On the brink of insanity

PinkTwirl

hethmar wrote: »

I have to be honest here - my son is asthmatic and when he bought his top floor flat the solicitor wrote to the management company asking whether he could put down laminate as dust mites set off his asthma - he was told he could.

He is a very quiet boy anyway and for 5 years he had no trouble until a misery of a middle aged woman moved in below. She seems to be fixated by his every movement and even imagines things when he isnt there and working away! She wouldnt see a mediator and now my son at a risk to his own health is putting down carpets in his bedroom area which is above her bedroom and she says she hears him dragging thing across the room at night ?????

Luckily he is about to move anyway, but you should check whether these people also had permission to have laminate for any reason too. If not then ask the management committee to write tothem requesting rugs or carpets be laid.

To be fair, in the late 80's our neighbour in the flat below had her tv volume up full blast constantly and it depressed my mum so much who was in all day and evening that because the council did nothing about it and the woman's nephew worked for the council, my mum ended up having a nervous breakdown and her health was never the same again because it went on for months and months. She died a few years after that (1996) because once she had the breakdown she was never the same and had a multitude of health problems (she was fine before that all happened). I was glad the day the woman in the flat below died, but she got about 10 years after my mum.

The affect of neighours noise can be very detrimental and my experience of laminate in the flat above me is that I could hear the girl's boyfriend organising a trip to London that weekend and I could hear every footstep.

poppy10_2

two-for-one wrote: »

2 rowdy boys of 5 and 6 who treat the flat like a play ground.

Don't be such a grumplestilstkin. Kids that age are supposed to run around and play, not sit still in silence. There are worse hings in life than having to hear children playing in the flat above - if you really are the type of drama queen who would let something like that drive them "insane" or "absolutely miserable" then you should move into privately rented accommodation, where you will be able to choose to live where you want.

Sorry to sound harsh, but I've been made "miserable" in the past by a grumpy old woman neighbour who had nothing better to do than complain every day about the sound of me walking about normally in my own flat.

EliteHeat

poppy10 wrote: »

Sorry to sound harsh, but I've been made "miserable" in the past by a grumpy old woman neighbour who had nothing better to do than complain every day about the sound of me walking about normally in my own flat.

What on earth has that got to do with it? the poster is clearly not a grumpy old woman and you are obviously not two children juumping up and down on the spot immediately above her.

It's supposed to be the OP who is on the brink of insanity.

ajtrader100

Look at a sound proofing underlay that conform with building regulations. Pergo have one called Silent +. You can get it from some websites!

System

two-for-one wrote: »

I called Housing Patrol but by the time they arrived the noise had more or less stopped, which is the story of my life.

How long does it take for the patrol team to arrive?

We had issues with a horrendous smell in the evenings around the sewer of our neighbourhoods (turns out local company were dumping waste illegally). It only occured at around 7/8 in the evening and lasted for an hour or so.

I ended up calling them half an hour before it usually occured so that they eventually arrived in time to catch it.

Make a diary/log of all noise occurances, record it on a camera/microphone and show the patrollers when they arrive.

Just keep on bugging them until they do something about it. If it goes on past 9/10 you can get the police involved.

Don't give up and eventually something will be done.

neas

prob not the kids fault.. but a poorly built council flat.

Just move out to a private rental.

two-for-one

Thank-you very much to all those who replied for their advice and support. I greatly appreciate it. It makes a huge difference when there are people I can "talk" to about this.

I have really taken aboard what you have said and will start implementing some of the advice next week.

The people upstairs moved in before the ban on laminate/wooden flooring was brought in by the council. I was told by the council that if there is an expense involved, then people would be told to put rugs down rather than install carpet at their financial expense.

I shall go to the CAB tomorrow and also visit my local councillor at one of their surgeries this week. The suggestion of writing a polite letter to upstairs listing the problems, is a very good idea and I shall do that as well.

Foxwales- thanks for that info, I shall keep it in mind.

I previously had post-natal depression and a couple of weeks ago went to my GP for anti-depressants to help me cope. I would not regard myself as an unreasonable, intollerent person. I understand children run around and play; I used to work as a teaching assistant. I can tollerate them running up and down the long corridors in the flats and screaming their heads off, and to a degree running in the living room, however it's a very different thing when they are clearly running around like mad in the living room and jumping off the sofas, playing as though they are out in the playground. Try imagining what 2 young boys are like when they have been cooped up all day in the flat without being take out. We are surrounded by parks. There is a fantastic children only park/playground 10 mins walk from our block. I take my kids there everyday; I cannot understand why the parents upstairs don't do this and I don't think either of them work.

