LETTER – ‘Slumlords’ allowing tenants to indulge in illegal activities

Sir
It seems in Dundee people can just do what they want and owners just let, and even give permission, for stuff to be done.
There are houses in Oldacre Street that have tenants just doing as they please and not respecting anyone else staying in the vicinity. Loud music (which is so loud you cannot even hear your own TV in your lounge) is played anytime from 5am till late at night. One can phone the police and it will stop for a few minutes but as soon as the police leave they crank the music up again. Let alone they have no concern for people who are working night-shift or even people who have to work the next morning, not even to mention the poor children that need a decent sleep in order to focus at school the next day. Dagga is grown in the yard and the owner is well aware of this. According to the tenants, the owner gave them permission so they could pay their rent.
In lower Beaconsfield Street there are also problem tenants who play loud music and deal with drugs. There is also an illegal electricity connection to the tuck shop and yet again the owner is aware of what is happening and nothing gets done. The rate payers and old age home people are suffering as we cannot get decent sleep, let alone the drug dealings that are happening and even police vehicles are spotted there and again absolutely nothing gets done. When we ask the owner to please speak to his tenants as the music noise is unbearable, he just shrugs his shoulders and says its not his problem as he cannot speak to a tenant once he has signed a lease (that is according to his knowledge) and a person needs to go to court. That is utter nonsense as the tenant is still the owner’s responsibility as they placed them in the property!!
So imagine if all owners act like the owners of these houses then this will surely become the next Zimbabwe. There is just no respect anymore for anyone, let alone the crime that is allowed by owners to happen right under their noses. Is it the norm now to allow drugs to be sold to children just so the owner can still get his monthly rental? Why must tuck shops be placed everywhere just to deal with illegal stuff. This is nonsense and the municipality needs to have stricter by-laws as people are getting fed up and will take the law into their own hands.
From a fed-up rate payer
Smith Street