How do you deal with noisy neighbours?
A recent polled claims that more than a third of us Britons are affected by noisy neighbours.
Matt Allwright was on the show to give us some advice on how to get the volume turned down. His tips include...
1) Try and solve the problem with your neighbour in a friendly way, without involving the local authority in the first instance. Often or not, your neighbours won't know they are causing a nuisance and will probably be more considerate in future.
Never approach your neighbour when the noise is actually happening. You are more likely to be angry and have an argument with them.
2) If talking to your neighbour directly doesn't work, then the next step is to try mediation. Most local authorities will be able to provide a free mediation service between yourself and your neighbour, where a neutral party will come round and look to negotiate a peaceful settlement.
3) If all reasonable steps have been taken to sort the matter out privately, the next option is to contact the Environmental Health department in your local authority. By law, the local authorities have a duty to deal with any noise that they consider to be what's known as a 'statutory nuisance'.
4) If the local authority decide not to intervene, or for whatever reason you do not wish to involve them, you can take your case to a Magistrate's Court (Sheriff's Court in Scotland). You must have already taken steps to deal with the matter privately before you can bring it to court.
More information at Direct.gov.uk.
How do you deal with noisy neighbours? Share your hints and tips here.
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Comments
Love that SUGGS a sense of humour essential. But have they never heard of earplugs.
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A few years ago my highly respectable mid-sixties neighbours decided to make my family's lives hell by playing their radio full blast from 4am in the morning. The Council were hopeless and refused to act. I kept a log of all the incidents and with the help of the very friendly staff at my local magistrates court took out a private prosecution. I represented myself at the hearing although they had a barrister. I just told the truth and the magistrates believed me. They were both found guilty and we haven't heard a peep out of the since. Power to the people !!
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I'm a waltham forest tenant and have lived here for 13yrs and live in 4 diffrenet places and each time i have had BAD neighbours. this time around the noise is the Parents stomp about and the council have bided by them by having meeting ( yet to happen) by when it suits them people who don't work when we do and let them get away with it. Where's the justice for full rent payers.
THIS COUNCIL STINKS>Chez from Chingford
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I dealt with a noisey neighbour by waiting till they had gone to bed one early morning, after a night of partying. then turned my hifi on full and went to work for the day feeling tired.
I came home to find them more tired than me but quieter for the next nfew weeks.
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We have been victims of noisy neighbours, we went to the Council, Police, but no help was given. We ended up moving from the house loosing £1000's off the value of the house, if fact we sold it for 2/3 of the asking price.
We were asked to keep logs, and every time we presented the logs, they said insufficient information, we had 2 years worth!!! It included video evidence, which we were told to destroy as it infringed on their privacy!!!
THE SYSTEM DOES NOT WORK
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I've been a noisy party neighbour for nearly 10 years the trick is invite all the neighbours round then there is no-one to complain. if they don't turn up you've given them plenty of notice...
Lee from Chester.
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RE: Noisy Neighbours...Torbay Council in Devon offer absolutely no support whatsover if you have a problem with a noisy neighbour. They choose not to use their powers to confiscate equipment saying "they don't have the manpower and the office is not manned". When I called the police they told me they often had complaints of this nature and it was frustrating for them because they can't get involved and yet the council does nothing.
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i was hounded by noisy neighbours for 2 years at my previous address. I had just given birth to my oldest child when it started. They would start playing their music if thats what you could call at 6pm and carry on till 4/5am, i hardly got any sleep cause it was keeping us all awake my husband was going to work looking like death. I was constantly asking them to turn the sound down to no avail the police were powerless, we ended up getting in touch with the environmental folks and having recording equipment put in our house to record everything, it was a nightmare. I lost my temper loads of times one night i went round and forced my way in cut the wires of the stereo, the neighbours called the police on me and all they said was i was the wrong and they would have done same thing but not to do it again it was the best nights sleep we had in ages and we both over slept. Their land lord heard about our plight some how and terminated their contract and couldnt apologise enough and even let us vet his next tenants.
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After 6 years of violent and noisy neighbours, I have moved to the other end of the country. Council did nothing, police did nothing, so I had no alternative when it was affecting my family life. I kept detailed logs of all incidents. I contacted the council out of hours to inform them each time I had contacted the police, I also tried to get a Council Warden out of hours, to no avail. Final straw was when my children witnessed violent incidents at 4am, would not sleep in their bedrooms anymore, so no alternative but to move. Life is much better now.
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When Council was called to complain about a noisy neighbour, I was told to rethink a formal complaint as it will come out in "House Searches" and may affect the sale of my house in future.
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We were not noisy neighbours, but were treated as such. My teen boys liked to play basketball, and our neighbour, after not minding for two years, decided to start swearing at them, and called the enviromental health. We both live in large homes, over 6 bed, and our gardens are large, so the basketball playing was a distance away from the neighbour. Enviromental health told us we were under the noise levels, and had made ourselves very agreeable by only letting the boys play for 1/2 an hour every day, and only between 4 and 6pm. Even so, they told us we had to stop the basketball playing as our neighbour would not back down.
It was hard to tell the three boys, each of them basketball captains at school in their age division, that they could not practice or play together at home. They took it well, and have remained polite to the neighbour. I personally think enviromental health were wrong in their verdict, but took it as a chance to teach my kids to respond with kindness and to uphold the law even when it seems to be wrong.
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I live abouve a neighbour, it is difficult to live with. It has been a long rollercoast, but after nearly two years, they are being taken to court. I am hoping that this will put a stop to the music day in and day out.
I have been affected so much, I am unable to sleep. It has afected my life.
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I live in a shared rented house. My house mates have been very noisy since I moved in, in October last year. I stated by getting up every night and asking them to keep the noise down but things did not improve. It is contracted that they should be quiet after 10pm and so I have been in constant contact with my renting agency. But apparently all anyone can do is ask them to stop it as they are only on a 1 year contract there is no point in chucking them out. I seem to have no rights just because they are living in my house rather then next door. It's driving me mad!!!
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A few years ago I had two lots of noisy neighbours music all hours drug taking etc...., I reported it to the local coucil who were as useful as chocolate teapot. I kept a log of all the incidents with dates and times by the time I had got enough evidence on them i found out on both occasions that they had done a midnight flit owing months of rent to the landlord. My tip is grit your teeth get evidence and pester the council until they know you on first name terms. All I can say is I sympathise with all who are suffering and hope all gets better for you soon.
