Renting house with nightmare neighbours

Livmad

I moved to a rented house back in January and pretty much sine then our neighbours have been constantly on at us about the noise! We are not noisy people and have never had a complaint in any other property we've lived at. There is myself, husband and two children who are 2 and 3 years old.
We've actually been accused of 'banging' around at a time that we were not in the house which leads me to believe that they are hearing it from their other neighbours or they're making it up!
I reported this to the letting agency and they said that there was a lengthy noise dispute with the previous tenants and that the lady next door 'has a screw loose'! I really feel that we should have been told before we moved in because there's no way I'd have chosen to live here. I now feel like I have to walk on egg shells in my home through fear of upsetting the neighbours! The letting agency say there's nothing they can do. I can't afford to move so I'm stuck here and totally miserable. Please can anyone offer any constructive advice? I need this situation resolved for my own sanity!!

princeofpounds

Normally it's the people hearing the noise complaining on the forums, not those accused of it!

Are you in in a flat or a house? Are you next to or above them? What are your floors made of? What specific noises are they complaining about?

And what is it that is bothering you? The fact that they complain to you about it? Or is there more than that?

Unfortunately in renting they don't need to tell you about these things. (Nor do they when buying, but they must answer when asked specifically).

G_M

Unfortunately your issue is with the neighbours, not the landlord or agent.

Neighbour disputes are unpleasant but can affect anyone, tenant or home-owner, living in close proximity to others.

The ideal way to resolve is via communication. Ask neighbours for tea and try and talk it through/find compromises. Unfortunatley, if the neighbour is agreessive, or genuinely 'has a screw loose, this does not work, and the risk is a complaint to the council's noise police (yes - they exist!)

Livmad

Thanks for the reply :-)
It's a terraced town house. We are end of terrace, they are middle. The problem seems to be on the middle floor which is where the lounge is. Apparently they can hear lots of banging and sometimes 'loud crashes'! Having two small children, the sound of a loud crash would alarm me, so I know for sure it's not come from our house! The house is allegedly timber framed, I don't know for sure though.
I feel quite bothered because I've just been living my day to day life and this is still too loud. What am I meant to do about that?? The fact that they did it to the last people who lived here makes me think that there may be a structural problem or simply that they dislike living next to a rented house. If the latter is the case then it feels like a personal attack on my family. If it is a structural fault how on earth can I begin to prove this?
I would like to add that I don't have parties, never play loud music and at seven when the children go to bed, we barely make any noise at all. I really don't know what their problem is!

Face1992

Ignore them, if they moaned and moaned about previous tenants, it's them with the problem not you.
Maybe they should think about moving to a detatched house?

Livmad

It's easier said than done to ignore it though. When the walks are being banged on and the door is being knocked, it feels like someone is invading my home and I feel very uncomfortable, last time they complained I put them straight and said that we weren't in the house at the time so quit moaning and leave us alone (a bit more politely than that). Now they've complained to the letting agency!! It's just gonna drag on and on... I can't see any way to resolve the situation.

Livmad

Walls not walks!!!

Mojisola

Livmad wrote: »

It's easier said than done to ignore it though. When the walks are being banged on and the door is being knocked, it feels like someone is invading my home and I feel very uncomfortable, last time they complained I put them straight and said that we weren't in the house at the time so quit moaning and leave us alone (a bit more politely than that). Now they've complained to the letting agency!! It's just gonna drag on and on... I can't see any way to resolve the situation.

You may have to counter-claim to the council about their behaviour.

It will help your case if they have a history of this.

Cissi

Mojisola wrote: »

You may have to counter-claim to the council about their behaviour.

It will help your case if they have a history of this.

That's exactly my thought too. Start recording the incidents of wall and door knocking and report THEM for noise disturbance.

Dreamnine

Relax - it's not you.

Your neighbours sound like total nutjobs...quite common in modern Britain.

MiddyMum

We had something similar happen to us, the man below us was complaining that we were making too much noise. It turns out that he was annoyed about my two year old running from room to room, not a lot I can do about that unfortunately. She is a toddler.

He started banging on the ceilings, swearing and several times during the day. I know he was swearing, because I could hear it through the floorboards. The irony was astounding, especially since he was complaining about the noise we were making but never have me and my partner showed such lack of regard for other people in the way he was acting towards us! We don't play any loud music either. Sometimes, my daughter was in bed and me and my OH were just chatting in the lounge and he would start banging and swearing again. We involved our landlord, it turned out she too has had an ongoing problem with him, and has drove away all previous tenants. She even spent 6 grand on sound proofing after the previous lot left, so she was even more fuming to find out his behaviour had escalated. We kept records of everything, and also made the council aware. Unfortunately, it got so bad that we had to get the police involved. They went and visited him and since then we haven't heard a peep. Bliss. You need to start recording every single contact he makes, either directly or indirectly.