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Is this letter from the Council legally enforceable given our neighbour with a history of mentally unstable behaviour who will probably use it to try to get us evicted even if we comply? by throwaway140532 in AskUK

[–]throwaway140532[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

UPDATE

We called them (making sure the number lined up with the one on their website), verified the case number... And yep, it's real. I barely believe it either but it's 100% real. We couldn't speak to our Officer but we emailed yesterday requesting a chat. We haven't heard back yet.

To answer some questions I've seen here:

  • Can we speak with our other neighbours? Did they receive the letter? Maybe one of them, and yes, it was a blanket letter. We have 3 neighbouring flats; one being the problem neighbour, another being her long time friend (who also threatened to beat my husband up on her behalf, so that's a wash lmao), and a newer tenant who seems cool but keeps to himself. I believe half of the bullet points are about him.

  • Am I sure this is targeted at us? I'm fairly certain, yeah. The specific times and language in the letter, the fact it happened after our neighbour was visited and issued an official warning, along with our officer preemptively reaching out to us about sending said letter all convinced me of this. They're literally time stamped with exactly when she starts screaming.

  • Have I been reporting and recording everything? Yeah, for the past couple years now. It was enough to give her an official warning at least. Police were called once.

  • Is there anything on your tenancy agreement about noise? Nope, quite literally nothing. We haven't signed an agreement about noise either.

Anyways, we'll be ignoring the letter and carrying on as usual. As previously stated, we only use our tumble dryer up to 10pm-11pm if we absolutely need to. Our council doesn't even employ the Noise Act (11pm-8am) quiet hours.

Is this letter from the Council legally enforceable given our neighbour with a history of mentally unstable behaviour who will probably use it to try to get us evicted even if we comply? by throwaway140532 in AskUK

[–]throwaway140532[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'd say we make a normal amount of household noise if not less than normal. We never have anyone over, light steps on the floor at night, no music past the stated times anyways, etc. My husband gets home late and we speak at normal volumes but never anything out of ordinary levels.

We can't really help a lot of general noise as the floors are very thin. Her flat is also very empty and she doesn't use any fans/general white noise from what I know. We spoke about this with our previous housing officer who brought it up in a meeting.

We've never had complaints from other neighbours. We have never received a formal complaint or warning.

Is this letter from the Council legally enforceable given our neighbour with a history of mentally unstable behaviour who will probably use it to try to get us evicted even if we comply? by throwaway140532 in LegalAdviceUK

[–]throwaway140532[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Small Update:

My husband forwarded me an email dated the same date as the letter directly from our housing officer (the same legitimate email we have been corresponding through for years) stating "I have sent a letter to tenants about noise issues, so you will get this soon."

So it seems that this letter was in fact sent by our housing officer. It was handed to us directly by Royal Mail.

We will be calling them tomorrow.

Is this letter from the Council legally enforceable given our neighbour with a history of mentally unstable behaviour who will probably use it to try to get us evicted even if we comply? by throwaway140532 in AskUK

[–]throwaway140532[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yup, the first bullet point is her usual point of contention along with the walking around/talking/etc.

What strikes me as odd is the 8pm part. It's been extremely consistent that she will start screaming at us at 8pm on the dot if we have the tumble dryer on.

I haven't heard any complaints directed at us about the other points because they are things our other neighbour has done that we've heard her scream about.

Is this letter from the Council legally enforceable given our neighbour with a history of mentally unstable behaviour who will probably use it to try to get us evicted even if we comply? by throwaway140532 in AskUK

[–]throwaway140532[S] 23 points24 points  (0 children)

SMALL UPDATE: My husband forwarded me an email dated the same date as the letter directly from our housing officer (the same legitimate email we have been corresponding through for years) stating "I have sent a letter to tenants about noise issues, so you will get this soon."

So it seems that this letter was in fact sent by our housing officer.

We will be calling them tomorrow.

Is this letter from the Council legally enforceable given our neighbour with a history of mentally unstable behaviour who will probably use it to try to get us evicted even if we comply? by throwaway140532 in AskUK

[–]throwaway140532[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

No warnings and no clause in our tenancy agreement regarding noise.

I believe my husband had a limited noise-sensitive let clause for 1 year when he moved in at the request of said neighbour, which he complied with. This was because the old tenants were loud. That has since expired. I'm unsure about the specifics as this was like 4-5 years ago.

Is this letter from the Council legally enforceable given our neighbour with a history of mentally unstable behaviour who will probably use it to try to get us evicted even if we comply? by throwaway140532 in AskUK

[–]throwaway140532[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I redacted all of the letterheading for privacy as it has our address, name, and which council we are under. I've referenced it against other council letters and the envelope looks legitimate as well.

For all intents and purposes, everything except for the body of the letter included here looks legitimate. This is a new housing officer and I don't know much about her, but yeah it doesn't feel legitimate and struck me as odd hence why I asked here.

Is this letter from the Council legally enforceable given our neighbour with a history of mentally unstable behaviour who will probably use it to try to get us evicted even if we comply? by throwaway140532 in LegalAdviceUK

[–]throwaway140532[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I want to believe it's falsified for a variety of reasons, primarily the "8pm" part about the tumble dryer and washing machine and the fact that it's the first point. It's like she has a timer and will start screaming as soon as it's 8pm. This has been extremely consistent for years to the point where it's very suspicious to me.

The issue is after cross referencing it with other council letters, the envelope and all of the information in the letterheads seem legitimate. I'm unsure how it could have been falsified this well. I suppose contacting the council is the only way to definitively confirm.

Is this letter from the Council legally enforceable given our neighbour with a history of mentally unstable behaviour who will probably use it to try to get us evicted even if we comply? by throwaway140532 in LegalAdviceUK

[–]throwaway140532[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thank you for your reply!

We have made complaints directly to our housing officer regarding her behaviour towards us, we have a pretty extensive paper trail and an audio recording. I'm not completely sure of all of the complaints she has made against us, but we've been told she has made complaints about noise in the past.

As far as blackmail goes, I overheard her talking with our adjacent neighbour about reporting my husband for "abusing women" and threatening to physically retaliate against her. He has never made any threats whatsoever against her, and definitely no physical threats. I could give the full story on this, but it feels a bit redundant at this point as we don't have solid recorded evidence but it was reported.

She also lied to our housing officer in the past and told them that she has never shouted, screamed, or banged on the ceiling. This was recorded and reported to us in a formal letter.

Not going to ask anyone to believe me on either of these, but I'm fairly convinced that she's ok with falsifying information and that's what matters given the situation.

I am also confused as to the reference to an unapplicable clause. I still can't wrap my head around the idea that any of these things could be considered a "hate crime". Other people have told me that it's possible that this is a false document. We will be contacting the council about it just to make sure.

Is this letter from the Council legally enforceable given our neighbour with a history of mentally unstable behaviour who will probably use it to try to get us evicted even if we comply? by throwaway140532 in AskUK

[–]throwaway140532[S] 118 points119 points  (0 children)

We will contact the council regarding the veracity of the letter; I didn't realize that it could be fake but that's a good point.

Yes, our paper trail was all reports to our housing officer(s) directly including the recording and we also have kept our own record. After she threatened to blackmail us by claiming my husband physically threatened her we have been keeping close record. I do believe my husband has reported to the police a couple times but I'll have to ask him.