I'm so tired that the word 'tired' doesn't look right

seun · May 30, 2013

Remember the problem I had with noisy neighbours a few months ago? Well, guess what? New neighbours, same fucking problem.

Last night, I got home at 5. The noise of shouting, singing, banging and drunken arguing went on way after 1am. I called the police several times when the noise turned into verbal fighting; they eventually turned up after 11pm and...well, let's just say there's a difference between what I saw and what the officer told me he did. Unless he really was able to go into the house and speak to them in the twenty seconds between pulling up, knocking once on the door and leaving. In any case, it had no effect. I called them back at 1230am to be told someone might come out again, and we finally went to bed gone one while wearing earplugs.

This morning, I've spoken to the letting agency, emailed the CAB and left three messages for the noise mediation people to call me back. We really can't go on like this. If nobody tells me anything concrete is happening by later this afternoon, I'm going to Anti Social Behaviour people at the Council. And them I'm going to puke since I can barely see through exhaustion.

mirandashell · May 30, 2013

Ah shit, mate. Not again. Is it a different set of people this time?

My advice? If you can, move the fuck out.

JustKia · May 30, 2013

Sorry you had to experience that.
Unfortunately, when we had a problem with noisy neighbours and I called the police I was told that they don't/won't/can't attend if they are simply being noisy, but that it is different if it sounds as if violence is taking place (difference between a party going on late or someone getting a beating).
That my only option was to make a note of the time/date of the noise disturbance and report it to some council department (I forget which now -- I've an inkling it was environmental health) but that as it was a Friday evening and the following Monday was a Bank Holiday I wouldn't be able to reach anyone until Tuesday morning at which point the said someone would decide if another someone needed to come out and check the noise level...

The "party" went on well into the small hours -- around 4am. I didn't bother calling the council on Tuesday as there wasn't any noise for "someone" to come and check anyway.

seun · May 30, 2013

mirandashell said:
Ah shit, mate. Not again. Is it a different set of people this time?

My advice? If you can, move the fuck out.

We'd move in a second if we could and not just because of the new neighbours (or the old ones for that matter). The whole area has become a shithole in the last two years. Sadly, our house is worth about £20K less than we have to sell for so estate agents won't touch it. We bought at exactly the wrong time to have any chance of selling now. All we can do is come into a lot of cash or look into the Government's Newbuy scheme in January where they pay the deposit - if we can sell at a price to at least break even.

seun · May 30, 2013

JustKia said:
Sorry you had to experience that.
Unfortunately, when we had a problem with noisy neighbours and I called the police I was told that they don't/won't/can't attend if they are simply being noisy, but that it is different if it sounds as if violence is taking place (difference between a party going on late or someone getting a beating).

Pretty much what the copper said when he called me back and I queried his magic powers of being in two places at once. So even though it sounded like a fight was breaking out, they weren't fussed because it wasn't in the street.

We had dealings with the Council last year and recorded loads of occurences of noise, but those tenants were evicted for not paying the rent rather than being noisy.

Torgo · May 30, 2013

Council ASB people will be minimally helpful and will have to be chivvied along, I'm afraid. In the first instance they will want you to fill in a diary of some kind listing all the incidents. This gets you off their back for a month or so. Then they'll say that nobody else has complained so it's just your word against theirs. I recommend getting some kind of witness or other tenant to back you up.

In my experience most people who work for the council will only do something about a problem if they are pressured to by (a) someone higher in their hierarchy or (b) the press. So always copy as many senior people as you can in to emails. Copy the local MP in if their party controls the council. Spam the buggers, basically, until they actually do something about it.

The last time I got someone to fix a problem like this it required a long letter-writing campaign ending up with a 2,500 word short story in the style of the late lamented Jack Vance in which the addressee was cast as a clerk chained to a desk in the dungeons of an ogre's castle, being forced to deny the very reasonable claims of the local smallfolk. In the end the clerk frees himself through cunning means, kills the ogre, and throws open the gates of the castle to the mob. Sadly, because they don't know that he is their saviour, and looks like just another baddie, they stab him to death. I got a cheque for compensation and still regard it as my first professional sale.

seun · May 30, 2013

I'm happy to go to the press if it'll help. There's no other house attached to them although saying that, the people on my other side could probably hear them last night. I'll ask.

