I am in serious need of advice regarding noise!

lhg91

Many of you will see that I posted a similar thread to this a while ago now, but I am at the end of my tether and really need some advice on how to proceed!

We have been in our home 2 years in April. We have had non-stop noise from the neighbours since we have moved in (this is no exaggeration, the only time we have any peace is when we are sleeping between 12am-6am). It is constant noise from the parents shouting, swearing, kids running around screaming and swearing. Hoovering at 10 and 11pm at night, banging of furniture, everything!

We went around towards the end of last year when they kept us up until 1am with the noise and we had work the next day. They are housing association tenants so we said that we didn't want to cause any trouble which was why we were approaching them directly, but if this noise continued we would have no choice but to make a formal complaint to the HA.

All wasn't TOO bad, but now it is back to square one. I have been keeping a noise diary and actual recordings since August last year so that I have evidence, however I am really reluctant to make a formal complaint as it will be on our record forever which will affect us selling our home. I love my house and we have put so much hard work into it, it just really annoys me that they just can't be respectful and keep the noise down. I don't mind it as much during the evening as we can have the tv volume high, but after 10pm when we are in bed for work it is just really frustrating! I have very bad anxiety, and i'm worried this may push me towards actually having a nervous breakdown as I don't want to go to bed most evenings as I almost have panic attacks thinking about the noise i'm going to have to endure when trying to get to sleep.

Anyway, do any of you have any advice at all as to what the best approach would be with them? My partner is going around tonight to actually play them some of the recordings we have in case they don't actually realise how noisy they are being. However, I really don't think this will help

Thank you!

anselld

Nothing really changed since the last thread ...
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5609765

You clearly still think being HA makes them somehow different.

Noise nuisance and antisocial behaviour (if that's what it is) are not the Landlord's problem. It is down to the Council regardless if they are tenants or owner-occupiers.

Pixie5740

Previous thread: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5609765

Have you contacted the council about your nuisance neighbours yet?

To be honest in your shoes I would already have been on the blower to the housing association and council. You've already spoken with your neighbours, they continued to make noise, they don't care and probably don't think you will take matters any further. You should.

Pixie5740

anselld wrote: »

Nothing really changed since the last thread ...
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5609765

You clearly still think being HA makes them somehow different.

Noise nuisance and antisocial behaviour (if that's what it is) are not the Landlord's problem. It is down to the Council regardless if they are tenants or owner-occupiers.

Yes the council deals with noisy neighbours from all walks of life but social housing landlords have a few tricks up their sleeves that private landlords do not. For example,

Local authority and other social landlords such as housing associations, can also:

* in England and Wales, apply for a court order to 'demote' someone's tenancy. This will make it easier for the landlord to evict a tenant whose behaviour does not improve
* in England, change someone's tenancy to a 'family intervention tenancy'. This means that the tenant and their family must agree to get professional help and support to change their behaviour. If their behaviour doesn't improve or they don't use the services offered, they can be evicted.

Taken from CAB

Brock_and_Roll

Best bet would be to do nothing officially and sell up and move. As soon as you report the matters etc, this would be a dispute that would have to be declared on selling.

lhg91

anselld wrote: »

Nothing really changed since the last thread ...

You clearly still think being HA makes them somehow different.

Noise nuisance and antisocial behaviour (if that's what it is) are not the Landlord's problem. It is down to the Council regardless if they are tenants or owner-occupiers.

No, it has nothing to do with the fact they are HA at this point, I simply re-iterated that point so that people knew why I was threatening to report them to the HA rather than contacting the council/landlord/police.

Thank you for the advice taken from CAB, and for others advice too that has been constructive; unlike the point above. Unless you have experienced truly disruptive neighbours, you have no idea the hell you have to go through every day, I really wouldn't wish it upon my worst enemy...

the_quick

Hi, we had similar issue in our block, noisy neighbors and had same reservation regarding official complain to the council. Talking to the neighbors directly did not have any effect. So we just complained to Housing Association and kept doing it, they gave us noise logs to fill in (you already have those) - we gave them all back and they did have a word or something with those people as, since than they behave much better.
I think they might have a tenancy agreement and there are rules about noise. Council was not involved.

shortcrust

anselld wrote: »

Nothing really changed since the last thread ...
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5609765

You clearly still think being HA makes them somehow different.

Noise nuisance and antisocial behaviour (if that's what it is) are not the Landlord's problem. It is down to the Council regardless if they are tenants or owner-occupiers.

Them being HA tenants does make a difference. I know because I had similar problems which the HA took very seriously. In that instance the HA tenancy agreement had a detailed section on noise, including no vacuuming, loud TV, shouting etc after 10pm. They also had an anti-social behaviour team. They visited the neighbours and that was the end of the noise. Obviously I don't know what was said between them, but it worked.

Almost two years and you've not put in a formal complaint? I think you're crackers.

TBagpuss

Have you spoken to the HA at all? When I had difficult neighbours I spoke with the HA who spoke to them and sorted out the problem.

The tenancy agreement may well contain terms relating to not disturbing other tenants, so your neighbours may be in breach of their tenancy agreement.

The HA may have their own mediation service to try to address this kind of issue to support you in meeting directly with the neighbours.

pmlindyloo

shortcrust wrote: »

Them being HA tenants does make a difference. I know because I had similar problems which the HA took very seriously. In that instance the HA tenancy agreement had a detailed section on noise, including no vacuuming, loud TV, shouting etc after 10pm. They also had an anti-social behaviour team. They visited the neighbours and that was the end of the noise. Obviously I don't know what was said between them, but it worked.

Almost two years and you've not put in a formal complaint? I think you're crackers.

I think you were extremely lucky.

Although it is quite true that the HA has considerable powers they are often unlikely to use them.

Why? Because, and I am being very honest here, families that swear and scream at their children do not change overnight.

Children's noise is, in fact, not a cause for complaint.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/housing/problems-where-you-live/neighbour-disputes/

Yes, the housing officer may go round and 'have a word' and things like hoovering may quieten down for a while. But things are unlikely to change in the long run.

Basically the HA would have to rehouse them even though they may have broken their tenancy agreement and they do not want to do this (just gives the problem to someone else). it can also take months if not years.

I am trying to be realistic here as have seen many people facing this same problem.

So, OP you have two choices:

Complain to the HA and live with all the consequences.
Move asap. You say you suffer from anxiety and it is easy for noise to become totally unbearable in your mind - the 'building up' effect.

There will always be another house for you. Just make sure your next one is in a quiet area - check out the neighbours and visit at all different times of the week.

Personally this would be a complete no brainer for me.

straas

You could try some ear plugs as an interim measure - it will help with anxiety levels.