Advice on noisy neighbours pls?

michellen34

Hello,

Firstly I hope I've posted this on the right forum

I just wanted to ask if anyone knows the law on noise after a certain time of night please? as I would like to know where I stand with my noisy neighbours. My neighbours have been doing there house up since I moved in 2 years ago in May, and they think nothing of drilling etc at ten pm at night, a couple of examples are,

2 weeks ago, she had a friend round and they were singing, loud music dancing screaming etc in her bedroom untill 2am in the morning, as much as I love the 80's at 2am me and my kids were sick to death of it!

Mowing the lawn at 11pm at night

Drilling/DIY stuff up until and after 10pm at night

My 3 year old is still scared of the sound of drills as as he's always woken with a fright when they have been drilling.

I appreciate they want to get the extension finished etc and it's not an every night thing anymore but even their TV blares through the walls at night and you often know what they are watching as you can here it word for word when your trying to sleep.
It's bad enough having the worst LL in the world never mind neighbours like this.
I have tried speeking to the husband but he's either not bothered or just doesn't think (they don't have kids) and the wife has never spoken since the day we moved in (they don't speak to any of the neighbours)

So any advice would be great, If I do speak to him about it again I can be well informed,

Thanks in advance.
Michelle.

poppysarah

Mowing lawn at night is a sign of mental illness surely?

Contact environmental health at the council. Keep a diary.

Swipe

Nothing worse than inconsiderate neighbours, you have my sympathy. Luckily I'll be saying goodbye to mine in a few weeks time. The only real way if they won't listen is to play them at their own game and wake very early and be very loud.

michellen34

PoppySarah well I thought that too lol, and never thought of keeping a diary thanks for that!

hamstercheeks_2

no this is not acceptable, called noise pollution

call the police if he continues

here's a link to help you

http://www.thesite.org/homelawandmoney/law/yourrights/noise

michellen34

Swipe, Thank you, and hope all goes well for you. I have 3 kids and I know we are not the most quiet people but after around 7pm I always make sure they are quiet etc and we are nothing compared to them. Good luck for your move.

eho

Hi

You need to contact your local council environmental health team to complain. They will investigate, by you keeping diaries, personal visits and possibly noise monitoring equipment.

They will determine whether your neighbours are causing a statutory noise nuisance under section 80 of The Environmental Protection Act 1990. A statutory nuisance is an unreasonable interference with the use and enjoyment of your home eg preventing sleep, not being able to hear your tv at a normal volume etc.

They will take into account how often the problem is occuring, the time of day, duration of the noise, and how it is affecting you.

Hope this is helpful and that you get some peace and quiet soon.

michellen34

hamstercheeks ,Thats great! thanks for that

michellen34

Eho, Thank you, I generally just put up with things, but what with this and my LL I think I'm going to have to start standing up for myself. I'm a bit worried if they find out it's me though, supposedly they are not from a very nice family, I am going to start a diary though, but will that not just be my word against his sort of thing?

hamstercheeks_2

michellen34 wrote: »

Eho, Thank you, I generally just put up with things, but what with this and my LL I think I'm going to have to start standing up for myself. I'm a bit worried if they find out it's me though, supposedly they are not from a very nice family, I am going to start a diary though, but will that not just be my word against his sort of thing?

they won't find out its you. I reported my neighbour (the noisy one) as his dog kept sh*tting in my garden too - they don't have a dog anymore. I know that is awful for the dog but they all worked during the day and the dog just roamed the streets. shouldn't have had one in the first place

forgot to say they didn't find out who it was lol

eho

Your information is data protected, the council cannot confim where the complaint has come from, they could put two and two together, but they will not be told who complained. You keep a diary initially, This is then assessed by the Env Health team who will then decide if they beleive a problem exists. They will then normally offer you noise monitoring equipment, which is installed in your home, to record what is actually going on. They may also have an out of hours team that you can call at night to come out and witness the alleged nuisance.

Usually when you first complain you will be sent a letter with the diaries for you to complete and your neighbour will be sent a letter adviisng of the existence of the complainant and giving them an opportunity to rectify the situation.

If enough evidence is gathered to substantiate a statutory noise nuisance they will be served with an abatement notice requiring them to stop causing the nuisance. If they continue and evidence is gathered to substantiate breach their noise making equipment eg stero, tv, cd's etc can be seized and they can be prosecuted!!

Im my experience the initial letter usually does the trick!:T