Disputes with neighbours query

purplepatch

We are very speculatively considering a house move at the moment.

We have some fairly new neighbours who have a dog that barks at the slightest sound. They leave him alone all day every day, so that doesn't help.

Anyway, we'd been considering having a quiet word with them about it but I had a thought that there is something on one of the forms that you fill in when you're selling that asks if there have been any disputes with neighbours. I seem to remember the wording being pretty wooly, so I'm reluctant to get into any discussions that I might need to declare if we decide to sell.

Does anyone know where we stand with this?

I know one of our other neighbours has been intending to say something about the dog, so perhaps will just leave it to him! I'm not very brave about stuff like this anyway :rolleyes::o

Bennifred

I wouldn't have thought that having a polite word with the newish neighbours about the nuisance barking would constitute a dispute, would it? They may not be aware of how it is affecting you. I think you should definitely have a chat with them about it. Don't just leave it to your other neighbour - two different sets of concern is likely to have more impact. In the past when I've spoken to a (not very friendly) neighbour about loud music played by their teenager when the parents are out, they replied that no one else had complained so they didn't believe me. :mad: It is harder to ignore multiple different neighbours comments, I think.

loopy_lass

you could always contact your local dog warden if you dont fancy a chat with neighbour... this has happened recently to a friend of mine, her dog was barking all the time, and she said the dog warden had come round for a chat as some neighbours had raised a concern..... non the wiser who!.... just a thought...

hth

loops

purplepatch

Bennifred wrote:

I wouldn't have thought that having a polite word with the newish neighbours about the nuisance barking would constitute a dispute, would it? They may not be aware of how it is affecting you. I think you should definitely have a chat with them about it. Don't just leave it to your other neighbour - two different sets of concern is likely to have more impact. In the past when I've spoken to a (not very friendly) neighbour about loud music played by their teenager when the parents are out, they replied that no one else had complained so they didn't believe me. :mad: It is harder to ignore multiple different neighbours comments, I think.

Whether we say anything really depends on what the form says. Hoping someone can shed some light.

We had exactly the same thing at our previous house and we did have a word and lived to regret as they got really nasty about it. Fortunately they moved before we did though, so didn't have to declare anything.

These neighbours are the sort that totally blank you - so not much looking forward to it. If they were the sorts that smiled and nodded hello like all the others around us, it wouldn't be so awkward.

It isn't really that much of an issue as we are detached, but fairly annoying in the summer when we were out in the garden playing with the paddling pool etc, bark bark bark bark bark :mad:

loopy_lass

i was offered a nice house in a gorgeous national park area, just what i wanted (council) went to view it... nice house, nice garden etc... etc... but the private neighbours had a great big sycamore tree over hanging all of my garden, and on one occassion we viewed there was a dog barking constantly... the next time we viewed dog was HOWLING & CRYING for hours.

I went and knocked on the door to ask a "few general questions" like where is the drs surgery etc (bull sh i t ) and is ur dog ok kinda thing. Im stood there knockin on door. they came to window looked out, didnt know who i was so didnt answer the door... However i did notice they had planted some leylandi trees agains my fence....

guess what....... i didnt move in... i turned the house down!!!!! and it was perfect, but i could envisage a lot of hassle. :mad:

[Deleted User]

Dogs that are left to bark are a noise nuisance and are covered by the environmental health office. However some people don't 'hear' it and others (like me) find it hard to put up with, (especially if I'm sleeping off nights). I have no problem with a dog who barks because it is alerting it's owner to a visitor or prowler but people who just leave their dogs to bark all day should not have them in the first place.

If you are looking to buy a place I suggest you visit the area at various times including evenings and weekends to gauge how much noise there really is.

MiserlyMartin

I'm echoing the advice of Deleted_User. Purplepatch, I know exactly how you must feel. I was in the same situation, only worse myself a few years ago.

