Noisy ground floor neighbour - options?

tghe-retford

moneysavinghero said:

In terms of the costs to move - think yourself lucky that you don't own the flat. A lot of people end up with bad neighbours that move in next door to the property that they own. Their lives become so much of a living hell that the costs of moving (sometimes even having to take a large loss on the cost of the house) become worth it just to get their life back.

The ironic thing is, my friend (the same one I mentioned earlier) actively suggested that I purchase the flat under the Right To Buy scheme, but I ruled it out at the time. In hindsight, not a bad decision.

NaughtiusMaximus

t0rt0ise said:

Look at the Homeswapper website for a flat swap. There's no priority list for swapping, you just find someone that wants to swap and providing your rent is fully paid and you're not a disruptive tenant, they have to give you permission to move. It's a brilliant system, I used it a few years ago. https://www.homeswapper.co.uk/

I'd imagine a significant portion of people put their name down for this because, like the OP, they want to get away from their neighbours. He could end up above/below/next to someone even worse.

DairyQueen

Environmental Health are the Council department responsible for noise issues. Problem is that they are under-resourced at the best of times, and this isn't the best of times. Even if they investigate, and subsequently impose a noise abatement notice on your neighbour, chances are it will take loads of time. They are very unlikely to take the kind of draconian action that would guarantee that you are rid of the problem.

Some people live in a bubble at the centre of which is inconsideration for others. I feel your pain and don't underestimate the stress this is causing. I have been in your situation twice. First time was an upstairs neighbour who had a similar lifestyle to this guy. Playing music until all hours - night-after-night - directly above my bedroom. He didn't appear to work (unlike me). The stress and lack of sleep nearly drove me crazy. I owned my flat so I took the only way out - I moved.

Second bunch were a family. Nice people but thought it was perfectly fine for their teenager to play drums in his room (semi-detached to my bedroom). Their younger son then began learning the trumpet. The pain of listening to the Pink Panther theme (badly played) many times each day has to be experienced to be believed. Add-in their taste for late-night action movies (TV on wall adjoining my living room) and I began to understand how noise can drive people to homicide.

Again, I moved.

By all means try the Council but don't expect much action. I think your only solutions are to wait for him to move (could be years) or to move yourself. Your mental health and quality of life are worth more than the extra cost of a private rental. Ironically, if you had taken advantage of RTB you wouldn't feel constrained by the need/wish to live there just because of the rent subsidy. Moving would be a no-brainer.

2nd_time_buyer

It sounds like so far discussions have been reasonably amicable if not productive. I would have thought it is best to keep in on those terms as long as possible. You seem very accommodating and willing to compromise. It is unlikely that he fully appreciates how loud and disturbing the noise is in your flat. If there is any way to invite him in and listen to it from your flat that might help?

It is likely to be more successful if you can set quantifiable solutions e.g. set an agreeable level that you could both live with and/or set some protected "quiet" hours.

From where you are now anything could be an improvement. 

Barny1979

Why would you spend £1k on tiles for a floor you don't own, get the Council to take your complaints seriously.

Morrigan_2020

DairyQueen said:

 Ironically, if you had taken advantage of RTB you wouldn't feel constrained by the need/wish to live there just because of the rent subsidy. Moving would be a no-brainer.

Of course, he would have had to pay back some/most of the discount if he sold it after a short period time. 

DairyQueen

Morrigan_2020 said:

DairyQueen said:

 Ironically, if you had taken advantage of RTB you wouldn't feel constrained by the need/wish to live there just because of the rent subsidy. Moving would be a no-brainer.

Of course, he would have had to pay back some/most of the discount if he sold it after a short period time. 

Some things are much more important than money.

tghe-retford

NaughtiusMaximus said:

t0rt0ise said:

Look at the Homeswapper website for a flat swap. There's no priority list for swapping, you just find someone that wants to swap and providing your rent is fully paid and you're not a disruptive tenant, they have to give you permission to move. It's a brilliant system, I used it a few years ago. https://www.homeswapper.co.uk/

I'd imagine a significant portion of people put their name down for this because, like the OP, they want to get away from their neighbours. He could end up above/below/next to someone even worse.

There is a second issue as well, something I looked at years ago when I looked into this for an unrelated reason. There isn't much demand for the property type I live in, it's mostly people wanting to upscale to a family house or the elderly and disabled wanting to downgrade to a bungalow.

mattyprice4004

I had a nightmare with this, in the end I cut back a load of things elsewhere and moved from a flat to a detached house (albeit a small one) in a more out-of-town location.

tghe-retford

DairyQueen said:

Environmental Health are the Council department responsible for noise issues. Problem is that they are under-resourced at the best of times, and this isn't the best of times. Even if they investigate, and subsequently impose a noise abatement notice on your neighbour, chances are it will take loads of time. They are very unlikely to take the kind of draconian action that would guarantee that you are rid of the problem.

Some people live in a bubble at the centre of which is inconsideration for others. I feel your pain and don't underestimate the stress this is causing. I have been in your situation twice. First time was an upstairs neighbour who had a similar lifestyle to this guy. Playing music until all hours - night-after-night - directly above my bedroom. He didn't appear to work (unlike me). The stress and lack of sleep nearly drove me crazy. I owned my flat so I took the only way out - I moved.

Second bunch were a family. Nice people but thought it was perfectly fine for their teenager to play drums in his room (semi-detached to my bedroom). Their younger son then began learning the trumpet. The pain of listening to the Pink Panther theme (badly played) many times each day has to be experienced to be believed. Add-in their taste for late-night action movies (TV on wall adjoining my living room) and I began to understand how noise can drive people to homicide.

Again, I moved.

By all means try the Council but don't expect much action. I think your only solutions are to wait for him to move (could be years) or to move yourself. Your mental health and quality of life are worth more than the extra cost of a private rental. Ironically, if you had taken advantage of RTB you wouldn't feel constrained by the need/wish to live there just because of the rent subsidy. Moving would be a no-brainer.

This will only get worse with lockdown and the potential for even greater measures, even a potential shutdown as is being lobbied on the mainstream media outlets. When freedom of movement is restricted and moving home is suspended, there will be a lot of people in this situation where they will be trapped without help or respite. Where people are furloughed, laid off or made to work from home. I think this issue, which contributes to mental health issues and community cohesion, has been completely ignored by Government, even local Government.

In terms of him moving, without knowing his true situation, he doesn't have a partner and doesn't look like getting one, so him moving out to live with someone does not look likely in my opinion and unless his financial situation becomes dire, I can't see him moving out. He did go somewhere for two weeks, don't know if he went to family or somewhere else but it was bliss to actually be able to sleep without earplugs and have some peace!