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 →

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.

ProblemNeighbours Editor 04/07/2016 at 11:45 am

Faz29 - Your Question:Hi I live in a 2 bedroom house with 3 children, they are all in the room 2 boys 10 and 8 and a girl 4.i have done all I can do get a move but im not getting anywhere my.any advice what to do?Our Response:

Faz29 01/07/2016 at 12:23 pm

Hi i live in a 2 bedroom house with 3 children, they are all in the room 2 boys 10 and 8 and a girl 4..i have done all i can do get a move but im not getting anywhere my ..any advice what to do?

Anita Sutton 04/06/2016 at 8:21 pm

My daughter is renting a cottage but unfortunately it's very damp and mould is growing in and behind the wardrobe as well as on her furniture it's been reported to landlord bit all he says is open the window which is annoying as it's not goin and all I do is keep cleaning behind wardrobe and everything smells of damp.

ProblemNeighbours Editor 17/05/2016 at 12:12 pm

Contact environmental health. Read these two guides for more information: Overgrown and Messy Gardens Dealing with Infestation

misty 14/05/2016 at 8:12 pm

I have a neighbour who has rubbish in her side path round the back behind the kitchen window its about 3 foot wide and about 6 foot long piled up she throws dirty nappies out of the bedroom window plus black bags of rubbish there is household waste, takeaway rubbish, old toys, I have just found out I have two rat runs under the fence and I have seen a rat two people have informed new charter a week ago with no response I don't know what to do next . thanks

Rogue 21/03/2016 at 10:48 pm

I'm having a problem trying to keep my cool over my inconsiderate neighbour.
I've spoken to her 3 times now over the noise that she and her friends make but it's almost like the friends find it funny to make more noise because they don't live there.
Over the last 2wks they have now taken to slamming the front door everytime they enter the house, she fails to put her trash out which means the excess is blown/thrown into my garden, which has included 2 dirty nappies that don't get picked up until they are kicked back into her garden. Her boyfriend has his dope delivered by moped, that the rider revs like mad at the door and the he smokes it outside so the stench filters in to my home. The cigarette butts are then flicked into the front garden which now looks like an ashtray.
I'm up for work everyday at 4.30am and I try to be quiet leaving the house and starting the car but I'm in despair with the lack of sleep and frustration of how to resolve this. I'm sorely tempted to just throw my common courtesy away and treat them the same way.

ProblemNeighbours Editor 01/02/2016 at 11:23 am

Complain to the landlord, they should be able to take the necessary action against the other tenant.

bixy 29/01/2016 at 10:39 am

i live in a ground floor private rented flat and a neighbour in the upstairs flat next door has throws his rubbish out of his window into my garden first it was a small cabinet which broke one of my garden chairs .i had my grandchildren here at the time so was grateful it did not hit one of them,then some litter and his ashtray ,now its some sort of floorcovering.what can i do about this please .

0070 09/01/2016 at 8:41 pm

Our neighbour allows their dog to foul their back garden right next to ours. The stench and sight is unsanitary, and with young children its really bothersome. We're fond of our neighbours, but this situation is unbearable and renders our garden unusable. How do we proceed?

Many thanks

0070 09/01/2016 at 8:38 pm

Our neighbour allows their dog to foul their garden. The stench and sight is unsanitary, and with two young children, its really bothersome. We're fond of them, but the situation is unbearable. How do we proceed?

Many thanks

Hedge Witch 31/12/2015 at 6:47 am

I live next door to a rural pub, the current owners bought it a few weeks before I purchased my house. They have 4 dogs cooped up in the upstairs accommodation and I often hear them barking (not as bad as it used to be) the landlords wife has been in my house and heard them for herself - she now denies that her dogs bark! They are let out late at night when the pub is being locked up and I am often woken by their barking.
Recently they have seem to be running their folk music night finishing later and later, (close to midnight and i'm up for work at 5.30) who do I contact to find out about the music license restriction as this also echoes into my property?
Thanks a very Shattered Hedge Witch

Nic 21/08/2015 at 7:30 pm

My parent who are 70, recently bought a property to be close to the family. We thought this was a good idea so they would be near by as they get older.
The neighbour (semi detached property) is a council tenant and is abusive and uses threatening behaviour to my parents. We have tried to ask what is wrong or what is the problem but we are met by foul language.
I'm not sure where to turn. We haven't experienced anything like this before.

