Attempted break-in, twice in two days

Hi, my tenant called yesterday to say she was worried about her safety having seen a notice by the mirror about an attempted break-in. She called again today to say someone attempted to break into her flat this morning (4th floor).

Firstly, can anyone who has had a security gate installed please let me know where they got it from and/or who installed it?

Secondly, isn't it about time we had cctv?

Hi,
Can someone fill us in on what has exactly happened? From the notes downstairs it is ambiguous and we are wondering what's going on. As neighbors we are concerned and would like details to figure out how to keep the building more secure and protect ourselves.
Has Stonedale been contacted to increase the security by those affected? I have called them a number of times over the last months when the front door is not shutting properly and have had little to no response..
Thanks,
Sarah
Flat 25

don't take any prisoners, the occasional polite call enquiringg what may be happening won't cut it. they have lots of properties to manage.. the wheel that squeaks the loudest gets the oil.

the front door not shutting properly is of course an issue, but these recent break-ins have been due to people actually letting strangers into the building.

I have been woken up at 3 in the morning on two Saturdays in a row, by people buzzing and asking "can you let me in, please" - they don't live here, they're friends of people who do. Or burglars. When I've answered the door phone, I've heard them buzzing every single buzzer repeatedly - at 3 in the morning, they don't care who they wake up! - until someone eventually gets fed up with their buzzer going, and lets them in. On Sat 9th Oct, someone called Polly was eventually let in by someone on the 4th floor, who directed her to their flat.

This situation presents a number of problems, notably security - we have unknown people wandering the building in the middle of the night; and the inconsideration of waking up the entire building at a ridiculous time.

I phoned Bethnal Green police, and whilst they do see this as a public nuisance and were willing to come out and check it, realistically there's not really anything they can do in time, as they have a huge number of other, more urgent things to deal with on a Saturday night than just some selfish (and usually drunken) fool wanting to get into our building.

Does anyone remember the woman, about 2 years ago, who was so drunk that she got lost in the stairwell, where she defecated, smashed the glass and and the plants in the foyer when she couldn't get out of the building, then falsely claimed to have been raped to cover her embarassment? Not the sort of person you want wandering around in the middle of the night!

So - what can WE do about this?

If someone I didn't know woke me up by ringing my buzzer late at night I would go down there and give them a good telling off!

As to what to do I would suggest people be vigilant about who they let in. If someone is hanging around outside don't let them tail gate you. It is easy to do but as soon as just one person thinks they are being polite by holding the door open for someone or forgets to make sure the door shuts properly then they may have let a local ya hoo in who wants to take our shiny things.

There has been an ongoing problem with tennants on the fourth floor, flat 16 for around 6 months. Most Friday / Saturday night loud music / shouting / banging continues until around 5am on average. People regularly leave the 4th floor at all hours of Sat / Sun morning from midnight to 7am.

Tower Hamlets noise abatement officer have visited at 3a.m. but they fail to answer. Stonedale have been informed several times. These people have absolutely no consideration for neighbours even after confronting them. The legal process for getting something done about it is protracted and frustrating involving a series of visits from the abatement offiers to issue notices and to form a 'case' against them before any kind of end to the problem can occur.

If 'Polly' is a friend of flat 16 then this will explain the buzzing at all hours.

I'd like to point out that the fourth floor isn't all wasters.

forget that approach, go directly to their landlords / letting agents, they will have a clause in their contract forbidding them from being a nuisance to their neighbours

Rod - Polly is indeed a friend of the people on flat 16, I live on the 4th floor and have been constantly bothered by their noise and banging on the door late at night, especially when Polly caused trouble. This seems fairly recent though, as before them I don't think I ever saw the old tenants for a whole year.

Definitely contact the Tower Hamlets Abatement officer when it happens next (020 7364 5008 / 7070 24hr) . They need to make a visit when it actually happens but will have a record of all visits tro make a case. Stonedale should also be made aware so they can contact their agent.
Hope it improves for you.

Hi Guys,

I'm not sure whether this thread is still being actively monitored but I thought I'd post a reply all the same.

I happen to be one of the horrid 'wasters' of flat 16 . Contrary to popular belief, we're actually nice people. I should point out firstly that we only moved in in September so I'd suggest that 6 months' worth of torment is probably over-stating the case...just a little.

