Yet another noisy neighbours thread :|

JanScott

I've been occupying my current apartment since last year in September with no issues, and got along splendidly with the old neighbours upstairs. Then they moved out and the landlord brought in a new tenant who has kept me and my partner awake every night for the past six weeks and counting. He comes home at around 2 in the morning and walks around the place until 4-5, slams all the doors, drops things on the floor (he has no carpets so we hear it loud and clear when he throws his stuff around), goes out on the balcony to smoke and spit in my flower pots, etc. eeeeevery single night.

Now I'm not unreasonable, I know you can always expect a certain degree of noise in apartment buildings. I've lived in apartments all my life, so I don't mind someone walking around or listening to some music or whatever, so long as it's at reasonable hours (I'd expect quiet after 1 am on weekdays). However this guy is so loud that I can hear the noise even with earplugs in (which normally block everything) and once it starts it wakes me up and I can't go back to sleep. For my partner it's worse - she suffers from generalized anxiety disorder and this is giving her panic attacks on top of sleep deprivation.

We escalated the issue to the management company last week, who said - quote - "The tenant won't answer our phone calls or open the letters we send him, so keep a noise journal for now and call our emergency number if it happens." I called the emergency number one night and they supposedly called the tenant, because the noise stopped almost immediately, but the next night he was back and at it again.

The noisy tenant's landlord is also aware of the situation but so far he doesn't seem to be bothered to do anything about it. Our own landlord knows what's going on and he's very sympathetic, but he understandably can't do anything.

Do we have any other legal recourse here? We've been keeping a noise journal and emailing management repeatedly with dates/times/noise intensity over several weeks now, so there's a paper trail and witnesses and all that, but if the tenant refuses to acknowledge any contact from management and their landlord doesn't care, who else can we refer to?

Toots

I would literally ring the emergency number every single time this happens. If he's getting phone calls off them every night he might be more inclined to keep it down. Also the management co will put more pressure on the LL to sort him out if you're constantly ringing them.

I had a similar situation and it was during the time where it was hard to get tennants so the landlord was dragging their heels about doing anything and the management co said there was nothing more I could do. So I rang them every single time there was excessive noise coming from the apartment (most nights every week) and within about 6 weeks the tennant had gone.

pilly

If he comes in at 2 every morning does he work until this time?

What he's doing doesn't sound like the worst behaviour ever if he's working until 2 in the morning to him that's just a normal coming home from work routine, you don't mention music blaring or partying going on so it could be a lot worse.

Could you just knock on his door and have a conversation? It might help. He may be just not aware of how loud he is.

Lollipops23

pilly wrote: »

What he's doing doesn't sound like the worst behaviour ever if he's working until 2 in the morning to him that's just a normal coming home from work routine, you don't mention music blaring or partying going on so it could be a lot worse.

Normal day to day noise is fine. When it occurs during the day.

JanScott

pilly wrote: »

If he comes in at 2 every morning does he work until this time?

What he's doing doesn't sound like the worst behaviour ever if he's working until 2 in the morning to him that's just a normal coming home from work routine, you don't mention music blaring or partying going on so it could be a lot worse.

Could you just knock on his door and have a conversation? It might help. He may be just not aware of how loud he is.

I don't know if he's working, for all I know he could be out drinking with mates every night. He's home all day because sometimes, when I work from home, I hear him walking around or listening to music/watching movies during the day/evening as well.

Regardless of why he's out until that time of the night, he could be more considerate (like closing the doors carefully or not wearing shoes indoors) and that's all I want really. Refer to what I said above about hearing him while wearing earplugs. This isn't a normal amount of noise in the middle of the night.

To be honest I'm a bit scared of talking to him directly because I've read so many horror stories of people approaching their neighbours that ended badly... :eek:

Mr. Incognito

You can make a complaint to the PRTB for anti social behaviour against his Landlord.

pilly

JanScott wrote: »

I don't know if he's working, for all I know he could be out drinking with mates every night. He's home all day because sometimes, when I work from home, I hear him walking around or listening to music/watching movies during the day/evening as well.

Regardless of why he's out until that time of the night, he could be more considerate (like closing the doors carefully or not wearing shoes indoors) and that's all I want really. Refer to what I said above about hearing him while wearing earplugs. This isn't a normal amount of noise in the middle of the night.

To be honest I'm a bit scared of talking to him directly because I've read so many horror stories of people approaching their neighbours that ended badly... :eek:

Look all I'm saying is it's not as if he's having mad parties.

I think you're being very judgemental here. The insulation is obviously not very good if you can hear all this through earplugs.

I've lived in apartment blocks before and never even dreamt of taking my shoes off when walking around.

He's only moved in 6 weeks and you're jumping to all sorts of conclusions.

Not sure why you think ringing the emergency number is going to improve relationships more than just knocking on his door and explaining the situation in a friendly manner.

