Why would you 'expect' anything. Before you move into a place that's over a Cafe - you look and see when it IS open, not when you EXPECT it to be open.
I know when it's open having lived in the village for my entire life, it's got no bearing on when they choose to start work in the morning beforehand or how considerate they are to the people living nearby. She leaves the back of the flat in a mess. That is shared area for all 3 tenants and legally has to be left clear for access because it's a terrace block of houses with shops below.
And again - what does this have to do with the letting agency or the landlord (answer, nothing)
If they got involved in a dispute over electric money owed to the cafe because it's the landlord who only fitted a separate electric meter to one flat and a sub-meter to the other, then by rights, it's the land lord who needs to get involved on this issue too otherwise it's a gross double standard.
If a case of statutory nuisance from excessive source if occurring -it's a council issue, not a landlord issue.
Broken windows, bust boiler, mouldy shower curtain - that's what you go to a landlord for. Not noisy neighbours who happen to share the same landlord.
I'm talking about maybe a 1 hour period between 5.50 - 6am and 6.30 - 7am. The only people who might be disturbed by the noise are the people living above and as I've said, a previous tenant of the flat next door was complaining to her just after 6am about the noise within 3 days of moving in.
I have complained about extractors not working sufficiently in both my own flat and the cafe below, you certainly shouldn't "Expect cooking smells" through floorboards if the extractor system for the kitchen below was in working order. I'm hardly leaving a window open and then being shocked when I can smell food cooking within half an hour of them opening
Consider this - if the Cafe was rented from someone else, would you go to THAT landlord and complain? No. There's not grounds to do so. "Excuse me - another tenant of yours is being inconsiderate". So what? What should they care. Is the place getting trashed? No. Are they getting their rent cheque? Yes. That's a happy landlord. You would be surprised just how few rights landlords have. There is nothing, nothing at all, that they can do about this situation.
Like I said above. The landlord got involved when the cafe made unreasonable demands for an electic bill payment as a come back for my last complaint to them about their early morning noise. In fact, even though I'd paid the bill the following weekend, I still got a letter from the landlord saying to pay the cafe £100 in the next 7 days or they'd fit a card meter.
This in contrast to needing the bathroom window replacing since 2006 because the wood in the frame is so damp I can't open it for fear of it falling out and they painted all the doors green at the request of the cafe, telling me at the time they'd had a window cut to size last summer and yet I'm STILL waiting for it to be done even now.
I feel sorry for the OP - but I'm afraid it's put up or move on, unless he's prepared to go to the only body that has the power to do something - the council. Chances are, they will turn around and say "You live over a Cafe sir - of course there's going to be noise and smells. That's what Cafe's make. And bacon and eggs."
Seriously - did this occur..
"Oo - a flat above a Cafe. Hmm...that will NEVER ever smell of food, and of course, I'll avoid finding out if it's busy in the morning or if the council have conditions on their licence to function as a business"
That's just the kind of arrogance I get from the woman downstairs or her husband if I've ever complained about anything while he was there!
"Did you read the bit about the extractor in the kitchen below not working properly and being noisy when it's turned on?"
Didn't think so!
I think apart from all the people I know from London, there's a bit of truth in the whole "north/south divide" thing so far people's general manner and attitude to others is concerned.
In brief.
Point 1. It's a cafe. It's going to smell, and its' going to be loud. You should have seen it coming.
Point 2. What tenants do is not really the landlords business, and certainly not under their control. The landlord is NOT the point man for noisy neighbors.
Point 3. If you think you have a genuine beef (and I'm sorry to say I don't think you do) write a noise diary, take measurements, document any requests you've made to the cafe to cease being noisy, and contact environmental health at your local council to see if it would be possible to have a noise abatement order issued.
The short answer is this. Put up with it, or move. It sucks - but that's, basically, your options. Welcome to the real world - it's rammed full of idiots and a****oles.
1) My friend lived next door for years and he never had any problems with the PREVIOUS people who ran the cafe at all. He also had a dedicated electric meter and heard the pie man in the morning too sometimes but entering the cafe noisily, not directly below his bedroom. He was only there once in a while because he works for a tour bus company for months at a time and it was only when his girlfriend moved in that I had someone there all the time next door who could actually hear it quite regularly themselves.
2) The landlord got involved when she decided I had no right to complain about anything she's responsible for then started bitching about it being 2 months since I paid the electric after changing jobs. It was late summer at the time and I paid it next pay day. The landlord should have fitted an entirely separate meter for each property to start with.
3) I may just take a copy of the letter to the council offices to ask their advice. Everything I've ever complained about regarding the back of the flat and not receiving wheelie bins etc... have fallen on deaf ears when I've complained previously though.
I usually pay my rent every 2nd Thursday so will go down on the normal day to the letting agency to give them time to read through the letter
