Noisy Neighbour Advice
Discussion
Hi all,
I own a first floor flat in a converted house type arrangement, the flat below is rented and two young guys have moved in. I had to mention the volume of their stereo to them and explain it was too loud, after which they turned it off immediately.
A few days later they had a party with some mates and the volume went up again. I start work quite early so I went outside and asked two young chaps to turn down the music. They obliged, all was well. Until half midnight, the music started again and continued until 3am.
The next day I was extremely tired, and after work told one of them in no uncertain terms that I was not happy (company director style of course).
Again things went quiet but at present it sounds like the stereo has moved to the room below my bedroom and is broadcasting all sorts of 'banging choons'.
I feel they have had ample warning and I intend to contact either the council or the landlord, although first I would appreciate some advice from anyone who has had similar problems?
Thanks
ETA - the volume seems to have gone down now so perhaps they have listened. Still, advice would be appreciated just in case there are further problems.
I own a first floor flat in a converted house type arrangement, the flat below is rented and two young guys have moved in. I had to mention the volume of their stereo to them and explain it was too loud, after which they turned it off immediately.
A few days later they had a party with some mates and the volume went up again. I start work quite early so I went outside and asked two young chaps to turn down the music. They obliged, all was well. Until half midnight, the music started again and continued until 3am.
The next day I was extremely tired, and after work told one of them in no uncertain terms that I was not happy (company director style of course).
Again things went quiet but at present it sounds like the stereo has moved to the room below my bedroom and is broadcasting all sorts of 'banging choons'.
I feel they have had ample warning and I intend to contact either the council or the landlord, although first I would appreciate some advice from anyone who has had similar problems?
Thanks
ETA - the volume seems to have gone down now so perhaps they have listened. Still, advice would be appreciated just in case there are further problems.
Edited by V8Ford on Tuesday 23 December 22:58
Edited by V8Ford on Tuesday 23 December 22:59
For anyone interested, or searching because they have a similar problem - here's an update.
One of the young men moved out after a loud fight. Unfortunately, this left behind the lad who I suspected to be the problem in the first place. He was then joined by his brother.
The noise problem was still there, but was sporadic. However it slowly became more frequent.
My mistake (I feel) has been giving them way too much leeway by speaking to them in person so many times before going to the letting agent. I finally relented and rang them, giving a full account of the issues, and they advised me the next day that due to my complaint and some other problems (which they didn't go into) the tenants would be served their notice.
I hoped that due to the antisocial nature of their behaviour, the notice period would be 7 days. This is now day 7 and they're still there so no luck, I guess I'm looking at a month.
I have involved the police using the non-emergency number. The first time they were caught red-handed. They also refused to let the police enter their flat on the basis of them having 'lost their key'. Read into that what you like. The second time is as I write this. I'm aware they're limited in what they can do (my partner is a PC so I've heard it all before
) but I figure I may as well make their lives difficult for the remainder of their stay, seeing as they have absolutely no respect for my quality of life.
So to summarise, and also drawing on what others have said - noisy neighbours, nip it in the bud quickly or risk it dragging on for months. If I ever have the pleasure of experiencing this type of situation again, it will be two polite words maximum before it gets official.
w
kers.
One of the young men moved out after a loud fight. Unfortunately, this left behind the lad who I suspected to be the problem in the first place. He was then joined by his brother.
The noise problem was still there, but was sporadic. However it slowly became more frequent.
My mistake (I feel) has been giving them way too much leeway by speaking to them in person so many times before going to the letting agent. I finally relented and rang them, giving a full account of the issues, and they advised me the next day that due to my complaint and some other problems (which they didn't go into) the tenants would be served their notice.
I hoped that due to the antisocial nature of their behaviour, the notice period would be 7 days. This is now day 7 and they're still there so no luck, I guess I'm looking at a month.
I have involved the police using the non-emergency number. The first time they were caught red-handed. They also refused to let the police enter their flat on the basis of them having 'lost their key'. Read into that what you like. The second time is as I write this. I'm aware they're limited in what they can do (my partner is a PC so I've heard it all before
) but I figure I may as well make their lives difficult for the remainder of their stay, seeing as they have absolutely no respect for my quality of life.So to summarise, and also drawing on what others have said - noisy neighbours, nip it in the bud quickly or risk it dragging on for months. If I ever have the pleasure of experiencing this type of situation again, it will be two polite words maximum before it gets official.
w
kers.Edited by V8Matthew on Monday 16th March 20:47
shandyboy said:
I have a bit of experience on this which hopefully might be useful...
My partner's mum lives alone in a row of houses, the elderly neighbour died and left her house to her cleaner. Nice thing to do, but the cleaner is a bit... rough... had her kids taken into care, has two big dogs, string of boyfriends, etc etc. Lots of late night parties, dogs barking at all hours, partner's mum took it for so long then tried to talk to her about it - not much changed except the thuggy teenage sons started openly laughing at her whenever they passed on the street. Nice.
