Loud Apartment Neighbours - What Do I Do?

Robdude

I'm paying 950 euro a month for a place - and it's great - except for the people above me. My wife is a full-time student with classes early in the morning and I'll be working full-time and need to be at the office at 8am.

The problem is we can't sleep. The people above us are really loud, late into the morning (like 2am) three or four times per week.

* There is nothing about noise in the lease.
* I've talked to them, they are friendly enough, but as soon as I leave, they make just as much noise as before.
* Landlord said he'd 'look into it' but essentially doesn't seem to care.
* I still have 10 months left in my lease.
* If I break the lease, I'll lose my 950 euro deposit and the landlord says I'd be responsible for the rent until he finds another tenant.

I thought maybe the wisdom of Boards.ie could guide me.....what should I do?

Is 950 cheap enough that I should just STFU?
Break the lease and move?
Band on the ceiling really loudly from 5:00am until 6:00am on nights when they party?

ProudDUB

No idea if 950 euros is a good deal, as you don't say where it is or how big it is, but either way, you shouldn't have to be bothered by noise at 2am.

Does the apt complex have a management company that you could report them too? Call them and see what they say. Most rental leases have a clause prohibiting renters from engaging in anti social behaviour. They can be evicted and/or their lease not renewed if they do so. If you can get the mgt company (or the landlord that they are renting from, if they are renting) to send them a letter telling them that there have been complaints about noise, that may make them think again about being so noisy. Fingers crossed they are renting, as you'll probably get better results getting the offending parties landlord involved. Not really sure what your own landlord can do, other then going to them and asking them to keep it down & as you say, that has had no results.

Treehouse72

My understanding is that under common law you have the right to the "quiet enjoyment" of your abode and that this right exists irrespective of whether it is specifically mentioned in a lease. In other words, if you cannot sleep because of noise this right is being breached.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuisance

I don't know what to do about that though other than ultimately asking a solicitor. Before that you could ask the Gardai. You could also say to your landlord - nicely and not in a threatening way - that you have no obligation to stay in a property you cannot sleep in.

As I say, just my understanding of it.

gzoladz

I tell you what worked for me. First you need to find out if your neighbours are "normal working people".

If they are (luckily they were in my case), I knocked their door once during the day and I mentioned that I was concern due to the level of noise during the night. I played fool and said I did not know where it came from, etc, but I told them they did not need to worry because next time I would be calling the police. I never heard any noise again.

Now, if they are not the "normal working people" kind, I would just move. They dont care, the gardai dont care, the landlord can not do much.

A friend of mine was also in a similar situation, but their neighbors were not a family of "hard working people". He tried to talk to them as he got as much abuse as you can imagine and the problem only got worse. He had to move.

TroutMask

The procedure will be similar the one outlined in this post below - since they've ignored you proceed to written communications - keep it civil (i know it's hard) as you don't want to give them any comeback. Copy your landlord on all letters, it will give you grounds to break the lease. He probably knows about it anyway.......


http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=74960195

jeckle

The owner of the apartment above you agreed to abide by the terms of his lease when he purchased the apartment. So did every other owner. Part of these terms would be to abide by the house rules as set out by the management company/managing agent.

He is turn would have to ensure that his tenants abide by house rules. Most house rules would have a clause stating that there should be no loud noise between certain hours (possibly between 10pm & 8am), & the definition of loud noise in this instance would be any noise audible from outside the apartment but coming from within.

It really isn't up to you to sort out problems such as this - it's up to your landlord. If you have already taken the softly softly approach to no avail then that's all you can do for now, & you need to get your landlord on the case.


If I were you I would put pressure on your landlord to contact the management company/agents to report the anti-social behaviour & also to instruct them to write to both the owner & his tenants outlining the fact that they are breaking house rules & in turn the terms of their lease.

You can be sure that this will not be the first time that they have received such a complaint & will have standard letter templates ready. I'm not saying this will be in any way effective, but it will at lease show your landlord that you are aware of your rights.

You can also mention that you have been in contact with Threshold & it is upon their advise that you are making this request. You could also say that they advised you to contact them again should the situation not be resolved within 14 days, after such time they will advise you how to proceed with regards to an early release of your rental agreement without penalty.

Contact Threshold yourself, but no doubt this is what they will advise you to do.

Noise

''You should check with your landlord if there are set conditions about parties and noise. Remember the landlord has duties to other tenants and neighbours. If noise from other tenants or neighbours is causing a nuisance to you, tell your landlord. You may also make a complaint to your local authority, which has some power to act, or to the local District Court under the Environmental Protection Act, 1992 (Noise) Regulations, which can make an Order to deal with the nuisance. Contact Threshold, your local authority or District Court for more information.''

http://www.threshold.ie/page.asp?menu=70&page=240

This might put the skids up your landlord to act, like he should have already done. If he doesn't & the situation continues, I would then do as described in the other thread as regards involving the local authority or district court.

Basically, you need to get out of there without any penalties such as losing your deposit. Communicate with your landlord in writing by registered letter & keep copies. Once he knows you are aware of your rights & are prepared to involve official parties he may just feel that it's not worth all the hassle, & release you from your contract & return your deposit.

If, on the other hand you yourself don't want the hassle just pack up & leave & chalk the deposit down to experience. The reality is, that they will always make noise & probably sometimes on purpose just to annoy you, so an ideal result would be that your landlord relents.

odds_on

It really isn't up to you to sort out problems such as this - it's up to your landlord. If you have already taken the softly softly approach to no avail then that's all you can do for now, & you need to get your landlord on the case.

It is not the OP's landlord's problem - he can do very little apart from contacting/complaining to the management company.

