Neighbours complained, Landlord tells me i cant exercise in my own home...

LAEllis

When we moved in we had a lovely couple downstairs who were nice and polite, considerate and generally very nice. Couple months into our tenancy some new tenants moved in and Since then its been nothing but trouble!

1. Within two weeks they broke their front window in some sort of domestic argument causing a lot of commotion from the neighbours not to mention waking me up at around 22:30. They then started smoking in their flat (which i'm not against, i prefer to let people do what they want in their own homes and cut people a little slack) the problem with them doing this is it just comes up through the floor boards etc and stinks our house out. neither myself or my girlfriend smoke so we really dont want our stuff to smell of it. We left a note explaining this but found it in the bin next morning.

2. They are very messy with the communal hallway with post thrown all over the place, muddy footprints on our letters etc

3. They treat the front garden (of which we both have use) as a tip to dump large numbers of bin bags (god knows where they all come from). Almost all of these bags have food waste in them and are left for up to four days outside which attracts rats and foxes every night. The foxes constantly wake me up and wake up the next door neighbours and their dog, next door had spoken to the "people" from downstairs about it and was told "i dont care" they complained to the downstairs landlord (We have separate landlords) and asked me to speak to them about it.

4. They come in every night at 2-2:30am and slam what seems like all the doors in their house as well as the front door!

5. they put up a massive satellite dish on the side of the building which the neighbours complained about so they took it down after an argument, they then put it on the roof without asking anyone.

All of the above was annoying i complained but nothing happened, the neighbours complained but again nothing happened.

yesterday at around 6pm I laid down my sound dampening mat, unfolded my treadmill and jogged for about 30 minutes. All was well. I watched the football, we won.

This morning i get a call from my landlord telling me that the neighbours complained about the noise and that i'm to "refrain" from using it.

Sorry for the massive post folks but what are my options? can he ask me to not use it? is their a rule on what is excessive noise/hours of operation?

I really just want to move now, all because of lousy neighbours.

Caroline73_2

I'm sure your posts don't mean to be xenophobic but is it relevant whether they are Turkish or English?

I'm also not sure what your main issue is, is it their behaviour or their complaint. I would have thought that is was obvious not to smoke outside someone else window, leave binbags with food in outside, communicate issues with your neighbours VIA note rather than in person or exercise when people live beneath you.

googler

How did they get your landlord's contact details? Does the landlord rent to them too?

Mind_the_Gap

Caroline73 wrote: »

I'm sure your posts don't mean to be xenophobic but is it relevant whether they are Turkish or English?

I'm also not sure what your main issue is, is it their behaviour or their complaint. I would have thought that is was obvious not to smoke outside someone else window, leave binbags with food in outside, communicate issues with your neighbours VIA note rather than in person or exercise when people live beneath you.

I agree totally. The nationality of your current or previous neighbours is completely irrelevant.

It's not anybody's LL's problem, in any case. Tell yours politely that if the neighbours object to your treadmill, they should approach you in the first instance and if you cannot resolve the issue amicably, they should contact the EHO at the council with details of the 'noise disturbance'.

If they do come round to talk to you about the treadmill (or you might decide to take the initiative and go round and see them, before relationships deteriorate further), have a list of requests for them ready and be prepared to see it from their point of view. You might even be able to do a deal - using your treadmill when they are normally out, for example, in return for their being more considerate when they come in. And has anyone actually pointed out to them that it's not OK to leave rubbish around, and why? If so, and they still don't get it, why not get them up at 4 am to listen to the foxes, dogs etc and see the mess they make?

In the meantime, start making a written record yourself of the genuinely noisy/disturbing/antisocial acts the neighbours inflcit on you and lodge your own complaint if you wish.

vax2002

Works both ways, remember 1 letter is 1 complaint, so everything they do from now on gets a separate letter for EACH incident to the landlord.

Martin81162

Some good advice here :rotfl:

Mind_the_Gap

vax2002 wrote: »

Works both ways, remember 1 letter is 1 complaint, so everything they do from now on gets a separate letter for EACH incident to the landlord.

That would be petty and futile. It is not the landlords' (neither OP's, nor their upstairs neighbours') fault, nor is it their responsibility to sort this out.

It is up to OP and their neighbours, or, failing that, the EHO.

celyn90

Where we last lived, the guy downstairs had a multi gym and it made a horrendous noise; esp. when he was either running or using the lat pulldown. I'm sure he didn't realise how noisy it was; most of the time I could live with it, but he did used to exercise when he couldn't sleep, so it would wake me up at all hours.

If any of their actions or behaviours disturb you, you need to write to them/speak to them and/or take appropriate action. They should - and have every right - to do the same if any of your actions disturb them too, which they have evidently done. It isn't a case of "oh, well they do x,y,z - so that means I can get away with causing a disturbance as well" - they need to be treated as seperate incidents.

evoke

LOL. LOL. LOL.

If someone used a treadmill in the flat above mine i'd go absolutely ape-sh*t. Noise pollution from a neighbour into your flat is the worst possible thing that can happen (apart from a leak). LOL.

OP: you sound a bit bitter and it just sounds like you were looking for revenge because your complaints weren't getting anywhere. I think you know full well that you're not supposed to use a treadmill when you're living in a flat above someone else.

USM

Using a treadmill in an upstairs flat? seriously?

LAEllis

i was just writing as I recall, the nationalities have no relevance. I have removed them from the initial post

Caroline73, my issue is the fact that i feel that I'm being unreasonably forced to stop doing a hobby and considering the stuff we have to put up with concerning them then they should in all decency compromise. I use a letter/not because they avoid us (will not answer the door when we know they're in) and because I work long hours out at 5:30am home at 9pm+ and i don't want to be inconsiderate.

Googler, They called their landlord who in turn called ours.

Mind the Gap, Our landlord has up until this point been very fair and reasonable and generally a nice guy, i understand the position he's in so i don't blame him for asking me to stop. I have briefly spoken to them about the rubbish, so has the neighbour who received the "i don't care" comment. i also left a note and my girlfriend spoke to the landlord about it. They cant really miss the mess, its all over the front garden and they have to walk past it every morning.

Vax2002, its not the way i want it to go but it looks like im going to have to start doing that.

Vfm4meplse, huh? i don't understand your comment. Its not about who has been where longer its about respect, consideration and compromise. We show them both and are willing to work around issues but are apparently getting non in return and stonewalled.

celyn90, i understand it can be noisy so i only ever use it when it causes the least disturbance.

evoke, i have no interest in revenge. So what about wii fit? running on the spot? jumping jacks? dancing? weight lifting? non of these are allowed? i'm not prepared to live castrated and tip toe around. Working out at mid day is not acceptable?

USM, Yes. read above to evoke.