Screaming family next door - a nightmare!!

duchy

Scream back
They probably don't realise you can hear them
Quite honestly it's an occupational hazard of flat dwelling in a city especially-as rentals are more transient.
Either speak to enviromental health at the council -go in with a diary with specific dates and times of unacceptable noise or get bigger ear plugs !! (never heard the overheating thing before though if that helps )

jen_jen_2

If its not bothering your snoring OH and your wearing earplugs already are you perhaps a bit sensitive to their noise?

If you want to move and get out of the contract call environmental health about the illegal boiler in your flat. Hopefully the landlord will get peed off and kick you out, thereby leaving you free to find somewhere quieter. Alternatively threaten to report him unless he agrees to let you go.

bloomin_freezing

Next time they start, esp in the evenings call the police and say there's a disturbance, sounds like domestic violence or something. you won't have to give your name ad maybe if the police turn up the family may shut up a bit. after all, anyone walking past could make that call, and you truly never know whats happenning behind closed doors, someone living in that house may be in need of help.

Butterfliesarepretty

princesslizzie wrote: »

Hi guys, just wanted a bit of advice as I'm generally a little perplexed with what to do.

I live in a terraced maisonette in a not particuarly nice area of London. I am a student but also I work therefore not particuarly interested in having loud parties. But there is a family next door who ARE ALWAYS screaming at eachother. The kids scream and the dad screams back. I don't know what they are saying because they scream in Arabic. The thing is I suffer with depression and therefore really appreciate long sleeps (not particuarly good I know!) but the kids are screaming about 1am and then wake me up early in the morning. It is making me absoloutely resent them. I don't want to talk to my family about it as I've already had major accommodation issues.

At the moment I have so much coursework but cannot concentrate on it with them screaming. The library is a bit of a trek with my laptop but have done it. Also I'm making a collage so I couldn't take that to the library.

My other housemates aren't here too often so I'm the one who has to listen to them all the time, plus my room backs on to the kids' room. My housemate is a PCSO and said we could contact the police for anti social behaviour but I DO NOT want to do that. I don't really have the guts to speak to the dad about it as I'm pretty sure he could make things a lot worse. Whereas should I go to the council and hope they wouldn't mention my name and would the council do anything about it?

Do not approach them at all, I did that with a previous neighbour (tenant) on a council estate and I got beaten up when asking them to turn the music down. After police, council and diary sheets were involved, I managed to sell the house 9 months later, and the tenants were evicted. I suffered depression from that attack.

I have had lovely neighbours before and I now live in a terraced since 2002, I now have a new neighbour whose kids played karaoke a few months ago till 3am disturbing my sleep and playing loud games on their games machine. I tried the police every weekend, they would not come out as it was domestic disturbance. I had to fill in a diary sheet for the council for two weeks, they eventually sent the guy a letter (his kids only stay the weekend, then he is away working all week), it worked and now they are pretty respectful in terms of noise. Some people do not know the volume of their own voice. In terraced houses like mine you tend to only have one brickwall between each house, so noise is carried through easier. I am always respectful of peace and quiet to other neighbours.

Nicki

My DD is autistic and very noise sensitive. She finds wearing ear protectors (like builders wear) very helpful in this kind of situation, and more comfortable than ear plugs. Its not really much help when you are trying to sleep, I appreciate, but might be more comfortable than ear plugs when you are trying to work during the day?

What age are the kids? Are they at school during the day? If so, then that gives you a good 8 hours guaranteed peace every day. It might also be that they aren't screaming just making the normal (loud!) noise that young kids can make. It can be difficult to judge when its a foreign language being spoken, and any noise at all at 1.00 am will sound loud. If the children (or some of them) are babies and toddlers then it is to be expected that they will wake in the night, and there isn't a whole lot your neighbours can do about it. There are a few good threads over on the property boards about how to muffle sounds from next door - things like bookcases full of books against the party wall for example are said to be very effective.

It would be good if you could get some objective opinions from others as to the level of noise disturbance before you wade in. Having suffered from depression myself, I can recall strongly disliking any degree of noise from others intruding on my space, but some degree of give and take is needed in this kind of close living, so a view from a neutral third party might be helpful

Primrose

I think you're just going to have to pluck up your courage and go round and speak to them. They probably don't realise how noisy they are or how much sound is going through the walls. But go round there , offer a small gift - chocolates, a cake or something nice to eat (but not alcohol in case they're Muslin and don't drink) and tell them you come in a spirit of friendship . then tell them you're a student and it's really difficult for you to study when there is so much noise going on and ask if you can agree a code whereby you can bang on the wall if the noise is too loud and they won't be offended. If that doesn't work, you will have to keep a log of times when noise levels are unacceptable and either contact the police with a complaint of anti social behaviour, or the Environmental Health Department of your local council. But try and nip it in the bud now. When the warmer weather arrives and windows are left open, things will only get worse.

Paparika

A friend of mine had just moved into a house with a family of 3 kids next door, and he's is getting stressed at hearing the children screaming all the time.

It was suggested ringing social services.

What i would do in your case is just pop next door, explain that you have your studies and that the walls are not as thick as we all would like. Typical council property is that most older buildings have no soundproofing at all, they may not be aware that they are that noisy.

If that fails then do contact the council.

Dill

If you don't feel comfortable going round there in person would it be worth slipping a nicely-worded note thru the door, just saying that you can hear them at night and would they mind keeping the noise down a bit?

natbags

We have had a similar problem. Speak to your neighbour first (if you can) and explain that you can hear the family and your own side/situation (need to sleep, studying etc...) - do make a note of the date you had the chat. If this doesn't improve the situation, then contact your council who will send a polite letter, then another if there is no improvement and finally they can place recording equipment in you house (it is very sensitive) or they will provide a contact tel no, and when one of the sessions start a representative will come round and witness it - action can be taken from here. I know it sounds like a lot of agro, but believe me when the result is constant sleep deprevation and all the effects of it, it is worth it
good luck

princesslizzie

Nicki wrote: »

My DD is autistic and very noise sensitive. She finds wearing ear protectors (like builders wear) very helpful in this kind of situation, and more comfortable than ear plugs. Its not really much help when you are trying to sleep, I appreciate, but might be more comfortable than ear plugs when you are trying to work during the day?

What age are the kids? Are they at school during the day? If so, then that gives you a good 8 hours guaranteed peace every day. It might also be that they aren't screaming just making the normal (loud!) noise that young kids can make. It can be difficult to judge when its a foreign language being spoken, and any noise at all at 1.00 am will sound loud. If the children (or some of them) are babies and toddlers then it is to be expected that they will wake in the night, and there isn't a whole lot your neighbours can do about it. There are a few good threads over on the property boards about how to muffle sounds from next door - things like bookcases full of books against the party wall for example are said to be very effective.

It would be good if you could get some objective opinions from others as to the level of noise disturbance before you wade in. Having suffered from depression myself, I can recall strongly disliking any degree of noise from others intruding on my space, but some degree of give and take is needed in this kind of close living, so a view from a neutral third party might be helpful

Hi, thanks. I am quite sensitive to noise too as I'm from the countryside. I don't like silence but I would like a bit of peace of quiet!

I so understand about the space thing, I thought that was just me! I love having my own personal space and really find the screaming is too much. I have spoken to my PCSO housemate and she will come with me to talk to them next time it happens and then we'll keep a diary of any reoccurances.

I'm not sure how old the kids are, think the girl is about 6 and the boy 8/9. But my housemate says she thought there were about 6 of them in total, lol.

So far so far quietness tonight!:T