Neighbour complaints!

kinger101

Pixie5740 wrote: »

I wouldn't swap the property buying & selling or renting in Scotland with the systems used South of the border for all the tea in China.

I think you missed the point. Your post implied that Scottish landlords need to ensure their tenants are harassing the neighbours.

Pixie5740

Ah yes, I see what you mean.

annapanda

I did notice that too and it made me laugh !

Thanks for all the responses, much appreciated. I shall just keep an eye on the situation, I know I don't have to do anything from a legal perspective but at the same time it's the first time I've let a property and want to try and be a decent landlord. I guess I have a lot of sentimental attachement given it was my home and not just something I bought to let out.

car0line123

for what it's worth, if your neighbour can hear the TV, or a party and so on, then it is too loud! You (your tenants) are perfectly entitled to live a normal life AS LONG AS they don't disturb others around them. Some people might be more understanding than others, but that does not give anyone the right to be a nuisance. Everybody should be able to live in peace.

Ok, you cannot do much about a crying baby, the parents would be the first to like the noise to stop..., but if you want to have a party, then rent a hall or go to a pub - in which case, people moving next to such place know what to expect, within reasons.

Viberduo

car0line123 wrote: »

for what it's worth, if your neighbour can hear the TV, or a party and so on, then it is too loud! You (your tenants) are perfectly entitled to live a normal life AS LONG AS they don't disturb others around them. Some people might be more understanding than others, but that does not give anyone the right to be a nuisance. Everybody should be able to live in peace

I disagree, my neighbour used to complain about me getting a glass of water during night or tossing and turning in bed as it made the floorboards creak, they had the cheek to tell me to keep a bottle of water beside my bed to drink, not to go to bathroom during the night as it may disturb them and to only watch tv or use computer in my bedroom(which was dark and also loud from the road during the day) The guy eventually attacked me claiming I was a noisy person but he complained about every tenant who ever lived in the flat, but once he moved to my flat when I moved out he made no effort to keep quiet and stomped about all hours wearing boots, played his tv on loud(and considering the walls were thick you would need to have them on like 100% to hear anything) but I think he was just playing games.

As a student I used to have a flatmate complain as they heard anyones tv or computer on even if low as they did shiftwork saying we had to live around them, that was unfair especially when they would bang about when waking up.

It's annoying when you make a effort to be quiet and you know that you would have to know a tv is on and listen to hear it and even then barely and still complain as you can hear a tv, or you are in bed and sleeping fine then wake up to go to bathroom and hear a tv therefore its too loud.

Basically theres a difference between actual everyday noise and someone banging about and calling it everyday noise.

annapanda

car0line123 wrote: »

for what it's worth, if your neighbour can hear the TV, or a party and so on, then it is too loud! You (your tenants) are perfectly entitled to live a normal life AS LONG AS they don't disturb others around them. Some people might be more understanding than others, but that does not give anyone the right to be a nuisance. Everybody should be able to live in peace.

Ok, you cannot do much about a crying baby, the parents would be the first to like the noise to stop..., but if you want to have a party, then rent a hall or go to a pub - in which case, people moving next to such place know what to expect, within reasons.

Sorry but I disagree totally with this. Some walls you would need to have TV on almost silent and nobody move in order not to hear anything! People shouldn't have to put up with excessive noise, but that doesn't mean it's reasonable to expect to live in silence if you live in a semi-detached or flat!

topdaddy_2

patman99 wrote: »

If the local Council is anything like mine, then before taking full action on a noise complaint, they will insist on the complainant using a noise recorder for a month (the Council will supply it) in order to gather evidence.

The Council will then review the recordings and then decide whether or not your tenants are causing a noise nuisance.

This^.
If the noise team takes it seriously they'll collect evidence(ie noise readings) and can potentially seize equipment. But if the noise isnt from a stereo etc and just daily living then theres not much that can be done.

car0line123

Viberduo wrote: »

I disagree, my neighbour used to complain about me getting a glass of water during night or tossing and turning in bed as it made the floorboards creak, they had the cheek to tell me to keep a bottle of water beside my bed to drink
.

if they could hear THAT much, sounds like you should have had carpet in your bedroom!

