Neighbours love to complain
Discussion
As the title suggests, we have a couple of project cars in the back yard. We've had many over the 8 years we've been here, and never once heard anything. A few months ago however, the council came to investigate our property because they'd had a report that we were breaking and selling parts without declaring it. We explained that they'd completely wasted their time, and off they went.
Today, we recieved a noise complaint (no investigation was done). Stop, or pay £5,000. We had become a nuisance making excessive noise whilst repairing cars, apparently. Fine, no problem. What bothers me, however, is if this is the same person, how come the noise never bothered them half a year ago? It seems almost like harrassment, somebody bored and looking to complain.
Any noise made is from 1200-1800, and includes a whole plethora of hammering, angle grinding, drilling etc.
I'm writing this to seek advice, is there anyway I can get the original complaints to see their justification? Is there anyway I can tie the two together and, actually prove they are just looking to be a nuissance?
I understand that we could definitely be in the wrong, but we are very respectful, and other than the occasional noise in the afternoon, you never hear anything else from us.
Today, we recieved a noise complaint (no investigation was done). Stop, or pay £5,000. We had become a nuisance making excessive noise whilst repairing cars, apparently. Fine, no problem. What bothers me, however, is if this is the same person, how come the noise never bothered them half a year ago? It seems almost like harrassment, somebody bored and looking to complain.
Any noise made is from 1200-1800, and includes a whole plethora of hammering, angle grinding, drilling etc.
I'm writing this to seek advice, is there anyway I can get the original complaints to see their justification? Is there anyway I can tie the two together and, actually prove they are just looking to be a nuissance?
I understand that we could definitely be in the wrong, but we are very respectful, and other than the occasional noise in the afternoon, you never hear anything else from us.
It's going to depend on how often you are actually doing this, if it's every day then you're probably going to struggle to justify it. If it's once every weekend or so then that's very different and you have every right to perform maintenance on your cars.
I live in a bit of a car commune so people working on their cars is a normal occurrence, from next door balancing the carbs on their Healey to the guys over the road building classic Miglia Minis a bit of grinding/welding/hammering noise is par for the course but no one is doing it every day and whilst there might be the odd car on a jack overnight that's visible to the rest of the road everybody does go out of there way to make sure the area is as neat and tidy as its going to get.
As always it's down to peoples perception of things, if it looks like your breaking cars for parts then your neighbours are going to get annoyed about it. If, however, it looks like your fitting the odd set of coilovers to one of your cars and servicing it a few times a year then no one is going to mind unless they are a total bellend..... and there's always one
I live in a bit of a car commune so people working on their cars is a normal occurrence, from next door balancing the carbs on their Healey to the guys over the road building classic Miglia Minis a bit of grinding/welding/hammering noise is par for the course but no one is doing it every day and whilst there might be the odd car on a jack overnight that's visible to the rest of the road everybody does go out of there way to make sure the area is as neat and tidy as its going to get.
As always it's down to peoples perception of things, if it looks like your breaking cars for parts then your neighbours are going to get annoyed about it. If, however, it looks like your fitting the odd set of coilovers to one of your cars and servicing it a few times a year then no one is going to mind unless they are a total bellend..... and there's always one
It's definitely not performing maintanance, almost finished a bike engined Reliant!
I would love to speak to these neighbours, but they haven't revealed themselves, another thing that makes this slightly more frustrating.
I feel it's time to fight fire with fire. I don't care what others are doing, I don't complain even if there's something to complain about, life is too short. But, I am furloughed...
I would love to speak to these neighbours, but they haven't revealed themselves, another thing that makes this slightly more frustrating.
I feel it's time to fight fire with fire. I don't care what others are doing, I don't complain even if there's something to complain about, life is too short. But, I am furloughed...
Angle grinders, drilling and hammering for six hours a day? I'm afraid I'd be siding with whoever's complaining I'm afraid, it's a bit diffierent to a mower or strimmer going every now and then. However, were it me I think I'd have knocked on your door for a friendly chat about the noise first (and I do mean genuinely friendly chat rather than anything threatening).
Antony Moxey said:
Angle grinders, drilling and hammering for six hours a day? I'm afraid I'd be siding with whoever's complaining I'm afraid, it's a bit diffierent to a mower or strimmer going every now and then. However, were it me I think I'd have knocked on your door for a friendly chat about the noise first (and I do mean genuinely friendly chat rather than anything threatening).
This. I don't think that's an acceptable level of noise when you have neighbours in close quarters, but I'd have approached it differently.C70R said:
Antony Moxey said:
Angle grinders, drilling and hammering for six hours a day? I'm afraid I'd be siding with whoever's complaining I'm afraid, it's a bit diffierent to a mower or strimmer going every now and then. However, were it me I think I'd have knocked on your door for a friendly chat about the noise first (and I do mean genuinely friendly chat rather than anything threatening).
