Can you take legal action against a freeholder?

[igotdamaged]

Neighbours of ours are illegally running a dog walking business from their home and each day they have about 8 dogs inside the property and garden making an almighty noise. We have photos and videos of over 50 dogs in and around the property, and it is making our lives and the lives of other local residents a total misery. We live in a small block of semi-detached maisonettes, so as you can imagine, the noise at times is unbelievable.

The council have been notified and long-term I think that the owners will be forced to apply for planning permission to change the usage of the house from residential to business, and I think they are unlikely to gain this.

In the meantime, we have notified the company who own the freehold of the property of the illegal activity going on, but to date they have done absolutely nothing to stop it.

Is it possible therefore to threaten the freeholders with any sort of legal action for failing to protect other local residents against the actions of their leaseholders?

I ask this question because according to two local estate agents, the value of our property is now being significantly affected by the dog business and I feel that someone should be held accountable.

[themas]

1. The Council should act now - not "eventually". Get your local Councillor involved to put some pressure on the officials.

2. Also involve Council's Environmental Health about the noise & other nuisance of the business.

3. What you can do about the freeholders depends to some extent on the precise wording of any covenant in the leases. Unfortunately, I think a lot of leases contain covenants but little or no basis for enforcing them. You and other affected residents will almost certainly need a solicitor's advice on what action can be taken.