Noisy neighbour

amstel2

Hello, don't know if this is the right forum but her goes.

Looking for some ideas on how to handle an occasionally noisy next door neighbour.

Current neighbours bought the house & moved in about 2 years ago . As I like to keep myself to myself (live alone) I haven’t had much contact with them. They have also been very quiet until about 3 weeks ago. What’s been happening is at weekends in the afternoon (especially if the weather is nice) someone in there has been listening to banging house music very loudly.

They have a conservatory & I think the speakers are in their & as they have the window open you can hear it right across my garden/ through the walls/& front of the house.

I don’t want to come over as a miserable old man who expects everyone to be quiet all the time & as mentioned earlier it’s not all the time but it gets that loud that I have to go out for a while. All I want is it turning down a bit.

I did think about going round & talking to them but I don’t like confrontation.

I have a powerful stereo set up myself but I listen to music through headphones. Therefore I was thinking of opening a window & turning my speakers to the dividing wall, putting some heavy metal on, cranking up the volume & leave it all on repeat & go out for spite.

Thanks

Cakeguts

It is probably one of their children doing it while the parents are out. Just go round and explain how loud it is and ask them to turn it down a bit.

penguingirl

Putting on music very loudly without any warning or previous comment is much more confrontational than just speaking to them! Seriously just mention to them that it's a bit loud sometimes, but generally they are good neighbours. I suspect given they've been there for a while with no problems they will be mortified. But you responding with deliberate antisocial behaviour would be a quick way to ruin your neighbourly relationship and may not even work as they might think you like loud music, are deaf etc.

amstel2

Cakeguts wrote: »

It is probably one of their children doing it while the parents are out. Just go round and explain how loud it is and ask them to turn it down a bit.

I don't think its that. The previous occupant told me she had sold the house to a "nice young couple". They seem to be in their 20s.

I think it's the guy doing it as i have noticed when his car is not their (brand new Range Rover) he's a turned round baseball cap type.It's always quiet.

Thanks

IAmWales

amstel2 wrote: »

I don't think its that. The previous occupant told me she had sold the house to a "nice young couple". They seem to be in their 20s.

I think it's the guy doing it as i have noticed when his car is not their (brand new Range Rover) he's a turned round baseball cap type.It's always quiet.

Thanks

What is a turned round baseball cap type, and what relevance does his car have?

I'm sensing it's not the neighbour being unreasonable here.

MisterP123

Cart him out of the house, pin him down, then threaten him with an axe!

amstel2

No i was wondering if he might be some kind of DJ.

BlaEm

The best thing to do is to go round and knock the next time you feel the music is being played too loudly (and if they can't hear you and don't answer, go round and try again once it's stopped).

Just talking to them isn't confrontational. Let them know that you've noticed the sound of their music has been carrying very loudly for the last few weeks, and would they mind adjusting the volume/bass etc slightly. If they did see this as some kind of affront, you can soften it further by telling them that they're great, quiet neighbours the rest of the time.

There may well be a sensible, short term reason why it's only happening now (he might confirm that he's practising a DJ set!) - perhaps they're doing some work and playing the music to entertain themselves or drown out the noise.

Please don't do anything as passive aggressive as make your own noise - they may be completely oblivious to their own noise, think you're being an unprovoked nightmare, and play a bit of their own tit-for-tat..

thesurveyor

To be honest there's no harm in having music on during the day. Just go round and ask can you turn it down a touch. But if you want to go the other way Rammstein, Slayer, Metallica will do the trick

london.cidade

I live in first floor flat, a family moved over us, 2nd floor. their children keeps running all the time. My wife first talked to the husband. he was a non-sense guy. then we wrote them a letter. Then his wife came and we kindly explained the situation. but no change at all. then we speed up our house search, the offer has been accepted, hopefully, if we can complete the purchase process. nobody will be running in over us. if they were decent people, a letter would do the work...

KiKi

Like you, I don't like confrontation, but thumping music does my head in! I'd drop a note round - the chances are they just don't realise you can hear it. Definitely don't retaliate, that's just childish, and bound to make it worse.

Suggest something like "Hi there, hope you're okay? I just wanted to make a friendly request if I can! Recently on weekend afternoons the music from your house has been particularly loud, to the point where I'm having to put earphones on and sometimes I have to leave the house to get away from it! I'm sure you're probably not aware how loud it is, and I'm not asking you to turn it off, but I'd be grateful if you could be aware and turn it / the bass / whatever down so that it's less disruptive. I promise I'm not a miserable old man who hates music - I just don't want to have to leave the house because it's so loud! Thanks so much. amstel2"

I generally find that slightly apologetic notes (even when you're not in the wrong!) get a far, far better response. Put yourself in their position and think what would make you react well (like a nice note) rather than what would annoy you (cranking your own music up).

Good luck, I sympathise with your situation!
KiKi