What noise?
Question
My neighbour came round to my house and asked me turn my music down as it was disturbing his wife. I didn't think the music was loud so I invited him in to hear the music from inside. He agreed that the music wasn't loud and it must be the bass creating the noise, so I turned down the bass.
I then found out that the couple have asked another neighbour to turn the sound down on her TV. The other neighbour's house is adjacent to mine and I can't hear anything. The whole situation seems totally unreasonable to me. What can we do to about this problem?
Answer
These problems with your neighbour must be very distressing to you. Whether your neighbour and his wife can do anything about the noise from you and your other neighbour depends on the individual situation. Before he can act, the noise must be so loud that he can't use his home in the normal way. This might be the case if he is woken up by the noise or he can't hear his own TV above the noise.
The action he can take depends on:
- The type of noise;
- The time of day or night the noise happens;
- How often it happens;
- How long it goes on for;
- How it affects him and his wife;
- The type of building (older homes often have less sound insulation).
The first step in dealing with neighbour problems is negotiation. Talk to the person causing the problem. Explain how their complaints are affecting you and your neighbour with the television. Try to reach a compromise. Do this as early as possible before the problem gets too serious. There may be agencies in your area that could help you negotiate. These are often called mediation services. If there isn't a local mediation service in your area, ask the local council if they would be able to help.
You should keep records of all events in case they are needed later. This might include:
- A diary of events;
- Photographs;
- Copies of letters;
- Details of witnesses to events.
If on the other hand, your neighbour is causing you and your other neighbour problems, you may be able to take action together. There may be a tenants' association or other group in your area that can help you to do this.
If you own your homes, your neighbour would have to take private action against you and anyone else he feels is causing too much noise. This could involve asking the Environmental Health Officer (EHO) to attend incidents of noise nuisance to see if anyone is are causing a statutory nuisance. If not, it may be the case that his wife is particularly sensitive to noise that is made worse by poor insulation of the building. In this case, he would have to take action against the owner of the building rather than you and anyone else causing the noise.
Even if you rent your homes, he could still involve the EHO, but could also complain to your landlord. Most tenancy agreements contain a clause that forbids the tenant from causing a nuisance to other tenants. This could leave you and other neigbours open to eviction if the landlord agreed with him.
If negotiation doesn't work you could also complain to the landlord because there actions are affecting you and others using your home. It may be that this clause could work against your neighbour and his wife if they are unreasonably complaining about noise from the homes of you and others.
If you need to get help with this, you might find it useful to speak to a local advice service for further support.
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Question answered by Shelter
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