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If the neighbour is being inconsiderate then I can undestand that something can be done about it. But what about if the neighbour is being unpurposely noisy. Above my flat is a mum and two kids. They get up before my alarm clock everyday, and run around the house all day with every footstep sounding like a cannonball. I have spoken to her and she has apologised, but nothing has changed, she can stop her kids being noisy. But it's an absolute nightmare hearing running children from 7 in the morning till 10 at night, is there anything I can do apart from move house?!
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i live nxt door to noisy neighbours, who threaten me with violence im home alone at night as my husband works i have a baby and am pregnant, the problem is they taking so long to even try to sort it out. I have to live with dogs barking, doors slamming, men cussing all day and night, music VIBRATING through my baby's cot and waking him up. I work during the day and because they keep my baby up they keep me up, im on anti depressants, im tired coz they're so bad and no one helps not even the police who i've rung up past 11pm when noise should be kept to a minimum and been told 'sorry we dont deal with noise complaints' even after i told them if i go round they WILL threaten me with violence.
THE SYSTEM DOES NOT WORK
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I was threatened on my own door step and told to dissappear and watch my back when my neighbors received the letter from the council.
My neighbors have made my life hell for over a year. The constant noise begins at 6am and does not stop until at least 7pm. I spoke to them, wrote to them and then called the council. I'd kept a noise diary the whole time which the council did not want to see.
The police persuaded them to agree to mediation and the session was humiliating. My neighbor said one thing and then contradict herself 5 minutes later and the mediators said absolutely nothing. An agreement was drawn up that they would keep the noise to a minimum until 9am. I was subjected to verbal abuse again 2 days later and the agreement has been ignored.
My neighbors told the council it was every day living noise and the council have refused to intervene any further. They told me to seek advice from a solicitor which I am now considering.
I followed all the rules and advice from the council and have got no where.
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hi , i would like to know what rights i have when dealing with elderly people who find:
1) My (computer) keyboard loud - almost everytime im typing they start banging on the adjacent wall.
2) Find my tv loud (at any time of the day) - which is on the lowest bass setting, only outputting to one speaker, and not on the adjacent wall. also if i stand on my door with the door open it is very hard to make out the words, let a alone be heard from a different house. The TV is next to wall which is next to my parents room and it definitely isn't audible from their room (i've tested it).
3. Who knock when the toilet is flashed.
4. Also knock when the shower is on ( it's on at reasonable times)
5. Knock on my wall when people echo from the pathway outside thinking it's me(high heels from nights out)
6. Believe it or not - who knock when i use my mouse (bear with me on this one, i can assure you im not crazy)
the list goes on......
7. Again , normal tossing and turning in bed also sends them crazy. 'Normal' referring to the natural tossing and turn everyone naturally does when asleep or are laying on a bed and have leaned too long on an arm etc.
They have now started to bang on my wall at night (which i'm logging)
and tends to be around between 23:00 - 23:30 for their first session of bangs then around 00:00 to 01:00 am for their final. They are ofcourse doing this to disturb my sleep. Why not bang back ? the elderly person in question looks frail, and i don't think i fancy being the one to give her a heart attack.
taking the advice of one person i decided to absolutely compromise my living to see whether i was indeed being noisy. To elaborate i had a week where i didn't turn my computer,TV,radio or any other device in my room. That's when i noticed much of the above listed activity.
Recording the audio is almost impossible as it is vibration.
there are 6 unused/unconnected big stereo speakers in my room and im almost at point where i want to plug them in but that will only wake the terrace up.
currently i have started to play 'white noise' on a loop, it's not music but it's just sound at a constant tone (google or wiki it) , with my bass on full. It does the trick on my side as it drowns out their nuisance and it's not loud enough to be heard from the room next to mine in our house.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how i could handle this issue. It's been going on for a few months now.
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I am currently trying to deal with a noisy neighbour, I have a 1 year old who is constantly being woken up and I haven't slept for weeks!! He has 'deliveries' in the early hours and bangs around and argues with his girlfriend at all hours and it's driving me insane! I have called my landlord as I am a private tenant and also the council as he is a council tenant but the council wont do anything. I have been keeping a diary of events but feel like it's a waste of time. All I want to do now is go round there and lose my rag cos he is making my life hell.
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Hi, tcinhh47hr
This may sound like a daft question but have you spoken to them? They sound to me like bullies (however frail) and sometimes if you come face to face with them and ask them what is it you can do to resolve the problem (even though they are clearly unreasonable) you may find they struggle for an answer and lose their bottle. It may knock the wind out of their sails to think that you actually want to help and that you are trying to change. You could suggest that they knock on your door rather than bang- they'll soon get fed up of doing that.
I won't advise going to the council as mine were useless and my neighbors are still hell. But I am the complainee and although I'm not complaining about my neighbors using their keyboard- I know I would respond to their knocking and asking if we can talk about resolving the situation.
Hope this helps.
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We have neighbours who had a bbq the other week. Played loud music from 3 o,clock in the afternoon until 23:40 hrs on a laptop connected to speakers in their backyard. It was then turned off but two minutes later the loud music was started up again in their front room. My son,s bedroom is up against their house and he was 6/2 the next day. Our daughter,s bedroom is also against their house. She had been wanting to go to bed for a fair while but had no chance of getting to sleep whilst this music was playing.
After 10 mins we went next door and had to hammer on their front door for them to hear us and all we got when we asked them to turn the music down was a lot of abuse.
On contacting Environmental Health on the Monday morning we were advised to start keeping a diary. What an absolute joke and waste of time. S o much for being an upright citizen
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hi , CarrotStix. thx for the response
As of now not yet. I'm 18 and from their actions it's somewhat logical to assume that nothing will arise from that. They seem to think that they live in a detached house and that they have a right to silence which is more important than everyone else.
Initially the whole thing started when they had problems with students who live on the other side being noisy. And they(the students) are genuinely noisy, so much so we could hear them from our side. As a result my direct neighbour moved from the room adjacent to that house to the one on our side. Up to that point there had been no complaints about noise from them. The complaining only started after about 14 months since we had moved in, there have been other written complaints(dripping gutters,etc) so they aren't shy of complaining.
