Noisy Neighbours

hellyeah

i feel your pain. going through the same thing myself. i have a ground floor apartment( big mistake). my neighbours sound like elephants above me all hours of the day. they both work day jobs but even midweek you can hear them walking around at 3am in the morning. last night new years eve was the worst ever. they were doing some sort of dj set up there with microphone etc. must have been about 15 people in there. quiet as mice this morning all enjoying there lie in, while i feel like a zombie typing this.
the problem is they act as if butter would not melt when you meet them.
was so angry last night that if i had knocked on there door it could have got messy. been like this all over xmas. even xmas eve into xmas day they had people over till 4am.
how people can be so inconsiderat to others i do not know. i would hate to think i was disturbing my neighbours sleep etc.
ps there apartment is a duplex so noise revenge is not an option as there bedroom is 2 floors above my ground floor. really dont know what to do as
they are the owners so who do i complain to or what course of action can i take. i even dont like inviteing friends round to my place as its embarrassing the noise of clumping feet across the floor boards etc.
i really like my apartment as it suits my living but if i could afford to move i would.

Graces7

There is an organisation that can and will help; trying to access it on this internet connection is a *****

It is the environmental health people you need; and this group will expedite investigation and force the local environmental folk to act promptly.

They helped us greatly re serious noise issue.

Try your local council; this is a terrible situation.


Ah got it; EPA they are..

Office of Environmental Enforcement
Environmental Protection Agency

http://www.epa.ie/

They activate the local agencies ie your local enivironmental health. Never saw any local govt act so fast.

Let us know? The reason we live in rural areas is that we have no nieighbours.

This is the leaflet that explains the noise regs.

http://www.environ.ie/en/Publications/Environment/Miscellaneous/FileDownLoad,1319,en.pdf

positron

IMHO, anyone with noisy neighbors should first speak to them politely about it and request them to change their habits and thank them in advance, and if that doesn't help, you should immediately speak to their landlord if they are tenants, and if he/she can't seem to help, speak to the council, epa and other authorities. There's absolutely no need to put up with noisy neighbours when you are paying hard earned cash for where you are and you are doing nothing wrong. Trying to retaliate playing loud music back etc might just get you the animosity of the rest of the estate.

When I bought this house, we had noisy tenants next door. As a matter of fact they were of east European origin, and lovely partying. I spoke to some of them nicely, but that did nothing. Luckily for us, we had a dog at that stage, who hated things he can only hear not see. There was also some sort of scrapping noise coming from the house at odd hours - as if they had something else going on there - it would go on for hours. So our dog would bark at them doing anything at unsociable hours and god was she loud? Anyway, they moved out within a few months! :rolleyes:

But that was not the end of it at all. Next we had a family with 5-6 kids. Both mother and father were taxi drivers. And within weeks a new problem emerged. This couple would leave all the kids home on their on, and the eldest girl was barely 10 or 11 and was already attracting hoards of other unwanteds teens, who would hang around outside the house, looking in, she and other kids playing games with the crowd outside - running in and out of the house, slamming the doors, shouting, screaming, insanity really - and this started getting worse as the time went on, and was going on for longer and longer. It's funny because I hear their 'strict' mother shouting on the top of her voice "IF YOU LOVE YOUR MOTHER AND JESUS, HOLIDAY TODAY, NO MOOZIK, NO PLAY, PRAY, READ DAT BIBLE OF YOURS" etc.

Eventually I spoke to the woman and told her about the racket and hinted how it might be inappropriate to leave young kids (as young as 3) on their home at home, and the racket they are creating late night. She just brushed it off as 'the recession', both parents having to work etc (She was receiving social welfare and house allowance as well - knew this for a fact). Finally I spoke to her one more time and told her it's illegal to do what she's doing and it's not right, and I will have to do *something* about it like speaking to social services, and talking to the letting agency - things calmed down from there on and she moved away after another few months (a few other neighbors also complained by the looks of it).

