Q. I live in apartment on a large development and unfortunately my next door neighbours are completely refurbishing their property, and causing me great concern. They have builders working on site from early in the morning till late into the evening as well as weekends. There is brick dust and materials all over the communal areas and it’s been like that for a couple of months now. I have complained to my neighbour face to face on several occasions to clean up and work more reasonable hours but he simply ignores me, I’m really at the end of my tether what can I do, surely there must be some law against this kind disturbance?
A. If you are living in a development and fortunate enough to have a general manager on site then I would suggest first stop would be to speak to him about your concerns, he will likely speak with the offending neighbour and see if he can reason with them and remind them of their responsibilities and duties as a lessee. If that fails or you don’t have a general manager on site then you will need to approach your managing agent directly and make an official complaint. Most leases will contain covenants which say leaseholders shall not cause, say, nuisance and annoyance to neighbours. There may be more specific restrictions such as no building works between say 11pm and 7.30am or that wooden floors are not allowed to prevent noise. Your managing agent will send out a warning letter to the offending lessee reminding them that they are in breach of covenant and at risk of lease forfeiture if they keep reoffending. It the lessee still continues to offend regardless of the warning from the managing agent the next step would be for the managing agents to ask the board of director’s permission to instruct solicitors to serve a section 146 (Lease Forfeiture) on them. Failure to comply with the covenant in the lease at this stage could in extreme cases result in the lose of the property altogether.