damn neighbours!

Teddi

hey guys..

weve recently moved into a place near pearse street station...

everything was perfect until a few nites ago. the place were in isnt cheap..theres three of us staying in it, the house is an old style georgian house jsut recently refurbished to a high standard..heres the problem..

we had a bit of a shindig the other night..nothing too crazy. following day we had a report filed against us from the people below (middle aged couple...its one of those basement type houses)...ok..thats understandable.

we were told that the people living around us are fairly up market type people
before we signed the lease...one thing they didnt tell us was that how fcukin up tight these people are...and we were also not told that the woman living below us is the landlords sister inlaw

the letting agent told us only after the signing that the couple below like to live a quiet life.....

the area we live in so far hasnt seemed that welcoming....no-one even came up to say hi to us....this is the question....

would that be enough reasoning to withdraw our lease..the fact that we were ill-informed about the living conditions of our house and area?

all three of us are young guys with great jobs..and we like to have fun...but nothing crazy...

we feel now that we cant have the tv on too loud..play our music and it was just last night that one of them told me he had a feeling of sheer unwelcome as he walked into our area...i also now feel this...

just last night i was using the laptop..and something was really bugging me so i cursed at it...not too loud...the tv was turned down low and everyone had gone to bed....the second i had said it...i heard BUMP BUMP BUMP... coming from down below...this isnt on...is it???

anyone else been in this position?...any advice?..

NotInventedHere

Caveat Emptor

NotInventedHere

but seriously I think you should escalate the problem by putting clegs on your shoes and leaving the radio on all day. then make sure you are silent from 9pm onwards. repeat everyday

MorningStar

If you had a party without letting your neighbours know first you started on the wrong foot.
If you were told they were up market you should have realised the unsiad part of that is don't be any trouble. Up market does mean uptight. People pay extra money to have piece and quite.

If they could make out you cursing late at night after you already been told to be quite they maybe slightly over reacting. You are in the wrong from the start and need to be extra nice to get into good books. You are probably better moving out though as it will be easier.

Sleipnir

Or, your incessant use of full-stops may have annoyed the bejesus out of them.
Unless of course you don't use that many when communicating verbally.

Teddi

i shud have been more specific...

there wasnt a party planned...originally it was me and my mate...just sitting around watching telly...

then around 12 my bro and his mates came in..pissed off there heads...then they had a bit of a party..no music.....just talking....stopped at about 4

were also paying good money....money that should alow us do as we please within certain boundaries...just feels now that we cant do the basic stuff....

SparkyLarks

Call down and introduce youselves.

once they have a face and a name the'll be less likely to complain.

Say sorry for being loud.
If you get on with your neighbours then the'll give you more leewat.
If you annoy them then they'll complain aobut every little thing.

If you invited in for tea or some such say yes, but don;t stay too long.
In have a quick cup and a chat and then leave.

Teddi

yea sparky.....we were thinking that...

were thinking of getting a bottle of wine for them or something...
we aint party animals....just dont want them to get the wrong impression...

i wouldnt have cared so much if it wasnt for the fact that the woman below is related to the landlord....dodgey territory.... who's side would he take...

the_syco

Anyone above ye? Ask them about it. They may have a fair idea on the rules. Basically ask someone not related to the landlord, and hasn't complained about you.

Also, find out from your landlord why the people who lived in your apartment moved out. If it were cos they were "too noisy", the landlords sister may become a major pain in the ars3.

MorningStar

Teddi wrote:

i shud have been more specific...

there wasnt a party planned...originally it was me and my mate...just sitting around watching telly...

then around 12 my bro and his mates came in..pissed off there heads...then they had a bit of a party..no music.....just talking....stopped at about 4

were also paying good money....money that should alow us do as we please within certain boundaries...just feels now that we cant do the basic stuff....

Just because you are paying "good money" gives you no more rights than anybody else. You were causing noise past a reasaonable hour. Your at fault accept it! If it is a quite place and you barge in and make noise of any sort and you take offense to being told to be quiter the house isn't going to suit your lifestyle. I wouldn't have a big problem with you but it doesn't change what is expected of a good neigbour. Not sure waht age you are but it sounds like you are not past 30 yet so you might not appreciate what people are objectecting to.

Victor

Teddi wrote:

and we were also not told that the woman living below us is the landlords sister inlaw

Theres no obligation to tell you.

Teddi wrote:

the letting agent told us only after the signing that the couple below like to live a quiet life.....

So you knew loud conversation at 4am just might disturb them?

Teddi wrote:

no-one even came up to say hi to us

Does anybody know you exist? Perhaps if you went and introduced yourselves?

