Noisy Father of Family Below

Chlorine7

I live in a block of flats, where you can hear into the flats adjacent and below. Recently a family of four young children and two parents moved in to the two bedroom below us. I can often hear the children crying, screaming and running around. That's normal just louder than the previous families who lived there and during the day, while it can be very irritating is perfectly reasonable.

The real problem is the father. He is clearly the dominant person of the house and when he loses his patience with the children we can hear every single thing and it feels like he is everywhere. Inside his flat, inside our flat and outside on the landing all at the same time.

This doesn't just happen during the day. At least twice since they have moved in we have been woken up around 3am-4am due to his screaming and shouting. One morning he was shouting from about 7.30am to 9am. Now we don't know if he's just an incredibly loud man or a bad tempered one or both as we don't speak the language that he is screaming in. My housemate and I can not live like this but we are not sure what the best solution is.

We are both fairly young women and this man gives the impression that doesn't respect women. I bumped into the wife once and considered talking to her about it but she has to suffer with her husband's behavior daily and seems docile and I don't want to make her life more difficult.

I am friends with neighbours that are on the board of the building and have considered speaking with them but I'm not sure that they can do anything. My friends have suggested I call the police once the screaming starts in the middle of the night but unless he's actually being abusive to his family, I'm not sure it's worth it. Another suggested leaving a note on the door asking them not to scream between the hours of 12am - 7am.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how they might deal with the situation?

pmlindyloo

Do you own the property or rent?

Do your neighbours own the property or rent?

Guest101

Well step 1 should be talking to him.


With 4 kids I can imagine its quite stressful, but he may not realise how loud he's being

Chlorine7

We both rent.

He comes across as very intimidating so my housemate and I are quite wary of talking to him. We will probably have to do it eventually but once she and I have calmed down as we're pretty angry about him, right now.

Also the shouting last night wasn't to do with the kids (at least they didn't seem to be up as we can hear them even when they're at a normal level of noise in the middle of the night)

Guest101

Chlorine7 wrote: »

We both rent.

He comes across as very intimidating so my housemate and I are quite wary of talking to him. We will probably have to do it eventually but once she and I have calmed down as we're pretty angry about him, right now. -

Also the shouting last night wasn't to do with the kids (at least they didn't seem to be up as we can hear them even when they're at a normal level of noise in the middle of the night)

Is he intimidating because he shouts or because he's done something specifically to you or your housemate?

thorsoak

If it is always in the night,maybe he suffers from nightmares - or PTSD.

professor~yaffle

I'm afraid it's part and parcel of living in a block of flats. You could, I suppose, get on to the landlord or agency and complain about noisy tenants. I never bothered doing that in the past when I had nightmare noisy farkwits living upstairs because frankly I didn't want to risk said farkwits then turning up on my doorstep and giving me abuse for complaining about them. But in theory they are probably in breach of their tenancy agreement if they're being that loud. You say they're foreign, so that could add another problem into the mix.

Guest101

professor~yaffle wrote: »

I'm afraid it's part and parcel of living in a block of flats. You could, I suppose, get on to the landlord or agency and complain about noisy tenants. I never bothered doing that in the past when I had nightmare noisy farkwits living upstairs because frankly I didn't want to risk said farkwits then turning up on my doorstep and giving me abuse for complaining about them. But in theory they are probably in breach of their tenancy agreement if they're being that loud. You say they're foreign, so that could add another problem into the mix.

I wouldn't assume that.

professor~yaffle

Guest101 wrote: »

I wouldn't assume that.

Pretty sure tenancy agreements have a clause in them about noise nuisance to neighbours. Ours always have (in both private and social housing).

Chlorine7

He is intimidating because I can hear the way he shouts at his family. The kids are all under 5 years old - no need to scream the way he does and last night I'm certain it was at his wife. It isn't necessarily the screaming that is the problem, it's more that it will turn into a screaming match if my housemate or myself go down there and he treats us the same way as his family.

I don't see why I should have to put up with it at 3am just because it's a block of flats. We endure noisy families all day and evening without complaint but the middle of the screaming and shouting isn't acceptable. If you did nothing about it then that's your prerogative. I would like to do something... I have now contacted the property managers - though they are bloody stupid and have contacted the wrong landlords.

[Deleted User]

Can you put a note through his door telling him to shut up ? He may not understand it but can get it interpreted .