Incessant Barking / Poor Soundproofing

janj1332

Hi everyone

I’ve got a question and would really appreciate some advice.

For a long time now we have lived in (own) a reasonably large 1920’s semi-detached house. 3 years ago, the lady who had lived next door for most of the time that we’ve occupied our house passed away, and her house was bought by 2 property developers who completely renovated it, undertaking much of the work themselves. The entire process took roughly 12 months and not long after the work was completed they found tenants - a youngish married couple.

Soon after the arrival of the new tenants it became apparent that the house was very poorly sound insulated, because noise such as TV noise, audible conversation, footsteps etc. started coming through the party wall very distinctly, but while irritating, we ultimately felt it was not something not to be too concerned about, seeing as the neighbours were by and large reasonably quiet and kept to themselves. Things changed after about a year though, with the arrival of a young bulldog puppy. Both neighbours work during the day so the dog is often left in the house on its own, usually in the back room. The problem lies in the fact that after a while of being on its own, the animal starts to bark, often for hours at a time, and the complete lack of sound proofing means that we can hear the with dog alarming volume and clarity through any point of the party wall, upstairs and down. It is hard to escape from because all of the rooms with the exception of the bathroom and a small box room sit on the party wall. I work from home a lot of the time so I am often aware of its loud and often incessant barking. During the day I was prepared to give a bit of leeway as I am able to work while playing music through earphones so the disturbance in that regard was limited, but things became more difficult as next door would frequently leave the house in the evenings and the dog would bark until someone arrived back to attend to it, sometimes as late as 9 o'clock, if not later.

This went on for about a month/6 weeks before we decided to speak to one of them (the wife) and make her aware of the problem, mentioning also the underlying issue of the poor (non-existent) sound insulation. She apologised and seemed very reasonable and understanding, and said she would mention it to the landlords while also giving us the impression that the dog was only set to be a temporary fixture.

Anyway, our concerns were listened to and the dog remained mostly quiet in the evenings and we remained patient on the belief that the dog would soon be gone. Fast forward several months and the dog remained in place. Then a new problem appeared - barking at 2:00, 3:00, 4:00 in the morning, lasting for up to half an hour or more until attended to. After a couple of weeks of this we decided to ask the neighbours again, this time speaking to the husband. On this occasion the conversation didn’t go well, as he became hostile at us for coming round and seemed to be rather unwilling to accept that it’s his responsibility to keep the dog quiet, while also informing us that he paid a fortune for it and that it wouldn't be going anywhere. As such, we no longer have any sort of dialogue with the neighbours at all, though to their credit they quickly took measures to stop the dog barking during the aforementioned hours.

The dog still continues to bark during the day and I do feel that the whole business is starting to impact our quality of live, seeing as both of the neighbours are often out during the weekends and Bank Holidays too, while of course the dog remains in the back room.

 

Despite the fact that the neighbours have taken some measures to stop the dog’s barking, we have for a while been thinking of soundproofing a couple of key rooms in the house that sit on the party wall. The problem that we have is that the noise travelling through the wall sounds louder through the chimney breast than it does the alcoves, which are traditionally the parts of the wall which are more vulnerable to sound. We don’t mind losing some space in the alcoves, but losing space around the chimney would be problematic. Plus we feel a bit put out that we should have to pay for a problem we haven’t created, but we accept that it will probably need to be done.

What is particularly hard to accept is that almost no noise came through the party wall before the renovation (the previous owner kept dogs as well, and would also frequently have large gatherings at her house – hardly ever heard a peep), and now everything gets through, to the point that we are worried that there may be a lack of privacy for both families (if we can hear our neighbours’ conversations almost word for word just by standing in close proximity to the party wall then surely something has gone wrong). I also know that during the refurb, the fireplaces in both the front and back rooms have been taken away, leaving an alcove in each of the chimney breasts with electrical outlets fitted into both. The fireplace in the front room was a large brick fire place, and I am wondering, given the amount of noise that now comes through the chimney breast and into our front room, if such work would be covered by the Party Wall Act, because if so, we weren’t notified about any such work at any point, and if that’s the case, what would be our legal standing on that? Would it be within our power legally to have the landlords/renovators go back into the house and correct the work?