ProblemNeighbours Editor 18/08/2015 at 2:07 pm

Contact the council, they can take steps to trace/contact/serve notice on the missing landlord. Here is more information.

Sue148 17/08/2015 at 11:37 pm

My neighbour has ignored 3 written requests from me to repair her bathroom overflow pipe which drips constantly. She does not appear to be living at her house but just collects the post occasionally - as far as I know she is the home owner. The pipe has been leaking for at least 6 months and when it is windy I cannot sit in my back garden without getting wet! Her garden is completely over-grown and is causing damage to my fence. Please advise me to whom I can complain and how this matter can be rectified when I have no means of contacting her other than by a letter which she consistently ignores?

sprat 08/08/2015 at 11:46 am

My nighbours house and garden r a complete mess the garden is so over grown and there is loads of wood that is rotten and I'm sure there r rats in there as all the cats from the street and all in there garden .The state of the house is unbelievable they keep there bins in the kitchen

ProblemNeighbours Editor 16/07/2015 at 2:17 pm

@Kazbar2. Contact your local council's environmental health department.

kazbar2 12/07/2015 at 7:13 pm

i live above a retaurant and next door is a vet im sick of cleaning the dog mes up from outside my door and the shop who do i conact about this problem

ProblemNeighbours Editor 16/03/2015 at 2:25 pm

@biddy. Keep trying - this should be dealt with promptly as it's a sanitation issue.

biddy 13/03/2015 at 10:55 am

reported a blockage in the outside water pipe of my home, when flushing the toilet or draining the bath, waste from the toilet is over filling my neighbours downstairs bathroom resulting in poo being flooded onto the floors and coming through their sinks. A camera inserted by the council said its from lime scale build up but Lambeth have not given us a date for when they can unblock the scale build up.

ProblemNeighbours Editor 03/02/2015 at 10:20 am

@teethie. Make a record of what's wrong - take photos etc. Write down the number of times you've reported this to your landlord and make a note of his/her responses. If you can afford to get a professional opinion on the damp/mould problems (such as a surveyor etc) do that - you could try and reclaim this from the landlord at a later date if necessary. If not write a letter requesting that the problem is investigated and some solutions implemented. If nothing is done within a reasonale timeframe inform your landlord that you are contacting the council. The environmental health department will carry out an inspection to see whether the problems constitute a health and/or safety risk. If they do, they can take action by making sure the landlord carries out the necessary work, or by doing the work themselves and charging the landlord. An alternative is to try holding back your rent (make sure you do not spend it, keep it somewhere you know it is available). Give the landlord time to respond and then inform him/her that you are going to use the rent to get the necessary repairs done. You should take legal advice before doing this though.

teethie 29/01/2015 at 10:04 pm

Me and my partner and four kids moved into a property bk in june 2014 which is owned by a landlord, everything seemed great with the house but since 3 mths ago we have black mould coming up on our walls in the kitchen,frontroom and two of the bedrooms, we have now got green mould growing up from our frontroom carpet. We have got our landlord out to sort but he blames it all on us but he told us that the house was treated for mould before we moved in. Its funny coz since we moved in my kids get colds after cold I have suffered from headaches we should we do about this coz the landlord don't care at all ???

ProblemNeighbours Editor 29/09/2014 at 1:47 pm

@lovey, the smell should not affect your asthma. If the bins are collected regularly and the other tenants use them properly, then there should be no issue. If you do find the smell is becoming pervasive, or people are leaving rubbish outside of the bins, contact your landlord to get the problem solved quickly.

lovey 26/09/2014 at 5:01 pm

I am about to move into a unit and my sliding door is to my lounge,well back door there is the community rubbish bins 4 feet from my sliding door, just worried the smell of the bins will smell thru me lounge and kitchen and will this affect me for I have asthma

ProblemNeighbours Editor 25/09/2014 at 2:12 pm

@fighter. Make a note of all the repairs that are needed and photograph them. You may hopefully have already done this, but if not, write a letter to your landlord explaining about the times you've reported the repairs and that nothing has been done. Then write a similar letter to your local council telling them that you have persistently and unsuccessfully requested that the repairs are undertaken. If there is a potential health/safety issue be sure to mention that too. If the council do not respond, then you should keep all the records and show them in court. If you withhold rent, you should always put it to one side rather than spending it, this makes it easier to prove that you withheld it because of the lack of response/repairs rather than because you did not have it.

