Cats - Noise Nuisance

Lass

I have lived in this flat for 6 years, and have always been very careful about creating any noise. The soundproofing is non-existent and the neighbour downstairs from me is a council tenant. I have 2 kids and feel like I continually harped at them to be quiet during their younger years. However, I got on ok with the neighbour and while she'd mention a couple of noisy patches now and then, she understood that kids will be kids etc.

I got my first cat 3 years ago. She goes out for a few hours in the evening, but comes home around 11.30pm, just in time for me going to bed. She was joined by my second cat which I brought home 2 years ago. She doesn't go out, never has as seems to be petrified - frankly we honestly believe she's slightly '!!!!!!' (if I may use that word) but she seems happy with her lot.

When the eldest cat comes in last thing at night, the two of them often have a chase-each-other around moment. Doesn't usually last very long, but between the eldest coming home, and us getting ready for bed, they can get pretty wound up. This is nothing new, same behaviour as they've always had.

I had some issues with the neighbour, won't go into detail as it would be longwinded, but suffice to say that a) she complained daily, for 4 months (no exaggeration) this year about some weird noise she insisted was coming from our flat and was keeping her awake at night - turns out she had a hole in her window frame and it was the wind whistling through it and b) we had a flood in our kitchen 2 months ago, which unfortunately went through to hers - she was understanding about it, nobody's fault.

When she was having the whistling noise issue, she spoke to me about it, we communicated daily and I was at my wits end trying to figure out what it was, as it was clearly driving her demented. She told me that she had been in touch with the police to report it as a noise nuisance, they referred her to the council - she kept a daily diary of the noise for them. Now, at this time, she did mention to me that she was hearing the cats running around at night and that the for the benefit of completeness, she was recording that too - but she actually said to me that she wasn't overly concerned about that, although whatever I could do to reduce the noise would be great, all lovely neighbourly stuff.

Two weeks ago my daughter had one of those rare sleepovers that I allow (as I'm paranoid about the noise!) and she informed me a few days later that the cats had been having a run around and that the neighbour had been banging upstairs (presumably to quieten them down) - at 3am. While I was sleeping peacefully in my bed! I haven't spoken to the neighbour and it would appear, from previous experience, that's she's purposely keeping her head down and avoiding me as she usually waves from the window when I come home.

Have now got a message on my phone, from the local council mediation service, asking me to contact them to arrange a meeting with them, and my neighbour, to resolve our 'problems'. No indication of what the problem is, but I can pretty much guarantee its the cats. I don't know what I can do to resolve this! I actually put my eldest cat out at 12.30 last night as they started to run around and I was panicking (told you, I'm paranoid). It was raining and blowing a gale and I felt ruddy awful, and I ended up getting out of bed at 5am to go look for her and let her in. We recently tried again to take the youngest out, but she just hated every minute of it. I know for a fact that the neighbour, despite having a 2 bedroom flat, actually sleeps in the livingroom as the noise of the stair door opening and closing at night when residents come home wakens her. So she's directly under my livingroom where, of course, the cats are having their play. I'm at the stage where I'm contemplating selling up and renting somewhere as I can't afford to buy a new house right now, I just don't know what I'm supposed to do.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated, I apologise for the length of this post!

Lass x

Fire_Fox

Mediation is exactly what it says, it's not there to force you into anything that isn't possible. Assuming you have permission from the freeholder or management company then there is little that can be done about your pets. Environmental Health are able to distinguish between excessive noise and poor soundproofing, so ask for tests to be carried out.

KVet

Shes complaining about cats running about? Oh jeez, she sounds a bit OTT. Is it just thumping and stuff they are doing or pure howling/miaowing? It its just eh odd thump then whats the problem? Sounds like she has a bee in her bonnet about something. I wouldn't worry too much

Lass

Thanks for your comments folks.

Fire Fox, I don't have any problems with the idea of mediation - it's just that from what I can see right now, it'll be entirely pointless - I can't think of anything that I can offer as a solution on my part and I hate that this will result in things being so sour between neighbours. And it will only escalate from here - I mean, ultimately, the council have the power to take out an order against me to 'cease' the noise and I have no doubt she would take it that far if necessary. She is a local authority tenant, whereas I 'own' my property (well, the building society does!!) and when she had her original complaint with them, she told me that she said to them she didn't want to be forced out of her home because she couldn't live with the noise - they assured her they would take any necessary steps to prevent that .... of course, this was when she was still talking to me. The police informed her she should talk to the council as any noise after whatever time was not permitted. The soundproofing is dire, but I can't see them doing anything about it, so do we get to the point where we say tough, you just have to live like this??

KVet, it's the running around, so the thumping I guess - the youngest (the 'special' one, lol) isn't light on her feet, but there's not howling or anything, both spayed females. I thought on leaving the eldest out, but the thing is, she WILL sit at the stair door and miaow, and I know from past experience that she hears that too....

Thing is, despite the fact I think it's OTT, she's within her rights to complain, I'm just getting in a tizz about where this is all headed.....


