Leaseholders' handbook - noise nuisance and anti-social behaviour

We want you to enjoy your home in peace and comfort, free from nuisance and harassment. Irresponsible behaviour disturbs neighbours and can lead to a great deal of stress. Under the conditions of your lease, you are not allowed to cause a nuisance to your neighbours.

If you are experiencing a problem with unreasonable noise nuisance, harassment or any other form of anti-social behaviour nuisance from any of your neighbours, please contact the leasehold management team for help.

We also have a Neighbourhood Warden service for Brent. The wardens will respond to calls made to the hotline between 3pm and midnight, seven days a week. You can contact them on 020 8451 5050.

You may report noise nuisance, as well as serious incidents such as assaults or threats of violence, to the hotline.

We can use a number of options to stop antisocial behaviour, such as written warnings, mediation, injunctions, antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs) or loss of the lease.

For sale

If you are selling your property through an estate agent, please make sure that the 'for sale' sign is not put up unless the agent has our permission. If you see any estate agency boards on your estate, please tell the leasehold management team and we will arrange for them to be removed if they are not authorised.

Satellite dishes

You may need written permission from Brent Council's planning department to put up a satellite dish. If you do not get this approval then it could be removed. Please contact the planning department on 020 8937 5210.

Wooden or laminated flooring

Wooden flooring can cause considerable noise nuisance to the people living in the property below. Please note that noise nuisance breaks the conditions of your lease.

We recommend you consider this matter and install suitable soundproofing. Please get advice from a flooring supplier.

Using your home and shared areas

As a leaseholder or tenant of a leaseholder, you must use your home in a responsible way.

You must not allow anything to block access to or from your home, any other home or any shared area, including fire escapes.

You must take reasonable care to keep any shared areas secure from intruders.

You must not keep or use bottled gas, petrol, paraffin or other flammable or explosive substances in your home.

You must not use any bottled-gas or paraffin heater if you live in a block of flats, bedsit or maisonette.

You must make sure that no-one going into or leaving your home makes a noise which might disturb your neighbours.

You and anyone in your home must take reasonable care to make sure you do not harass or cause a nuisance to your neighbours.

Examples of nuisance or harassment include:

• Making loud noises (including playing loud music, arguing, slamming doors)
• allowing dogs to bark or not cleaning up after them
• being offensively drunk
• dumping rubbish
• playing ball games close to other homes
• using or threatening to use violence
• using abusive or insulting words
• vandalising property, including with graffiti
• using your home for illegal or immoral purposes
• receiving or storing stolen goods
• supplying or using illegal drugs
• providing sexual services in return for money
• damaging or interfering with any property that belongs to us.

You must make sure that no-one you are responsible for breaks any of your lease conditions.

Nobody should be harassed because of their colour, race, religious belief, occupation, sex, sexuality, age, or physical or mental disability.

We will maintain and repair the structure and insides of all the shared areas of the building that your home is in.

You must use all shared areas in a reasonable and responsible way, and not allow anything to block or cause damage to a shared area. You must place all rubbish in the appropriate areas, chutes or containers provided. You must not throw any object, or allow it to be thrown, from any shared area. If you have rubbish chutes, you must use them only for small amounts of rubbish. Put large items in the bins provided.

You must keep to local arrangements for using rubbish chutes (which will normally mean not using them before 7 o'clock in the morning or
after 11 o'clock at night).

You must not allow any shared area to be used in a way which causes a nuisance to, or harasses or annoys, your neighbours or their visitors.

You must not allow fire doors, security doors or main doors to be kept open.

You must not store anything in any shared area without our permission in writing. We will not refuse permission unless we have good reason.

You are not allowed to smoke in lifts or any shared areas where there are no-smoking signs.

You must not interfere with any fire hoses, fire hydrants, cupboards or storage areas in shared areas.

Please make sure that you report any faults in shared areas as soon as you notice them.