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i also had a niosy violent nieghbour for 4 years partying from 8pm til 5am every weekend banging,shouting, the lot. we asked them to turn it down many times and they seriously thought they where doing nothing wrong, we where threatened and felt constantly intimidated we called the police and council the police never even came out !! and the council where sympathetic but cautious about taking proceedings, as the houses are owned and not council/rented. At the time my children where 1 and 3 so me and my wife never slept we struggled with work and bringing up a small family. I went on anti depressants for 2 years and felt scared and nervous and felt worthless i couldnt protect my family. You are constantly on edge because you dont know when you will have another episode and you begin living a nightmare.my life completely changed from being confident and fun. i wished i had never bought the house and would rather live in a tent. thankfully he has sold his house a year ago and the new nieghbours seem ok. but i am still struggling to be the person i used to be 5/6 years ago im afraid this has had a lasting effect on my well being as a person , i really hope i can get over this.
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Christopher 1972 just read your post and you have my every sympathy. There is a lot more to my story that the one occasion mentioned and I was /am in your same situation; ie the medication and personality totally changed. Surely it is about time the authorities/police were given powers to totally wipe out this unfair "CRIME" of the good beimg punished for the "bad" people not giving a care. Again my deepest sympathies
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I haven't got noisy neighbours, but i have smelly one's!!! and don;t no wot to do. They have cat's, which must use the whole house as a toilet! The smell comes through the floor boards and the vents in the chimney, not only do they wee all over their house but they wee all over my 6 yr old daughters toys in the garden. i have to have the windows open all day all year round or else the smell in my house is unbearable!!! i have had the enviromental health come out and visit, they asked next door to move the litter tray!!!!! and then told me that because they are not harming the cats, there is nothing they can do!!!! i was advised to seal my floor boards, which i have done and have had thicker carpets with underlay laid, but it still doesn't make any difference!! i have also filled the vents with tissue paper to try and keep the smell out but that doesn't work either!!! As well as all this they have 2 broken down cars in their back garden along with a huge amount of rubbish, and a dog, that they don't clean up after, so when we do get a little bit of nice weather i get the smell of dog poo in the garden as well. I no the house is a privately owned but i think it is let out to these animals. I really don't know what to do, so if anyone has any ideas they would be appreciated.
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Have lived here for 39 years with no problems. 18 months ago through buy to let,new neighbours moved in. Boom boom music for hours on end, through the night,making floor and furniture vibrate. Went to council who gave us forms to fill in. Did this and after 4 months they said we had filled in the wrong form! Community policeman was asked by council to visit us but he came after we asked for help from a local councillor. He advised us to use headphones and to lift our feet up from the floor. It has affected my health and now have atrial fibrillation. Cannot move, as retired and cannot replace money lost after having to declare problems on the HIP. Also contacted MP. Friends and family can no longer stay here as lose sleep. Music tends to be weekends, through the night and council not open then. Phoned police many times during night and they said could not do anything. One even slammed the phone down. Everyone covers their backs and bends the truth through omission. We feel totally let down. The legislation does not work. The police did visit them after a few neighbours,including from neighbouring streets,complained. The Council also wrote to them and to the landlord with no effect. First time we have ever asked for help. Worked hard, paid taxes etc. Help we have recieved is a joke. Neighbours find it funny.
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i have had noisy neighbours on and off for the last 6 years. the 19 year old whistles and sings till 3 am. school holidays we get electric guitars full blast during the day. his radio alarm clock goes off at 6.30 most mornings at full volume,but he leaves it on .if you bang on the walls ,they just bang back. since living here i have been diagnoised with psoriasus due to stress.the only i can get back at them ,is when they go to bed i will start,but then my wife and daughter are then kepted awake.i have had enough because the noise has got to be over a certain volume before anything is done and unfortunatley his whistling isnt. can an anybody suggest anything apart from moving.
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Some of these posts describe nightmare scenarios, especially when you consider their are laws in place to stop this sort of behaviour! Has anyone thought of taking the Chief Executive of their council to court for not doing his/her job - after all, he/she carries the ultimate responsibility if the department in question is not doing it's job.
In the past I have had to approach a neighbour about a dog barking incessantly. I gave them a time frame to try and solve the problem and informed them I would speak to the noise team at the local council if nothing happened to alleviate the noise. The problem was solved and we still have a good relationship to this day.
My noise problem now comes from an industrial neighbour - we have a large electricity sub station at the back of us and the older transformers produce a constant and very annoying hum. I've spoken to both the noise specialist of the company and our local noise team and it seems there is nothing that can be done other than checking the noise is within acceptable limits (which it is) so my disturbed sleep will continue until the transformers are replaced when they get to the end of their operational lives!
CarrotSix - you're giving excellent advice that I wholeheartedly agree with and it's advice that has worked well for me in the past. We are fortunate in that we have a good relationship with our neighbours and tend to warn each other if any of us are having a party that might disturb others - it's a common courtesy, something many people have forgotten these days.
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runrabbit 03 , thanks for your sympathy , seems theres alot of us out there who are suffering, police really need to step in and sort this out we seem to have become a nation where the accused are protected and seem to have more rights than law abiding people. we bought this house as our home to bring up our family in safe surroundings, but i just have so many bad memories im now living living like a hermitt ! scared to make any niose in my own house and i keep telling the kids off about any niose they make as im worried about upsetting the new nieghbours ! how crazy does that sound !
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We had trouble with a noisy neighbour learning to play the saxaphone.We made every attempt to amicably sort the problem but resorted to involving the environmental health who were useless.As the situation was having a detremental affect on my husband's health,to the point where he couldn't come home because of the noise. we went to a solicitor who helped ease the situation although not resolve it.It did get to the point when we were prepared to sell our house just to ease the stress, but pleased to say the neighbour had the for sale board up before us!! We are now blessed with perfect neighbours who like us enjoy peace and tranquility.
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For the last two years I have been constantly harassed by neighbours due to my Disabilities. Taking the micky and rude comments, causing me a lot of stress, in my health as an Epileptic. The Council move me on into warden controlled properties. And from day one for thirteen months I was constantly harassed day and night by a piece of ** above me. He would try and sing, shout band his bottles on the wooden floor to annoy me. I approached the Council about this and all I got was "We are dealing with it", but they were not. They were just constantly fobbing me off to get me off the phone, but I would not let go. The Environmental Health stepped in and was a got send as they install professional recording equipment and it was confirmed he was out of order. In December 2008 all of his music equipment was ceased, but he bought more and carried on. Eventually he lost his battle and has now gone and the pensioners are happy, and I have moved on into a new home. I had to move out in September 2008 on advice from my GP. Note: - "the trick that solved this case was to contact the "Housing Ombudsman on 02074213800". They jumped on the Councils back and he was ready to be evicted. I lost a lot of money in rent due to the Councils errors. I would not let go and I got it all back, its called fighting them. The case is now closed, has the noise neighbour has gone and I have moved on to a better life. I now know others on the estate that is having similar problems and I will pass on my advice. I am now blessed at last with a peaceful neighbour. These problems of noisy neighbours are out of the hands of the Police and they should not be.
