Noisy Neighbour

brigadear

Right look for any advice or legal expert to help here. Have neighbours who are currently selling their house, they havent been living in the house for while now, but they have a faulty alarm that keeps going off so cant sleep. I rang the agents that have been selling the house to turn off, but now they wont, saying its nothing to do with them and tell me to ring the owners, I dont have a number for owners and asked for the number of owners of the selling agent, but they refused to give it to me!. Should I contact the Guards on this??

the_syco

Contact the Gardai about noise pollution.

NUTLEY BOY

the_syco wrote:

Contact the Gardai about noise pollution.

Probable waste of time. They will look at the front and the rear (if accessible) and if they see nothing wrong will most likely not be able to do anything.

If there is a management company for the estate try contacting them to contact and or identify the owner.

vasch_ro

okay this is not a criminal matter , so no need to contact the Gardai, as they can do nothing about it. What you need to do is get a noise abatement order in your local district court.
Under Irish law, you are entitled to bring complaints about specific neighbourhood noise to the District Court.
Types of noise covered

Noise such as that coming from other homes, workshops or local businesses that is continuous, repeated, loud and occurring at such times and of such duration that it affects the quality of life of the person is covered in Irish law.

The law in Ireland governing this area is (Section 108) of the Environmental Protection Agency Act 1992 and the Environmental Protection Agency Act (Noise) Regulations 1994 (SI No. 179 of 1994). While the law does not specifically mention an exact level or standard of noise that is illegal, it is clear that if neighbourhood noise is affecting the quality of life of a citizen, then you have a right to complain. Your local authority has the power to investigate complaints about neighbourhood noise and also has specialist equipment that measures levels of sound.

If you wish to make a complaint to the District Court, you are not required to be represented by a solicitor, however, you may engage the assistance of a solicitor to help prepare your noise complaint and present this in court. You should consult with the Clerk of your local District Court about an appointment for the hearing of your case and refer precisely to the law relating to your case (Section 108 of the Environmental Protection Agency Act 1992 and the Environmental Protection Agency Act 1992 (Noise) Regulations 1994 (SI No. 179 of 1994).

check out http://www.citizensinformation.ie

carveone

vasch_ro wrote:

okay this is not a criminal matter , so no need to contact the Gardai, as they can do nothing about it. What you need to do is get a noise abatement order in your local district court.

vasch_ro is right, the gardai won't do anything. I have heard that if the alarm gets damaged though, they won't do anything either. Not that I'd advocate that of course and even saying that isn't helpful of me.

The big problem is getting the owner's details. This can be very hard. Most of the time the owners will not be aware of what is happening - I've seen this over and over again from arrogant estate agents who don't care. Every time the owners themselves have been mortified.

The management agent should always have a list of phone numbers to contact...

In the current climate I suppose you have three options: Ask the estate agents to contact the owner on your behalf. Ring the estate agents every single time the alarm goes off and say the house is being broken into. Or pretend to be an interested buyer. There should only be the one of you

Conor.

NUTLEY BOY

Whilst vasch_ro is right it seems most unreasonable for OP to be put to this trouble especially if there is any risk of costs if the case is lost where the suit is in his/her name as distinct from being pursued by a local authority.

Some local authorities are the square root of useless at enforcing noise pollution remedies and just will not do anything.

Apart from getting in the estate agent's face every time the alarm goes off you could indicate to them that you intend to sue for nuisance and to join the estate agents to the action for their failure to abate it as they have effective custody and control of the house. In practice, you would never be advised to do such a thing realistically but the agents might not know that....

Some people have been so provoked by the sleep deprivation and ire that this type of situation rises that they have been tempted to do things like going to the outside electric box of the offending house and pulling the main fuse to cut off the electricity. DO NOT be tempted to do this as this is likely to land you in various legal troubles both civil and criminal and is quite possibly a dangerous thing to do as mains electricity in Ireland is enough to kill you. Also, if you have complained to people you will be the first suspect !

Despite what has been said try the lawful routes that have been suggested to you or hope to God that someone buys the house. I would stop short however at instigating legal proceedings in your own name due to the risk of costs.

Victor

You could be really nosiy when the estate agents are doing viewings.

carveone wrote: »

vasch_ro is right, the gardai won't do anything. I have heard that if the alarm gets damaged though, they won't do anything either. Not that I'd advocate that of course and even saying that isn't helpful of me.

Advocating, condoning or counselling violence is not acceptable.