Nuisances in your rented house or in your hall of residence
Mice waking you up in the middle of the night, chomping on your socks? Building work going on at the crack of dawn till late at night? Mouldy ceiling smelling like some leftover French cheese?
What you can do to make it stop?
If you and your flatmate cannot have a normal conversation without raising your voice when you are 2 metres apart for at least part of the day, you have a serious noise problem.
Noisy building work outside your flat, noisy neighbours
Noisy flatmate
Mice, rats, cockroaches, little unwanted animals...
Repairs
Noisy building work outside your flat, noisy neighbours
Contact your city council environmental health department. It is usually called environmental health, environment, or health and safety department. Once you have found your local council, browse their web pages to find their environmental health department. Give them a ring, they deal with complaints relating to noise.
If you live in a hall of residence, and some of your flatmates are causing you trouble because they are too noisy, try and sort out the problem by talking to them first. If they do not cooperate, approach your university accommodation office or the building manager about it.
Noisy flatmate
If you share a house or flat and one of your flatmate is noisy, the best you can do is talk about it with them first. The best option is to find a compromise, for example, loud music is fine, but only at weekends. Earplugs might come in handy as well if your flatmate occasionally comes home too drunk to be reasoned with. If the noise is really excessive and you cannot agree a compromise, you could get your landlord involved as well, although if you have a joint tenancy, or the tenancy is in the other person's name, bear in mind that the landlord may decide to end the tenancy for everyone - not just the person causing problems.
Mice, rats, cockroaches, little unwanted animals...
Who would have thought you would have shared your nice, plush student pad with little furry animals (or charming insects)?
The initial actions residents and landlords can take are regular cleaning and maintenance to remove the food, water, and possible shelter (for example, stacks of newspapers under a sink should be thrown away). Not only will this help to prevent a pest problem in the first place, it is also crucial to controlling an existing infestation and maintaining a pest-free environment.
If the problem cannot be fixed this way, talk to your landlord or university about it. Local councils will deal with rats and mice by baiting and trapping and may require repairs and other works to be done to prevent their re-entry to the house and to deny them shelter and food. Most councils will also treat for insect pests, but many now make a small charge.
Health and safety issues
If you have one or more of the following problems:
- the structure (i.e. the walls, floors, ceilings and roof) is not stable
- your property suffers from serious disrepair (for example, your heating is not working in the middle of winter)
- it is so damp that it affects your health
- it has no adequate natural and artificial lighting, heating and ventilation
- it has no adequate supply of water suitable to drink
- there are no satisfactory facilities for preparing and cooking food, including a sink with a supply of hot and cold water
- it has no suitably-located toilet
- it has no suitably-located bath or shower and wash basin, each provided with a satisfactory supply of hot and cold water
- it has no effective system for draining foul, waste and rainwater
Get in touch with your local council if your landlord or your university refuses to carry out the necessary works. If a house, flat or university hall of residence is judged by the council to be unfit, it can order the landlord or the university to make it fit within a reasonable time and, if they do not, it can do the necessary works itself. Where conditions are extremely poor, the council can make an Order closing the house or order its demolition. Any tenants will normally be re-housed.
Repairs
Under your tenancy agreement, the landlord (or your university) is almost certainly obliged to keep in repair:
- the structure and exterior of your house, including its drains and gutters
- the installations inside for the supply of water, gas, electricity and for sanitation. The landlord will also be obliged to keep in proper working order the installations for room heating and water heating.
The landlord has a right of entry, after reasonable notice (generally 24 hours, except in an emergency), in order to meet this obligation. If they fail to meet their obligation, having had the problem brought to their attention, and having been given a sufficient time to deal with it, you may be able to take them to court under the Small Claims Procedure, or get the repair done yourself, possibly deducting the cost from the rent (you should take advice on this before taking this form of action). Contact the Tenancy Relations Officer in your local council, or your local Students' Union for further advice.