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tcinhh47hr, having heard more about your neighbors, I will say that their experience with the previous noisy neighbors has more than likely made them extra receptive to noise, all be it in their case a pin dropping. I'd not had problems with noisy neighbors before moving to my flat, but I have noticed that after a few months of suffering (and still now) when I am anywhere else I am extra receptive to noise, I even flinch at some things. I also found that, as I am unable to control the situation here at home, I became more controlling in other situations i.e. work, my partner, even shopping. I was determined that I would not let anyone walk all over me and needed to prove that I could stand up for myself.
That maybe what your neighbors are doing now. They have become so determined not to suffer again, that they are taking it to the extreme and are hearing (listening out) for any noise. Do you live with your parents? Could they accompany you to go and speak to them? As unreasonable as they are being, it never hurts to be the bigger person and even if they don't show it, they will appreciate knowing that you are not setting out to make their lives a misery.
I speak with the shoe on the other foot and as I would like my actual hell inflicting neighbors to behave towards me. Sadly, in their eyes, you maybe inflicting hell as they have become so sensitive. Of course you are not and a conversation may help them to see this.
marpul44,
I envy your determination. I'm sad to say that in my case, I have all but given up. I felt like all the air had been knocked out of me when the people at the council said to me after I was verbally abused for the umpteenth time in a row "Sometimes you just have to accept that people are not going to change". I've been having therapy for the past 6 months which has helped me see that I am not a whimp by not speaking their language and that I am the bigger person by not retaliating- it's just a shame that the council and police don't side with the bigger rule-abiding person.
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Strangely enough, I was only reading an article about this on Monday in the "Times" - check the archive - page 21, May 18, by Helen Rumbelow & was actually quite distressed by the piece about the lady in her 70's. If anybody knows this lady or the environmental officer involved or indeed the local council, it would be good to know if anything has been done. Maybe remind the council that they have the power to confiscate the sound system. And by the way, speaking from personal experience, earplugs are totally useless when the sound is above a certain volume. This poor lady deserves a quiet & peaceful night's sleep.
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I have been a tenant with Home in Scotland for six years. For the last two I have had absolutely no quality of life at all. I've gone through the whole process calling the police, the anti-social etc etc and now I am the one moving. Constant noise, an idiot who thinks hammering at 3 in the morning is acceptable. He even sent the police to my door with a malicious complaint in a vain attempt to get his own back, only the idiot couldnt tell I wasnt in, my landlords did nothing, and the police did nothing. Night after night of the same c***. Other neighbours who had made complaints did not have the backbone to follow through and left it to me. I have kept myself to myself I have lived quietly because I choose too. He has knocked large holes in the walls, been caught subletting issued final warnings (thats a joke), made and continues to make noise. I recently signed a petition for another neighbour who claimed she was brining action against the landlords for their failure to deal with anti-social neighbours havent heard from her since, theres a surprise.So I would publicly like to thank my landlords for allowing the destruction of the quality of my life, for the expense I am now having to go to in order to get peace.
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This week is Noise Action Week, coordintated by the charity Environmental Protection UK. Local authorities, housing associations and other organisations are carrying out activities in their area to raise awareness of noise and the services available to help tackle noisy neighbours. Visit www.noiseactionweek.org.uk or for information on how to tackle noisy neighbours visit www.environmental-protection.org.uk/noise/neighbourhood-noise/nuisance/
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The Noise Action week sounds like a good plan, but lets face it when you have landlords and councils that will do anything to avoid taking action there is very little point. Anti-social behaviour affects your health, your social life, your private life the ability to do the job you are paid to do to the point that your job is at risk. A good quality of life is a basic human right. We can talk till the cows come home about the problems but as they say "talk is cheap". Affirmative and positive action is what anti-social behaviour needs not more talk. Councils and other organisations should be fined if they fail to deal with nuisance tenants, if they allow people to continue to make others lives a misery. Government funding should be withdrawn until they can prove they are taking positive action. Housing associations should lose their charitable status if there are enough complaints from tenants who are suffering at the hands of others. Lets be honest here, there are people in this world who are either too thick or just don't care about the effects their anti-social behaviour has on others and "talking" to them is pointless. So stop pussyfooting about and deal with it.
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i was so pleased for the one show to highlight the issue of noisey neighbours. i have had a problem for the last 2 years with the neighbours attatched to our semi, but it has not just been one neighbour. the house is owned by a private landlord and although his first tenant, on buying the property, was really nice - they moved out as the house was falling into disrepair. this has led to three different sets of tenants in 2 years all of which have been a nightmare!!! all have required police call-outs due to domestic violence, at any time of the day or week. enviromental health have had to be involved with all three for noise issues which are mainly from shouting, screaming, yelling in and outside of the property. the previous two tenants moved out on their accord due to their relationships breaking down, thank-god. although the landlord was informed of the issues his tenants were causing,(he was sent the same letter that the tenant recieved on complaint to the enviromental health) he never saw it as a problem, as he was only concerned if they missed the rent. now we have the third bad neighbour who only moved in 3 weeks ago and already the police have been called twice, enviromental health are involved and we have compleated diaries and have recording equipment in our house. and it is not only our property that has complained. the enviromental health officer's have been very understanding and have done all they can to help with this neighbour. the neighbour has already admitted she has mental health issuses(she is 21 will a young child and young partner)and that i should not stress her out by complaining. but our long standing promblem is that even if this tenant does go,( and on hearing that this one was causing problems to a great extent, the landlord has asked to be kept informed!! IS THAT IT) we never know what will come next as the enviromental health office can only treat the problem tenant and not the continual problem. with this in mind i contacted the 'Community Legal Advice', where by you can get free legal advice,(via legal aid if you quailfiy-they run through a quick financial check on the phone), from a proffesional. they can continue your legal support where the enviromental health have to stop. i will procced with action againt the landlord if he fails to act on his duty to ensure he houses good tenants. in the mean time my partner, my two children and i have to put up with broken nerves and sleep!.