I can deal with the children running around the flat screaming in the mornings when they are getting ready for school. I can deal with them doing the same thing when they are having a tantrum. What I can't deal with is when they are going wild in the living room, jumping off sofas etc because they need to work off energy. It's very difficult to read and concentrate or concentrate on talking to my daughter when that noise is going on above my head.

I wish I could afford to go into private housing but unfortunately I can't. I waited years for this place and am very grateful to have it; the last thing I expected was what I am experiencing now. I grew up in this area and moving away on my own with 2 kids is not an option.

I am going to ask the council about installing a monitoring device. I was told by housing patrol there are only 2 of these devices in my borough and there is a long queue. I shall see what the council says.

I shall go down every avenue I can. If at the end of the day nothing works I am wondering whether giving them a taste of their own medicine would work. I have to say, previoulsy when I couldn't cope I decided to play loud music with the stereo a couple of inches from their ceiling. I did this when their kids started to go mad in the living room. I did this on 3 occasions for about a 20 minute period each time. To be honest it didnt' seem be very effective in getting them to quieten down and in the end I couldn't stand the noise myself so abandoned that idea. However, desperate people do desperate things and I am wondering if it is worth me getting a recording of a baby crying, so when I am up twice a night feeding the baby, I shall just switch the recording on in my bedroom which is below the parents bedroom, waking them up, and I shall just sleep in my kids bedroom with them. Also over the weekends when I go out, I shall just leave a loud radio on near their ceiling. I tend to be out by 9am, back in the afternoon and then out again. To be honest I am not that sort of person. I like to keep a low profile, be polite to my neighbours and not bother anyone, but when all else fails, what am I to do?

Before all this I had never experienced noise nuisance. It's amazing the impact it has on your life; and the crazy things you start considering.

Anyway , once again a big thank-you for all your imput.

Lisa

sooz

two-for-one wrote: »

I shall go down every avenue I can. If at the end of the day nothing works I am wondering whether giving them a taste of their own medicine would work. I have to say, previoulsy when I couldn't cope I decided to play loud music with the stereo a couple of inches from their ceiling. I did this when their kids started to go mad in the living room. I did this on 3 occasions for about a 20 minute period each time. To be honest it didnt' seem be very effective in getting them to quieten down and in the end I couldn't stand the noise myself so abandoned that idea. However, desperate people do desperate things and I am wondering if it is worth me getting a recording of a baby crying, so when I am up twice a night feeding the baby, I shall just switch the recording on in my bedroom which is below the parents bedroom, waking them up, and I shall just sleep in my kids bedroom with them. Also over the weekends when I go out, I shall just leave a loud radio on near their ceiling. I tend to be out by 9am, back in the afternoon and then out again. To be honest I am not that sort of person. I like to keep a low profile, be polite to my neighbours and not bother anyone, but when all else fails, what am I to do?

Before all this I had never experienced noise nuisance. It's amazing the impact it has on your life; and the crazy things you start considering.

Anyway , once again a big thank-you for all your imput.

Lisa

Don't retaliate. It is not worth it. Keep badgering the council. Call EVERY single time the noise causes you a nuisance. Even if you only leave the details, time & your reference number on the answering machine, it gets logged as a complaint. Remember, you want to be seen as the rational & sane one here. If you both start b*tching & making noise at eachother, no-one will take you seriously.

Ulfar

I sympathize with you having experienced the very same problem.

In my case I sold my flat which I had loved until the people moved in upstairs and I had two years of hell. They were evicted by the Landlord the day after I had exchanged contracts due to complaints from other residents.

My advice is like others is to pester your council, they should at least put in place recording equipment.

The councils are aware of the problem of laminate flooring in flats. If you check your lease or tenancy you will should find a clause in it concerning quiet enjoyment that the council should be enforcing.

System

I wouldn't recommend revenge tactics. It may escalate the dispute, particularly if they are as agressive as you say they are. This will probably result in the both of you making a lot of noise and disrupting other neighbours too.

It seems to me as though the children are possibly left unattended in the living room to run riot. This would make sense, and is probably why the gentleman didn't accept fault (he was unaware of what they get up to).

Also, I used to live in a council flat and the walls were paper thin, luckily our neighbours were pretty quiet most of the time. I agree with those who suggest that it may be because of poor-build council flats. Perhaps they need soundproofing or extra carpeting/flooring.

Discuss this problem with your GP, he/she may be able to write a letter to your local council regarding the effect on your health, which would encourage them to get something done sooner.