Noisy neighbour

anoneemouse

A next door neighbour is regularly making noise and disturbing my home with it.

They have been politely asked before now to stop - but I've got nowhere with them.

I've now had to resort to my local Council and try and get this dealt with that way.

So - the Council have sent me and them a letter about this. They have been told they are causing a "statutory noise nuisance" under the Environmental Protection Act 1990. They are STILL doing it.

So - I am now keeping a "log" of the noise and hoping that they will stop disturbing me soon and I don't have to send this in and proceed any further. I won't raise my hopes too high though. They look likely to continue with the noise and so I expect I will have to send it in to the Council.

So - the Council says that if this continues they can serve a Noise Abatement Notice and this would result in an appearance before the Magistrates' Court and a possible fine of up to £5,000 and this could be per event - rather than for the whole sequence of events.

I really hope things don't have to progress this far to get the noisemaking stopped.

Assuming this has to continue (which I have the horrible feeling it will) then I wonder if anyone else has been through this process.

If anyone has had to do this then I would very much appreciate knowing how things went:
- did the neighbour stop the noise before the Abatement Notice
- or stop at the Abatement Notice
- or did you have to go the whole way through to the Magistrates Court and, if so, what penalty got imposed on the neighbour
- did the neighbour stop making the noise at that point finally

My single biggest query is, of course, could this rebound in me in any way? The neighbour concerned might well find a way to up the ante in other respects if they are forced to stop disturbing me with noise. They might try disturbing me in other ways - but I am guessing I could get the police onto them if they try that subsequently.

Could this neighbour end up costing me money? That is my main concern - ie whether there is a risk that I might be made to pay any legal costs of dealing with them ever (because I can't afford that).

burtons

What noise are they making and what time of the day.

anoneemouse

All the time!

Its some sort of alarm or other beeping. They know it is beeping, but are refusing to deal with it because it doesn't bother them.

The letter I have from the Council would seem to indicate that it does not have to be a "noisy" noise for them to accept it is a problem. This isn't a "noisy" noise but is a problem because it is constant and disturbing my peace and quiet all the time.

unluckychappie

The only real advise I can offer is to ask the other neighbours if they are affected. They may be willing to keep a noise diary as well.

The next door neighbour at our first house played music very loudly every Saturday afternoon. Really irritating and we asked them to turn it down. If anything the noise became louder. It was only when moving that we found out that the neighbours opposite had been keeping a noise log and were going through the process you described.

At the second house the noise was so great that we did not use the main bedroom, but a room furthest away. Again their reaction was aggressive. We moved as soon as we could.

At the third house there was hardly a wisper from a pub until the landlords decided to demolish it. It was then bedlam. Polite requests were aggressively rejected and we were threatened with violence and the front wall broken twice. The police were pathetic, they were not prepared to do anything. Keep a log was all they could offer, they were not even prepared to discuss the matter with the landlords. Once the pub had been demolished any number of neighbours came out of the woodwork and stated how scared they had been but wanted to keep a low profile. Hardly suprising we were the only ones targeted!

dreamypuma

For more details

anoneemouse

Thank you.

That is indeed the "background" to this episode.

So I am now on Stage 2 of dealing with this. I had not realised that the Council has the power to serve the neighbour an official Notice or take them to Court and have them fined if they disobey it.

Obviously I am wondering who would pay the cost of the Council taking this neighbour to Court if that is what it comes to.

I literally cannnot afford for there to be any risk at all of me having to pay out any legal costs ever - whether of the Council taking them to court or of the "judge" awarding any costs against me if anything goes wrong somehow (I've been surprised to discover how often "perpetrators of a crime" find ways to twist things and the person who is "on the receiving end" finds themselves in trouble).

DCFC79

anoneemouse wrote: »

Thank you.

That is indeed the "background" to this episode.

So I am now on Stage 2 of dealing with this. I had not realised that the Council has the power to serve the neighbour an official Notice or take them to Court and have them fined if they disobey it.

Obviously I am wondering who would pay the cost of the Council taking this neighbour to Court if that is what it comes to.

I literally cannnot afford for there to be any risk at all of me having to pay out any legal costs ever - whether of the Council taking them to court or of the "judge" awarding any costs against me if anything goes wrong somehow (I've been surprised to discover how often "perpetrators of a crime" find ways to twist things and the person who is "on the receiving end" finds themselves in trouble).

why are you worrying over the costs, you are the victim here, you are the 1 who reported it, you dont and wont pay anything, i would have thought the costs would be claimed from the offender

anoneemouse

I'm worrying about costs - just in case things get twisted and I end up with some costs imposed on me. I see that in other types of "legal" dispute that the "innocent party" has sometimes ended up with having costs imposed on them. I dont know if this type of "legal" issue is exempt from this sort of risk to the "innocent party" (ie myself in this case) or no.

******************

Has anyone else gone through this exact process re keeping a noise record and then having to have the Council give out a Noise Abatement Order please? I would value any useful info. anyone who has been in this exact same position could give please.

vuvuzela

If the council take them to court, you will not be liable for anything.
Subscribing to this thread as it's something I am likely to be pursuing in the near future too, sadly.

burtons

Is the beeping like a smoke alarm sound as my neighbours was beeping for over a week and they didn't do anthing about it.

fluffnutter

unluckychappie wrote: »

The only real advise I can offer is to ask the other neighbours if they are affected.

Not always possible, e.g. semi-detached. You might well be the only neighbour who could be affected.

I get fed up with my neighbour. The karaoke singalongs to Scissor Sisters for hours on end are bad enough but I also get bothered by their constant rows. Not rows as such; he shouts and she tuts. Periodically they look after one of their parents' dogs. They leave them indoors all day on their own and they bark, yelp and whine for hours