UK Landlord Forum / Life

 An ex tenant of our flat (who left in bad grace) has decided to bugger us about! We know it's him because he was seen by a neighbour.

We arrived at the currently empty flat to find he had fitted a padlock to an external door to prevent access. We cut the padlock off with an angle grinder. On returning a few days later yet another padlock had been fitted!

Next door to the flat is a house where my mother in law lived ( she passed away in December). The entry to the property is via iron gates. He had secured the gates to the property with chain and no less than 10 padlocks. The neighbour saw him at the gates fitting the padlocks. Police are not interested to interview the neighbour as no damage had been done.

Outside the flat is a locked mailbox. This had been broken into by a 3rd party ( we have no CCTV so no proof it was him so ..no police action possible). We reported to the police and got an incident number. The police are not interested unless there's damage and it is witnessed or caught on cctv.

I should add, the ex tenant has mental issues and has previously been sectioned. He is likely to get aggressive and is known to the police because of his previous behaviour. He contends we have been "bad landlords" because we asked him to hand the flat keys back when he left....he kept them nearly a month after he officially left. He fly tipped a lot of wood onto the private car parking area which has now been there for 2 months. He said he would hand the keys back when "he was good and ready". We've even used a Torts notice to legally be able to dispose of crap he's left behind. He has been asking for items he claims he left behind ( valuable tools and a bicycle saddlebag)...these items were not left behind. He didn't respond to the torts notice sent to his new address.

There seems to be very little we can do unless we go to the expense of fitting cctv. Dialogue with him is not possible as he becomes aggressive quickly when we disagree with his point of view. We have documented and sent him many letters in the past ranging from asking him to dispose of the 20 sacks of cat litter ( used) in the flat, prison locks fitted to doors, window bars fitted and many other issues.

The only good thing I'll say for him, he always paid the rent, mostly on time!  Because of his mental issues he will no doubt persist in his efforts to cause us problems. Unfortunately,  he also knows where we live and it is possible he may pay us a visit at home to exact further revenge for imagined "wrongs" we've committed against him.

All we want is for him is for him to "go away"  and live his life elsewhere!

This is a nightmare situation.The police could charge him with harassment or some other offence if they were so inclined,but the mental health card gets played so often now.I would get a camera fitted,and if the police still won't act when you have evidence, I would contact the town councillor or M.P.for the area.They can often bring pressure to bear.You pay their wages and expenses.

Although I'd wager that the gambit - "I pay your salary, you incompetent flat-foots" - has rarely resulted in the desired outcome, if ever.

I would like to see Catherine Cawood from Happy Valley running the police force.

pleased to report we eventually caught him on video at 4:30  am breaking in to the mailbox. The police are taking ages to go and have words with the 'suspect' ( we got good pictures of his face).