I lived opposite a huge detached house that had a paved front garden, high walls and a large gates..the front garden effectively being their yard. It was a largest house in the street and in this yard they had a Doberman. They took it in at night but from 8am - 10pm it would be outside in the yard coming and going as it pleased. It barked at the slightest little thing happening in the street but usually people walking down the road. It wasn't a busy road traffic wise so not much noise generally, but I lived in a village a lot of people used to walk past the house to go the the nearby shops. This set the dog off all the time. Horses also would drive him nuts. I did rotating nights and late shift work so I would always be sleeping when the dog started barking at 8am every day. Because the dog was so large and outside it was no good shutting the windows (double glazed), it was enough to wake the dead it was so loud and you could even hear the dog at the shops half a mile away! Despite all this no other neighbours seemed that bothered, or if they did mention it, they never complained to the household. It made my life hell, so I decided that rather then risk a neighbourly dispute that I would have to declare when selling the house, I would just quietly sell up anyway. As this was driving me so mad I knew that the slightest bit of 'attitude' from the people across the road if I were to say something would drive me into going into a full scale battle with environmental health, you name it I would have fought it. So I suffered in silence and sold, and feel 200% better for it thanks. Now I live in a nice quiet street with no bloody dogs!!! Well there are a few, but none that are left outside or are loud enough to annoy me anyway.

I feel better to vent all that part of my life story. . If I were you I would let the neighbour have a word with them. Stay out of it. Its difficult enough to sell a house in todays market without there being a dispute with a neighbour too. Theres a house down the road from me that has been on the market for 18 months with no buyer. Sorry to say. Good luck anyway

mrbadexample

Hi. I understand your problem, as it's something I've had encountered myself.

My next door neighbours bought a nasty yappy little rat, that would start barking at about 6.30am, and continue pretty much relentlessly until they took it out at about 8.30am. (I cannot understand how they could put up with it!)

I decided that if I was going to confront them, then I was going to go armed with some help. I googled "stop dog barking", or words to that effect, and found a few helpful sites. The "treatments" range from collars that emit high pitched noise when they bark, or a citrus smell that they are supposed to dislike, to training methods.

Once printed, it would have been a case of "Excuse me, I've noticed that your dogs tends to bark quite a bit - do you think any of these would help - it must be driving you mad?"

Basically, what I am saying is the most tactful approach you can make, armed with constructive options to assist. It's got to be better than "Will you do something about that damned dog?"

I was lucky, and it did get better. It's still yappy n 'orrible, but I haven't noticed it in the mornings.

Might be worth a shot.

MBE

stonekent

sorry to hear about the situation your in, personally I would knock and have a quiet word, in a nice way, as someone mentioned above, Just called around to see if the dog was Ok sort of thing.

It does remind me of a Joke I heard quite recently though.

A Married couple were having similar problems to yourself where they could not sleep at night due to a neighbours dog barking so the wife insisted the husband do something about it. So off the husband goes and comes back 10 minutes later. She asks "what did you do?" He says " I put the dog in our garden, lets see how they like it!?

MiserlyMartin

Thats funny. I'm laughing about it now, but one day I thought it would be an idea to record the barking, loop it, then blast it out through a speaker at the window right back at the house at night when they were sleeping, so that they would have to put up with what I had to when I was sleeping.

I was going to but I didn't have a speaker big enough. Petty yeah but it gets your point across, though probably not in a very constructive manner. Would probably make you feel better when driven mad by the continual yapping and sleep deprivation. Save that stuff for when the communication breaks down, environmental health have not helped and you have no other option!

purplepatch

Thanks for all the replies. I'm still reluctant to raise the matter with them (to echo MiserlyMartin) as if I have to subsequently declare it when selling our house, I'm going to jeopardise the sale. Let's face it, who is going to buy a house when they find out that the neighbours have a dog that barks all day long?!

As others have mentioned, if you are buying a property, make sure you do your homework before you move in! Still wouldn't have helped us as the dog came after we moved in. In both houses. We must be unlucky.

Is there anyone that can confirm the wording on the seller's form about discussions with neighbours. I'm pretty sure last time I moved there was a question along the lines of "have you ever had cause to approach your neighbours bla bla bla" but it would be brilliant to know exactly what it says.

Mrbadexample - I've done exactly the same googling exercise. There do seem to be a few products to try.