Noise from neighbour on shared ownership

houseyhouse

Hello. We have a downstairs neighbour who is blasting music during the day. Usually techno/house music and at a volume that is so loud you can't hear the tv in our apartment. There is a lot of sound transfer between the apartments but it's so loud and seems to be timed to make a point to her neighbours. Eg. I believe she does it in retaliation when the baby in the apartment below her has been crying more than usual or if she thinks people are being too loud in our apartment.

I believe she bought her apartment under the shared ownership scheme in the 2000s and so it's partly owned by the council. Can the council do anything about the noise? The guards have said they can't really do anything and the management company pass on the complaints but don't seem to be able to enforce anything.

the_syco

Look at https://www.galwaycity.ie/noise-nuisance
I'd say this would fall under "Antisocial Behaviour".

When talking to the Gardai, say that you want to raise a noise complaint. Consider asking the neighbours below them to do the same.

ted1

houseyhouse wrote: »

I believe she bought her apartment under the shared ownership scheme in the 2000s and so it's partly owned by the council. Can the council do anything about the noise?

if she bought in the 2000's there's a good chance that she has changed over to 100% mortgage. So the council have no interest in it. even if they had, they would not do anything.

Xterminator

i think that you have more chance of help from the council, than if she is a 100% private owner, as her unreasonable behaviour is very hard to address, if she is not inclined to mend her ways. there are clear policies in place and sanctions that can be applied by the council, if you follow up with them. The council get a bad rep, but if the noisy neighbour owns her own property, you have far less options, and a much higher bar to get the guards or the Environmental protection agency to take action.

OP has not addressed what could be the root of the problem, and the scourge of many apartment blocks, poor sound proffing between units. OPs comments make it clear it is a factor - how much of it is the building vs the neighbour is hard to tell. There are somethings OP can do to help soundproof - might be worth looking into.

houseyhouse

Soundproofing is definitely an issue, which is why we put down thick carpet and underlay over our (much prettier) wooden floors, but the volume of the noise is way beyond a reasonable level. I think I'd need earplugs to be in her apartment when it's on. The floors vibrate from it. And it seems to be timed as a retaliation, e.g. for having a loud visitor over, dropping something on the floor etc.

Anyway, in case anybody has this issue in the future, the council have said they consider properties purchased under shared ownership to be private dwellings and they won't get involved.

spaceHopper

Have you knocked on her door, that would be my first move.

houseyhouse

spaceHopper wrote: »

Have you knocked on her door, that would be my first move.

Many times!

spaceHopper

houseyhouse wrote: »

Many times!

How do they respond, if they do again during level 5 call the guards and say there is noise from a party. If they aren't owner and are enting, keep a log contact the RTB and open a 3rd party dispute. You can lookup the owner on the land registry to check it they are the owner. All you can do is put pressure on them make their life difficult.

Mrs OBumble

houseyhouse wrote: »

... seems to be timed to make a point to her neighbours. Eg. I believe she does it in retaliation when the baby in the apartment below her has been crying more than usual or if she thinks people are being too loud in our apartment.

So are people being too loud in your apartment? Is the kid being neglected?

If you know what causes the music to start, you surely have the means of not starting it within your control.

DoozerT6

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

So are people being too loud in your apartment? Is the kid being neglected?

If you know what causes the music to start, you surely have the means of not starting it within your control.

So clearly this is everybody else's fault, and they should tiptoe around on eggshells in their own homes and indulge their neighbours childish behaviour over some perceived excess noise. Gotcha.

JustAThought

I discovered quite by accident that if you don’t know the owner - landlord of a rented property that you can make a complaint to the PRRB and they will process it for you by contacting the owner who should be on their list if its legally rented.

You can take a case to sue them through the PTRb for financial compensation for disruption eg noise & antisocial behaviour. I wish I’d known this before.

If the appartment is part owned or part owned under a payment scheme you can include the organisation that is the part owner as a co-respondent.


If the funding for them is from alone of the hundreds of ‘homeless’ ‘charities’ or approved housing authorities - many of these have clauses in their leases/arrangements that enable them to act against tenants who have anti social behaviour complaints registered against them.

Start writing to
your management company and asking for them to reply in writing to you within 10 days. Make them
work for their fee. They will know who the other people in the building are. Who pays the insurance on the building for them - the owner, a company, their management company etc - they will have records.

Also keep an eye on the postman and post. Often things are left out in common areas or can be spotted/intercepted/ taken from the postman to save him coming in. You can get a lot of information that way. Whose name is on the letters for their appartment/ bills/ packages etc

DoozerT6

JustAThought wrote: »

Also keep an eye on the postman and post. Often things are left out in common areas or can be spotted/intercepted/ taken from the postman to save him coming in. You can get a lot of information that way. Whose name is on the letters for their appartment/ bills/ packages etc

I'm pretty sure taking other people's post without their knowledge is illegal.