Now we have lovely neighbors, touch wood it stays that way.

CHRISTINACO

hi hellyeah..thanks for ur reply..it is just so frustrating when we get up in the morning to try and get our days work done after only 2 hours sleep and our noisy nerighbours are still tucked up in bed sound asleep..noise retaliation is only going to lower ourselves to their level and i wont stoop as low as them..but each to their own.as i am writing this from my front room my momma elephant is stomping up and down her stairs..seriously though there has to be a law or something so we dont have to be suffering..oh the zoo family has just livened up on the other side of me..heres to another sleepless night
regards

ztoical

CHRISTINACO wrote: »

seriously though there has to be a law or something so we dont have to be suffering.

There are laws in place, you will need to contact someone in either your local authority or you can go direct to your local District Court to enforce them.

CHRISTINACO

thanks ztoical
heres hoping

gossipgal08

If you have the landlords number could you not take to ringing him/her when the music is playing at 2am.

CHRISTINACO

i would love to do that but even the landlord is not very pleasant to deal with..even the garda told me that landlords do not care as long as they get their money at the end of the month..now in fairness to the landlord when i rang him last wednesday and basically threatened him wit taking him to the local authority he came out to the tenants the next day.they were quiet for that night but that was it...they started back with a vengence on the thursday night,all in all both neighbours ruined our xmas but they had a ball of a time.

bernyh

CHRISTINACO wrote: »

i would love to do that but even the landlord is not very pleasant to deal with..even the garda told me that landlords do not care as long as they get their money at the end of the month..now in fairness to the landlord when i rang him last wednesday and basically threatened him wit taking him to the local authority he came out to the tenants the next day.they were quiet for that night but that was it...they started back with a vengence on the thursday night,all in all both neighbours ruined our xmas but they had a ball of a time.

been dealing with this on and off for 6 years now.. withhold your number and whenever the noise starts ring the landlord... keep it up until they realise how often you are being kept up, I did this a couple of times with neighbours and it seems to sort it out, they generally move out!

GOOD LUCK I REALLY FEEL FOR U

CHRISTINACO

thank you bernyh, i think i will withold my number and let the landlord experience what we are going through..

CHRISTINACO

thanks everyone for all ur helpful advice..keep it coming because i badly need it in dealing wit the situation x:):mad:

ztoical

CHRISTINACO wrote: »

thank you bernyh, i think i will withold my number and let the landlord experience what we are going through..

It's all well and good annoying the LL but at the end of the day they are tied by the law as to what they can do. If the tenant is causing a breach of the law the LL can use that to end the lease and evict but they must follow the correct eviction proceedure otherwise not only will the tenant not have to move they can take the LL to court for a fair chunk of money. In order to end the lease for them breaking the law regarding noise regulation they will need it reported to the local authority who are more likely to act faster if more people have reported them so go report them yourself. Only when the LL has proven they have broken the lease can they ask them to leave and the amount of time they are given will depend greatly on the type of lease they have, they also can refuse to leave and the LL will have to go via the PRTB and the Courts to have them removed which could all take several months if not more to sort out. If you contact your local authority and have them come and gauge the noise they have the power to inforce fines and prison time. They are more likely to shut up and/or move if they are being fined 3000euro everytime they break the noise regulations. Read up on the regulations yourself and contact the correct people to deal with it.

listermint

Hi Christine

I think your problem here is with the renter tenants as they are causing out of hours noise dispruption. You should concentrate your efforts here and refrain from building up bad blood on all sides.

The other home owner on the other side is entitled to get up at 7am like most normal people are start there working day. If thats by working out on a treadmill thats it. It really is not there issue that you are having excessive noise out of hours on one side. It makes it easier in the long run to refrain from blaming all your neighbours around you.

I havent read the entire posts but i presume you are not a renter, if you are can you move if it is disrupting you to such an extent? might be a better option than giving yourself hastle.