This. I don't think that's an acceptable level of noise when you have neighbours in close quarters, but I'd have approached it differently.Edited by A Winner Is You on Wednesday 20th May 13:45
Jakg said:
he OP didn't say 6 hours a day - they said they can't make that noise on any day between those times.
Not how I read it..HGFdodger said:
As the title suggests, we have a couple of project cars in the back yard. We've had many over the 8 years we've been here, and never once heard anything. A few months ago however, the council came to investigate our property because they'd had a report that we were breaking and selling parts without declaring it. We explained that they'd completely wasted their time, and off they went.
Today, we recieved a noise complaint (no investigation was done). Stop, or pay £5,000. We had become a nuisance making excessive noise whilst repairing cars, apparently. Fine, no problem. What bothers me, however, is if this is the same person, how come the noise never bothered them half a year ago? It seems almost like harrassment, somebody bored and looking to complain.
Any noise made is from 1200-1800, and includes a whole plethora of hammering, angle grinding, drilling etc.
I'm writing this to seek advice, is there anyway I can get the original complaints to see their justification? Is there anyway I can tie the two together and, actually prove they are just looking to be a nuissance?
I understand that we could definitely be in the wrong, but we are very respectful, and other than the occasional noise in the afternoon, you never hear anything else from us.
Today, we recieved a noise complaint (no investigation was done). Stop, or pay £5,000. We had become a nuisance making excessive noise whilst repairing cars, apparently. Fine, no problem. What bothers me, however, is if this is the same person, how come the noise never bothered them half a year ago? It seems almost like harrassment, somebody bored and looking to complain.
Any noise made is from 1200-1800, and includes a whole plethora of hammering, angle grinding, drilling etc.
I'm writing this to seek advice, is there anyway I can get the original complaints to see their justification? Is there anyway I can tie the two together and, actually prove they are just looking to be a nuissance?
I understand that we could definitely be in the wrong, but we are very respectful, and other than the occasional noise in the afternoon, you never hear anything else from us.
A Winner Is You said:
C70R said:
Antony Moxey said:
Angle grinders, drilling and hammering for six hours a day? I'm afraid I'd be siding with whoever's complaining I'm afraid, it's a bit diffierent to a mower or strimmer going every now and then. However, were it me I think I'd have knocked on your door for a friendly chat about the noise first (and I do mean genuinely friendly chat rather than anything threatening).
This. I don't think that's an acceptable level of noise when you have neighbours in close quarters, but I'd have approached it differently.Edited by A Winner Is You on Wednesday 20th May 13:45
One of them shouted over the fence yesterday to ask if I minded whether he did 20min of sawing and hammering.
Contrast that with up to 6 hours of almost industrial noise...
HGFdodger said:
As the title suggests, we have a couple of project cars in the back yard. We've had many over the 8 years we've been here, and never once heard anything. A few months ago however, the council came to investigate our property because they'd had a report that we were breaking and selling parts without declaring it. We explained that they'd completely wasted their time, and off they went.
Today, we recieved a noise complaint (no investigation was done). Stop, or pay £5,000. We had become a nuisance making excessive noise whilst repairing cars, apparently. Fine, no problem. What bothers me, however, is if this is the same person, how come the noise never bothered them half a year ago? It seems almost like harrassment, somebody bored and looking to complain.
Any noise made is from 1200-1800, and includes a whole plethora of hammering, angle grinding, drilling etc.
I'm writing this to seek advice, is there anyway I can get the original complaints to see their justification? Is there anyway I can tie the two together and, actually prove they are just looking to be a nuissance?
I understand that we could definitely be in the wrong, but we are very respectful, and other than the occasional noise in the afternoon, you never hear anything else from us.
Is the letter definitely genuine? I ask because councils/LAs etc usually have to go through a plethora of checks including installing a sound meter and also usually send you a letter giving you a heads up that it is investigating you. I would contact the council and ask what their procedure for noise complaints is and ensure it has been followed.Today, we recieved a noise complaint (no investigation was done). Stop, or pay £5,000. We had become a nuisance making excessive noise whilst repairing cars, apparently. Fine, no problem. What bothers me, however, is if this is the same person, how come the noise never bothered them half a year ago? It seems almost like harrassment, somebody bored and looking to complain.
Any noise made is from 1200-1800, and includes a whole plethora of hammering, angle grinding, drilling etc.
I'm writing this to seek advice, is there anyway I can get the original complaints to see their justification? Is there anyway I can tie the two together and, actually prove they are just looking to be a nuissance?
I understand that we could definitely be in the wrong, but we are very respectful, and other than the occasional noise in the afternoon, you never hear anything else from us.
