on the window and told her to move. Her reply? 'You can't tell me what to do! You don't f***ing own outside! It belongs to the council! I'll sit wherever I f***ing want! Dumb b**ch!' I told her I would report her and she moved. I've contacted my housing officer to report it, but apparently they don't go back to work for another couple of weeks. I'm at my wits end and would really appreciate it if anyone could give me some advice on how to deal with this. Sorry for the long post. Thanks

Donna 14/05/2020 at 3:00 am

My neighbour as put a trampoline 10ft from my living room window for her 4 children to play on ... I have to close my windows and curtains for privacy , they can look straight in at me .... I don’t know the law on this - does anyone ???

Frankoh 19/04/2020 at 12:57 pm

I need help with my noisy neighbors the antisocial behaviour is causing me a lot of distress and sleep deprivation because I can't sleep at night because of the neighbors constant bangs ànd running around at various hours at night been reporting it to my landlord for 3yrs now and nothing been done .

pinkprincesscat21 15/04/2020 at 9:43 am

We were moved out of private housing by the police due to nefarious acts by drug dealers & runners. Let's just say it was 4 years of hell. We are now with a Social landlord and the neighbor next door is noisy as hell. He would sublet his house to some friend who is the cause of the problems, noisy, confrontational, threatening, the housing says he is not allowed to sublet but he does to the most obnoxious guy on the planet. the hard thing about all this is that our neighbor is good deep down, a nice guy but he is insecure and surrounds himself with people who bring him trouble and drag him down, we can see it but he is oblivious to it. Many a time we have tried to talk with him friendly, openly and the neighbor next door comes and tells him to get in or his friend does the (the subtenant) does the same. If it was him just living there it would be nice and we would all get along, unfortunately, it's not to be. He has already been evicted from one house because of the same issues we are experiencing with him here! Now we are in lockdown because of the Coronavirus then our neighbour decided it would be a good thing to throw a yard party! All his mates where there, the noise was awful a lot of screaming and shouting, music and a fire pit, which even with our windows closed the smoke could be smelt in the upstairs back rooms that are facing onto ours and his yard. We decided at 8 pm to leave them to it and that it would eventually die a slow death. Unfortunately, by 12.04 they became a lot drunker and much louder, we had to draw the line we called the police. They read him the riot act which was good and unfortunately. It was hilarious when the police arrived then all the males at the party could not get through his back door quickly enough. I told the police they where all hiding inside the house which rattled my neighbour somewhat. But alas after the police left then they just continued the party inside the kitchen of the house until 4 am. We recorded everything we could for the Housing Association but I am not holding out any hope with them as they are sentimental and very slow. From previous experience with them when we complained about this guy before and they slashed all of the tyres on my car and my husbands car too! We are surrounded by people who are just horrendous and do not know what to do or whom to turn to. its like we are in a living hell and they are trying their very best to unsettle us. There are many more incidents that happened but I don't want to drag it out.

Jaja 08/04/2020 at 12:02 pm

Hi, I've just moved into a converted town house and renting the lower flat, my neighbour has the top two flats. I've noticed theres water dripping from one of my neighbours pipes outside in my back garden and its dripping right next to my kitchen window and landing on my window ledge. Not sure what too do I've tried knocking on my neighbours front door but get no answer.
Can any one please help?

tomg 13/02/2020 at 4:41 pm

Drug dealers living at 4 Dennistoun Avenue Christchurch,
How do I get rid of them.
Making a mess of my house, wish i had never rented it out.
Help

RAT 16/10/2019 at 10:02 pm

We have signed. 12 month tenancy can we leave if having problems with neighbours
We were told building was four executive flats but it’s 11 bedsits
My children have witnessed people under the influence of drugs smashing cars up and hallucinating, our house smells of skunk , they have over our wall smoking and in dressing gowns at 3pm, the litter is ridiculous all over the street and they fly tip beside the house they pay £320 bills all in
We pay band E council tax and £1000 per month to live next to that
Given we were misled is there any way we can get out of tenancy

Daisy 22/09/2018 at 8:20 pm

my neighbours garden is like a jungle and breaking the fences brambles everywhere and mice etc coming through the fence as well as spreading all the weeds theres a shed in there somewhere how do i report it , i know its a rented property but not who with any ideas ?

kazzy67 03/09/2016 at 5:56 pm

Hi i think your page is great but are member's able too comment on posts that have been put up as i can not see anywhere if i was to comment on someone's post. Thanks

kazzy67 03/09/2016 at 5:43 pm

Hi, I am at my wits end. I moved on my own to the seaside from London and rented a lovely 1 bedroom flat looking over the sea, there are 8 flats inside the block which is very quiet and well maintain. after a couple of months the woman that lives under me come up and said i was making too much noise which was me just walking about so i told her that i would try to be quiet but unless i hover there is not much i can do. Most of the other residents have lived here for many years, anyway i just get on with my life, i say hello to them all wen i see them but have not got involved. I ave been in this flat for 10months when i get a letter from my landlord asking for the flat back sending me a notice seeking possession, i was gobsmacked when calling the agency they have told me there has been 4 complaints from long term tenants and the landlord wants flat back!!! I asked what were the complaints 1- Leaving back door unlocked when going out ok hands up if in the day time i was running across to shop for 5min i have left it unlocked 2- One sunny afternoon i was playing music to loud, hands up once i did but it was 2 in the afternoon and apparently i left it playing whilst i went out NOW that is a lie as all my plugs are pulled out wen i leave the house 3- I had a friend up from London and he is a bit loud but we had no music on as we were chatting But it was reported that i had a party and people were in and out my door all night,he left at 11pm and from when he walked in my door my door was not opened again till he left. Now this seems like a witch hunt the other residents dont like me i dont know why i have always been polite to them but they want me out. I am not sure whether too confront them and ask what the hell have i done, honestly if these things i was meant to do why did they not knock on my door and talk to me, i am thinking haters the girl upstairs and downstairs have issues with the way they look which to me they look fine but i know they do have confidence problems dont we all but i think that as i am slim have long hair i am smug but if they got to know me they will see that what is on my outside does not mean i dont also suffer with problems that they can not see and i have a heart. Anyway defo getting evicted. Dont know if i should knock on all their doors and ask them strait what the f##k is going on. Please advice

Jess 07/07/2016 at 12:12 am

There is an empty land behind my house with weeds that are hanging over our fence, damaging the fence and a shed I have. We tried cutting some from our side but it was a very hard job, we are afraid that the fence will fall, since the weeds are pushing through our fence, what can we do? I have the owner's information. Are neighbor is having the same issue. We also now have snakes on our yard, crawling from their land.

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