Mercedes55 Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 My son and DIL are having major problems with noisy neighbours. They live in one of those little 2 up 2 down Victorian houses where there is no separate hallway, so basically you have your living room and bedrooms right up against both neighbours. About a year ago some new neighbours moved in one side. Up till then they had never had any problems with noise and still don't from the neighbours on the other side. However these new neighbours are just so noisy all the time that my son has phoned me this morning and he sounded really down and upset about it, which obviously makes me feel upset. The neighbours are not English, which doesn't help as they seem to talk very loudly in their native tongue and sit up late at night Skyping their relatives and stomping up and down the stairs talking at the top of their voices. Despite my son letting them know they are waking them up at all hours and also putting notes through the door, nothing has changed. He has spent a lot of money buying special stuff to line all the walls on that side of the house, but it's made no difference. He can't put up anything with much depth on the wall as all their doors are on that side, so there is no space to put something like a false wall up. I have suggested they just cut their losses and move, but they bought the house through the Notting HIll Housing Trust, which means the Trust owns 25% of the house and if they sell they have to pay back that 25%, which at the moment would be about £50,000 I'm not sure what else I can suggest to him. I did wonder about phoning the local Council, but not sure there is anything they would be able to enforce as I would imagine they would have to be playing loud music all night long before they would intervene. I just feel so bad for my poor son Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkshire Pudding Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 Poor son, that must be a terrible situation. He has the right to enjoy his home in peace! I would contact both the Housing Association (who may also have a stake in the neighbouring property) and the council environmental health department. Also keep detailed records of the type of noise, the time etc. and of when he has spoken to them or left notes through the door. If the neighbouring property is rented then contacting the landlord or letting agent may be helpful. I know others on the forum have had similar problems and I am sure someone will soon be along who has more ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mercedes55 Posted October 25, 2011 Author Share Posted October 25, 2011 I did phone the local Council this morning, but they admitted there was little they could do. The neighbouring property is privately owned, as is my son's, it's just the the Notting Hill Housing Trust had some kind of joint scheme years ago with our local Council to help first time buyers onto the property ladder. My OH has suggested we remortgage our own house to free up £50,000 so that they can move, but quite honestly I would be worried about doing that as OH is nearly 60 and not sure how we are going to manage ourselves once he retires Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chickendoodle Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 I have heard that there is some sort of mediation service that you can use when there is a problem with neighbours. Don't know how you access it though - maybe through the CAB? If the neighbours are not English then maybe they don't understand the notes and a third party sitting down and talking to them might help them to really understand the effect they are having. If they are from an inherently noisy culture I daresay they don't see that there is a problem. Is there someone on the other side of these neighbours? A joint effort might have more effect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowy Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 Complain again to Environmental Health - there is something they can do, but they will fob you off initially. Keep complaining and thay have to take it seriously. They will contact the neighbours and ask them to tone it down and ask your son to feedback if there have been any changes. If not, then they will monitor things more carefully. If you don't contact them again, they will assume it can't have been too bad in the first place! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicken shack Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 My son and DIL are having major problems with noisy neighbours. They live in one of those little 2 up 2 down Victorian houses where there is no separate hallway, so basically you have your living room and bedrooms right up against both neighbours. About a year ago some new neighbours moved in one side. Up till then they had never had any problems with noise and still don't from the neighbours on the other side. However these new neighbours are just so noisy all the time that my son has phoned me this morning and he sounded really down and upset about it, which obviously makes me feel upset. The neighbours are not English, which doesn't help as they seem to talk very loudly in their native tongue and sit up late at night Skyping their relatives and stomping up and down the stairs talking at the top of their voices. Despite my son letting them know they are waking them up at all hours and also putting notes through the door, nothing has changed. He has spent a lot of money buying special stuff to line all the walls on that side of the house, but it's made no difference. He can't put up anything with much depth on the wall as all their doors are on that side, so there is no space to put something like a false wall up. I have suggested they just cut their losses and move, but they bought the house through the Notting HIll Housing Trust, which means the