CHRISTINACO

hi listermint,thank u for ur reply but i am going to have to go on the defense here..according to the ptrb a person has no right whatsoever to disrupt the peace of mind of a neighbour. especially when we have repeatly asked her to please keep it down and then when she goes out of her way to be louder and louder..i know where u are coming from but at the end of the day my youngest son at 3yrs old is getting night terrors and will not sleep in his own room beause of the noise.homeowners have to realise that their lives can affect others..we are not doing anything to deserve it and i have her roaring at me on my doorstep telling me to move to the country if i want the quiet life..if it was that easy i would be long gone..we are stuck right in the middle of hell and no we cant move because we cant afford to sell our house or can we uproot my kids just because someone cant be a decent neighbour..
i know no one is perfect but no one should have to go thru life like this.
i am sorry for being defensive but we have had over nearly 4 yrs of this and it is starting to take its toll on all of us

ztoical

CHRISTINACO wrote: »

hi listermint,thank u for ur reply but i am going to have to go on the defense here..according to the ptrb a person has no right whatsoever to disrupt the peace of mind of a neighbour.

The PTRB is nothing to do with home owners, they deal with renters, you need to speak with your local authority or local district court.

senordingdong

As with most issues in this area, you'll find that all the appropriate authorities have no power beyond 'having a bit of a word' or a 'lengthy costly legal procedure'.

If you need immediate action then I suggest you buy some ear plugs and ear muffs, and when you are neighbours are having a lovely lie in the next day, you return in kind.

Keep in mind that there is little they can do to stop you too.

listermint

CHRISTINACO wrote: »

hi listermint,thank u for ur reply but i am going to have to go on the defense here..according to the ptrb a person has no right whatsoever to disrupt the peace of mind of a neighbour. especially when we have repeatly asked her to please keep it down and then when she goes out of her way to be louder and louder..i know where u are coming from but at the end of the day my youngest son at 3yrs old is getting night terrors and will not sleep in his own room beause of the noise.homeowners have to realise that their lives can affect others..we are not doing anything to deserve it and i have her roaring at me on my doorstep telling me to move to the country if i want the quiet life..if it was that easy i would be long gone..we are stuck right in the middle of hell and no we cant move because we cant afford to sell our house or can we uproot my kids just because someone cant be a decent neighbour..
i know no one is perfect but no one should have to go thru life like this.
i am sorry for being defensive but we have had over nearly 4 yrs of this and it is starting to take its toll on all of us

No problem,


I believe you have worked yourself into a stressful situation. You have to understand both sides are fundamentally different issues. One side you have disruptive noisy night seeking renters.

The other side is a home owner with kid similar to yourself who from your description is living a normal everyday life. It is not the owners fault that the builder in this case put insufficient sound proofing between the terraced housing that has been poorly built over the last 10 years.

As you are experiencing constant nightly disruption on one side affecting your sleep pattern, you may have reflected this terrible experience to the other neighbour who under normal circumstances you would not even notice.

What I am getting at is pull back a bit, dont burn anymore bridges as you are both homeowners. Concentrate on the renters, who to be honest are appear to be the master culprits here.

Best of luck.

CK2010

this is strange because we're in a similar position- neighbours keeping the three year old awake with their scummy noise. however in our case we are the renters and they are the home owners. we have said on many occassion 'if only they were the renters' because the landlord can deal with it.we cant break our lease because of it or else we'll lose our deposit- we cant pay deposit on a new place without this. on many occassion we've knocked in and asked them to turn it down or knocked on the wall and they've replied with 'we've lived here for years and we're not gonna change for yous, its our home we can do what we like' :rolleyes:

the other day we heard the daughter shout down to the mother saying 'please turn it off,its not fair on them' and the mother told her to f off. its the kids and their dogs that i feel for. and of course my family who is being kept awake.

we can move out the second our lease is up, thank god. but if they were renters id be on to their landlord every single time they act up until he sorted them out.

