Advice about solving noise urgently needed

Gordon_Hose

Norman_Castle wrote: »

They don't need to sit still and be silent. They just need to moderate their noisy behavior. I expect any behavior which bothers parents is stopped very quickly. The children aren't the problem. Its the parents indifference to the neighbors welfare which allows the problem to continue.

Children should be seen and not heard, eh?

You can't just moderate children's behaviour at the drop of a hat. If they've gotten used to running about, jumping off furniture (which is the parents prerogative, who are we to say how their children behave at home), you can't just one day tell them to stop and that be the end of it.

It'll take a while, provided the parents are receptive to wanting to change their child's behaviour, and to be fair they don't have to do anything they don't want to, you can't force them to stop their child running and jumping at home, regardless of how much it annoys the neighbours.

The issue here I feel is more to do with the soundproofing than the child's behaviour, or the parenting skills of the adults.

Gordon_Hose

MJK4711 wrote: »

All I have ever asked is if they could try and control the running and jumping. I certainly would if I thought my children were disturbing my neighbours as much.

I can hear them all in the same room and the running and jumping goes on for hours at a time. They live in a flat with someone underneath them (not a gymnasium) and I think they should try and be a bit more considerate.

As a mother and former childminder I don't think the stance of "They're kids so they can make as much noise as they like" cuts it. The parents should be able to exercise a bit of control. I am amazed that one of the kids hasn't been carted off in an ambulance. I have heard them burst out crying on numerous occasions after a loud "bang" so they must have hurt themselves.

Don't judge everyone's parenting skills by your own. We all know full well just from visiting the supermarket that parenting skills can vary :rotfl:

I was crouching down asking my 3 year old son to stop running in the aisles once, mainly because he would hurt himself, and secondly he would get in the way of people shopping. I wasn't shouting but I was using an authoritative tone, as this was the 4th time of asking him to stop, and the next thing I know some bloke has sauntered past with his daughter and told me I shouldn't speak to a child that way.

I asked him in no uncertain terms to mind his own business.

Bennifred

Could the elderly next-door neighbours swap with your noisy upstairs neighbours? Win-win!

Gordon_Hose

"ARGH!! The endless shuffling about upstairs is doing my head in!! And they've got the T.V. on loud so they can hear it properly!"

:rotfl:

Furts

Gordon_Hose wrote: »

If the council have nowhere to put them, then what is the alternative? You're not prepared to move, they aren't prepared to move - Mexican stand off!

You can't force the council to put them in a house, especially if there are no houses available.

The large Housing Association, the Police, and the local authority where I live have a simple answer to this. That is "shape up. or ship out". They have no qualms about evicting families who do not comply, and they do not hang around before resorting to such measures.

If one analyses the situation then this is to be expected. There is a waiting list, and there are insufficient new homes being built. Hence the Housing Association/Council can, in effect, cherry pick the best tenants, and also reduce the waiting list - those who are a problem get struck off, hence helping to lower the numbers on the list. This then shows progress towards meeting housing need targets.

There are two problems with this. First, the tenants do not always have the common sense to realise the system. Second, if they are evicted they could end up in the private rented sector where rents are higher.

Norman_Castle

Gordon_Hose wrote: »

Children should be seen and not heard, eh?

You can't just moderate children's behaviour at the drop of a hat. If they've gotten used to running about, jumping off furniture (which is the parents prerogative, who are we to say how their children behave at home), you can't just one day tell them to stop and that be the end of it.


The issue here I feel is more to do with the soundproofing than the child's behaviour, or the parenting skills of the adults.

Childrens noise is fine but not to this extent. The parents will (hopefully!) stop the children doing many things. Playing with knives or the cooker. Hitting the TV. Throwing water around. Children do that and are stopped. If these parents were concerned for their neighbor they could stop the majority of this noise. It may take time but they have done nothing about it for a year as they clearly don't care.

Norman_Castle

Gordon_Hose wrote: »

"ARGH!! The endless shuffling about upstairs is doing my head in!! And they've got the T.V. on loud so they can hear it properly!"

:rotfl:

You're very biased and protective because you have a 3 year old. If you and your child were in the OPs situation I expect you would see it differently.

sniggings

have you check if they have laminate flooring? that can make loads of noise, my HA doesn't allow it.

Skint_yet_Again

Bennifred wrote: »

Could the elderly next-door neighbours swap with your noisy upstairs neighbours? Win-win!

^^^^^
this was my thought too. Any possibility ?

MJK4711

They don't have laminate. Vinyl in the kitchen and bathroom and carpet with a good underlay underneath. My elderly neighbours also have mobility problems so the stairs would be an issue for them aswell.

At the end of the day we all have our views on bringing up children. I am more "old school" I must admit. It's not a case of they should be seen and not heard, I just would not encourage running around and jumping off of furniture, especially if I knew it was affecting my neighbour.

Norman Castle is spot on. In a whole year the noise level is exactly the same despite my pleas. The Housing Association have said that all insulation and acoustics are to British Standards so they're not interested.

When you live in a flat with neighbours in close quarters it's common decency to try to keep the noise to an acceptable level. We are all entitled to enjoy our homes. If a neighbour explained to me that something I was doing was having an impact on them I would do my best to try and resolve it and help them in any way I can.