I think this is what's gone wrong with things in apartment blocks to be honest. Everyone jumping to the RTB, Management committees etc. for every little matter.

Every noise complaint has to be over a certain decibel level to be even considered. I don't see how walking around and closing doors would meet those criteria.

Rekop dog

JanScott wrote: »

To be honest I'm a bit scared of talking to him directly because I've read so many horror stories of people approaching their neighbours that ended badly... :eek:

Really? I haven't.

If he's home at that time consistently he probably does bar work or similar, and could possibly be just blissfully unaware the sound proofing is that poor where you live. You've kinda built him into an antisocial thug in your head with very little reason tbh.

People approach their neighbours face to face all the time to deal with a wide range of matters, it's definitely the most effective method. And if it's affecting your gf as badly as you say I'm actually a little surprised you haven't taken this course of action already instead of going to your little journal and noting ever noise he makes.

JanScott

It's your right to assume whatever you wish about me and the situation, pilly. The fact that my partner and I have not had a proper night's sleep in six weeks is no 'little matter' to us.

JanScott

Rekop dog wrote: »

Really? I haven't.

If he's home at that time consistently he probably does bar work or similar, and could possibly be just blissfully unaware the sound proofing is that poor where you live. You've kinda built him into an antisocial thug in your head with very little reason tbh.

People approach their neighbours face to face all the time to deal with a wide range of matters, it's definitely the most effective method. And if it's affecting your gf as badly as you say I'm actually a little surprised you haven't taken this course of action already instead of going to your little journal and noting ever noise he makes.

Plenty of horror stories right here on Boards, I googled and went through some threads before I posted mine. Given that I'm a petite woman who has never had to confront neighbours before (this is the first time in all my life that I've had such an issue and I've lived in apartments all my life), I am reluctant because you never know. I don't necessarily consider this person to be a thug or whatever. I do wonder why he's not responding to management's voicemails and emails/letters, though. This could be arranged very easily if they just agreed to be more careful IMO.

Rekop dog

JanScott wrote: »

Plenty of horror stories right here on Boards, I googled and went through some threads before I posted mine. Given that I'm a petite woman who has never had to confront neighbours before (this is the first time in all my life that I've had such an issue and I've lived in apartments all my life), I am reluctant because you never know. I don't necessarily consider this person to be a thug or whatever. I do wonder why he's not responding to management's voicemails and emails/letters, though. This could be arranged very easily if they just agreed to be more careful IMO.

For all you know that could be what the management company are just telling you to fob you off.

I've lived in a few apartments and to be honest, I've never heard people from above walking about at any time, the floorboards must be very thin there. He really could just be unaware of this.

Listen you can't go through life avoiding every minor confrontation. Well you can but I imagine the misery you're suffering now is far worse. I'd say 95% of people you approach over this would be grand and actually apologetic. If you really want to go out of your way to avoid something I'm sure you can find horror stories to justify that if you try hard enough, but it's definitely not the norm.

JanScott

Rekop dog wrote: »

For all you know that could be what the management company are just telling you to fob you off.

I've lived in a few apartments and to be honest, I've never heard people from above walking about at any time, the floorboards must be very thin there. He really could just be unaware of this.

Listen you can't go through life avoiding every minor confrontation. Well you can but I imagine the misery you're suffering now is far worse. I'd say 95% of people you approach over this would be grand and actually apologetic. If you really want to go out of your way to avoid something I'm sure you can find horror stories to justify that if you try hard enough, but it's definitely not the norm.

Yeah, that makes sense. Might bite the bullet and try to talk to him when I'm a bit more rested and calm, right now it wouldn't do anyone any favours because I can barely collect my thoughts enough to type... Thanks. Your reply is reassuring... it helps.

Rekop dog

JanScott wrote: »

Yeah, that makes sense. Might bite the bullet and try to talk to him when I'm a bit more rested and calm, right now it wouldn't do anyone any favours because I can barely collect my thoughts enough to type... Thanks. Your reply is reassuring... it helps.

No problem. Yeah try not be overly emotional or het up and I'm sure it'll be fine and you'll be massively relieved afterwards. Good luck.

JanScott

JanScott wrote: »

The fact that my partner and I have not had a proper night's sleep in six weeks is no 'little matter' to us.

but you havent even had a conversation with your neighbour. I can't understand why you would go to a management company before speaking with him.
If my neighbour did that to me, without giving me the opportunity to sort out the situation myself, I would not be impressed.

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JanScott

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Are they comfortable? I bought some plugs with a similar design and they didn't stay in-ear very well, which is why I switched to Quies wax plugs which are supposed to block 27Db (http://www.mccabespharmacy.com/quies-pure-wax-ear-plugs-8-pairs.html). They used to block everything until my new neighbour moved in.

I might try the plugs you suggested or see if they have anything that blocks even more on the website, thanks very much for the link.

Richard Hillman

Keep a diary of all of the noise and anti-social incidents, along with the complaints

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