Taking noisy neighbours to court

Drella118

Before you read any further, I am not looking for legal advice on this matter, I know full well to hire a solicitor before going ahead with any legal action. I am wondering if anyone had any experience (professional or personal) with taking neighbours to court over noise problems.

Background info: My neighbours have recently mounted a plasma TV on the party wall between our 2 houses (3 bed semi-d in middle income estate). The sound from this reverbarates through the walls. The walls are also acting like a sound conductor meaning that I can hear the sounds from the TV all over the house. It is a dull, muffled sound. I can't generally tell what people on the TV are saying, but when it is loud I can often tell what program they are watching. I have spoken to a sound engineer who has told me that because the sound is carried along the walls, soundproofing works are unlikely to be of benefit.

Pretty much any time that the TV is on, I can hear it in my house. It is not always loud and I can live with it when it is quiet enough but it is quite loud often enough to be a severe annoyance.

I have explained the problem to them and asked them to keep it turned down. They have said that they would and it has improved somewhat but it is still frequently quite audible (e.g. I can sometimes hear it even when I have my own TV turned on).

I have done some research on the matter and I know that an action can be taken in the district court.

What kind of evidence do they look for in the court that the noise is unacceptable? And then if they were to make an order against my neighbours, what happens then? Can they specify that they have to remove the TV from the party wall?

What are people's experiences with this? Has it ever made things worse by causing aggravation? Although I have a moderately good relationship with this family, they are a very tough family and I would be nervous of making things worse in the long run.

Thanks for any help

jdscrubs

Are you neighbours renting or do they own the house?. If its the former & if you know the landlord, complain to the landlord. If the landlord does nothing or even if he tells his tenants to stop, which they do not, under the 2004 Residential Tenacies Act 2004, you can bring a complaint to the Private Residential Tenacies Board who will investiage the complaint.

Drella118

Unfortunately they own the house.

Tom Young

RANT: Why don't posters search the forum before posting the same types of queries and discussions that have been had now ad nauseam - do a search.

Advice - Help - Advice - Help? - Interchangeable or no?

Tom

Drella118

I have searched plenty for "noisy neighbours" and have found vague info about taking a district court action but didn't find any personal experiences or more specific information about what this involves. If you could put up a link to previous discussions on this subject that i haven't found, that would be great help to me.

Thanks