Welcome to the big world, it doesn't revolve around you.

jellie

had a similiar problem when i was in college, our neighbours would complain when the tv was too loud, or even if we were up late talking! theyd come knocking on our door and threaten us with telling our landlord.
but we told our landlord about it before they did and he loved us anyway and didnt think we were doing anything wrong so it worked out ok for us
we then had a huge party couple of days before we left, and then they came in n told us theyd called the gards. we never did find out, we just went out into town

Victor

Complain to the landlord about noise coming from dowstairs and ask if anything can be done about sound insulation.

muffler

Im straying out of my own patch but I think I can sympathise with both parties.

When YOU get to middle age perhaps you would like a wee bit more peace and quiet. maybe these people had quieter neighbours before and were used to that atmosphere.

As to the lady being the landlord's sister-in-law .......... I dont know why you even mentioned that.

If the property was recently refurbished I would check with the local building control dept. and see what they have to say in relation to airborne sounds etc. If necessary get a test done on the sound insulation and if its not up to requirements then the landlord may well have more work to do.

I would certainly agree that you should go and meet these people and offer a little token of goodwill and cheer

If all else fails

---

swap flats/apartments or whatever

homeOwner

Just to give you a perspective from the other side, I lived in an apartment for 6 months where the person living upstairs played music and had the TV on fairly loud until the early hours of the morning. He would come home late and turn the TV on or play music, not even blaring it, but at 2am sound travels far in a quiet building. I can tell you there is nothing worse than being woken up at night regularly or going to bed not kowing if tonight you are going to be able to get a good night's sleep. It is extreamly distressing to have to live with other people's loud noises when you have no control over when the music/tv/loud talking is going to stop. Honestly I think these people arent trying to be a pain, they dont have it in for you and they are not trying to make your life uncomfortable. They just want to be able to sleep. I am sure they think if they come down on you like a ton of bricks for the first offense, you might think twice before doing it again.

You paid good money to be able to do your own thing. The people around you have paid good money to live somewhere quiet. If you intend on having the occasional party or playing music after 11pm then you should move, the situation isnt going to improve, the neighbours are still going to be disturbed by you and are going to complain and be even more hostile and can you blame them really.

If it was a once off and you dont see it happening again then pop down and appologise. But there is no point in doing that if you plan on having the odd party and playing music. What do you do the second time? Another appology will sound hollow.

Grem

My brother recently moved into an apartment block with his girlfriend. He is in a band and practises during the day/early evening maybe twice a week. He had never met his neighbours until one of them nearly beat his door down in a fury saying stop making so much noise because her baby was trying to get to sleep.
He very rightly told her to pi$$ off and that he was perfectly entitled to make as much noise as he wanted as long as it wasnt after 11 or something at night. I know its much more difficult when the person below you is related to the landlord but i think u pay probably as much money as the people below you do, so make as much noise as you want until 11 and then try keep it down unless youve advised them that you'll be having a party.
But the bottle of wine is a good idea...

muffler

Grem wrote:

My brother recently moved into an apartment block with his girlfriend. He is in a band and practises during the day/early evening maybe twice a week............. so make as much noise as you want until 11 and then try keep it down unless youve advised them that you'll be having a party.
But the bottle of wine is a good idea...

here was me thinking an apartment was for living in but it appears that it doubles up as semi music studio.

You obviously dont have a young family when you come out with such outragous comments

drunkenfool

This is bull**** imo....
We were living in a 3 bed room house which was above a basement type flat and for the entire year we didnt get any complaints, apart from a few times when we had a few parties which was understandable. Then new neighbours moved in below us and all of a sudden compaints started coming every night. Now we were all working ouselves and most of us would be in bed by 12 oclock. But they would come up screaming at us saying we were making loadsa noise, but theres no way we could have we were watching tv and maybe going to the toilet.
Its not our fault that the building was built so poorly that she could hear everything, I mean we pay good rent and have to lead our lives as well.. she complained to the landlord many of times, and our patients could only go so far. So we told her to **** off after a few weeks of this carry on. We felt sorry for her at first but i mean we have to live our lives as well.

CiaranC

He is in a band and practises during the day/early evening maybe twice a week.

Band practice in an apartment block? You are ****ing kidding me right?

And you think it unreasonable that a neighbour complained?

MorningStar

Grem wrote:

He very rightly told her to pi$$ off and that he was perfectly entitled to make as much noise as he wanted as long as it wasnt after 11 or something at night. .

Actually you are not entitled to make as much noise as you like before 11pm. There are restrictions and anybody who thinks an appartment is the suitable palce for band practice is probabbly not going to be seen as reasonable. Noise polution depends on your surroundings and your neighbours. All it will take is neighbours to keep complaining. That is assuming they aren't renting when the landlord may take a dim view of bothering the neighbours.

http://www.oasis.gov.ie/environment/noise_regulations.html?PHPSESSID=e4dbe4e316e22daaad1daeeda8ef9e42