Started to rent, have complaint against me!

[Deleted User]

I agree.., stop apologising and assuming that u are doing something wrong. Unfortunately there are people in the world that are super sensitive to noise (I actually have a neighbour who says she can hear me typing on the pc in the night lol) and who like to complain. If u were asleep.., u can't have been making any noise.

Laminate floor is a bit of a pain.., u are doing the right thing getting rugs. As u are doing, keep a diary and note sleep times/days away. I doubt this would be taken any further but if it was, if u can prove it wasn't possible for u to make the noise she is complaining of just once.., she will find it difficult to make any complaints that stand up.

And yes, stop answering the door unless u expect someone to knock. If she doesn't have the delight of u standing on the doorstep apologising for normal living, she may eventually run out of steam (i.e. don't reward her behaviour). If the LA phone about her complaints, don't stress about them (remember they know her well too I should imagine), explain the situation, say u'r buying rugs but u are just living your life as everyone does and not playing loud music etc at unacceptable hours.

Pinzy

It's not you, some people just complain for the sake of it. My SIL moved into her new house and has had the police round twice thanks to the neighbour complaining of the noise. It's just her and her husband and 3 normally behaved kids. They never have anything on loud past 7pm so as not to wake the kids up!
The police are aware of the neighbour's 'issues' and explained that they just had to follow it up as it was new tenant. The neighbour also started complaining to the Landlord when he visited, and the landlord told the neighbour off! Either way, SIL spent first couple of months creeping around and trying to keep kids quiet, then realised she wasn't the problem, he was and just ignored him. Soon enough he stopped complaining.

Sometimes it's attention seeking, in this guys case it seems he gets a lot of earache from his wife so takes it out on others.
Point being you know you're being perfectly reasonable with volume levels, especially once you've got a rug down. Don't give them the power by apologising profusely when you've done nothing wrong.
Just because somebody may be old/frail/disabled, doesn't mean they can't be a bully. It may be a surprise when you first come across someone like that, but they are out there.

poppy10_2

You'll never satisfy this sort of person, if you put down thick rugs and tiptoe around your property they will still find something to complain about. No point in spoiling your own life to try to please her. As long as you know you are doing nothing wrong (not being too loud between midnight and 7am) then just live your life as normal, tell her she does not have permission to knock on your door and if she persists tell her you will report her to the police for harassment.

samtheplumber

Hello again,

Bit of an update!

I have had her complaining against me again this time to the local environmental services to a man called Mr Stephenson. I got a letter saying a complaint had been made about my music and raised voices, when i phoned them up i spoke Mr Stephenson who was very helpful and reassured me that if i am not doing any thing wrong then not to worry.

I told him a brief story of what had happened so far and how i ignore her when she bangs at my door/window. I also told him how i have been writing everything down and how she was swearing and banging on my windows and doors. I have been writing down exactly what i was doing like what game i was playing and the number on the TV for the sound level.

I can feel my stress levels slowly creeping up as this whole thing goes along but i suppose i am doing everything i should so i shouldn't worry as much!

JQ.

Sounds like you're doing exactly the right things. Don't let it get you down.

BitterAndTwisted

Have you written to the agents about liaising with the landlord to have carpeting laid?

RacyRed

samtheplumber wrote: »

Hello again,

Bit of an update!

I have had her complaining against me again this time to the local environmental services to a man called Mr Stephenson. I got a letter saying a complaint had been made about my music and raised voices, when i phoned them up i spoke Mr Stephenson who was very helpful and reassured me that if i am not doing any thing wrong then not to worry.

I told him a brief story of what had happened so far and how i ignore her when she bangs at my door/window. I also told him how i have been writing everything down and how she was swearing and banging on my windows and doors. I have been writing down exactly what i was doing like what game i was playing and the number on the TV for the sound level.

I can feel my stress levels slowly creeping up as this whole thing goes along but i suppose i am doing everything i should so i shouldn't worry as much!

Don't bottle your stress Sam, take it out on the letting agent

It sounds like you are doing all the right things. Did the environmental services guy say what his next move would be? Hopefully it will be to turn your neighbour from hell's complaints back on her.

dizziblonde

If you've covered your back and played the sensible rational person - there's not much she can do. Mention to the letting agent that she's looking for axes to grind and the measures you've taken... but if you're in a flat with rubbish soundproofing there are limits - my old flat I used to be able to hear word for word the neighbour's stereo (didn't mind - he had the same CD collection I had) and the other neighbour singing along to his music (I don't think he'd realized this one or he'd have probably died of embarassment)... if you live anywhere in close proximity with other humans you have to expect a bit of noise really (although I'd happily swing for the guy along our street who is incapable of starting his car engine on a weekend without trying to make it sound like an F1 grid at race start right now)! We once had a neighbour complain to environmental health about my mum's alarm clock at 7am... when their child practised the trombone at all hours!

Sounds like she's doing the neighbourly equivalent of a dog marking its territory by peeing up the lampost - we had a little bit of this when we moved in here, the neighbours had seen a "let" board rather than a sale board and viewed us with a touch of suspicion about what we were going to bring to the street (parking's our big one - making sure we were going to stick to the communally designated "one car and leave the rest at the end of the street" dealie etc - sounds bad, but if you saw the access to our street it would make sense) - once they realized we were likely to stick around and that we cared about the road too - they've been fantastic in terms of keeping an eye on the house while we're away and things.

Fire_Fox

Sounds like you are doing the right thing, environmental health officers are not (usually) ogres and they are not in the habit of taking action against innocent people. They would look for evidence that you are causing a disturbance, and clearly there will be none.

jayss

Sounds like you need to make a complaint of your own at this point, if she is harassing you, banging on the window etc.