chut 16/09/2014 at 6:15 pm

Hi I was wondering what I could do in the situation i'm in. We've been hearing gossip around our street (we are in a rented council house) that people have been complaining about our puppy, he is an 11 month old akita and is very big for his size so I guess that's why people may be a bit scared.
He however has not bit anyone and has barked at one person today because he got too close to her and was scared of her and the cars nearby when he accidentally got out of the garden.
He got out of the garden because the fence at this council house has long since been broken and I've been told the tenants replace it themselves, which I will also have to do for the surrounding area since the hedges have gaps in which he could escape from.
when he was my sisters dog someone shouted to her in the street saying she needed to put a muzzle on him when he isn't even dangerous and never gets let off the lead, as it's typical for akitas to run away once they think their alpha.
our next door neighbour has been complaining about my sisters cat too, he is sick at the moment and we're giving him medicine to make him better but he is still throwing up in other peoples gardens. we can still hear in our house what happens outside and my mum heard her threaten to kill our cat if it keeps been sick in her garden even though it cant be helped as he is sick.
We've lived in the council house for more than 10 years and have had no problems but some new neighbours move in and they think they own the street and can complain about even though we've done nothing wrong, I don't know if its because they are discriminating against my mum for being disabled or hey are genuinely horrible people but I don't know what to do. We're definitely not in the wrong even when one of the neighbours who don't like us had their dog take a dump in our garden, we could've complained but we didn't. another few members in the streets dogs have gone to attack our milo, but they haven't been gossiped and threatened to go to the council about them. It's disgusting what they are doing and I don't know what to do about it please give me some advice.

Jim Greenwich 03/08/2014 at 9:40 pm

Hi,

We got a rescue cat a few months back and he has been getting in to regular fights with the local cats. This is totally normal I know, but we now know the main reason for the fighting. The lady in the house opposite is leaving a large tub of cooked chicken pieces in her front garden every day. So as well as competing for territory the local cats are also fighting for this food. We've had two visits to the vets in the last month to get antibiotics for infected cuts in the cat and are £110 out of pocket already. Plus our cat is overweight as we are feeding him and then he's going over the road and eating her chicken! There is also a big pile of sand in the lady's front garden that I've watched all the cats using as a litter tray. We don't know if she is leaving the food out for her cat or for foxes, we've knocked a few times but haven't had a response. Does anyone know if the local council would do anything to put a stop to this, and which department I should contact? Thanks

ProblemNeighbours Editor 14/07/2014 at 12:29 pm

@cookie. If they are actually trespassing and damaging your property then the police cannot dismiss this by suggesting you move. Report them again.

cookie 13/07/2014 at 7:54 pm

Hi there, what would you recommend about neighbours that come into our garden and cut our plants and pour weed killer over them? They have been doing it for years, we keep notes and try to get video evidence too. They even trespassed into our home when we had work done on our house as a result of damage they caused, the guys doing the work said they found one of them wandering through our house. That's just the tip of the iceburg of what they do. We are at a loss about what to do, this has been going on for years now. The only advice we got from the police was that we should move (that was when we sought advice years ago). Any advice you could offer would be greatly appreciated.

Jess 11/07/2014 at 3:07 pm

In rented accom......loads of flys in the Flat..Phoned the Landlord he says they are Canabis Flys..this is not good I have a New baby? what do I do? I live in a Block of private flats and constantly smell weed in the block...

Lil 10/06/2014 at 6:31 pm

My husband and I live in a private rented self contained flat the couple above us smoke weed ,dope or what ever you call it we can often smell this in our property and have had an empty tobacco pouch posted through our letter box with a wad of money in it my husband knocked on the neighbours door and said I think this belongs to you how do we stand regarding this matter. Thank you

ProblemNeighbours 09/06/2014 at 12:00 pm

Sazza hello. This is an unpleasant problem to have to endure. There are a couple of things you can do. Firstly is the downstairs flat also owned by your landlord? If so contact the landlord and ask him to take action. It's likely there will be something in the tenancy agreement that refers to upkeep of the property/standards of cleanliness etc so the landlord should be able to act on that. Your other option is to contact your environmental health dept (you'll find the details on your local council website). If they deem the animal faeces to be a health/hygiene issue that can take action under the Environmental Protection Act. Thirdly, if you think the dog is being neglected (being left alone too long, not given sufficient exercise, being kept in unhygienic conditions etc) then you could contact the RSPCA for further advice/action over the dog itself. Before trying any of the above, you could pop down and knock on your neighbour's door to see if you can engage them in a friendly conversation about the problem.