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I sympathise wholeheartedly with the many stories and situations I've read about. As a nation we are living in more and more cramped properties, the Council Block where I live the individual because of where his flat was -2nd floor, was causing problems for me below, the guy above, and the old lady to his right. The local Council - Lincoln were good - visited him twice, 2 letters, installed noise detection equipment and made him remove bass part of his stereo system. Which I enjoyed smashing to smithereens in The Waste Disposal Area, and found this quite therapeitic. LOL.
As hard as it seems, tell yourself that you are determined to live your life, get out there, you retain dignity by not responding. Try and retain a sense of Humour for e.g in writing diaries of events. One point that I don't think has been mentioned is this: in my case the guy was a "Care in The Community Case" (i.e he would have been sanctionned in previous years, as admitted by my Housing Officer) - yet another Government Policy of old clearly failing as whoever is his Case Worker / etc that didn't work. Therefore I had some understanding / level of tolerance. There are sometimes underlying reasons behind people's behaviour society finds unacceptable.
I agree Police Powers are useless and it's a PostCode Lottery whether your Council take enforcement action. Going to The Housing Ombudsman re- Council Employers not doing their job to address this matter seems a good way forward, Solicitors ?............ hmmmmm? Sue, Grabbit and Run LLP will only send letters to problem individuals along the lines of those already sent by The Council and little will probably happen, apart from it costing you a fortune.
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I've read all the blogs as I am on my 2nd house move due to inconsiderate neighbours. Both times I've followed all the good advice from various sources but never with a resolution. The fact is that those who act in this way are too ignorant to see the consequences of their actions and have no empathic skills. In other words they don't give a damn. What I've found in each case is that their behaviour doesn't stop with noise. If they don't get the desired result i.e. a shouting match or a bang on the wall, they resort to more serious behaviours, lock-gluing, stealing valuable parcels from the courier etc. Even then no one - landlord, police, council etc. actually DOES anything and you have no choice but to incur the cost of moving to another area. This problem seems to be on the increase and did not used to be so widespread but the authorities haven't caught up and do not want to know. They try to put the blame on the sufferer instead being of "low tolerance". The only answer is new legislation and a change in the agencies' responsibilities. The police need the power to intervene and must take this seriously. British citizens have an inherent right to live in peace - there is actually a "govt. promise" to that effect! Its time our MPs actions reflected this and I suggest all of you go to him/her and get some action.
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About a year ago a middle-aged divorcee, who would be there infrequently, rented the flat below. I was confused when, around 5am, there was a lot of yelling about and laughing going on at 5am on two consecutive evenings. After a few months loud music was being played at all hours and I learned she had a son move in. She called it normal decibels and pointed out that I even objected to her Frank Sinatra being played loudly. It was, in fact, a brass band playing a version of "Yesterday."
An environmental health officer slapped final notices on them and it is only my cowardice in not wanting to confront the situation which has prevented the prosecution. Otherwise by now his equipment would have been seized and a hefty fine would have been imposed.
The woman told me her son was not staying there, but returning to university. At times when I have been driven out of my home by noise she has insisted that nobody was there or she was listening to Radio 4. She slandered neighbours and told me I would drive everyone away if I objected to loud music. Adding to the noise was a dog who when left alone in the early hours, kept barking. In the end this disturbed neighbours as well.
The officer installed recording equipment and is in the act of listening to it, thus proving the woman a compulsive liar. They are moving out, but her university- attending son manages to be there at times while apparently elsewhere. His music was noisy the other early evening and I am getting to the stage, leaving or not, of getting the Environmental health people out if he breaches the notices this weekend at the appropriate times. The officer has to get him "bang to rights" and his mother has been proved a compulsive liar, who even grabbed my door aggressively when I tried to close it on her.
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Sorry, just correcting mistakes.
About a year ago a middle-aged divorcee, who would be there infrequently, rented the flat below. I was confused when, around 5am, there was a lot of yelling about and laughing on two consecutive mornings. After a few months loud music was being played at all hours and I learned she had a son move in. She called it normal decibels and pointed out that I even objected to her Frank Sinatra being played loudly. It was, in fact, a brass band playing a version of "Yesterday."
An environmental health officer slapped final notices on them and it is only my cowardice in not wanting to confront the situation which has prevented the prosecution. Otherwise by now his equipment would have been seized and a hefty fine would have been imposed.
The woman told me her son was not staying there, but returning to university. At times when I have been driven out of my home by noise she has insisted that nobody was there or she was listening to Radio 4. She slandered neighbours and told me I would drive everyone away if I objected to loud music. Adding to the noise was a dog who, when left alone in the early hours, kept barking. In the end this disturbed neighbours as well.
The officer installed recording equipment and is in the act of listening to it, thus proving the woman a compulsive liar. They are moving out, but her university attending son manages to be there at times while apparently elsewhere. His music was noisy the other early evening and I am getting to the stage, leaving or not, of getting the environmental health people out if he breaches the notices this weekend at the appropriate times. The officer has to get him "bang to rights" and his mother has been proved a fantsist, who even grabbed my door aggressively when I tried to close it on her.
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I agree with the person who talks about flinching at everything after being exposed to noise at home. I have been in that state and am still receiving medical treatment. Until relatively recently one landlord rented out both flats of the property, but I now have a separate one and am not restrained by that of downstairs tenants.
There is a sound insulation issue, but nevertheless, certain things have been deemed unacceptable by the authorities. Also, for about three years there has been no doorbell for the lower flat and I have been pestered late at night by visitors for same.
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I couldn't agree with davidparfitt1961 more. Exactly the same happened to us some years back and we have never recovered the loss from the sale. Unfortunately it has happened to us on 2 more occasions, perhaps we're just too quiet but at least we have respect for others. At present we live below a flat owned by a policeman and you would think he'd vet his tenants properly but unfortunately this isn't the case; all 3 of his tenants have caused us trouble at some time, 1 was a fellow policeman and he was the worse. Unfortunately if you own a property then the less help you get.
Something must be done to give people back their lives.
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People are generally inconsiderate and I do not pretend to be perfect myself, however, I do make an effort.
