very angry!

lukemed1

hi everyone,

got home yesterday and was greeted with a letter from the management company who run the block of flats we live in saying that they've had a couple of complaints about noise levels coming from our flat and subsequently telling us to keep the noise down, I'M FURIOUS about this! i feel that the people who've done this have acted in a cowardly manner by writing to them instead of knocking on my door and asking us politely to keep the noise down, does anyone know if the management company by law have to tell me who complained if i ask them?

Also i'm very angry that the management company have the nerve to tell us to keep the noise down! fair enough they own the building but i've paid £57,000 for the lease of my property and feel that they can't talk to me in this way! they can't evict us right? or they'd be liable to pay me the money back i paid for the lease is this right?

Does anyone know how i should respond to this letter? we were not aware that we were making so much noise and we've never even thought of complaining about the noise we hear from our neighbours! never the less we're now being abit more quiet but this situation has infuriated me!! :mad:

Any suggestions??

best wishes

Luke

jobbingmusician

Best way to respond is to try to relax - there might be all sorts of reasons why other flat owners were 'cowardly' - when I was younger I would have done the same thing (writing to the mgmt company) just because I would have been scared of talking to another flat-owner face to face. And I think nowadays there are lots of urban myths around - a young female (or even male) might be scared of people having firearms in their flats, for example. (It does happen, even in really nice areas. I have personal experience!)

I would doubt very much that the company has to tell you who complained. You are obviously responding as a considerate neighbour now that you know that noise was disturbing someone, so from the point of view of your neighbours the problem is solved (assuming there ever was one, I mean).

I think that the company might be able to evict you if you broke the terms of your lease - someone with more legal knowledge than I have might be able to tell you, or you could try to decipher your lease. That would probably also tell you what would happen to the money paid for the lease in the event of the lease being broken.

It might be worth writing back to the company thanking them for bringing the matter to your attention, pointing out that you were unaware that you were causing concern, but also bringing to their attention the poor state of sound insulation between the flats which is also leading to you being disturbed by the noises from other flats (assuming I have interpreted this correctly).

Hope this helps!

alanobrien

Fist of all its good to vent but let it pass
Then stand to one side and ask yourself honestly if you
may have been a little noisy in the past.
Then compare that to how noisy you believe your neighbour(s) have been.

You may then like to write back to the management company making your point and stating that a more neighbourly approach of a knock on the door may have been more appropriate to start with.

They can't evict you without a court order and lots of evidence to back up the noise accusation so dont concern yourself with that right now.

As regards the neighbour(s) who complained i would rise above it and let that pass...for now and see what happens in the future.

Funny old world we live in these days when people feel they have to communicate through others rather than direct.

meanmachine_2

The OP scares me - just by reading their post.

In your neighbours' position I'd probably have done the same thing.

The big problem with noisy neighbours is that they're so selfish and wrapped up in themselves that they don't even know (or care) that they're offending other people.

There's little the management can do at the moment, although this sounds like the first step in a paper trail leading to the noise abatement dept of your local council.

The best revenge you can take is no revenge - just keep the noise down in future.

ianian99

Judging by the op I'd say you'd have kicked off at the neighbour if they had knocked your door so fair enough for them complaing to management company.

As for not being to be able to get evicted because you own the house(or lease) is wrong, the court can get an asbo on you and evict you.
If you need to ask who complained then you are obviously making enough noise that all your neighbours can hear so therefore the person who did complain was right enough. If you only made a little noise it would be the people nearest you that complained.
My advice mate would be to calm down and keep the noise down. what you may think is not noisy others may.

savingforoz

The OP comes across as quite aggressive in his post so it may not be so hard to see why the complainant didn't want to take it up on a personal level. Also, unless they're a nutter, then they will have had some reason to complain - people generally don't go around saying their neighbours are noisy when they're not. Best thing to do is to keep the noise down, in consideration to others.

lukemed1

whoa there!!

i can assure the last 2 posters that i'm not aggresive at all! in fact i'm a very calm and peaceful man but was angered by the cowardly act of not approaching me first about this situation, i think that a face to face meeting is much better than sending complaint letters but that's only my personal opinion.

Also how would they go about evicting us? what would happen to the £57,000 i paid to aquire the lease?

Best wishes

Luke [ a very peaceful man! ] lol

ianian99

lukemed1 wrote:

whoa there!!


Also how would they go about evicting us? what would happen to the £57,000 i paid to aquire the lease?

Best wishes

Luke [ a very peaceful man! ] lol

Dunno how they'd do it all I know is that with an asbo they can. you'd then have to sell the lease i would imagine.

lukemed1

i think an asbo is abit extreme! its not as if we have wild parties every night! lol

i think the main cause of the noise is maybe having the tv on in the early hours as we like going to bed quite late hardly a case of issuing an asbo i would imagine!

As i said earlier, we also hear noise from our neighbours but just accept that we're all living in close proximity so should come to expect this, maybe i should write to the management company complaining! but i don't want to stoop to thier level

All the best!

Luke

Dee123_2

Once you've established which neighbour(s), and if the situation gets extremely messy, perhaps you could offer to chip towards some extra soundproofing?

Not saying you should, just as a negotiating technique.

bobsa1

I deal with Asbo's quite a lot at work and the OP would really have to be going some to get an asbo on noise.

Asbo's are not there for the general run of the mill stuff that we all have to put up with in society, eg. a bit of noise now and then, someone revving their motorbike for a couple of hours on one occassion during the summer. Asbo's are for repeated and usually extreme behaviour.

I do think people have become less tolerant and I think someone could have approached Lukemed1 to point out the problem, but hey they didn't.

If lukemed really does think he isn't noisy it could be to do with sound insulation, often a problem in 1970's props and conversions.

I would be irritated if I was the OP but put it down to experience.

I only get involved in asbo's from a local authority landlord point of view so I find it hard to believe an asbo could enforce a sale of a lease.