All of this of course is providing we have the whole story and also that you aren't out there 12 hours a day 7 days a week with a hammer and angle grinder. When doing loud bits on the car I give the neighbors a heads up and tell them to knock if they need me to desist.
Alucidnation said:
Jakg said:
he OP didn't say 6 hours a day - they said they can't make that noise on any day between those times.
Not how I read it..HGFdodger said:
As the title suggests, we have a couple of project cars in the back yard. We've had many over the 8 years we've been here, and never once heard anything. A few months ago however, the council came to investigate our property because they'd had a report that we were breaking and selling parts without declaring it. We explained that they'd completely wasted their time, and off they went.
Today, we recieved a noise complaint (no investigation was done). Stop, or pay £5,000. We had become a nuisance making excessive noise whilst repairing cars, apparently. Fine, no problem. What bothers me, however, is if this is the same person, how come the noise never bothered them half a year ago? It seems almost like harrassment, somebody bored and looking to complain.
Any noise made is from 1200-1800, and includes a whole plethora of hammering, angle grinding, drilling etc.
I'm writing this to seek advice, is there anyway I can get the original complaints to see their justification? Is there anyway I can tie the two together and, actually prove they are just looking to be a nuissance?
I understand that we could definitely be in the wrong, but we are very respectful, and other than the occasional noise in the afternoon, you never hear anything else from us.
Today, we recieved a noise complaint (no investigation was done). Stop, or pay £5,000. We had become a nuisance making excessive noise whilst repairing cars, apparently. Fine, no problem. What bothers me, however, is if this is the same person, how come the noise never bothered them half a year ago? It seems almost like harrassment, somebody bored and looking to complain.
Any noise made is from 1200-1800, and includes a whole plethora of hammering, angle grinding, drilling etc.
I'm writing this to seek advice, is there anyway I can get the original complaints to see their justification? Is there anyway I can tie the two together and, actually prove they are just looking to be a nuissance?
I understand that we could definitely be in the wrong, but we are very respectful, and other than the occasional noise in the afternoon, you never hear anything else from us.
HGFdodger said:
It's definitely not performing maintanance, almost finished a bike engined Reliant!
I would love to speak to these neighbours, but they haven't revealed themselves, another thing that makes this slightly more frustrating.
I feel it's time to fight fire with fire. I don't care what others are doing, I don't complain even if there's something to complain about, life is too short. But, I am furloughed...
Mention it in passing to a few neighbours - it will be obvious body language, face giving the game away or more likely they will dob in who normally does this sort of thing in your 'hood.I would love to speak to these neighbours, but they haven't revealed themselves, another thing that makes this slightly more frustrating.
I feel it's time to fight fire with fire. I don't care what others are doing, I don't complain even if there's something to complain about, life is too short. But, I am furloughed...
My money would be on someone who's a local councillor or employed by the council lol
HGFdodger said:
It seems almost like harrassment, somebody bored and looking to complain.
Any noise made is from 1200-1800, and includes a whole plethora of hammering, angle grinding, drilling etc.
I understand that we could definitely be in the wrong, but we are very respectful, and other than the occasional noise in the afternoon, you never hear anything else from us.
OP you need to clarify - one the one hand you say you are creating a whole orchestra of noise etc at any time from 12-6pm for any duration and then say its occasional?Any noise made is from 1200-1800, and includes a whole plethora of hammering, angle grinding, drilling etc.
I understand that we could definitely be in the wrong, but we are very respectful, and other than the occasional noise in the afternoon, you never hear anything else from us.
HGFdodger said:
I'm writing this to seek advice, is there anyway I can get the original complaints to see their justification? Is there anyway I can tie the two together and, actually prove they are just looking to be a nuissance?
Make a FOI request.https://www.gov.uk/make-a-freedom-of-information-r...
NMNeil said:
Make a FOI request.
https://www.gov.uk/make-a-freedom-of-information-r...
Really? That's not quite how it works over here.https://www.gov.uk/make-a-freedom-of-information-r...
Contact the council Environmental dept to check the letter is genuine.
For a noise complaint the procedure does not get to the desist or big fine until several steps have been covered. This would involve the complainant keeping a log of dates and times and noise level checks being done with sound meters.
Is the letter on headed paper?
Who’s name and signature is on it?
Is the letter franked or have a stamp?
What else is in the letter besides the desist or big fine wording?
For a noise complaint the procedure does not get to the desist or big fine until several steps have been covered. This would involve the complainant keeping a log of dates and times and noise level checks being done with sound meters.
Is the letter on headed paper?
Who’s name and signature is on it?
Is the letter franked or have a stamp?
What else is in the letter besides the desist or big fine wording?
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