How I Dealt With My Problem Neighbours: A Case Study

You don’t expect that when you move into your dream house, you will end up living next to somebody that makes your life a complete misery. That’s what happened to a couple from the South of England who moved into a new build in 2007 and found that their idea about starting a new life and settling down were ruined by inconsiderate neighbours.

“It was fine at first. We moved in on a Friday and didn’t see anybody for a few days. We didn’t hear anything from our new neighbours but that’s not really unusual, we just got on with moving in and assumed we’d bump into them and say hello around the place at some point.

“The first signs of trouble came with some loud music a few weeks after we’d moved in. We thought that they were having a party as the noise was so bad, but decided that we would write it off because we didn’t want to cause any trouble. If it was a one-off it hardly seemed worth making a fuss. “Then it happened again a few days later, along with some loud arguments and banging and crashing. We think that one of them moved out at that point, and that was when the problems really got bad. From that point we were listening to loud music until three or four in the morning most days, and we were constantly ratty and exhausted.

Taking the Appropriate Action

“Eventually we plucked up the courage to speak to the neighbour. He was a youngish man but old enough to know better, and he wasn’t best pleased that we were complaining. I tried to be pleasant and make a joke of it, hoping that maybe he didn’t realise that he was causing so much trouble, and he appeared to take us seriously but then within a few hours the noise was just as bad.

“After another week of incessant noise from the neighbour, we just couldn’t take it anymore. I wrote him a letter to say that we’d been tolerant, but that we were losing sleep and had to resolve this problem before it escalated into something legal. We mentioned that we would have to get in touch with the local Environmental Health Officer at the council if he didn’t turn his music down and restrict it to a reasonable time.

“We’d been to the local library and realised that we had certain rights under the Noise Act 1996, so we quoted that in the letter, explaining that the EHO had a legal obligation to deal with complaints about excessive noise, and that we were considering asking them if they would serve a noise abatement notice – which could lead to a fine if he carried on – or even the seizing of his stereo equipment.

“We added that we didn’t want to have to take this action, but that if he carried on with this level of noise we could see no alternative, as our sleep was suffering and his noise was affecting our quality of life.

“The letter seemed to do the trick! I can’t say that we are on friendly terms, but he has stopped the noise and playing the music every night now, and although it gets put back on occasionally, we can live with that. We didn’t want to have to involve anyone else, so I’m glad that we knew our legal rights about noise levels and were able to write the letter instead of things getting even worse. And we’re getting some sleep again now!”