Noisy tenant loses home

Twenty five year old Rui Da Silva, of Tollesbury Close, Collyhurst, has lost his tenancy exactly two years after he moved in after a county court judge found he had persistently caused noise nuisance.

Da Silva was also handed a six-week jail sentence, suspended for one year, for contempt of court.

Recorder Halliwell said Da Silva had breached a court undertaking to stop the noise only hours afterwards and he saw no reason to believe the noise nuisance would abate or that the defendant, who did not appear in court, would change his behaviour.

There was "overwhelming evidence" against him to the criminal standard, said the judge, and he granted Manchester City Council possession of Da Silva's first floor cottage flat from 4pm on September 5 - exactly two years to the day that he moved in.

The City Council had also applied for Da Silva's committal to prison for continually breaching court orders to stop the noise nuisance.

Elderly people living near Da Silva had complained of noise nuisance almost from the moment he moved into his flat.

It happened at all hours of the day and night and consisted of jumping up and down, banging, constant cupboard door slamming, loud TV noise, sounds like furniture being dragged across the floor, kitchen cupboard doors being opened and shut, people arriving and leaving at all hours, and the sound of heavy objects being thrown on the floor.

One witness said she thought the noise was deliberate and followed an incident when the police were called in to speak to him early in his tenancy following complaints of noise.

Neighbourhood Wardens also witnessed the noise nuisance.

The court heard that Da Silva had been given a series of warnings and the City Council had applied for an injunction against him in June last year. The outcome was a 12-month undertaking by Da Silva to stop the noise nuisance, during which the noise nuisance continued.

A one-day trial was set for June 18 this year but this was adjourned because Da Silva hadn't sought legal advice. He entered into a new undertaking until August 23 but this, too, was breached almost immediately.

The Director of Housing on Manchester City Council, Deborah McLaughlin, said: "Mr Da Silva's neighbours have suffered enormously from the noise he has caused and we have now brought them the prospect of some peace and quiet by securing his eviction. That minority of tenants like Da Silva who act anti-socially should be aware that they are breaching their tenancy agreements by doing so. In every case we will use every legal means at our disposal to stop the nuisance - even if that means the prospect of eviction and prison."

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