sazza 07/06/2014 at 10:26 am

Hi I live in a private rented upstairs flat with my partner and my next-door neighbour who lives in the ground floor flat own a dog that never goes for walks and is only ever seen in the back yard. The poor dog obviously has to go to the toilet somewhere, so he uses the back yard which i don't have a problem with but the neighbours never clean up after there pet. The waste off the dog is now building up and the yard is covered in dog mess. This is now causing problems with flies and its awful to look at as this is all i can see when i look out my kitchen window, living room window and my spare room window. The smell is foul especially as the warmer weather has begun, the flies are coming through my kitchen window while i am cooking, which makes me constantly feel dirty. I'm weary that this is going to cause more flies as the weather get even warmer. I wrote my neighbour's a polite letter and asked nicely for them to clean this up but I've had no response and they carry on leaving their dog to live in its own mess when it is out side. I don't just worry about the flies its causing but for the poor dog also. Can you help please?

kittycat 20/05/2014 at 12:22 pm

i live in a block of 6 council flats and can constantly smell cannabis, weed dope or whatever you like to call it in my flat, what can i do about it??

n/a 15/04/2014 at 2:05 pm

An ongoing nuisance dumping of house/function refuse placed into my Red Bin ( Them,using the cloak of darkness,)I returned said rubbish into front yard of Arab neighbour .This was reported by myself to Council and a Form Letter was sent out to surrounding residences reminding Neighbours NOT to use any other persons Bin to place waste. When mowing my front lawn I noticed several 1kg.(approx.) chunks of Concrete secreted around the Gas box of my Gov.rented home.I know this Concrete is from two doors down,as I walk my dog past this house and noticed said Concrete on front lawn of house two doors down,as where there was a Picket fence, was now a Brick fence being constructed. This Concrete was used to secure the Picket vertical posts,fence uprights.I contacted my Council and had a reply that,had the Concrete been placed on the Council strip,they would investigate.However since it was dumped on "Private Property" I should inform Police.What do I do?

harrysgirl 26/02/2014 at 3:03 am

Hi There, i live in a rented private accomadation in scotland, i share a garden with my neighbours who have bought their property, i also share a field as half it belongs to the property i rent, my neighbours have bees in the field, they in 6 hives, two of the hives are
positioned on part of the field that belongs to the property i rent, the hives are not very far from my building, can anyone tell me how far bee hives need to be from a neighbours property, as
i dont like to go out in my part of the garden because of them. also the neighbour moans if my dog goes in the field, i must add my dog only stays on my side of the field, but the neighbour always knocks at my back door to inform me my dog is in the field, and most of the time has my poor dog in tow, where do i stand??

SilentOne 25/11/2013 at 9:29 am

I have a damp problem and have been telling my land lord for 8 months now, he had the workman come round and put some paint on it, however it is coming back so they haven't solved the problem, also there is roof damage from before i moved in which i have also told them about and nothing has been done, what can i do as the damp is in the kitchen so with effect the food cooked etc. and also the house is freezing, i have a calor gas heater but the heat wont stay in, even the ceiling and walls are dripping and now I'm worried about the electricals in the house, what are my options other than move?

silver 06/10/2013 at 11:10 am

Hi can you advise me please. I live in a semi detached property and at the back of the house my neighbour has put her wooden playhouse right up against my fence and her house. We have a flat roof extended under my daughters bedroom window. The neighbours playhouse is now acting like a platform to reach our flat roof. My daughter has full opening windows and we have found my neighbours cats in my daughter bedroom. What worries me is that a burglar has a ready made 'ladder' now directly onto our flat roof. My is completely enclosed. The neighbours shed is causing our house to be insecure. I have asked her to move it, explained why and offered help in moving it but all she replied is that she will think about it. What are my rights? Can I go to the council over this?

bernie 11/09/2013 at 10:47 am

I have a wasp hive on my Varanda outside my rented property the coucil says they dont remove them that i Have to pay someone to do it

Is this the case or can you do it free of charge

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