Noisy neighbours

PeggyMay

Hi, I’m not sure if this is the right forum... our new neighbours (council tenants) moved in last Christmas and since then have been so noisy, playing loud bassy music all the time as well as having extra loud parties.

We have tried talking to them and writing to them but our pleas have been ignored.

We have complained many times to the council, are keeping a noise diary, and have applied for mediation. The guy we’ve been liaising with eventually came round to check the noise levels. He has decided (in his subjective opinion) what level of noise constitutes a nuisance, and has asked them to keep it below that level. The level is still too high as far as we are concerned as we can still hear it in our house.

In any case, they have disregarded his advice and keep playing their music at a much louder volume than he asked them to. This guy from the council is just useless.

They are refusing to mediate with us.

Our only hope is the Noise Team but we don’t think the noise is above the statutory noise level.

It is however being heard in our home, pretty much every day, and is causing me a lot of stress and anxiety which is contributing to an existing health condition.

I don’t know where to go from here. Any advice?

missile

Your new neighbours were most likely moved because of complaints by previous Neighbours?

Complain to your councillor. Council employees do respond quickly when councillors ask on your behalf.

Move house. I am guessing you are a council tenant? Advertise for an exchange.

PeggyMay

Hi, thank you for your reply. I will try our local councillor. We own our house. We put everything we’ve got into it when we bought it three years ago, and now we can’t afford to move because I’ve had to give up work due to my health condition.

CakeCrusader

If they've turned it up just to annoy you then you could have a case for noise nuisance/anti social behaviour. It's a good idea to contact the noise team anyway. There's info here about what to do if your local council isn't too helpful; https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/housing/problems-where-you-live/complaining-about-your-neighbour/

Speedcamnightmare

Firstly, I’ve total sympathy for you. I’m a housing association tenant, for the first time and although I knew I’d never be able to have some control over who lived next door, even though I could obviously pick the area, I never expected to get what I did. I think council and housing association tenants have very few rights and are not taken so seriously by the authorities as those with mortgages, also people are becoming less tolerant and ‘neighbourly’ so to speak these days which just adds to the problem.

I don’t have problems with loud noise but I live in a flat and the moron downstairs just can’t seem to not slam doors, same for the old couple next door. I’ve asked politely for them not to do it but they just think they can disrespect you because you’re a woman. I now slam my doors which seems to have had an effect but it’s just a shame that you have to go out of your way. On top of that the tenant has a half breed Alsatians living in a small two bed flat which barks first thing in the morning at the postman, and again if anyone crosses its garden, like I have to but then I have a right to. This has been going on for years and I’d move but I was diagnosed with a chronic health condition a couple of years ago which caused its own set of problems.

Yes the housing officers are useless so really you have to take matters into your own hands and I’d suggest getting a WiFi sound bar, which they will have next door also, logging into their WiFi connection which should be easy as no one bothers to change the password on the connection, then setting it to come on at 2am with some Motörhead to wake them all up

You don’t have to put up with that and it sounds like you’ve been very tolerant and respectful so far. Only problem with social housing is that the agencies have to proverbially kiss everyone’s bottom so things like noise disturbance take longer to sort out, due to neighbours deliberately being ignorant and disrespectful.

Hope this helps

RelievedSheff

We put up with noisy neighbours for 12 years.

Nothing we did made anything any better. Reporting the problems only made them worse.

We moved in April and it was only upon moving that we realised what an effect living next door to the idiots was having on our day to day lives. We are much happier now that we live in our new detached home.

It probably isn't the solution you hoped for but my advice would be to find a way to move home. Your health and family life is far more important than a bunch of morons next door.

rach_k

You have my sympathies. One set of my neighbours is very noisy - I can hear their TV and video games from very early in the day until late at night and they seem incapable of talking, it's all shouting.

However, are you expecting too much?

PeggyMay wrote: »

The level is still too high as far as we are concerned as we can still hear it in our house.

If you live in a house with a shared wall, it's quite likely that you will be able to hear things like TV and music without them being in the wrong. It depends on the houses but some have very thin walls and sound carries in unexpected ways sometimes.

If you're hoping that you will be able to convince them to live so that you can't hear them, I think you're being unrealistic. If you are asking them for that, you'll get their backs up and they'll probably ignore you. You would be better accepting that you will be able to hear them, but focusing your efforts on the more unreasonable noises. Maybe it's already too late but you can modify your requests going forward so they may see you as more reasonable.

Fire_Fox

PeggyMay wrote: »

Hi, I’m not sure if this is the right forum... our new neighbours (council tenants) moved in last Christmas and since then have been so noisy, playing loud bassy music all the time as well as having extra loud parties.

We have tried talking to them and writing to them but our pleas have been ignored.

We have complained many times to the council, are keeping a noise diary, and have applied for mediation. The guy we’ve been liaising with eventually came round to check the noise levels. He has decided (in his subjective opinion) what level of noise constitutes a nuisance, and has asked them to keep it below that level. The level is still too high as far as we are concerned as we can still hear it in our house.

In any case, they have disregarded his advice and keep playing their music at a much louder volume than he asked them to. This guy from the council is just useless.

They are refusing to mediate with us.

Our only hope is the Noise Team but we don’t think the noise is above the statutory noise level.

It is however being heard in our home, pretty much every day, and is causing me a lot of stress and anxiety which is contributing to an existing health condition.

I don’t know where to go from here. Any advice?

Your neighbours are not expected to ensure you cannot hear them at all. Consider wearing decent earplugs (silicone or wax not foam) or wireless/ over-the-ear earphones with relaxation sounds to block out daytime noise which has been officially deemed 'reasonable'.

It is normal to progress from informal (verbal requests/ mediation) to semi-formal (written warnings) to formal (legal/ court) action. Any judge will expect proper procedure to have been followed and to be clearly evidenced by Environmental Health officers and by the complainants (you). Your neighbours refusing mediation will not go down well with a judge, so your efforts are not a waste of time.

If you escalate this I would suggest you are far more specific. Your own language is so vague - and even subjective - I am not clear what steps you have taken.

For example: Who exactly are you complaining to and by what method? Has the noise level ever been measured? How is the 'noise team' different than who you are dealing with now?

SHAFT

PeggyMay wrote: »

Hi, I’m not sure if this is the right forum... our new neighbours (council tenants) moved in last Christmas and since then have been so noisy, playing loud bassy music all the time as well as having extra loud parties.

We have tried talking to them and writing to them but our pleas have been ignored.

We have complained many times to the council, are keeping a noise diary, and have applied for mediation. The guy we’ve been liaising with eventually came round to check the noise levels. He has decided (in his subjective opinion) what level of noise constitutes a nuisance, and has asked them to keep it below that level. The level is still too high as far as we are concerned as we can still hear it in our house.

In any case, they have disregarded his advice and keep playing their music at a much louder volume than he asked them to. This guy from the council is just useless.

They are refusing to mediate with us.

Our only hope is the Noise Team but we don’t think the noise is above the statutory noise level.

It is however being heard in our home, pretty much every day, and is causing me a lot of stress and anxiety which is contributing to an existing health condition.

I don’t know where to go from here. Any advice?

Then your neighbour isn't doing anything wrong.

PeggyMay

Hi all, thanks for your replies, some of the advice you’ve shared will certainly come in handy.

We have put everything into our home, so much love and time and energy, and to be driven out of our home by idiots who are blatantly in breach of their tenancy agreement seems crazy, and it’s just not right. We supposedly have more rights than them as we own our home, while they are council tenants. But so far they are getting away with everything. They just do what they want regardless of how it affects people around them. The noise they make is totally unnecessary and completely within their control, they just don’t want to. They want to do whatever the hell they like and don’t care about anyone else.

They have been written to by the Noise Complaints Team. They have also been asked by the Council to a) keep the noise below a certain volume b) keep their side door shut when playing music (as it’s the door being open that causes most of the problem and they love leaving it open and blasting bass into our kitchen) and c) to give us advance notice when they have loud parties so we can make alternative plans so that it doesn’t completely ruin our day. We are not asking them not to have the odd party, but just to let us know when they will be happening.

They have been spoken to regarding points a) and b) by the council. They have ignored this, however.

As for point c) we were hoping to negotiate with them at mediation about the parties, which they have every time the sun is out, driving us indoors and forcing us to close all our windows on many of the hottest days of the year. We cannot enjoy our garden when they have their parties because of the insane noise levels blasting out of speakers that were designed for warehouse parties and carnivals, not for a house. And the parties have been at least once or twice a week over the summer. If we’ve arranged to have guests over we’ve had to cancel at the last minute because there is no way we can have guests when the noise is that loud. Especially our elderly parents.

However, they are refusing to mediate with us.

Anyway, we have now been advised by the Noise Team to download a sound monitoring app and they will listen to the recordings we upload and see if they constitute a statutory nuisance.

In the meantime we will prepare to make a formal complaint about the way the council has handled the situation. And will probably write to the housing ombudsman too.

I can’t stress enough how awful these people are, and how much their behaviour is impacting on us.

SHAFT

PeggyMay wrote: »

Hi all, thanks for your replies, some of the advice you’ve shared will certainly come in handy.

We have put everything into our home, so much love and time and energy, and to be driven out of our home by idiots who are blatantly in breach of their tenancy agreement seems crazy, and it’s just not right. We supposedly have more rights than them as we own our home, while they are council tenants. But so far they are getting away with everything. They just do what they want regardless of how it affects people around them. The noise they make is totally unnecessary and completely within their control, they just don’t want to. They want to do whatever the hell they like and don’t care about anyone else.

They have been written to by the Noise Complaints Team. They have also been asked by the Council to a) keep the noise below a certain volume b) keep their side door shut when playing music (as it’s the door being open that causes most of the problem and they love leaving it open and blasting bass into our kitchen) and c) to give us advance notice when they have loud parties so we can make alternative plans so that it doesn’t completely ruin our day. We are not asking them not to have the odd party, but just to let us know when they will be happening.

They have been spoken to regarding points a) and b) by the council. They have ignored this, however.

As for point c) we were hoping to negotiate with them at mediation about the parties, which they have every time the sun is out, driving us indoors and forcing us to close all our windows on many of the hottest days of the year. We cannot enjoy our garden when they have their parties because of the insane noise levels blasting out of speakers that were designed for warehouse parties and carnivals, not for a house. And the parties have been at least once or twice a week over the summer. If we’ve arranged to have guests over we’ve had to cancel at the last minute because there is no way we can have guests when the noise is that loud. Especially our elderly parents.

However, they are refusing to mediate with us.

Anyway, we have now been advised by the Noise Team to download a sound monitoring app and they will listen to the recordings we upload and see if they constitute a statutory nuisance.

In the meantime we will prepare to make a formal complaint about the way the council has handled the situation. And will probably write to the housing ombudsman too.

I can’t stress enough how awful these people are, and how much their behaviour is impacting on us.

If the noise isn't above the statutory noise level then what are you complaining about?

Your neighbour doesn't have to do mediation and the council have no powers to force them.