There is a game called dwells, daft generics, boastful lies and character assassination which is designed to destroy somebody's conversation and make everything about the other person. It is an insidious form of bullying which first caused me illness when my sister subjected me to it whilst I was trying to get something off my chest.
After this a certain Christian couple were able to pretend their playing me up was in my head and could emphasise other character flaws because I objected to being treated badly. At one time, when the guy waas in danger of being exposed, he started making abusive calls which resulted in my being diagnosed as a paranoid obsessive; but really it is a stress related brain malfunction which left me tormented, muddled and very scared for twenty years.
The Christian would come into my home, belitttle everything I said and then launch into patronising lectures and start ridiculing me or be abusive whenever I tried to have my say. His wife would cry on the telephone and then go round saying she was too busy to have those kind of problems. He would hold disturbed girls down in church to rid them of demonic possession and knock on people's doors with allegations of crazy talk. He did the dirty work of my abusers and put me under pressure to let people walk all over me with impunity, while getting his pound of flesh by feeding off vulnerable people. This man insisted feeling sorry for people worse off made him feel better, but really it was preaching that did it, hence becoming a Christian.
He would turn up an hour late and would sabotage what you organise to take over. He would invite me round to ignore me and belittle me in front of others to look big. His wife would be crawling round you one minute and the next treating you like a total stranger. They got all they could out of people and then turned on them, demanding money for everything. He would order you to do him a favour and charge you petrol money for giving him free labour. They would use my time for their benefit and then tell me they were busy. His wife laughed in my face about her mischief-making and would slap me about if I asserted myself. He came into my home and shouted he did not want to hear it and launched into another patronising lecture. The last year, when my nerves were bad, his wife was browbeating me with "dwels" in my home when I tried to speak.
I was left too ill to be chief mourner at my mother's funeral and the only way I could clear my head was to send him open letters. The CID came after me and later uniform. After I had sent a few communications to his vicar I heard no more.
I am told to put it behind me and not dwell, but these terms are just devices for bullying from people who are too used to getting their own way and are not stopped from having their say at the time. My father used one of these terms on me and "lying again!" to my uncle.
The latter ended up having panic attacks and my Christian father laughed about it. A family friend ended up in a mental hospital and my nephew became semi-reclusive.
I have also been persecuted for being gay, but in reality my illness has left me unable to form relationships, I am heterosexual if pushed. A man nicknamed The Bisexual Sociopath seemed to abuse his friends into illness and death; he also shouted the odds in my home. Finally we have the London Underground supervisor who played all the tricks and laughed about them, while making excuses for pulling the same rubbish on me.
His obsessions with fetishes, woman torturing and fantasy hit men made him a very sick fantasist indeed.
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People should have more respect for their neighbours and keep noise to a minimum at all times and not play music too loud or late.
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tell them you have a over sensitive ear drum and too much loud noise can damage the ear and that you will sue them for health and safety reason
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iam amazed at how wide spread this problem is.we need to all get together to form some sort of group and petition,to get the police to have more power, councils and enviromental health to act immediatley and heavy fines injunctions etc .IF this doesnt happen soon someone ,even including myself will take the law into our own hands.we need this problem sorted now.enough is enough,lets start fighting back.
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Having read all the blogs I would like to comment some more.
Yes it does make you feel worthless when you cannot deal with or cope with a situation. However, i have learnt to overcome pride and realise that bullies woul;d run to the police if the position was reversed,. We are conditioned into a machismo that does not exist and people tend to boast about. Those who try to emulate it find themselves in trouble with the police. Nevertheless, sustained harassment is dehumanising and emotionally destroys, as those who made light of my distress found out when I bombarded them with open letters. People telling you to just get over it adds to the strain.
This illustrates the selfishness of people who do not want to be bothered by your stress, but are very intent of unloading their own. I have learnt to hide my stress from others so that I do not get into those situations where others are getting mouthy about personal issues. Even so, I find myself shouting in the street as a result of being bullied into suppressing things all my life.
A sense of humour wears thin, but I do find myself singing disparaging ditties about the source of my aggravation. i do get on edge every time the door of the flat below clicks and I do lay awake at night, fearing he is going to come back and start a hulabaloo. It is hard work focusing on something else so I can sleep. Fortunately, last night I dreamt of all the other things I purposely filled my head with.
I went to a toy fair with a girl I once knew and brought back the soldiers she had bought. I dropped them in the street and a policeman thought I was acting suspiciously. Some men in American War of Independence costumes, one strangely wearing a gas mask, provided me with an alibi. Another dream involved actor Clive Merrison tellling me that the hidden objects on my USB were part of a religious conspiracy.
The fact that I may unreasonably be reacting to sounds also add to the strain, so I let the authorities decide. ear plugs only work if I am already asleep when he comes back, but only to a certain level of noise. They conduct other sounds and make them oppressive. I did, when awoken by a party around 4.30 am, consider going out later and leaving my stereo on full blast, but that would weaken my legal position. I keep my cool and talk gently, but it is natural to feel murderous resentment towards your oppressor, to deny causes strain.
Last night, as I settled down to watch television the lad came back. For an hour low rumbling and thumps were a soundtrack to my TV, but the shouting lasted longer. At 10pm I went for a walk for peace. The To Let sign as been taken down and I fear they are sub-letting or have bought the place. I am nearing sixty and damn the lack of life organisation that leaves me living in a flat rather than a detached house. The future looks bleak, I could have this problem with anyone. At my age I have to worry about stroke and I am prone to nervous breakdowns.
The lad's mother complained about me shouting, so I have tried to keep my voice lowered. she complained about my TV,but I could not hear it from her living room. She said she heard me snoring on a week that I could not sleep owing to the worry of the situation. She tried to encourage me to play loud music.
Whatever, the boy could well leave the property with a prosecution under his belt.
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Unwanted sound can damage the quality of peoples lives. Contrary to some press and media reports noise nuisance isnt just about one neighbour playing their music and the other being a killjoy.
Noise nuisance can take many forms and can be as a result of machinery, racing cars, anti social behaviour, late night deliveries, alarms, barking dogs, power tools, aircraft and a host of other noisy activities. A statutory noise nuisance is a criminal offence punishable with a £5000 fine for each offence and £20,000 if the activity is carried out in the course of a business.
As the programme rightly pointed out Councils dont provide a consistent service for people suffering from noise. In London some Councils provide a 24 hour reactive team to deal with noise problems, but outside London most Councils tell you to call back during office hours or ask you to fill in pointless reams of diary sheets.
