Inconsiderate neighbours?

[Everything Mac]

Hi guys, as some may know I recently moved to the wirral. Been here a few months now and had no issues.

We live in a semi detached house.

Shortly after we moved in it became apparent that next door had new tenants too judging by the banging of what we assumed was furniture making.
Usually quite late in the day 8pm onwards.

Fine fair enough, they must work during the day. No big deal.

Then one night while I'm offshore my gf is sat listening to them banging drilling etc well past 22:30!
Thats not cool. She's a vet and does nights on call, like last night.

They stopped banging when she bashed on the wall.


So yesterday I put up a shelf in the wall that separates the houses. At 18:30. It took ten minutes. They were banging on the wall.

They then proceeded to have a girls party with lots of screaming. My gf was on call and started work at 8:45 this morning.
At 02:00 she went round just to ask them to keep it down a bit, not to complain.

She was told;

"It's my house I'll do what I want!"
We're you the one making noise earlier - yes at 6:30 in the evening for ten minutes.

She was quite frankly told where to go but they did seem to tone it down.

This morning I found a cigarette butt in my garden.



Any advice what to do? My knee jerk reaction was to put on some Metallica this morning.

But I really don't fancy falling out with the neighbours, let alone a noise war.....

cheers

 

[copper_head]

I know your pretty wound up right now, but the only solution to thi kind of thing is to talk to your neighbours. As soon as you reciprocate or call in the authorities it will only escalate to the point you hate living in your house. I've been there and made that mistake.
Good luck

 

[Man of Tanith]

Metallica?
very civilised try some raging speedhorn,or machine head, or Gwar,or some norweigen death metal, or napalm death or worse happy hardcore......
in seriousness maybe go round be polite explain maybe you got off on wrong foot offer em help to finish all the blasted diy
if that doesnt work sharpen all your bushy tools outside.....and break out the speedhorn

 

[Lynx]

Your first reaction was out of order in my opinion. You should have gone around to speak to them and not simply hammered on the wall. Communication is the key as this has now got off on the wrong foot. I agree they are out of order but you will only resolve this by understanding each other better and discussing it without any form of aggression; in fact why not smile and say look we have got off on a wrong foot here and take it from there?

 

[Man of Tanith]

Drilling after 22:30?
i would of bashed on wall at that time
or got in trouble for going round in what i sleep in.........nowt

 

[Wook]

You've already got off on a bad foot by banging on the wall as a first course of action.

I'd suggest trying to undo this by bringing them a peace offering of some sort and trying to make friends with them.

If you allow things to continue as they have you will have made enemies of your next door neighbours. This will make your life a living hell.

 

[Dougster]

I'm afraid I've been there. It's very unpleasant.

Stand back for a while, it may calm down but if they do it again, ask (nicely and with bleary eyes) to do it before 8pm as you have work very early.

If they continue to be unhelpful LOG EVERYTHING and then you have evidence.

It doesn't help and it takes a hell of a lot to do anything about it if they just won't play ball.

I'm with Lynx on this - try a new start.

All the very best with it.

 

[swotty]

We had problems during the summer with one of the flat owners in the block where we live. She was having parties with undesirable types nearly every night, we'd come home to people high on drugs and drink in the communial area. There was noise til the early hours and it was driving us mad. Unfortunately they weren't the sort of people that you could challenge for fear of damage to vehicles or the flat getting done over when we were at work (they don't work).We were lucky in so much as the other tenants were also getting fed up and we got the local PCSO involved. Everytime anything happened we called the police (not 999 but 101, non emergency and confidential) and they made several visits, a couple of arrests and the problem seems to have calmed down. We are however moving to a house in March partially because of this problem, a couple of other owners have also sold and moved.
The problem that we had was that she owned the flat and therefore we could not contact a landlord and get them to intervene, if your neighbours are renting I would contact their landlord in the first instance. Then try your local council and PCSO if noise or abusive comments persist.
This is the first time in 34yrs since leaving home I have had a neighbour problem but understand how frustrating / stressful it can be (it has also happened to friends. Just bear with it and you will be able to resolve!
Good Luck
Andy

Oh, and as Dougster says make sure you log everything!!

 

[redbranchwarrior]

+1 to the advice given above mate. Trying to find an amicable solution with the neighbours is by far the best and most effective route to take, if this isn't possible i'd advise you to move.

This may sound dramatic but even if you do report their behaviour it is unlikely anything will be done enforcement wise and if it is it will take a looong time.Noise pollution is dealt with by the Enviromental Health Officers (EHO's) in the local council not the police these days, but the EHO's tend to only get involved if the noise is after 2300 hrs and excessive by a set standard. To measure this they would have to visit when the noise is happening (if they are working/available), they will then measure the noise using a meter and if they decide it is excessive will write to the neighbour telling them to behave, if the behaviour continues then they can take further enformcement action such as seizing equipment etc. But it could take weeks or months for them to gather enoughh evidence to do something, during which time you guys are still living there with neighbours who know you have reported them. If the behaviour goes beyond just noise nuisance, constant banging doors, littering your garder, other anti-social behaviour, then the police may get involved. But again this is a very long process, the long term aim would be for the police to get Anti-Social Behaviour Order's/Injunctions (ASBO's/ASBI's), or issue harassment warnings (depending on the exact nature of the behaviour).But ASBO's/ASBI's requires a very high level of evidence normally over a prolonged period, and harassment warnings need evidence of a course of conduct which can be difficult to prove. Again during this time you are still living there with the problem next door.

Sorry if this sounds overly negative, but these situations are rarely if ever simple to deal with other than a friendly chat and meeting of minds which may or may not work........

 

[toilet digger]

fella i feel your pain, been there and got the tshirt. now this won't be seen as a sensible solution but its worked for me twice!
make their life hell, in as many small and innocuous ways as you can. if they are late risers; start the diy at 7.30. if they have their washing out on the line; have a bbq.
they may try to reciprocate but stay strong, objective and focused. when faced with a neighbour who's belief is ''its my house and i'll do what i want'', there is no other recourse.
chainsaw carving in the back yard was my coup de gras 2 months later.................gone.

 

[Dave]

Same as Lynx and Dougster and Redbranch. Its already been built up into something it shouldnt be. Swallow your pride, even though you know they are in the wrong. Be the bigger man, plan what you are going to say, and go around their and appeal to them.
If it continues, keep on appealing to him, with a smile on your face, until he gets it. Which he may never do.
Ive been there, quite a few years back now, when I was in an apartment. It has the potential to turn into a real nightmare.

If it gets to much, think about moving out sharpish. Because when it comes to stuff like this, the council, and police are absolutely useless, and in the end its just not worth it.

If youre the type of bloke who doesnt know how to back down.........you'll have to learn the hard way, that its lose lose, whatever you do.

Be smart, think about moving.

 

[Wook]

Whoa whoa whoa - I really wouldn't take all of the "declare war" advice above.

I live in housing association accommodation. We've moved 5 times in 10 years. We've had junkies and drug dealers for neighbours in that time.

Declaring war on your neighbours does not work. Trust me I know. Junkies and criminals are capable of tolerating and creating depths of unpleasantness that are well and truly out of your league, so don't go there.

The only thing that ever worked for me was trying to live at peace with them and making enemies of no one. This is easier if your neighbours aren't junkies, though.

 

[toilet digger]

Whoa whoa whoa - I really wouldn't take all of the "declare war" advice above.

I live in housing association accommodation. We've moved 5 times in 10 years. We've had junkies and drug dealers for neighbours in that time.

Declaring war on your neighbours does not work. Trust me I know. Junkies and criminals are capable of tolerating and creating depths of unpleasantness that are well and truly out of your league, so don't go there.

The only thing that ever worked for me was trying to live at peace with them and making enemies of no one. This is easier if your neighbours aren't junkies, though.

good point

 

[gsfgaz]

I dont think talking to them will work , it sound's like they will do what they want , these sort of people sleep all day ,and when ur trying to sleep they party all nite ,,, ... Good luck Andy , i hope things get sorted for you bud ..

 

[demographic]

You've already got off on a bad foot by banging on the wall as a first course of action.

That^ Going round and talking to them would be a better option in that case, banging on the wall rarely achieves anything.

 

[swright81076]

We've had these problems in the past. My solution involved calling round theirs for a chat. But without knocking or much talking on their part.

This is the only way that's ever worked for me, and if the neighbours are the type of people i think they are, then they don't understand reason.

Why not speak to the local bobby direct see if they can sort it.

touched by nature

 

[Everything Mac]

Well chaps some interesting replies.

Shortly after I had the rant this morning and on another forum I had to go out to get some stuff done.

Well as I eft I found egg on the car. .... :/

not impressed so I went round to have a word. I introduced myself and explained that we had no issue with the party other than the gf being on call and having an early start. But egg on the car was out of order.

She could not have been more apologetic. She claimed no knowledge of the egg throwing but offered something to help clean it off.
PI went on to explain that we didn't wish to cause any trouble etc etc. all very polite.

She apologised again and said to apologise to the misses too.


Well that was this morning. Just got through the door a minute ago and she came round with a bottle of wine and further apologies.

I will admit the music was a childish reaction, I was only playing it at 40% though.

Things seem to have been sorted out and hopefully we won't have any issues again. She mentioned that if she has a party in the future she'll come and let us know.

Cheers

 

[redbranchwarrior]

Good news mate, lets hope its the beginning of a peacefull co-existence........

 

[Lynx]

I trust we will all be invited?

 

[toilet digger]

glad to hear you got it sorted.