So she involved the council - they offered to give her an audio monitoring device which she initially refused which was a mistake as it could have greatly sped things up, but I think she didn't really want to go down the official route at first. Anyway, eventually the parties / dogs got so bad the council gave her an out of hours number to ring so they could come and witness it and said if it was later than that then she should ring 101 non-emergency number. The police came out late one night and actually heard the music from their car as they pulled up to the house! They first talked to my mother-in-law and the music mysteriously stopped, then went round to speak to the neighbour, who took an age to answer and then said "oh, sorry officer I was asleep"! They gave details to the council who used this as proof of the noise abuse and gave the Order which if she breaks will land her in court.
Similarly, a week later she received another for the dogs. So to get actual results, the council / official way is the way to go if talking to them does not resolve it completely. Unfortunately it will sour neighbourly relations somewhat!
We also have an apartment above a basement apartment in a nice development which we rent to a tenant. She complained that the apartment below was having several parties a week late at night which was affecting her sleep and her getting up for work in the morning. I asked her to keep a record of the disturbances and to mention it to the other apartment if she felt able to. I contacted the management company - several times in the end. The tenant didn't really keep great records so I couldn't involve the council, and the management company said they had written to the apartment making the noise but as they owned the apartment that was about all they could do. I brought to their attention the deeds and covenants of the apartments which states that no noise was allowed that would be audible to other apartments between 11pm-7am but the management company said it was "very difficult and costly to enforce" and basically held their hands up. In the end my tenant has resorted to banging on the floor when they make too much noise which seems to have helped!
tl;dr Keep meticulous records and involve the council.
Solid advice. I wish I had made it official sooner to be honest. According to the letting agency they're there for another month or so, however they did say they were looking to reduce it. The police rang me today as a follow up and mentioned they would be notifying the letting agent that they had been involved, whether this helps push things along I don't know but any road hopefully the situation will be resolved by May at the latest.My partner's mum lives alone in a row of houses, the elderly neighbour died and left her house to her cleaner. Nice thing to do, but the cleaner is a bit... rough... had her kids taken into care, has two big dogs, string of boyfriends, etc etc. Lots of late night parties, dogs barking at all hours, partner's mum took it for so long then tried to talk to her about it - not much changed except the thuggy teenage sons started openly laughing at her whenever they passed on the street. Nice.
So she involved the council - they offered to give her an audio monitoring device which she initially refused which was a mistake as it could have greatly sped things up, but I think she didn't really want to go down the official route at first. Anyway, eventually the parties / dogs got so bad the council gave her an out of hours number to ring so they could come and witness it and said if it was later than that then she should ring 101 non-emergency number. The police came out late one night and actually heard the music from their car as they pulled up to the house! They first talked to my mother-in-law and the music mysteriously stopped, then went round to speak to the neighbour, who took an age to answer and then said "oh, sorry officer I was asleep"! They gave details to the council who used this as proof of the noise abuse and gave the Order which if she breaks will land her in court.
Similarly, a week later she received another for the dogs. So to get actual results, the council / official way is the way to go if talking to them does not resolve it completely. Unfortunately it will sour neighbourly relations somewhat!
We also have an apartment above a basement apartment in a nice development which we rent to a tenant. She complained that the apartment below was having several parties a week late at night which was affecting her sleep and her getting up for work in the morning. I asked her to keep a record of the disturbances and to mention it to the other apartment if she felt able to. I contacted the management company - several times in the end. The tenant didn't really keep great records so I couldn't involve the council, and the management company said they had written to the apartment making the noise but as they owned the apartment that was about all they could do. I brought to their attention the deeds and covenants of the apartments which states that no noise was allowed that would be audible to other apartments between 11pm-7am but the management company said it was "very difficult and costly to enforce" and basically held their hands up. In the end my tenant has resorted to banging on the floor when they make too much noise which seems to have helped!
tl;dr Keep meticulous records and involve the council.
Sorry to hear about your problems. It's a shame you had to move out because of their behaviour, ultimately though if you're happy in your new place that's what matters.
I intend to sell in a couple of years or so anyway, or perhaps rent the property out, if I do go down the rental route I may do some soundproofing works - although the neighbours do play their music VERY loud the soundproofing is admittedly very poor.
I intend to sell in a couple of years or so anyway, or perhaps rent the property out, if I do go down the rental route I may do some soundproofing works - although the neighbours do play their music VERY loud the soundproofing is admittedly very poor.
It's highly tempting to flick the isolator switch for their flat and cut through the meter tails, but that would be criminal damage and it would result in me being bent over by the electricity company - I can still fantasise though.
Thanks to all that have given their advice and experiences.
Thanks to all that have given their advice and experiences.
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