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Neighbour thinks she's Adele

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  • 13-07-2019 7:59pm
    #1
    LegacyUser
    Registered Users Posts: 166,026 ✭✭✭✭


    Apologies if this is the wrong forum, needed somewhere I could post anonymously in case I am in fact in the wrong!!!

    My gf and I moved into a new place this month, sharing with one other (a nurse who is rarely here). It is 2 large semi-d houses split into apartments. We are in a 2 bed on the second floor and up into the attic at the back of one house, in an extension. To the front of us (in the original house) we have a neighbour who thinks she is Adele and sings all evening from the moment she gets home until night time. The noise is worst in our ensuite, she is still VERY clearly audible from the bedroom and also the kitchen/sitting room. Her place is obviously the other side of the wall. We are technically only separated by a regular bedroom/interior house wall, as we are in the same building just with different entrances.

    We had a laugh about this the first evening but then it started to grate on me quicker than it did my gf, who still says we can't really ask someone to stop singing in their own apartment, especially as she stops at a semi reasonable hour (10/11pm) and it doesn't go on late into the night. She is just so loud. Every word is audible and she ooh's and aah's like she's giving a concert. This is worsened by the fact she actually can't sing.

    Hand on heart I have tried ignoring it, turning the TV up, singing along, it is just plain annoying and I'm absolutely sick of it. GF is warning me not to go over and say anything, who is right??? I banged on the wall three times one night and she didn't even flinch, gf was mortified but Adele didn't even seem to notice.


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    #2
    LegacyUser
    Registered Users Posts: 166,026 ✭✭✭✭LegacyUser


    If you can hear her, she must be able to hear you. Have you tried playing some YouTube songs to what she's singing on full volume. She would have to get the hint after a few if you keep playing songs she's singing.


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    #3
    1hnr79jr65
    Registered Users Posts: 916 ✭✭✭1hnr79jr65


    Speak to the landlord about noise insulation, if no luck there then you can try the childish route.....

    play some porn loudly and bang the bed against the wall a bit, or even go at it loudly for real. Maybe she will get the hint.


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    #4
    antix80
    Registered Users Posts: 2,419 ✭✭✭antix80


    Reggaeton is an underrated genre. Put a speaker in your en suite and blast some tunes.


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    #5
    StinkyMunkey
    Registered Users Posts: 1,398 ✭✭✭StinkyMunkey


    Adele is obviously totally oblivious to the fact there are people is the world who don't wanna listen to her.

    Either ask her in person to stop singing, which I suspect would fall on deaf ears or fight fire with Fire - loud music or TV.

    Any person has a right to peace and quiet in their home and anyone who says otherwise is a pure Cnut.


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    #6
    Sonny noggs
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,523 ✭✭✭Sonny noggs


    The neighbour is not the problem, the poor sound proofing is because the owner didn’t do a proper conversion. Did he even have planning permission?


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    #7
    cuddlepunk
    Registered Users Posts: 55 ✭✭cuddlepunk


    It's possible she could be wearing headphones and not realizing she is singing so loud...and that way she wouldn't hear you singing along or banging on wall etc?


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    #8
    AlmightyCushion
    Moderators, Education Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 35,050 Mod ✭✭✭✭AlmightyCushion


    hinthint wrote: »
    If you can hear her, she must be able to hear you. Have you tried playing some YouTube songs to what she's singing on full volume. She would have to get the hint after a few if you keep playing songs she's singing.

    Surely 'shut the fúck up' by blink 182 would be a better choice.


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    #9
    Munsterman12
    Registered Users Posts: 91 ✭✭Munsterman12


    Just go over and talk to her. If she doesn't stop get some revenge...


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    #10
    wiggle16
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 3,022 Mod ✭✭✭✭wiggle16


    Did we really get to post #9 and no one said Hello, can you hear me.....

    Though it's kinda telling that in this day and age we get to post #5 before someone actually suggests talking to the woman.

    Knock on her door and politely tell Adele you can hear loud music coming from her apartment, that you're not sure if it's music or singing (hint, give her a chance to save face) but you would be very grateful if she could keep the noise down. In the event she says she can hear XYZ from your place, just bite your tongue and say you will try to keep that down too (I suspect this is the reaction you will get). This is one of those situations where you need to be as diplomatic as you possibly can, because you only get one shot at it.

    Don't go playing loud music or banging on the wall. You could play thrash metal at full volume, but it won't matter, because she has the advantage - all she has to do is keep singing. Your girlfriend has the right approach here to be honest. Don't be a d*ck, it will backfire.

    Just talk to her.


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    #11
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    Just start singing along..doing harmonies and sh1t..


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    #12
    Always Tired
    Closed Accounts Posts: 945 ✭✭✭Always Tired


    She probably has some idea her neighbors can hear, but she enjoys it a lot. The fact that she isnt great at it makes it even more admirable to me, and I would never try to stop someone doing something creative that gives them joy, especially since they stop at a reasonable hour.


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    #13
    leggo
    Registered Users Posts: 9,061 ✭✭✭leggo


    wiggle16 wrote: »
    Did we really get to post #9 and no one said Hello, can you hear me.....

    Though it's kinda telling that in this day and age we get to post #5 before someone actually suggests talking to the woman.

    Knock on her door and politely tell Adele you can hear loud music coming from her apartment, that you're not sure if it's music or singing (hint, give her a chance to save face) but you would be very grateful if she could keep the noise down. In the event she says she can hear XYZ from your place, just bite your tongue and say you will try to keep that down too (I suspect this is the reaction you will get). This is one of those situations where you need to be as diplomatic as you possibly can, because you only get one shot at it.

    Don't go playing loud music or banging on the wall. You could play thrash metal at full volume, but it won't matter, because she has the advantage - all she has to do is keep singing. Your girlfriend has the right approach here to be honest. Don't be a d*ck, it will backfire.

    Just talk to her.

    This is the correct advice, even follow the script set out here, it’s perfectly handled and the only way this situation doesn’t either continue or get worse.


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    #14
    Ursus Horribilis
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,168 ✭✭✭Ursus Horribilis


    Exactly. The only way to ever sort these sorts of issues is to have a face to face conversation. People rarely take the hint or react to passive aggressive behaviour in the way you want them to. Blasting music at high volume. solves nothing. It's simply the easy way out, no more than sending texts is.


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    #15
    skallywag
    Registered Users Posts: 2,987 ✭✭✭skallywag


    I have been in a similar situation where I have been playing loud music in a flat which clearly annoyed my neighbour as he arrived at my door one night very pissed off and angry about it. I was genuinely unaware that I was disturbing anyone as I had assumed that the building had much better sound proofing that it did (I had never heard any real sounds myself from my neighbours, but I guess that they were just quieter).

    In any case I made sure to turn the volume well down from that day on, but I was still pissed off at the manner in which the guy handled it, i.e. if he had just told me in a reasonable manner then we would have solved the issue immediately and possibly stayed on good terms, but the manner in which he brought it across just pissed me off immensly and I never gave him the time of day afterwards.

    All that said I have to say that of all the appartments / flats. etc that I have lived in, I have never once come across one which had decent sound insulation. The worst I have experienced is a place where I could even here what was being said on tv etc from the next place. Have a place now where I can make as much noise as I want, it's a huge plus!


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    #16
    ElizaBennett
    Registered Users Posts: 239 ✭✭ElizaBennett


    Yes you should knock on her door and ask her to keep it down but I definitely think you should talk to the landlord too about proper sound insulation. You can't live comfortably in your home like this. They should be able to retro-fit some sort of insulation to the relevant walls that would at least help.


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    #17
    BrokenArrows
    Registered Users Posts: 7,500 ✭✭✭BrokenArrows


    The first step is always to just talk to your neighbour.

    If they refuse to change their ways then you can escalate to landlords and then reporting them.

    It doesnt matter if they stop at a reasonable time. Singing constantly all evening when its clearly audible in the adjacent house is too much.

    But she is probably unaware of it.


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    #18
    endacl
    Registered Users Posts: 22,235 ✭✭✭✭endacl


    Leave a big bag of lollipops by her door. Can’t sing with a gob full of lollipops and seriously, who could be offended by lollipops?

    :)


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    #19
    ManOfMystery
    Registered Users Posts: 2,394 ✭✭✭ManOfMystery


    A friend of mine had this exact issue many years ago.

    Shared apartment block, paper thin walls, and a neighbour who couldn't sing but insisted on doing it from when she got home until she went to bed. In this case she was channelling Madonna more than Adele.

    He tried banging on walls, turning up TV, all the usual. Was the kind of guy who hated confrontation but eventually had enough and went to have a word in person, only to discover that just like Madonna, she was a bit of a diva and basically told him cheekily that she could do what she liked in her own apartment.

    Anther friend in our group them made a good point. The thing about people who can't sing is that they've often never heard actually heard themselves played back, which is usually quite different from how they sound in their head as they're prancing around their fantasy stage in their living room and belting out Like a Virgin. So my friend in the apartment block recorded her one night for 30 mins, then played it back at full volume.

    No more singing.


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