Trust owns 25% of the house and if they sell they have to pay back that 25%, which at the moment would be about £50,000 I'm not sure what else I can suggest to him. I did wonder about phoning the local Council, but not sure there is anything they would be able to enforce as I would imagine they would have to be playing loud music all night long before they would intervene. I just feel so bad for my poor son If the property is rented the landlord has a duty to ensure tenents behave. We had tenents once who paid their rent on time but caused no end of trouble for the neighbours and we were forced to evict. Go directly to the landlord or letting agent, complain every day, keep a log and write to your MP. It takes about 6 months maybe a bit more depending on the attitude of the landlord but keep the preasure up. One set of neighbours had to move out for a while as there was no let up and we had to go through the correct channels. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mercedes55 Posted October 25, 2011 Author Share Posted October 25, 2011 I have heard that there is some sort of mediation service that you can use when there is a problem with neighbours. Don't know how you access it though - maybe through the CAB?If the neighbours are not English then maybe they don't understand the notes and a third party sitting down and talking to them might help them to really understand the effect they are having. If they are from an inherently noisy culture I daresay they don't see that there is a problem. Is there someone on the other side of these neighbours? A joint effort might have more effect. Although the neighbours are of an ethnic persuasion, I have briefly spoken to them when they came out of their house one day and they seemed quite normal to me. I believe the husband is a solicitor so he must be aware of the laws here and I know everytime my son has complained he has said 'sorry' but just carried on as before. I think the main problem is exactly what you say that they are from an inherently noisy culture and they talk in that high pitched kind of frenetic way which would drive me nuts too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willow Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 I'm afraid moving isn't necessarily the answer as he'd need to put down info about any problems with the neighbours and noise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicken shack Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 I'm afraid moving isn't necessarily the answer as he'd need to put down info about any problems with the neighbours and noise. Only if he has officially complained Ranting to family and freinds is another matter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WitchHazel Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 Living with noisy neighbours is hell, and it's impossible to fully apprecioate just how it dominates your life unless you have experienced it. Contact your Council's Environment Protection team, these deal with domestic noise arising from private properties. They will be able to give your son advice, and also a pack for logging noise problems. However, once you have started down this route, if your son decides to move house he will have to declare that he has had a problem with noisy neighbours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mercedes55 Posted October 26, 2011 Author Share Posted October 26, 2011 Well I'm glad that someone has mentioned about the possible repercussions of involving the Council, think I will tell my son to keep it all under his hat as we had forgotten about having to disclose things like that if you sell. Having spent some hours working out their income it seems however that they can't afford to move unless they take out an interest only mortgage over a really long term and not really sure that is a good idea. Last night he did actually approach the neighbours in person after I said to him it would be best to try and sit down and talk the whole problem through. He said they were quite defensive and when he suggested that they perhaps put some carpet on the stairs, as this is one of the major sources of the noise, they said no on the grounds that they are planning to move. Made no sense to me as they only moved into the house earlier this year, so I think they are just making that up. My son even offered to pay half of the cost of carpeting the stairs but they are saying he will have to pay for all of it, which I think is a bit mean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alis girls Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 Well I think hes very generous. i do feel for him - we used to live in an East London council flat and the neighbours above had industrial sewing machines going all night.OH went up and hollered thro the letterbox - they kept the noise down after that as if we had reported them to the council they would have been chucked out. I hope he gets it sorted - lets hope they move Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Looney Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 I feel for your son. We've had our share of noisy neighbours and it really is hell. A year or so ago my parents got new neighbours and have had to listen to three dogs barking for hours on end ever since. Every time the owners are out the dogs start to bark. Of course, the owners never hear it! My parents complained and the owners said "What do you expect us to do about it?!". Erm, well, let me think! Try and stop them barking when you're not around? It has got slightly better but only really because one of the dogs died (of natural causes, my dad hasn't actually carried out any of his grumbled threats!). They don't want to officially complain in case they decide to sell in the next year or so and have to write down there is a dispute with the neighbour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