JustAThought

DoozerT6 wrote: »

I'm pretty sure taking other people's post without their knowledge is illegal.

I didn’t say take it. I said look at it. Big difference. Lots of companies have their logos on their franced postage, or use logis or insignia on their envelopes, or have return addresses that you can google to identify, or have the name of the landlord or utility users in it - all very useful.

LawBoy2018

Does the building you live in not have rules/regulations? I thought most apartment blocks are regulated by some sort of agreement between the property owners.

LawBoy2018

DoozerT6 wrote: »

So clearly this is everybody else's fault, and they should tiptoe around on eggshells in their own homes and indulge their neighbours childish behaviour over some perceived excess noise. Gotcha.

I know it's probably a controversial thing to say, but I would rather listen to loud techno around the clock than a crying baby.

Speedline

LawBoy2018 wrote: »

I know it's probably a controversial thing to say, but I would rather listen to loud techno around the clock than a crying baby.

I assume you never cried when you were a child?

LawBoy2018

Speedline wrote: »

I assume you never cried when you were a child?

I'm sure I did! How is that relevant? Noise is noise.

houseyhouse

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

So are people being too loud in your apartment? Is the kid being neglected?

If you know what causes the music to start, you surely have the means of not starting it within your control.

Yes, if nobody else in the building ever made any noise, she would have nothing to retaliate against us for. It's all our fault. Thanks for the insight.

Babies cry sometimes. Some babies cry a lot sometimes. It's a big stretch to assume neglect. As for the noise from our apartment that she reacts against it can be anything from something dropped on the floor to a visitor with a loud voice to opening/closing the sliding wardrobe (she has specifically complained about this noise even though we only use the wardrobe for clothes so we're not opening and closing it frequently during the day).

If she can't stand the day-to-day noises of other people living nearby then she shouldn't have bought an apartment. Our problem is not normal living noises, it's extremely loud music playing for hours at a time.

Anyway, my question was specifically in relation to the council's involvement when properties are bought under a shared ownership scheme and, as I mentioned above, they've said they won't get involved.

houseyhouse

LawBoy2018 wrote: »

I know it's probably a controversial thing to say, but I would rather listen to loud techno around the clock than a crying baby.

The baby isn't crying for hours on end though. Anyway, fact is a baby crying is not noise pollution. Her music is.

LawBoy2018

houseyhouse wrote: »

Yes, if nobody else in the building ever made any noise, she would have nothing to retaliate against us for. It's all our fault. Thanks for the insight.

Babies cry sometimes. Some babies cry a lot sometimes. It's a big stretch to assume neglect. As for the noise from our apartment that she reacts against it can be anything from something dropped on the floor to a visitor with a loud voice to opening/closing the sliding wardrobe (she has specifically complained about this noise even though we only use the wardrobe for clothes so we're not opening and closing it frequently during the day).

If she can't stand the day-to-day noises of other people living nearby then she shouldn't have bought an apartment. Our problem is not normal living noises, it's extremely loud music playing for hours at a time.

Anyway, my question was specifically in relation to the council's involvement when properties are bought under a shared ownership scheme and, as I mentioned above, they've said they won't get involved.

Why not sue her? Or at least initiate proceedings for nuisance.

Oscar Madison

houseyhouse wrote: »

Hello. We have a downstairs neighbour who is blasting music during the day. Usually techno/house music and at a volume that is so loud you can't hear the tv in our apartment. There is a lot of sound transfer between the apartments but it's so loud and seems to be timed to make a point to her neighbours. Eg. I believe she does it in retaliation when the baby in the apartment below her has been crying more than usual or if she thinks people are being too loud in our apartment.

I believe she bought her apartment under the shared ownership scheme in the 2000s and so it's partly owned by the council. Can the council do anything about the noise? The guards have said they can't really do anything and the management company pass on the complaints but don't seem to be able to enforce anything.

Have you tried knocking on the door?

Can't people TRY to sort out their own issues before calling AGS?

LawBoy2018

Oscar Madison wrote: »

Have you tried knocking on the door?

Can't people TRY to sort out their own issues before calling AGS?

If you read the thread you would know that the OP has tried knocking on the door.

houseyhouse

Oscar Madison wrote: »

Have you tried knocking on the door?

Can't people TRY to sort out their own issues before calling AGS?

We have. This has been happening on and off for years. I believe it's worse at the moment due to everyone being home all day during lockdown. She often doesn't open the door when we knock. When we have spoken to her about it she's been
very aggressive. I'm actually scared of her. My heart races when I see her. AGS wasn't the first port of call at all.