While the 'Polly' incident appears to have attracted plenty of attention to our flat, it should be noted that we've pulled her up on her behaviour and that she's actually not welcome here unless she's stone-cold sober (if at all). Again, we're not horrible people. Winding our neighbours up is not what we're all about.

As a side note - We posted a note through our next-door neighbours' letter box a few weeks ago apologising for any inconvenience following a complaint from someone on our floor. The response we received revealed two things:

1) It was actually not our next-door neighbours who had complained.
2) The girls next-door were seemingly entirely unaware that anything had transpired the night before.

This suggests to me that we actually can't have been making anywhere near as much noise as the complainant had made out - since the only flat on our floor with a wall adjacent to ours heard absolutely nothing... Please bear in mind that I'm not dismissing the original complaint - I'm merely trying to draw attention to the fact that different people tend to have wildly different perceptions (or perhaps tolerances?) of noise levels.

Although we do like to enjoy ourselves at weekends, I'm concerned that we're being targeted as 'the flat that is the root of all evil @ 50 Roman Road'. Seeing posts on this thread from certain tenants encouraging others to help 'form a case' against us demonstrates this quite clearly.

I have no interest in dropping anyone else in it but I'm well aware that there are a good few others in the building who like a good time. I guess all I'm saying here is that just because there's noise coming from somewhere, doesn't necessarily mean it's coming from our flat.

I'm pretty sure that both the Police and Tower Hamlets Council would suggest at least attempting to reach an amicable resolution to such issues prior to involving them. I'd be tempted to agree.

At any rate, I'll take the opportunity to apologise to any who care to listen for any inconvenience caused by us and would like to think that the Gossip forum will soon become nicely void of any harsh words spoken about us lovely lads here in flat 16.

Love n Rabbits,

Leon x

Hey Leon, nice to hear from you.

It only takes a couple of incidents to get a reputation, but i wouldn't worry about being ganged up on. The advice here is more along the lines of ' here is what you can do if you are having a problem'.

you don't in fact share a wall with anyone, as there is a lift shaft between you. So noise is more likely to travel up and down rather than side to side.

The one way to guarantee noise annoying neighbours is to have your windows open, if that happens then the people above and below will be able to hear even normal conversation, let alone music.

Contractually you can't play music after ten, but realistically so long as it doesn't affect other people it's not an issue. You do have to ve careful with guests though, especially as we have a dodgy burglary prone front door.

We at flat 7 have had an attempted break in within the last week. Our lock had clearly tried to be picked which has now damaged the lock.

Can everyone please try and ensure the front door is shut. It does not close automatically now and I repeatedly see the door open downstairs.

I cannot afford to get robbed.

Thanks a lot.

Alex and Matt.

Hi Leon - thanks for the post. My comments about flat 16 noise reflect the 6-9months up to the beginning of September at which point I moved away, unaware of the tennancy change in flat 16, therefore any comments were not directed at yourself or anyone who has moved into flat 16 since. It's good you piped up and I hope this clears things up.

Rod

Looong, loud party on Saturday night, playing music until well after 5 am. The flat beneath us eventually banged on the door/ceiling/floor with a broom (can't tell direction - sound is wierd in this building), shrieking "turn off the F***ING MUSIC". Any idea which flat the party was in?

Our lock has slso been fiddled with, so not feeling very relaxed right now!

People just get on with your lives. All the problems in the world seems to reside in this block there a hundreds of these blocks in Tower Hamlets and trust me,such problems are unheard off.

I think the managing agent stonedale are incompetent. Ohh by the way they are part of the peverell group who are the biggest scamming agents in the country and have been chased by the authorities. they have gone into administration recently. Google them.

Our crazy service charge for major works that will never happen is more of a concern then a noisy nieghbour. That is an issue that all members need to get togther and address. Our directors need to answers question and need to resign in my view. They got us into this mess in the first place.

This service charge for the proposed major works in 2012/13 is bogus and I know they will not spend a penny to repair or update the block.
The approach the agents have taken is unethical and illegal.

we need these so called directors who live in the block on the top floors need to step up and sort this mess up.