the gardai cant do anything. although im unsure if a call out would even do anything tbh. we dont want to go through the fine route because i really believe they'd make our lives hell in other ways if they knew it was us whho had taken action. they're pure and utter scum. and the worst part is their youngest child is the same age as ours and they wait til shes asleep before they play the music so its twelve or one by the time they're starting. sometimes we hear their child screaming for them to turn it off and they might do so for aminute if even and then straight back on again.

thank god we can leave in a few months. but id really keep at their landlord. thats what we've wished we could do on many ocassion.

oh and dont believe all renters are like this- we respect the property and our neighbours. we'd never ever be so noisy that it effects our neighbours.

however recently we've started fighting fire with fire (we have detatched neighbours on the other side and we make sure it doesnt impact on them) and it sometimes does the trick. when they start theirs we blast ours as a warning and they've started to cop on and keep it at a just above resonable level (which we accept at this stage).

i dont know what pleasure it gives them having to shout at each other over the music.. it baffles me as to why they need it so loud!
hopefully it gets resolved soon because its a dire situation to be in. these days as long as our little one is sleeping through it i dont care-its when its affecting the little ones sleep that i get really distressed and upset about it. our friend said we may be able to use that as a valid reason to leave with the deposit intact as shes been in hospital recently but i dont think it'd work. i feel for the next tenants tbh. i myself feel conned by the agency.

Gloomtastic!

CK2010,
Doesn't your lease say you should be allowed to live in your property with undue nuisance, or something like that? Sounds like you have a good excuse to break the lease early. Notify the landlord in writing. Get him to sort it out!

CHRISTINACO

i agree totally listermint but we have only had a problem with the renters for the last 4 months..the previous tenants were a joy to live beside..our homeowner neighbour on the other hand has been causing us distress since about 6 months after we moved in.we are living here nearly 4 years now so our main issue is with the homeowner but unfortunatly the renters have just made situations worse..there is 4 of us living in this house whereas there is only 2 in the homeowners house and surely everyday life can go on without causing annoyance to ur neighbours..we did manage to speak to the previous owners of our house and they told us that they moved out because of how noisy the homeowner was so i know we will have no other choice but to try our best and move but is that fair on my family. my husband and i would hand back the keys if we could because no mortgage and lifetime of heartache is worth this

CK2010

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

CK2010,
Doesn't your lease say you should be allowed to live in your property with undue nuisance, or something like that? Sounds like you have a good excuse to break the lease early. Notify the landlord in writing. Get him to sort it out!

see, i reckon he wont have a huge problem with us breaking the lease (i.e. he may not make us pay the rest of the term as is the norm when breaking a lease early) but i dont think he'll give us the security deposit back which we're dependent on for our next security deposit.

im nearly sure he was aware of this problem before us though because when we mentioned it to the agent her reaction was not one of someone who had just been informed of the problem!

CHRISTINACO

i wish u were my neighbours and i dont think all renters are like this..this is the first time i have ever experienced this with renters.the previous tenants were a joy to live beside.if they were ever to have a party they would say it to us first and it would always finish up by midnight.but the tenants now are just a joke.parents of a young child and sometimes i just want to go in and shake them and tell them to put their little girl first and not their drugs and druggie mates.
i know how u feel and my heart goes out to u..it is definitly not a good situation to be in..fortuantly u can move out when ur lease ends..i wish we could but all the best when u do move out..the peace will be great

CK2010

yeh its the kids that i feel sorry for. i mean our girl is disturbed by it in a different house, i dont know how they put up with it in the same house. all you can hope is that they move out soon, maybe if their landlord keeps at them they might want to go elsewhere!

