Noisy Neighbour - Not sure what to do next

Jimmy_Boy

Hi,

This is a long story that has spanned approximately 3+ years now. I have had an ongoing issue with my upstairs neighbours noise. The main issue is the impact noises I can hear, which are primarily from heavy walking. The sounds go on throughout the night and this makes it hard for me to sleep.

I have had sound recording equipment installed by the council, and they deem it to be 'day to day living noise'. The council have suggested using 'The Noise App' to record the sounds again, but if this provides no evidence then the case will be closed.

My concern is, 'The Noise App' does not record impact sounds, therefore does not accurately represent what I am actually hearing. I made a short video to hopefully demonstrate the point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUBE8XW-stA

Also, a recording of other sounds recorded over a short period of time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUBE8XW-stA

Ultimately, I don't think the council will offer any more help, and I am unsure of what steps I can take next.

Any advice welcomed.

You can read more about all the details, as to what I and the council have done, here:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5792297

PokerPlayer111

My thoughts:

You've become highly sensitive to the situation, righty so, just saying, people dont consider the psychology angle, your brain tunes in and a bad situation can become magnified.

Sleep is important, if nothing can be done i'd just move if its possible. Mean time wear ear defenders when possible.

Jimmy_Boy

Thanks.

100% agree that I am highly sensitive to the situation. I have tried ear plugs but they did not work for me. The only thing I have found to work is wearing over-ear headphones and playing white noise, however this is now hurting my ears.

I can't realistically move as I have purchased my property with 'The Right To Buy', meaning I would have to pay somewhere in the region of £40,000 of the discount back if I wanted to sell now - money I just don't have.

pmlindyloo

Looking at your previous thread I see that you now own your flat.

You talk about your 'tenancy agreement'. I presume your flat is leasehold and the conditions about requiring carpets is part of your lease agreement.

So, what are the circumstances of your neighbours? Do they own the flat or are they tenants?

If they own the flat then presumably they are leaseholders like your self.

If they are breaking the terms of their lease then you need to contact the freeholder and make a complaint.

If they rent then you need to contact their landlord as he/she would also be in breach of their lease.

Jimmy_Boy

They rent from the same council that I purchased the property from, and also the same council that I have complained to.

eddddy

If the 'impact noise' isn't being recorded, I'd suspect it was the phone that's the issue rather than the app.

TBH, I wouldn't be surprised if the phone was designed to try to only pick up sound in the speech sound spectrum - and ignore deep 'thudding' noises (or high pitch noises), to make speech phone calls clearer.

I'm not quite sure what your video is meant to be showing, but if you have another device that is correctly recording the sound, why don't you use that for evidence.

Pixie5740

As suggested above find out if the neighbours upstairs are breaking the terms of their lease/tenancy agreement by having unsuitable flooring such as laminate rather than carpeting. If it turns out the flooring is not a problem and the council say that the noises you are hearing are just day to day living noises then you could look at ways to improve the soundproofing between your home and theirs.

I see from a previous thread that you only purchased your home recently (2017) and according to this thread you've been experiencing the noise for 3+ years. Honestly, I've endured noisy neighbours and nothing would have made me go from being a tenant to an owner-occupier whilst living next to them.

Jimmy_Boy

eddddy wrote: »

If the 'impact noise' isn't being recorded, I'd suspect it was the phone that's the issue rather than the app.

TBH, I wouldn't be surprised if the phone was designed to try to only pick up sound in the speech sound spectrum - and ignore deep 'thudding' noises (or high pitch noises), to make speech phone calls clearer.

I'm not quite sure what your video is meant to be showing, but if you have another device that is correctly recording the sound, why don't you use that for evidence.

What I am trying to demonstrate in the video is... When I recreate an 'impact' sound by hitting my wall, you can see the app on the right which is monitoring SPL levels, shows that it is detecting SPL up to 70db - when in the room you can clearly hear a deep thud, however 'The Noise App' records nothing, and this is the app the council want you to use to record evidence of noise nuisance. The point being what is being recorded as 'evidence' by The Noise App is not actually representing in any way the impact sounds that you actually hear.

Essentially, I potentially record the noises I am hearing, submit them to the council and they don't hear anything, in turn saying there is no noise.

Hope that makes sense.

Cakeguts

The only final solution to this is going to be sell the flat. Yes you will have to pay back the discount but that should be "cheap" next to damaging your health. You really can't buy your health.

Jimmy_Boy

Pixie5740 wrote: »

I see from a previous thread that you only purchased your home recently (2017) and according to this thread you've been experiencing the noise for 3+ years. Honestly, I've endured noisy neighbours and nothing would have made me go from being a tenant to an owner-occupier whilst living next to them.

There is also a long back story to this, and ultimately I am regretting the decision.

PokerPlayer111

Can you rent out the flat ?