London family facing eviction from flat after neighbours complained about their crying baby

A family has been threatened with eviction from their west London home after neighbours complained about their baby crying.

Veterinarian Attila Wurth who works at Companion Care vets in Brentford, west London and his wife Ildiko live in a private rented flat in Hammersmith with their 15-month-old daughter and a three-year-old son.

The family received a warning from the management company Sheraton saying other residents had been complaining on a “daily basis” and if the noise continued they would be given “two weeks’ notice to vacate”.

An email from a managing agent, said there had been a “complaint stating that at 05:30 this morning a baby was crying and stamping and then further noise starting again at 06:45, which woke one of the other tenants in the property”.

The professional couple, who can not afford to buy a property in London, said it was “horrible discrimination” against families renting with children.

The Wurths said their baby daughter’s crying was not excessive and they were considerate towards neighbours and did not even own a stereo or TV.

Mr Wurth told the BBC they were shocked by this “heartless and harsh” attitude and deeply upset by the idea of being thrown out of their home.

He added: “We pay our own way, but we have no more to spare. You have to be extremely rich to have children in London.

We have been very careful about noise. But if landlords rent to a family with young children, he says, it is unrealistic to think that a baby won’t cry sometimes.

“We don’t even have a stereo or a TV to make noise with - and we have avoided making any noise with household activities.

“We felt so scared. We didn’t know what happens next. Will we come home and find our things in the road?”

The managing agent, Sheraton Management Ltd, said the Wurths “were in breach of contract as they were causing disturbance to the other occupants of the building... not only relating to noisy children, but also other noise nuisance”.

“Reluctantly, as there was no remission in the problem, it was on this basis that we advised Mrs Wurth that we may be left with no alternative but to serve a notice for possession.”

Sheraton said there had also been complaints about “banging, stamping, loud footsteps”.

The email to the Wurths warns of a “Section 8” eviction - referring to the Housing Act of 1988, which allows a landlord to remove tenants before the end of their tenancy agreement.

Housing charity Shelter said a Section 8 eviction is normally for breaches of tenancy such as not paying rent or anti-social behaviour.

The management company says it has a responsibility to other tenants in the building - and to claims “that their contractual right to quiet enjoyment has been breached”.

Sheraton’s statement says: “We manage numerous properties lived in by families, some with very young children. Our policy is always to avoid the necessity for repossession proceedings.”

Hammersmith and Fulham a Council estimates a third of the population of the borough are in private rented accommodation.