My neighbours - Season 3

arciere

Season 1: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5997978/issue-with-shared-front-garden
Season 2: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6078128/walking-noise/
So, yet again another issue with my wonderful neighbours from downstairs. Before you all answer "time to move", yes, I know, but due to lots of reasons that's currently not an option unfortunately.
I'll try to make this as short as possible. We have two guys living in the ground floor flat, we are on the first floor (converted house). The lady downstairs has an incredible talent producing the most inhumane noises and screams when she argues with her husband. It is not just loud talking, it is 'screams' just for the sake of screaming.
That would be kind of "normal" when people are having an heated argument, if it wasn't that it keeps happening day and night at any hour. Obviously screams are followed by door slamming (and our floor shaking) and the occasional crying as if she's dying (she's not).
At first, when we still didn't know what was going on, we were tempted to call the police, because we were worried that she was actually in some kind of danger, but then we realised that it's just the way she is (sorry if it sounds harsh, but I honestly don't know how else to describe this behaviour).

This is what happened today: my wife and I are both WFH and video-conferencing with colleagues and bosses. The guys downstairs suddenly started another of their 'fights' and she started to produce her usual noises and screams, banging 'something' against the wall and slamming doors. This was all 'captured' by our microphones (we are also working in different rooms) and our colleagues on the other side of the screen started to ask us what was going on.
I'll skip over the embarrassment to try and explain what was going on, but this time I got really upset and I emailed them asking them to stop screaming and to call the police if they are in danger (yeah, we are only allowed to email them). Their reply was basically 'we are allowed to do whatever we want in our house, and we also can hear you walking upstairs so you can't complain'.
Given that I am really fed up with them (not just because of this, have a look at seasons 1 and 2 if you are interested), is there something I can do or are they right in saying that they can 'do whatever they want in their house'?

princeofpounds

They can't do whatever they want - but they can do anything that doesn't qualify as a statutory nuisance. What is a statuory nuisance? Basically something injurious to health, or an unreasonable and substantial interference into enjoyment (in the legal sense) of your home.
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1990/43/part/III

Health clearly doesn't apply here. Interference may apply, depending on frequency, duration and volume etc. Ultimately a 'reasonable person' test is applied by the relevant council. Typically anything that is a normal consequence of daily living (e.g. running a washing machine, walking around) wouldn't qualify. Arguments wouldn't normally qualify, unless they were really extreme. This sounds a bit borderline to me, but my guess is that a council wouldn't enforce unless it's really, really regular (like almost every night regular).

Maybe this is retreading old ground, but why not report them to the police 'for their own safety' (make a recording or share it with the operator so they can tell you aren't wasting time)? Maybe the police will even separate them for a night if they hear it happening. 

Smodlet

I have not read your first two "diaries" but have you not kept an actual diary of the noise nuisances and recorded the rows?  I know whereof I speak, believe me.  Contact your council's anti social behaviour team to complain and this is exactly what they will advise you to do.  Sorry if that ship has sailed but, if it has, why was nothing done?

iampetesmith

If you're working from home, you could invest in a headset with a noise-cancelling microphone. This would hopefully be a quick fix until the longer term problem is sorted (if it ever is). The one I use is a Microsoft LifeChat LX3000 and I didn't realise how well it worked until I tested it.

Our neighbours have a lot of kids and they're all out in the garden in this weather, along with music which we can hear as they're only next door. The music tends to go up and down as the kids fiddle with the volume knobs, so I waited until it was at its loudest and opened up an online sound recorder to see if the microphone could pick it up. The line was completely flat and when I played it back, I couldn't hear a thing. Done a few Teams meetings while it was noisy outside and no one even noticed, so these will probably cancel out the background noise while you're at work.

FreeBear

arciere said: Their reply was basically 'we are allowed to do whatever we want in our house

Within reason, and as long as it doesn't cause a nuisance, they are half right.. For reference, a couple of press cuttings for you -  https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/crime/heather-webb-court-norwich-norfolk-1-5502490

https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/don-t-slam-doors-order-1-688816

I'm sure you you search your local papers, you'll find similar stories.

[Deleted User]

Did you ever do anything about the wooden flooring in your leasehold property after your downstairs neighbours complained about the noise coming down from above?

arciere

This sounds a bit borderline to me, but my guess is that a council wouldn't enforce unless it's really, really regular (like almost every night regular).

Let's say that it's almost every day regular, it doesn't happen always at night. It could be night, it could be early morning, afternoon.

arciere

Smodlet said:

I have not read your first two "diaries" but have you not kept an actual diary of the noise nuisances and recorded the rows?  I know whereof I speak, believe me. 

We do have quite a few recordings, but to be honest I don't even know if we are 'allowed' to record neighbours. Just to be clear, we simply used our phones, nothing high-tech, so the volume of the recording is relatively low, but it did record the 'screaming sessions'

jonnygee2

I haven't read the other threads either, but continuing to chart it here isn't going to have much of an effect.
Involve the council https://www.gov.uk/report-noise-pollution-to-council. Different councils have different attitudes (and budgets for enforcement). It's not going to get sorted overnight, no matter how bad it is. 

I personally wouldn't waste the police's time unless you think someone is in danger. A noise complaint isn't usually a police issue.

arciere

Lover_of_Lycra said:

Did you ever do anything about the wooden flooring in your leasehold property after your downstairs neighbours complained about the noise coming down from above?

We bought rugs and put them in the living room and bedroom. It's a tiny 2-bedroom flat, but those are the two rooms mainly in use, apart from the bathroom and kitchen, that are tiled. Obviously that's another reason why I am exasperated, we need to be careful when we want to walk from one room to another, noise-wise, while they feel the right to justify their screaming because 'it's their home'.