I live in a rented townhouse. My neighbour has a habit of slamming her door several times a day and it has actually knocked a shelf from my wall. I've asked her not to and her reason for doing it is that she has a problem with the door locking because of weatherstripping.
On two occasions she has screamed obscenities at a neighbour and someone doing roofing at 8am, which was followed by her door being slammed 5 times in anger.
My nerves are frayed as you never know when to expect it. I've also had the landlords send her a complaint letter but still it continues.
(Miss J M, 17 September 2008)
A.
So far, you have taken exactly the right steps to try to resolve this issue. You’ve asked your neighbour not to slam the door and, when the behaviour has persisted, you’ve also asked your landlord to intervene without any success.
Your local authority has the powers to take action against any problems related to Noisy Neighbours. However, this will usually be related to issues which persist continually over a sustained period of time, such as problems with loud music, Dogs That Bark Constantly and people using loud power tools at unreasonable hours in the likes of workshops, garages and garden sheds. This is because these activities can be monitored and recorded.
The problem here would seem to be ‘catching her in the act’ because as you said, “you never know when to expect it”. The chances are that an environmental health officer from your local authority’s noise nuisance team would be unlikely to come out to investigate the matter as it would be virtually impossible to predict when these outbursts might occur. It would certainly be worth giving them a call, however, to explain the situation.
Meanwhile, it is probably worth trying to have another polite chat with her. Given that she’s also been involved in screaming obscenities at a neighbour, it would appear that she might not be all that approachable, but this is no excuse. Try to catch her on a ‘good day’ and politely explain to her about the way her behaviour has affected your nerves and about the shelf falling down. Quite often when a person is angry or upset, they have no concept of the effects of any outbursts on others, so speaking to her may just prick her conscience.
Alternatively, it wouldn’t harm you to have another word with the landlords. A complaint letter can easily be disregarded unless it’s backed up with threats of eviction, so perhaps suggesting to the landlords that they go and speak with your neighbour will have the desired effect. As far as the slamming door goes, perhaps you could suggest to your neighbour that they ask the landlord to come out and arrange for it to be repaired or replaced.
If the problem still persists, the more evidence you can gather the better. You mentioned the fact that another neighbour was on the receiving end of verbal abuse. This could Constitute Harassment and, once again, this would not be tolerated by your local authority. Therefore, the more people who will back up your claims that your next door neighbour is causing a nuisance, the more likely it will be that your local environmental health officer will come out to investigate matters.
I'm absolutely at my wits end with the noise from my neighbours.They are renting and moved in June 2011, from day one the noise has been intolerable.Being woken up every day 7am or even earlier, every evening from teatime or whenever they are home, doors banging, shouting, swearing, screaming at the children, banging and dragging furniture around, i'm sleeping in the spare room and have been since mid August.They are not the type of people that are approachable at all, so did not want to knock the door in case i had a hurl or abuse thrown at me.So back in July i tried to contact the owner/landlord of the house without any success.I then tried again about a month later but it was suggested that i contacted the council for the best result. So i contacted them and they sent a letter out to my neighbour, which made no difference at all, so contacted council again, they suggested i kept a log, which i did for a whole month.They then wrote back saying i had been allocated a case officer and that i should contact him every time there was noise nuisance, this i did daily.In the end they installed noise monitoring equipment, which was left in my house for a week.I then waited a further 2 weeks for the results, and the council wrote a letter saying it didnt reach a statutory noise abatement notice.So i rang and spoke to them and asked if i could come to his office and see him.My son and went along to the local council and he apologies that i had received a bog standard letter.He agreed that they were extremely noisy and mine was a case of Groundhog Day as i suffered the noise every day, day in day out. but there was another option open to me, which was the Assistance Service, which he said he would refer me to, it wasnt the Mediation Service, the Assistance Service was different in that he would fill them in on the background of my case then they would just pay the neighbours a visit and put my case across.He also told me that there would be no contact from the AS to the neighbour re a letter being sent and that they would just turn up on their doorstep.I was absolutely elated at this news and felt there was some kind of hope on the horizon.
Just after a week of visiting the council a letter arrived from the 'Mediation Service' asking me to contact them so an appointment could be made for a mediator to visit, i was a bit bemused as it was not from the Assistance Service as i was led to believe it would be.The Mediation service told me that i would not be referred to the AS as i was not a council tenant, and also on the referral letter that she was given by the council stated that it was ok for my neighbour to be contacted. My neighbour rang the mediation service and said that she would not be prepared to go to mediation.
So the lady at the mediation service said that she would speak to the council and find out why i had been referred to them instead of the AS.
Today I spoke to the lady at the mediation service and she sai
treacle - 22 November 2011 @ 6:43 PM
Our neighbour teaches the flute.Her lessons start approximately 5pm and finish approx 8pm Monday to Friday. She also plays in an orchestra so she practices both during the day and both Saturdays and Sundays for at least an hour.The nuisance noise has got so bad that I politely tried to have a word a few weeks ago but to no avail.I even suggested her husband came into my house whilst she was teaching so that he could hear how loud the noise was.I knew they had bare floorboards in the lounge where she teaches and therefore there is very little soundproofing.She will neither look at soundproofing or contemplate putting down a carpet to stop some of the noise, in fact she's rather pleased with the "accoustics" in her lounge now.My partner and I have tried really hard not to say anything so as not to cause any unpleasantness but our nerves are frayed and it's actually causing arguements between us now.I just cannot stand it any longer.Our neighbour recently went on holiday for 2 weeks, it was bliss but within 24 hours of being back (and this was a Sunday) she was practicing.
Do you think we have a good chance of getting the local Coucil to serve an noise abatement order?I really don't want to go through the trauma if we were to fail.Our relationship is now non existent not that we had much of one before but at least we'd pass pleasntries but I don't think I could cope if things were to get nasty.Is it better to just put up and shut up?Any help, advice would be very much appreciated
Motormouse - 4 November 2011 @ 4:01 PM
We have noisy neighbours who play there music extremely loud through out the night. (Between 11pm -4 pm) Most of the time its the same song on repeat. It's so loud, that every word spoken in the sound, comes across so clear. The sound is so irritating and stressful that it effects my work life and personal life. The trouble is, we do have a previous dispute with the neighbours that went to court. It was an unrelated work matter-due to unpaid bills. The situation got very messy, were the neighbours got very petty and personal. As a result, I do not dare put a note through the door asking them to be more considerate about the noise. Firstly, if they see us do it they will claim that we are trespassing,(as I mentioned before, they are extremely petty) however if we want to keep it anonymous, (which I don't) we can't as they live in an end of terrace, and will no it was us.Please can you advise?