Another popular noise myth that is widely perpetuated is that Councils have to hear the noise before they can take action. This is not true. If the Council officers are satisfied that a noise nuisance is likely to happen or recur then they can take action by serving an abatement notice, without needing to witness the noise.
Another misconception is that if the Council cant solve your noise problem then you simply have to live with it or move. Under Section 82 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 anyone suffering from a noise nuisance can take their own action to stop the noise nuisance. Noisedirect: National Noise Advice Line provides a fixed fee, low cost, service where you can discuss your case with an experienced Environmental Health Professional and receive expert advice. They have a large number of case studies on their website and other useful information.
www.noisedirect.co.uk
During Noise Action Week 18- 22 May, there is a special offer for wood and laminate floor problem sufferers.
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Having read all the blogs I would like to comment some more.
Yes, it does make you feel worthless when you cannot deal with or cope with a situation. However, I have learnt to overcome pride and realise that bullies would run to the police if the position was reversed.We are conditioned into a machismo that does not exist and people tend to boast about. Those who try to emulate it find themselves in trouble with the police. Nevertheless, sustained harassment is dehumanising and emotionally destroys, as those who made light of my distress found out when I bombarded them with open letters. People telling you to just get over it adds to the strain.
This illustrates the selfishness of people who do not want to be bothered by your stress, but are very intent on unloading their own. I have learnt to hide my stress from others so that I do not get into those situations where others are getting mouthy about personal issues. Even so, I find myself shouting in the street as a result of being bullied into suppressing things all my life.
A sense of humour wears thin, but I do find myself singing disparaging ditties about the source of my aggravation. I do get on edge every time the door of the flat below clicks and I do lay awake at night, fearing he is going to come back and start a hulabaloo. It is hard work focusing on something else so I can sleep. Fortunately, last night I dreamt of all the other things I purposely filled my head with.
I went to a toy fair with a girl I once knew and brought back the soldiers she had bought. I dropped them in the street and a policeman thought I was acting suspiciously. Some men in American War of Independence costumes, one strangely wearing a gas mask, provided me with an alibi. Another dream involved actor Clive Merrison tellling me that the hidden objects on my USB were part of a religious conspiracy.
The fact that I may unreasonably be reacting to sounds also add to the strain, so I let the authorities decide. Ear plugs only work if I am already asleep when he comes back, but only to a certain level of noise. They conduct other sounds and make them oppressive. I did, when awoken by a party around 4.30 am, consider going out later and leaving my stereo on full blast, but that would weaken my legal position. I keep my cool and talk gently, but it is natural to feel murderous resentment towards your oppressor, to deny causes strain.
Last night, as I settled down to watch television the lad came back. For an hour low rumbling and thumps were a soundtrack to my TV, but the shouting lasted longer. At 10pm I went for a walk for peace. The To Let sign as been taken down and I fear they are sub-letting or have bought the place. I am nearing sixty and damn the lack of life organisation that leaves me living in a flat rather than a detached house. The future looks bleak, I could have this problem with anyone. At my age I have to worry about stroke and I am prone to nervous breakdowns. I bumped into schizophrenic who is moving to a new flat. If he is subjected to noise he will become ill.
The lad's mother complained about me shouting, so I have tried to keep my voice lowered. she complained about my TV,but I could not hear it from her living room. She said she heard me snoring on a week that I could not sleep owing to the worry of the situation. She tried to encourage me to play loud music.
Whatever, the boy could well leave the property with a prosecution under his belt.
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when i lived in a flat my neighbours consisted of two adults and their pregnant tennage grand kids. the teenagers would always play loud music so i would bang on the wall or play my music even louder as well complaining to the landlords. eventually after 4 weeks i got them evicted and would do it again if i had noisy neighbours.
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i am glad mentalMoJoCon mentioned the point that if you own your own home , that there is not alot of support regarding your noisey neighbours. my parents live in council accomadation and on having problems with abusive neighbours, who also lived in council property,- contacted the council who where quick to act- involved enviromental health straight away , and due to the fact that council tennants have a behavioural agreement with-in the contract, with-in 4-5 months , they were evicted. now i know to some out there that may seem a long time , but to all those fellow suffers, we can only wish it could happen that quick. my main issue is that the landlord to the house causing me problems does not have any behavioral clauses and i have no housing department to fall back on. private landlords need to be made accountable for their tennants behavior.if they suffered a large financial penalty for failing to address their tennants behavior i am sure we would all be happier neighbours.
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we are havimg serious problems with noisy neighbours and their idiot landlord. we are subjected to loud music, tv on full blast the adults if you can call them that swearing fighting slamming the doors and verbally abusing their children and harrassing ourselves. the landlord isnt intereseted he says "i am a model landlord and my tennants are model tennants" he has threatened us and says we are the problem!!!!!!!! we havent had much joy with environmental health the police or our towns mp. environmental health have put recording equipment in and told us it didint pick anything up them laws that were mentioned on the show seem to have by passed our council and environmental health team! the police have been nasty to us they say we are wasting their time and we get the impression they take the neighbours side after she has spun them yet more lies and sob stories. we have even tried playing them at their own game to no aval they have caused damage to our property they threaten to batter us throw rubbish in our garden and sread malicious lies about us. we are the victims yet we feel like we are being treated as the criminals and the scum next door get better thought of.
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we really sympathis with the other victims of mindless idiots who have no respect for anybody except themselves and who have the attitude of i can do what i want when i want these people should get a job and live in the real world instead of ruining peoples lives. we are suffering ill health and feel frightened to stay in or go out. we were forced into a restoritive of justice meeting with said tennants and landlord and police the tennant lauged all the way through the landlord was verbally aggressive to us and the police did nothing. the landlord should be made accountable for his and his tennants actions. the law needs dramatically changing on how the police and environmental health deal with these problems before somebody takes matters into their own hands. the police and the other authorities need to get a grip on reality and stop being taken in by the lies and sob stories these chavs spin them on a daily basis. those who dare judge and say it is part of everyday life should put up with this torture themselves i doubt they would cope and demand action to be taken within just a few mins of being subjected to it all.
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Re 54: I completely sympathise with you. I too have experienced the fear of staying in or going out. Yes, people always claim one makes a fuss about nothing. I have known a whole series of people who claim that, thus encouraging me to treat them the same way. It normally ends up with CID men after me.