I should just mention that at this point we haven’t spoken to the landlords about any of our concerns, simply because we would like to know if we should to go down the legal route with anything. With regards to the dog noise, we don’t particularly wish to have the dog removed from the property, nor do we wish to escalate the situation further, but we have for a while taken down times/dates, as well as made audio recordings of the barking should we decide to make an official complaint, which given the volume, clarity and frequency of the noise, we are convinced would be upheld.

Are we being too fussy? The neighbours have after all taken some measures to improve the situation following our discussions with them, and in some ways we sympathise because with the exception of the dog, they aren’t particularly noisy, but we are at a point now where we dread them going out and leaving the dog home alone. The way we see it is, the reason that the dog’s noise (as well as other forms of airborne/flanking noise) is so problematic is primarily to do with the complete lack of sound insulation within the property, and also potentially because of work undertaken which maybe shouldn’t have been carried out in the first place, or at least not without our notification. We would welcome any advice or comments with regards to what steps we should take next and what options are available to us.

 

Thank you

[Deleted User]

Talking to the landlord is the first step.

janj1332

Thanks rigolith. We've been thinking about it for a while.

Schwarzwald

Agree talk to the landlord, the fact alone they try to defend the barking noise with the price they paid for the dog shows that rationale arguing probably wont yield much success, what a non-sense argument to bring forward by them

sheramber

Keep a diary of the times the dog is barking and for how long.

This will be requested if you need to take it further so starting now would be a good idea

You can also contact the dog warden if your council have one.

Murphybear

Here’s some info from the RSPCA website.

Reporting a barking dog

The occasional bark or 'woof' is usually not a problem for neighbours and others in the community but when barking becomes disruptive,it's often considered unacceptable and unpleasant to many people. The dog's welfare may also be compromised, but the owner may not realise that their dog has been barking if they're not around at that time.

If you're concerned about a dog barking excessively near you, there are things you can do:

• Speak to the owner. They may not be aware that there's an issue, or they may be using some of the advice above to try and resolve the issue.
• If speaking to your neighbour hasn't worked or isn't an option, try contacting your local council about the noise complaint. This can help resolve the underlying issue, or if there is a welfare complaint they will contact us.”

From what I have read before the main reason for excessive barking is that the dog has been left alone for too long.


I do sympathise with you.  I lived in a flat in London a few years ago and the people upstairs got a dog.  Like your experience the dog barked incessantly.  I dropped them a note and the response was “we have it very good authority that the dog hardly barks at all”.  Grrrrr

Fortunately they moved not long after this and the agent told me the dog had caused a lot of damage.  People shouldn’t get a dog then leave it alone for most of time.  

So what you should do is record the times the dog barks, the council will need this.  I don’t suppose it’s worth telling them to get a cat instead

pinkteapot

Really long post so some people may miss the fact that the previous occupant had dogs - and large gatherings - and you didn't have any noise issues. Sounds like the renovations have had a significant effect on the sound-proofing. 

I don't have any advice re this - others will know what to suggest - but just didn't want this point getting lost.

You can go to your local Council with a noise complaint, but if you have any plans to sell the house you'd then have to declare it as a dispute. 

MultiFuelBurner

Were you approached before.the building work occurred on the party wall?

https://www.fmb.org.uk/find-a-builder/ultimate-guides-to-home-renovation/party-wall-agreements-what-you-need-to-know.html

theartfullodger

janj1332 said:

Incessant Barking

Thank you

'umbly suggest it's not incessant....

GDB2222

Just thinking out of the box for a second, what would happen if you looked after the dog whilst the neighbours are out? 

janj1332

sheramber said:

Keep a diary of the times the dog is barking and for how long.

This will be requested if you need to take it further so starting now would be a good idea

You can also contact the dog warden if your council have one.

Thanks. Yes, we've keeping a log of times and dates for a while now.