Rented House - Law on sound?!?

tomstickland

Put the TV onto normal settings and ask to hear what it sounds like to them.

real1314

MercilessKiller wrote: »

Thanks for the quick replies:


3) By legality what I meant is, if she calls the council about music too loud for a couple of hours on a sunday afternoon, can they get us into trouble? I'm just worried they'll go behind our back before asking us, and report us to the council etc. That's why I'm asking about what's "legal" as such, and whether we can get into trouble

4) The speakers are on the side of the wall that joins to next door, but pointing towards our living room away from next door. Floor is carpeted, sub is away from the wall and set to low bass. Also no chimney

quote]

3) Unlikely to be a problem for occasional noise. It's persistent stuff that's a problem.

4) Maybe you should look at the speakers / mountings? They could be vibrating through the walls more than you think. If the speakers mounts are brackets, maybe get some rubber to insert between the bracket and speaker, could also put something behind the speaker to muffle it a bit if necessary? Maybe offer to go next door and see how lound it is so you can see if there's anything you can do?

Microstar_2

What has happened is that this lady has probably been listening to the low fequencies from your sub for an hour or so and has got herself really wound up about it. Old people are like that (my mother is nearly 80, ears like a bat, and gets really worked up over noise).
My advice is to go really quiet for a few days and then speak to them about it in a friendly fashion. Also mention the 21st birthday party well in advance.
Take it from me that the low frequencies from a sub will travel through the whole building structure.

MercilessKiller

PasturesNew wrote: »

But you also both have responsibilities to not be a nuisance.

Which is why if you'd read my post you'd see that I said I'm happy turning it down if she says its too loud....

We are not being a nuisance!!!!!!!!!! this is the problem!!!!!

We hardly watch films, and we don't put them on loud.

The sub isn't on the wall and it's a thick carpet. How am I meant to knwo what level to put it on so that its silent for next door.

I don't knwo what I'm meant to do here. That's why I'm posting. I don't want to cause her nuisance and I've told her that. We have always been very friendly. She's also very healthy for her age (known from previous discussions with her).

From her reaction, I am convinced that she will take larger action next time i watch a movie (speak to landlord or council), once again taking things from previous conversations about other people and other issues.

Originally she warned I'd be kicked out when we got a sky dish installed. A tiny black dish on the side of the building that she didn't approve of. We got sky to move it out of courtesy but found out that there was indeed nothing wrong with it.

I don't know what I can do here. I can't talk to her about it because I've tried, in a very nice calm friendly manner too! I just need to know that if she rings the council, I'm not getting fined.

Careful_with_that_Axe

How about taking her a small bunch of flowers (or homemade cake if you can't afford flowers), apologising (whether you feel you were in the right or not) and talk to her about her perception of the noise. You may well find that there is something else going on here, i.e. previous tenants who were loud and that she now has no tolerance for noise.
Invite her to your flat with sound on and go back with her to hers so you can see how the noise carries. You could then perhaps agree a mutually acceptable level of noise for music, films etc.
As you say that she was friendly prior to this, I do think that something else has sparked this off and the noise became the focus of her stress.
Good neighbours can be a godsend, so it would be good if you could sort this out.

Good luck and I would be interested to find out how this is resolved, so please do post back.

beecher

I have neighbours who probably think that their noise isn't that bad, but in fact it is a complete and utter nightmare. When they have their music on loud, if I have a bottle of water you can see the water jumping! They too didn't take kindly to me complaining to them as they probably thought I had 'just flipped' rather than finally reached my limit.

I'd unplug the surround sound, turn the volume down and put the subtitles on. If you want to listen to loud music/have your tv on loud, then move to a detached house.

MercilessKiller

Thanks for other people constructive comments instead of one person saying I was a nusiance! lol.

What type of rubber can I put under teh sub and behind it against the wall?

The sub is from a Logitech Surround Sound system so is prob as big as something like 2 xbox 360's next to each other... (only thing i can think of to compare it!)

MercilessKiller

beecher wrote: »

I'd unplug the surround sound, turn the volume down and put the subtitles on. If you want to listen to loud music/have your tv on loud, then move to a detached house.

Sorry but I was hoping people would understand things from our view.

As I mentiond,

It is NOT on loud! I can't say that enough times. If there is frequency problems from the sub as other people have said, then i will look to solving that.

So please stop saying turn it off/down as its already very quiet!!! We watch a film once or twice a week max

And I also said we're students renting!

RHemmings

Note that the old lady has threatened to tell the landlord. You might want to talk to the landlord first to put your side of the story over and see what s/he thinks about it. Even if the law or environmental health would do anything, it would be a tricky situation if your landlord was to take the old lady's side. Finding out the situation sooner rather than later may help.

Environmental health would take some time. They would have to collect evidence. Either by coming out and hearing the noise themselves, or by installing sound recording hardware. I am not a lawyer nor an environmental health specialist, but I believe that the sound has to be intrusive, rather than just audible. If the situation is as you describe it, environmental health may not classify the noise as instrusive, and hence do nothing.

But as I said above, the landlord might be the weak link.

PasturesNew

http://www.ne-derbyshire.gov.uk/housing/strategic-housing-service/contact-for-help/noise-nuisance/noise-faq

includes: "Many modern televisions, especially televisions with surround sound speakers and sub woofers, have increased bass frequencies. Try to avoid locating the television/surround sound speakers on or near a party wall"

and

"some types of music and stereo systems can produce very high bass levels. This low frequency noise can then travel further distances and in particular though walls, causing a lot of disturbance"