However, if the apartment above is a rented apartment, the landlord of that apartment is under an obligation (as defined in the RTA 2004 Act) to ensure that his tenants are not unsociable - that they do not cause anti-social behaviour towards their neighbours.

16 (h) not behave within the dwelling, or in the vicinity of it, in a way that is anti-social or allow other occupiers of, or visitors to, the dwelling to behave within it, or in the vicinity of it, in such a way,

If he fails to remedy the fact (he can evict the tenants giving them 28 days notice, after after advising them of the problem, then the OP can bring a third party claim with the PRTB against the landlord of the guilty tenants, have them removed and claim damages against said landlord.

jeckle

odds_on wrote: »

It is not the OP's landlord's problem - he can do very little apart from contacting/complaining to the management company.

You've picked out & isolated one particular sentence that I posted, but, if you take it in context & in relation to what I was posting about (solving the matter at local level) it is the landlord's problem in the sense that it's affecting his tenants, which in turn affects him.

The tenants have no direct relationship with the management company/agent (unless they happen also to be the letting agent), so the landlord will have to be the one to contact the management company/agent to instruct them to contact the owner & tenants in the upstairs apartment.

odds_on wrote:

However, if the apartment above is a rented apartment, the landlord of that apartment is under an obligation (as defined in the RTA 2004 Act) to ensure that his tenants are not unsociable - that they do not cause anti-social behaviour towards their neighbours.

Even if it's owner occupied the owner is still bound under his own lease to abide by house rules & refrain from anti-social behaviour. Again, this is why the OP's landlord has to step up & attemt to solve the problem before escalating the matter & taking further more official action.

In fact, if it is owner occupied this might be better, as the OP's landlord may not want to get embroiled in conflict with a fellow owner, & might just decide to release the OP from his contract without penalty.

Remember that the whole aim here is to offer advice to the OP & that there's more than one way to skin a cat. Sometimes conflicts can be resolved a hell of a lot more quickly than lodging complaints to local authorities & bringing third party claims, which can always be done after local attempts have been exhausted.

Bullseye1

I had a neighbour from hell for about 8 months. She was an unmarried mother of two kids, all was well while her partner was living with her. Something happened and he moved out and that's when all hell broke loose. She began to have parties nearly every night of the week with drink and drugs involved. Without going into too muh detail after a couple of times calling I to them to turn the music down I found out who owned the house and harassed them until they eventually decided enough was enough and put the house up on the market and sold. I know have brilliant neighbours. Some of these people are looked after by the state and they couldn't care less who's lives they make a misery. Who ever is responsible for placing these people into housing should have greater responsibility for their actions.

handlemaster

Bullseye1 wrote: »

I had a neighbour from hell for about 8 months. She was an unmarried mother of two kids, all was well while her partner was living with her. Something happened and he moved out and that's when all hell broke loose. She began to have parties nearly every night of the week with drink and drugs involved. Without going into too muh detail after a couple of times calling I to them to turn the music down I found out who owned the house and harassed them until they eventually decided enough was enough and put the house up on the market and sold. I know have brilliant neighbours. Some of these people are looked after by the state and they couldn't care less who's lives they make a misery. Who ever is responsible for placing these people into housing should have greater responsibility for their actions.

Had the same issue. Single mother.. party,party.. fights etc etc... only way is get the landlords details. And home address. Keep ringing his/her phone. They will soon not what their tenants and you will have someone new living there. Lifes to short to have to listen to partys every week... especially when your not invited

LeeS

I am having similar issues with neighbours. Would anyone know how i would go about finding out the name of the landlord.

handlemaster

LeeS wrote: »

I am having similar issues with neighbours. Would anyone know how i would go about finding out the name of the landlord.

Are you the owner of your property. If so you will know your porfolio number. With this number at hand ring the land registery. Tell them the issue and your folio number they will look at the map and give the details of the person whom the property is registered. With this you can get the persons phone number

Minier81

If its a regular thing, which it does appear to be, I would first try leaving a note under their door - you could do this anonymously. And if they kept it up I'd call the police.

handlemaster

Minier81 wrote: »

If its a regular thing, which it does appear to be, I would first try leaving a note under their door - you could do this anonymously. And if they kept it up I'd call the police.

This would be a waste of time in my experience. I remember going out once 2am told them to turn it down and they were very apologic etc . Went back in and they turned the music up until 9am. Garda's are a waste of time also.. Go replys such as " thats a noise pollution issue , you will have to call the council", " we will send a car out", " we can ask them to turn it down but they can turn it back up when we are gone". Now in my situation it was an on going problem every week or second week for 1.5 years. Even during the week as we paid for her and her free house by going to work everyday.

A few thoughts, from experience and professionally

1: You've handled it well so far in calmly discussing this with your neighbour

2: This is, after that instance, indeed an issue for their landlord and not yours (although the earlier poster that noted that you could probably put legitimate pressure on your own landlord in this situation also has a good practical point). Get his name, number and address -I don't know that the land registry will give this out, but if you're struggling to get this and there is no management company or agent (both legitimate avenues of complaint/redress here) then the council has a role to play in investigating complaints like this- they will more than likely need independent corroboration and a log of incidents, though, leading me to:-

3: Calling the Gardaí is *not* a waste of time- these people are in breach of the law if they are causing a nuisance to occupiers of nearby properties at an unreasonable hour. When calling the Gardaí, request that even if a car can't be sent round that the call be logged as you are trying to build up an ongoing case. Getting the Garda on the phone's name never hurts, though it doesn't have to be a threat, just 'for your records'.

I've had problem tenants twice in the past three years, and it's the pits- you have my sympathy. Luckily, I could get to their landlord- once the Gardaí got involved he started to take it seriously and they were both moved on. Nice quiet neighbours now!