Lass x

paddypaws101

Is the floor carpet or laminate? Many freeholders stipulate that carpet is laid in upstairs flats as laminate or wood really turns the room into a sound box where even minor noises reverberate.
As Fire Fox wisely states....mediation is just what it says, and anyone can tell that you are doing all you can to minimise disturbance from your property so DO NOT despair.
Oh, and without wanting to sound harsh...you own your flat and the woman downstairs is a council tenant so not really in a strong position to complain about normal everyday family noises.

Lass

Hi paddypaws101 - I have carpet, very very thick carpet, on the livingroom floor. Laminate in the hall unfortunately, but that's not the issue anyway. The only other thing I can think about is getting proper soundproofing done, but I can't afford it anyhow, so it's not an option. I mean, I hear the neighbours upstairs, banging around and loud music, but I live with it or I ask them to turn it down (once only actually).

I'd have thought being a council tenant put you in a stronger position to be honest, the local authority have a vested interested in this and of course have fingers in very many pies.

Lass x

warehouse

If the walls and floors are that un-resistant to noise I'd personally move asap. Find a place where you don't have to worry constantly, you need some peace yourself.

Sunnyday

Tell her that you have found a lovely family who are interested in buying your flat, they have six kids and a baby. ( she may well realise what a quiet neighbour you are in comparison and drop any complaints)

Sounds to me like she dosen`t know when she`s well off!!

I wish you all the best with this.

Good luck.

SD

lowis

i wouldn't worry. cats running around are hardly a noise nuisance. the council are just going through the motions with her and are probably laughing at her behind her back. she is obviously bored with life and looking for issues to fill her time with. i would suggest in the mediation that she ask the council to soundproof her ceiling...it is not your fault that she is that sensitive to noise! i would also suggest that she is a light sleeper if the sound of furry paws on carpet is disturbing...and maybe she can try and find a way of achieving a deeper, healthier sleep!

good luck x

Fire_Fox

Lass wrote: »

Thanks for your comments folks.

Fire Fox, I don't have any problems with the idea of mediation - it's just that from what I can see right now, it'll be entirely pointless - I can't think of anything that I can offer as a solution on my part and I hate that this will result in things being so sour between neighbours. And it will only escalate from here - I mean, ultimately, the council have the power to take out an order against me to 'cease' the noise and I have no doubt she would take it that far if necessary.

She is a local authority tenant, whereas I 'own' my property (well, the building society does!!) and when she had her original complaint with them, she told me that she said to them she didn't want to be forced out of her home because she couldn't live with the noise - they assured her they would take any necessary steps to prevent that .... of course, this was when she was still talking to me. The police informed her she should talk to the council as any noise after whatever time was not permitted. The soundproofing is dire, but I can't see them doing anything about it, so do we get to the point where we say tough, you just have to live like this??

Lass x

Councils have a duty to investigate noise complaints, to mediate where possible and to prosecute where necessary. They won't prosecute you for your cats running about in a flat that has poor sound insulation. They prosecute when noise is excessive in volume, excessive in frequency and/ or avoidable. You won't meet any of these criteria.

I would agree to mediation and then ask both her and the council what they suggest you do, as you want to appear to be willing to negotiate. I can't think of anything sensible that will be suggested, which will make your neighbour look like an idiot. You could offer to write to the freeholder/ managing agent and ask for the sound insulation to be improved. This is unlikely to have any effect other than demonstrate the fact that you are a reasonable person.

Honestly you are worrying about nothing. I once had a neighbour complain about our music (went off for Big Brother so never late) - EH visited one evening and asked us to turn it down, I asked if it was too loud and they admitted it wasn't! They were just trying to mediate: nothing came of it as we had done nothing wrong.

Sirbendy

Oh yes, I had this. Been here 8 months (top floor flat, cheap carpets, no underlay, old conversion, !!!!! soundproofing), and the first downstairs tenants played music until 2am one day, at which point I went down to have a word and got screamed at about "the noise your cats make".

I have 2, shut in the kitchen at night. They DID have the run of the flat, but after this, it's been a kitchen shut in every night.

These flats are AWFUL..we can hear everything downstairs do, and they can hear us. We now have new neighbours, who've been in when my boys have had some real rough and tumble moments...and they all swear blind they can't hear anything at all.

Cats will be cats - I wouldn't worry. Some people are just out to be awkward. We've got a baby on the way in 5 weeks...but luckily I've been able to escape the contract on here due to the poor state of repair of this place (damp, mould, health problems it causes), and we're moving out next weekend.

It can't come soon enough - we moved in here to downsize, not realising we had a sprog on the way. It's been 8 months of stress over keeping noise down, dealing with other people's noise, trying to sleep through DIY at 2am that echoes up the walls, and neighbours that while friendly enough, smoke a lot of dubious substances and attract the chav element of the area to the shared drive outside my window.

And now I've got one of the bloody idiots giving a yelled commentary of the Formula 1 coming up through the floor in this room and the bathroom. Sigh. At least they're harmless.