CHRISTINACO

CK2010 wrote: »

yeh its the kids that i feel sorry for. i mean our girl is disturbed by it in a different house, i dont know how they put up with it in the same house. all you can hope is that they move out soon, maybe if their landlord keeps at them they might want to go elsewhere!

i don't think these tenants are the type of people who really care what effect their behaviour is having on other people but i am going to do my best to get them out..i know the homeowner wont go anywhere as she has told us to move if we want peace and quiet which i couldnt believe she had the nerve to say after what she continues to put us thru after nearly 4 years..i hate to say this but while my kids and hubby were out of the house earlier this afternoon and she was still in bed,i slammed everydoor possible for about an hour,just to give her a bitter taste of her own medicine but i am dreading tonight because she gives the stairs and doors a good pounding once my kids are in bed..i have my earplugs at the ready which only dull the noise..so here we go

delllat

CHRISTINACO wrote: »

i don't think these tenants are the type of people who really care what effect their behaviour is having on other people but i am going to do my best to get them out..i know the homeowner wont go anywhere as she has told us to move if we want peace and quiet which i couldnt believe she had the nerve to say after what she continues to put us thru after nearly 4 years..i hate to say this but while my kids and hubby were out of the house earlier this afternoon and she was still in bed,i slammed everydoor possible for about an hour,just to give her a bitter taste of her own medicine but i am dreading tonight because she gives the stairs and doors a good pounding once my kids are in bed..i have my earplugs at the ready which only dull the noise..so here we go

get a big subwoofer ,i had one once ,got in trouble with neighbours everytime i turned it to even 50%

at 75 % the vibrations could move stuff on the other side of the room

at 100% it literally shook the whole building and if i ever had problems with the neighbours partying id just turn it on for a minute and theyde get the message

senordingdong

You're defo going to have to play dirty here.

lainey316

The homeowner is never going to change. You'll have to look into soundproofing the connecting wall, whether you can afford it or not.

freelancerTax

people like this just dont care that they are disturbing others
not saying you should do this but it has worked for me in the past in similar situations - buy a subwoofer and when you suspect they are asleep (probably at 8am) put the subwoofer up against the ajoining wall on full blast and let them have it.

after a few doses of this they will get the message and should magically grow manners and respect for their neighbours

CHRISTINACO

We tried it the last two mornings after 10am and I slammed all the doors and press doors..thought it worked up until last nite when she came back at us with slamming banging and pounding until 2am this morning and has started up again @11pm tonight. She knows when my kids go to bed and that's when she starts up. So I know she has to get on with her everyday life but I dont understand how someone can be quiet most of the day and gets elephant feet come a certain time. It's affecting our everyday life because I work at 7am on the weekends and my husband leaves for work at 6am some weekdays so between both our neighbours we get about 2 hours sleep per night. We have looked into soundproofing and it will cost us close to 7grand..we are in enough debt with a mortgage besides having to go in deeper because of these ******

branners69

Sorry to say but even after spending the 7 grand you are not 100% sound proofed, I have a sister who knows all about it after spending 8k!

My advice is to call in with a peace offering, a bottle of wine and chocolates. Try and build up a friendship. Explain what your problem is and ask for a clean slate so as everyone can live a quiet life! The one advantage of this sh1t time is that most people agree with the **** politicians etc. I know this will be extremely hard to do, but think of getting your kids night terrors sorted and it should give you the strength to do it!!

If that doesnt work then the gloves come off. I know you dont want to spend too much but you will have to invest to sort the problem.

Invest in as many audio receivers with woofers you can afford, I would suggest one for each of the connecting rooms upstairs and downstairs, check adverts.ie. If you dont pay too much you should get most of your money back in the end!! Place the woofers against the walls and let them do their magic and leave the house for 48 hours. If you cant leave for this long then turn them all on when you think she sleeps. You will have to leave the house as the noise is painful, it will make the fillings in your teeth rattle!

Then drop a note in again for that clean slate and I am sure you will receive a more amicable response!

If you need advice on how receivers and woofers work pm me! I might even have a spare lidl surround sound dvd system you can have!

Branners