It always was a fuss about nowt
Until the game turns about
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I really sympathise with you all. We moved into our home 3 years ago not knowing that the guy next door runs a landscape gardening business from his home. The workers turn up between 5.30 and 6.30 every day and bang and scrape gates, talk, shout and argue with him (they're extremely loud and swear a lot). We approached him about it but all he did was complain about the noise we made whilst renovating our house (which we knocked and forewarned them about - they were fine about it). But this is every day. I have to put earplugs in from 5.30 onwards just to be able to sleep. Council didn't really want to know about it.
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We've been experiencing noise now for almost 7 years. We've been telling the council over and over again, but they refuse to do anything about it even though we have proof of the noise and brought it to their attention.
There are three noisy neighbours. One who shouts and fights outside my door, another above me who screeches his table and chairs across the laminated flooring, shouts and fights with his wife (I put it on YouTube), and a third neighbour who keeps her children up late and on school nights as well.
As for the MP's, they're useless. Didn't get no help from them. Phoned the ASBO team, they showed interest at first, said they'll get back to us and never did - we're still waiting. I will write them a letter of reminder.
I wrote an article about the disturbances and put it on the internet. It features videos of the noise that I displayed on YouTube:
http://www.authspot.com/Journals/My-Noisy-Neighbours.677883
Meric
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I too have these problems. The issue, I believe, in all of our cases is that of bad design. At the end of the day, and i probably won't make many friends by saying this, this country is built by people who slag-off students yet don't really become one...
The world needs musicians, babies, music, even tv, but many can't enjoy these things because they make too much noise for the building they are in. It's essentially unfair to evict a musician. Or ASBO someone for a loud sex life (yes this has happened to a few people). What we really need is a campaign to sort out housing policy in this country so that the definition of home, in terms of human rights, is clearly defined as a place where you can enjoy all of lifes activities without gaining an ASBO in the process. Houses that don't reach this description should be re-classified as a "secure rain-shelter" and have the maximum chargeable rent reduced to that of a night-shelter, or in the case of selling, construction value.
Right now it seems many people here are living in secure rain-shelter dorms!
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Yawn. 'morning all. I've been up a while, well since 3 am after my downstairs neighbour decided it would be a really good idea to listen to his unmelodious dump dump dump dump. I guess the meaning's in the lyrics. So, he's now being gently soothed off to slumberland by some peaceful Taize choral chants for peace and serenity (highly recommended). Perhaps the confusion of trying to fathom out what a 'melody' is has short-circuited his remaining pair of brain cells and . . oh well. I do hope I don't wake him with my tapping away. Serious deafness issue here.
Shouty television, shouty eejits, sorry, persons of no particular persuasion (well, you try persuading them). "I know my rights! Ugh? Responsa-wot? Too many syllabubs mate! Speak inglish." What bugs me and most other people I've talked to about the subject is the numpty-thumpety-thumpties in their stoopid 'look at me, I'm a prat-mobiles' as they race around and around the town circuit in their souped-up fat-orificed (baffles?) dump dump dump dump boy racing machines. You ain't going anywhere mate. Get used to it. Isn't there summit apart from a glare that can be done about this daily annoyance? I've heard of sleeping policeman but . .
O joy of joys! My next door neighbour will soon be wending off on his merry way soon, having initially slammed and shuddered the place and shattered the peace with the banging of his front door (six feet from my front door). Poor chap. Hasn't quite mastered the technicalities or fathomed out the complexities and dexterities (sorry, still early) involved in turning a door handle. I can foresee a bit of brain cell bartering going on in the not too distant future with the bloke downstairs.
Oh well, I'll have emigrated by then. I've been living on Aussie time through no fault of my own, so I might just as well go and live there. On a brighter note, I was stunned in awe and amazement the other day. Transfixed I was. One of these deffo blokes drove past with The Eagles blaring out of the windows of his Morris Minor. Looked a bit like that Gyles bloke off the telly . .
Night all. O burger bars! Seems to be time to get up.
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i could not agree with misscarlalou more. my issue, although the nutty tennant is still there, is the landlord as this is third bad tenant in 2 years. even when the police have to attend the property,( just the other day the tenant in question was stood in the middle of the street screaming words i shall not repeat along with threats of suicide and threw various items at her boyfriends car all in the presance of her 2 yr old daughter,)and ask who the landlord is , on hearing his name they are not surprised. and state his tenants are renowned for this behaviour, and that is only if the police who attend, actully care-most do not.social services fail to get involved-this little girl has been returned home by various neighbours several times to be met by a ungrateful aggressive mother!
and just a note for 'JSG1972' the enviromental health noise act (or something like that) states that the times which excessive noise is allowed are between 7am and 11pm so your enviromental team have to act by law. failing that i used a web site called 'community legal action'-maybe they can be of some help
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Re last three comments: My noisy neighbour tried to quote the law about excessive noise between 7am and 11pm to an Environmental Health Officer. She slapped a notice on him after that. She stated that noise nuisance can exist during the day and she will judge if it constitutes such.
There is a problem with noise insulation in my place, but that is no excuse for the dump, dump, shouty people or shouty televison.
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Move, thats what i'm doing after 11 years and so has the neighbour on the otherside. The police don't care. there is no room for law abiding people these days.
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I'm now 18 and have had noisy neighbours here in Croydon all my life, when I was first born I was very ill and we had neighbours who had parties all week, all night, my mum asked them to turn it down, called the police etc nothing, it went on until I was 4 years old and I still remember it. The house next door to us on the other side was then bought by the housing association and dear lord we got a single mother and her child in, but she was also a drug dealer, regularly got into fights with her customers and fellow dealers and would also have bad trips and run into the street screaming in the middle of the night, if we called the police we were victimised the next day, spat at even if it hadn't been us (the street is a quiet family street so naturally we weren;t the only worried/annoyed ones). We had everything up our street from police cars to riot vans to even a full on firecrew when she ran outside screaming FIRE!!! (which there wasn;t). She did a midnight flight last summer and a new family moved in, a young mother and her son and we all thought finally some peace and quiet! But now we get woken up by LOUD reggae/dancehall/hip hop/house in the morning and it goes on all day long as she doesn;t work, whilst I'm trying to revise/write coursework/study for my a levels. My dream is now to go to a uni out in the sticks and then move to the country where I can finally get some peace and quiet, and if I want to hear music I can put on my own and not hear someone else's thumping!
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