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Question Title: Harassment
| Question: 44 |
| We manage the upstairs flat of a house divided into two flats. The owner of the downstairs flat took it upon himself, while undertaking redecoration works, to remove the old plaster ceilings from the downstairs flat so that the floorboards of the first floor flat now directly form the ceiling of the lower flat. As a result of his own actions, the lower occupier is increasingly disturbed by noise from the upstairs flat, and even the noise of people walking on the floorboards. As a result, he has taken to complaining constantly to each new set of tenants that move into the flat and generally making their lives a misery - on a recent occasion, tempers flared to such a degree that the police had to be called - is there anything that we can do ?
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| Answer: |
| Essentially, this situation amounts to a dispute between adjoining occupiers and there is little that the landlord can do to intervene directly. Since the harassment does not come from the landlord, the traditional protection afforded to tenants under the Protection from Eviction Act 1977 does not apply. Yet, recent rules introduced in 1997 might allow the tenants to take direct action. By Protection from Harassment Act 1997, s.2, it is an offence for a person to pursue a course of conduct against another which amounts to harassment. From the details given, it appears that the conduct of the lower occupier could well constitute harassment - an arrestable offence.
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