[QUOTE=Some_walls_you_would_need_to_have_TV_on_almost_silent_not_to_hear_anything![/QUOTE]

then if your neighbours complain, what's wrong with headphones? In a purpose built flat, it is likely that rooms match at all levels, so the room below or above your living room are unlikely to be a bedroom. Why should they be unable to sleep or work because of your tv?

Viberduo

car0line123 wrote: »

if they could hear THAT much, sounds like you should have had carpet in your bedroom!



then if your neighbours complain, what's wrong with headphones? In a purpose built flat, it is likely that rooms match at all levels, so the room below or above your living room are unlikely to be a bedroom. Why should they be unable to sleep or work because of your tv?

Thats not the point, you are doing what other people want because they say so, and they have no care that their everyday noise is far more extreme than they claim to hear. The ones in the example complained about every tenant since the day they moved in, they were there 4 years and 2 years later were still complaining and tenants never lasted more than a few months upstairs from them so are you saying every single person who moved in during that 6 year period had the problem? People should not be afraid to even do so much as a fart or go to the toilet without fear of the neighbours complaining, these neighbours even admitted they never heard noise during the day only during the night to the point they claimed I slept all day and was up all night and as I went to bed most nights midnight to 1am I knew that wasnt true, I could not hear my upstairs neighbours tvs or even knew they were in, none of them could hear me but my downstairs neighbour claimed he heard everything I did and my conversations, the people above and below my neighbours on each side never complained about noise from any neighbour this one set just complained about everybody.

When I am so silent that neighbours have knocked on my door worrying I have collapsed or moved out that shows you how quiet I am, at pretty much every place I have lived bar that one people assumed this it wasnt a one off.

So bearing that in mind its most likely the neighbours downstairs were just complaining for the sake of it.

Actually now I remember I did have carpet in the bedroom it was in the livingroom/kitchen part as it was a studio flat there was wooden floor, I would of loved to have carpet down but I was a tenant not a owner.

The neighbour had no issue with having greasy fry ups a few times a day and the stench of fat and meat being so strong you could smell it all around the block as they opened windows.

If I was walking around on tiptoes(and I do as I am a little ocd) how can they claim I was stomping all night, how can they claim I only went to bed around 7am(which was the time they woke up) every night when most nights I was in bed by midnight, more than once I had the guy thumping my door around 2.30am(seemed to be the same sort of time each instance) claiming I was being loud despite being in bed as early as 10pm and sleeping and his thumping was the thing that woke me up! Another time I was away for a week and he claimed I kept him awake every night that week(what do I have ghosts or something) another time I went away for the weekend to be claimed I had parties all weekend!

Whats more likely was the guy was so massive he had to get back operations and his wife was massive too and when they moved their bed creaked but they assumed the creaking was from my flat.

greenbee

car0line123 wrote: »

for what it's worth, if your neighbour can hear the TV, or a party and so on, then it is too loud! You (your tenants) are perfectly entitled to live a normal life AS LONG AS they don't disturb others around them. Some people might be more understanding than others, but that does not give anyone the right to be a nuisance. Everybody should be able to live in peace.

Ok, you cannot do much about a crying baby, the parents would be the first to like the noise to stop..., but if you want to have a party, then rent a hall or go to a pub - in which case, people moving next to such place know what to expect, within reasons.

If this is a 1950s semi, then you probably can hear the TV through the walls, particularly if the TV is against the party wall and the neighbour who is complaining doesn't have any background noise at all.

I used to live in a similar property, and as I didn't have a TV was very aware of the noise my neighbour's TV made. Visitors who stayed in the spare room which was next to the party wall commented that my neighbours never seemed to sleep as the TV was on when they went to bed and when they woke up.

However, if you have the radio or music on, it tends to block the noise from next door.

It may be worth asking your tenants to make sure TV/speakers etc are kept away from the party wall, just in case (while making clear you sympathise with them) as it will reduce the amount of sound that travels through to next door. And obviously, from the point of view of privacy they might want to shut windows and whisper if they are discussing anything important as she's clearly taking a close interest in their conversation :cool: