Noisy neighbours

PasturesNew

If there's any particular time/day when the noise is guaranteed to be going on, try to get your local councillor to come round for an hour to sit and experience it for themselves.

The trouble with the word "noise" is everybody applies their own experience when they visualise it - and if they've never suffered they just pooh-pooh your distress.

RelievedSheff

Honestly I think your efforts would be better spent finding somewhere else to live.

You can't change unreasonable people.

You dont need to feel like you are being driven away from your home. You can look at it as a fresh start, turning over a new leaf.

You might even find a home better suited to your needs.

We spent 12 years making our last house a lovely home but that was ruined by inconsiderate behaviour from the neighbours. We knew that would never change so moved on.

We are glad we did as we have found a home much better suited too us in a lovely quiet spot.

Norman_Castle

Are other neighbours bothered by the noise? Complaints from various properties will be taken more seriously.

It is very unfortunate and unfair the victims of idiot neighbours have to work so hard to regain a normal life.
Try your local councillor.

Fire_Fox

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.

Define necessary in this context. Much noise is unnecessary.

It is not long since "children should be seen and not heard" and they could be physically assaulted by their caregivers for being too noisy. Or children were sent out to do very physical work at a very young age so they were too exhausted to make a peep.

Social norms change - thankfully - but the legal position is as objective as possible. Hence the need for lodging your noise diary and results of sound monitoring with Environmental Health officers. BTW it is still unclear which two entities (organisation and department) you have been dealing with, and are referring to.

Homeowners do not have more rights than social housing tenants in choosing our neighbours and nor should we. We are all at risk of legal action if we create a noise nuisance, we can all have our music equipment seized. It takes time, patience and persistence to accrue sufficient evidence for legal action.

Your visitors (elderly parents) wishes do not trump your neighbours' visitors (party goers) wishes. Your neighbours can have social gatherings as often as they wish HOWEVER the noise level should remain within the law. Again, your neighbours refusal to attend mediation or to follow written requests (eg. close the side door) will count against them.

A social housing tenant is unlikely to be evicted for any type of breach until there is a body of evidence lodged with the appropriate authority (eg. Police/ Environmental Health). But if you "don’t think the noise is above the statutory noise level" then how are your neighbours "blatantly in breach of their tenancy agreement"??

Sorry to seem harsh but ... some aspects of your posts read as if you have now lost perspective on what is 'reasonable' or 'unreasonable', and are failing to distinguish between relevant and irrelevant factors. Be careful because this dilutes the very real and very reasonable aspects of your noise complaint.

Speedcamnightmare

No they don’t so you best hope no one moves in next to you with cloth ears and a bad attitude, a bit like yours, as no one will help you

Speedcamnightmare

Hahahaha!! Dear oh dear where are you from? Oliver Twist?? I think you’re taking it far too seriously, it’s a noise complaint and it’s been made very clear when and how the noise has exceeded tolerance levels and I don’t think they live in a big castle do they? I know you’re just trying to be negative and mean... the ‘seen and not heard’ opened face that away so you’re going to have to try harder but some advice for you - take you’re own ‘advice’

keith969

Move - JFDI! Don't waste your time on problems you will never solve.

Speedcamnightmare

You’d think if they’re that type to play loud music during the night and have parties, that they’d move to an area where most other people do that too. But then they’d have to be looking for a while and of course everyone letting a flat has a tenancy agreement. So really, there’s no place for them and I doubt they could afford the sort of mortgage that would give them a bit more choice, but then they’d have to commit to paying it back and still they’d be living in a area where people like to sleep... mostly because they have a job which they have to get up for

PeggyMay

We feel the noise is ‘unreasonable’ when their bass is so loud that we can’t concentrate on what we are doing, or sleep, or rest, or enjoy our home and garden.

But, I have no idea what constitutes a ‘statutory nuisance’ so far as the noise team is concerned. Their parties are certainly above this level. Although we haven’t monitored the noise level of those yet as we’ve only just been made aware of how to do this by the Council’s noise team. The day-to-day noise I’m not sure about... it is at a lower level than the parties. I don’t know how loud it has to be to officially constitute a statutory nuisance.

I’m uncertain as to whether the noise team considers a certain decibel level to be ok, regardless of its impact, regardless of whether it’s interfering with our life and our health. That’s what I’m uncertain about. But I guess we will find out soon enough once we start using this noise monitoring app.

Before moving in next door, these neighbours lived in a part of town where it is the culture to play very loud music, everyone does it there. It’s the carnival centre of the city I live in. So they are used to playing it at that volume and were surrounded by people who also played very loud music. They told us as much, when they first moved in (before all this kicked off).

No one else has complained so far as I am aware, but then the noise is worst for us, because of the way our house is positioned relative to theirs. We don’t have an adjoining wall but their house is next to ours and the noise is funnelled directly at us, especially when they leave their side door open (which is very frequently). I imagine it can also be heard very loudly in the house the other side of them... but that property is currently vacant.

We put up with a lot from them already. We tolerate a certain amount of noise from them. We don’t expect to not ever hear them. But when it is stopping us from working, resting/relaxing and sleeping, we cannot just put up with it because of the serious impact it has on us.

We don’t want to stop them having parties, we just want a bit of notice so we can plan around it, so that our day is not completely ruined. I don’t think that’s unreasonable.

As for the day to day noise, we want them to keep it below the level the council told them to, and to keep their side door shut or, if they are going to leave it open for long periods, to turn the music down accordingly.

This has been instructed to them by the council. They have not complied. We will be taking it further up the council as the housing officer we’ve been dealing with is ineffective.

To all the people saying ‘just move’, it would be extremely difficult and complicated for us to do this, due to our financial situation, my husband’s job, my health, our pets... many other factors. It would make us even worse off financially than we are now, and we are barely scraping by as it is. We can’t ‘just’ move.

I hope that clarifies things a bit. There has been some useful advice posted above about the next steps we can take, and I am grateful for this, thank you. We will pursue.

littleblue735

My advice would be to move. You shouldn't have to but it sounds like you cannot enjoy your house and these things tend to get worse.

I had four years with an inconsiderate and loud neighbour, loud bass music, parties with loads of swearing, drug use, people knocking on the door at all hours, using my garden as a toilet etc.
Two years of dealing with the Council, Environmental Health and Noise team and I got nowhere. They would send letters to warn him, it would quieten down for a week, the council would go 'case closed' then it would start again.

I dreaded going home and even now I cannot sleep well and have anxiety as I'm attuned to every little noise. You cannot change their ways so you have to make the move.

I sold to a lovely couple, declared the problem to them, the boyfriend was ex-Army and a body builder and I'm sure he dealt with him in a more direct way!!