I've been looking at the local council's site about this. Noise pollution is different to the ASBO people. I'm hoping getting the police out last night will have an effect on what happens next. And I particularly like the line that says to call the police if the noise disturbs you in your own home. According to Plod last night, it's the council's issue, not the Law's.

mirandashell · May 30, 2013

Are you having a by-election in your area soon? Cos that is when the councillors just love getting their faces in the press. And they will promise you the earth if they think there's a vote in it.

seun · May 30, 2013

mirandashell said:
Are you having a by-election in your area soon?

Not that I know of.

Just spoke to ASBO people. Torgo was right - lots of passing the buck to the people who put in noise monitoring equipment. I'm going home early to see what it's like and will invite the agency round there and then if it's the same.

mirandashell · May 30, 2013

Contact the press and the councillors anyway. Make as much fuss as you can. Our local news paper loves this kind of story.

seun · May 30, 2013

mirandashell said:
Contact the press and the councillors anyway. Make as much fuss as you can. Our local news paper loves this kind of story.

If it's the same shit tonight or over the weekend, I'll threaten the agency with this and see what happens. I bet they'll act if they're going to get bad press out of it.

regdog · May 30, 2013

So sorry, you're going through this again

Mr Flibble · May 30, 2013

If you still have no luck with police/council, write to your MP (whether his party runs the council or not)

A brusque letter from him/her asking what the bloody hell they think they're playing at might galvanise them into a bit of action.

seun · May 30, 2013

Mr Flibble said:
If you still have no luck with police/council, write to your MP (whether his party runs the council or not)

A brusque letter from him/her asking what the bloody hell they think they're playing at might galvanise them into a bit of action.

Might have to get Mrs seun to do it. He blocked me on Twitter for questioning his use of the term 'lefty pondscum'. Yes, he's a Tory. Why do you ask?

It's all quiet at the moment. Apparently, the agency spoke to the tenant and told them it was bang out of order; if they keep it up, they're in danger of eviction and so on. Still waiting for the mediation people to get in touch before I do anything else.

Stlight · May 30, 2013

This won't stop the noise, but it might help the level. When we shared a wall, we put carpet on it. We didn't think to get glue on carpet squares, we just nailed carpet over the walls. Sort of the medieval castle tapestry approach. It also made it a little warmer in the winter.

seun · May 31, 2013

That's not a bad idea. Plenty of people have said they thought our house would have really thick walls as it's so old (built in 1907), but it's the opposite. I've never lived anywhere with such thin walls.

Friendly Frog · May 31, 2013

Aw man, again?! You have my sympathies, seun. I hope you can get some quiet and uninterrupted sleep again soon. :Hug2:

seun · May 31, 2013

Last night was OK. We'll see how it goes over the weekend.

We'd still move if we could. Anyone want to buy my house at an inflated price?

mirandashell · May 31, 2013

Errrrmmmmmmm........

seun · May 31, 2013

Go on. I'll throw in the stink of next door's fags for free.

GailD · May 31, 2013

Oh, Seun

I don't even have words, just :Hug2:

onesecondglance · May 31, 2013

Probably not much help, but a couple of threads from one of the audio forums I used to frequent about noisy neighbours, touching on how to reduce the sound and recording evidence to submit to environmental health.

http://www.soundonsound.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=MRT&Number=978511
http://www.soundonsound.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=DESIGN&Number=1007125

If it's just shouting and not low bass music / banging then you might have some luck with soundproofing. If it's low frequency stuff then it would take serious (expensive) work to make any difference. It's a matter of wavelength.

(Simplified: you need material equivalent to the wavelength of a frequency to absorb it, and a 20hZ tone has a wavelength of around 56 feet. There are ways around this with air gaps and specialist materials, but the physics are against you.)

mirandashell · May 31, 2013

seun said:
Go on. I'll throw in the stink of next door's fags for free.

Ooooooohhhhhhh........

seun · May 31, 2013

Thanks for the links. It's more shouting and banging than anything else. All very depressing and stressful. I tell you, the day we're finally be able to move, I'll be happier than a pig rolling around in its own filth.

Muppster · Jun 3, 2013

I see your shouty neighbours and raise you two fire alarms in eight hours from the next-door and empty flat, the second at 2:30am (urk), followed by four Rozzers in hobnail boots crashing upstairs at 3:30am to nick the upstairs neighbour for threatening the Firemen with a baseball bat !! WTF, intruders don't wear hi-vis, and don't do nice things like silencing the awful noise, again, without complaining. It's not boring where I live

I'm so tired that the word 'tired' doesn't look right

Horror Man

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