Noisy neighbour

lozzybear

Hi everyone, 

My mum and I moved into a flat recently and we love it but we have one issue - our next door neighbour is incredibly noisy, especially at night. We believe him to be mentally disabled in some way as we often hear him making loud noises and continuous laughter when he is in on his own. He also has his music up incredibly loud in the middle of the night - I'm not sure if this is a thin wall issue or if he really has the volume up too loud!

We both assume that this is not something he has control of, since we see carers in and out of his house all the time. But, of course, it is difficult for us as his noise/laughter/music keeps us awake at night. 

Can anyone offer any advice on how to deal with this situation? Neither of us want to be insensitive about the subject, so we need to take the correct steps here. 

Thank you in advance. 

Lauryn

Geoark

If you do not feel confident in talking with him directly there are a couple of things you can do.

As you mention a flat is this a council or social housing run block? If so talk to your neighbourhood officer. From what you have said it is likely that they will be aware of the situation and would hopefully be able to handle it sensitively if it is a mental health issue, or some other issue. If it is a private block speak to the landlord or their management agent.

These sort of issues can be hard to manage, and usually results in the volume going down for a while but then creep back up.

The other obvious route to go down is to contact the local council noise team. 

Please be aware though, at this time many services are reduced or suspended. For example our local noise and antisocial behaviour team will not arrange visits at this time. So it is unlikely there will be a quick fix.

Do report it to someone though and keep a diary of when these things happen. 

I know it can be hard at times, but do try and not get into direct conflict with your neighbour. It can muddle things up and make it difficult to find a solution. 

janer1967

Hi and welcome to the community I can sympathise with this as I have the same problem apart from my neighbours are not in any way mentally ill or in any other way ill. In fact surprised they have been given a bungalow in mhy area as they are a young couple with no requirements for this type of housing.

Anyway first of all I do keep a record of times dates etc in case I decide to take it further.

I did write a note and put it through their door asking that they turn the volume down on their music, this did work for a while but has since started up again 

I hope you get this sorted

lozzybear

Thank you both. 

The neighbour has been the noisiest he’s ever been today and we have realised today that he may not actually have a carer in his home, which seems worrying to us, so we will mention this in our letter to the management agent. 

Geoark - you mentioned the groups we could try contacting, but we own the flat we live in (it’s actually a maisonette so it’s slightly more complicated) so is there someone else you would suggest speaking to? We have never done this before so we are practically clueless. 

Thanks so much for responding to me - we feel much less alone on the situation thanks to you. 

Geoark

Hi @lozzybear

It's not really that more different. Possibly your are both leaseholders, or you are a leaseholder and your neighbour is not, either way you will both have a contract of some type, long term leases, tenancy agreement etc. If there is a management agent then this would be equivalent to talking to your neighbourhood officer. Where there are different landlords they usually have some communication network to resolve issues. Sadly it is rarely a quick route, especially where mental illness is concerned.

Reporting a noise issue to the council is still an option regardless of the above.

As you have mentioned concerns about his well being I am going to tag @Adrian_Scope as he will be able to offer better advice on how to approach this.

The other option I can think of is getting advice from Shelter if no one wants to deal with the issue.

Aside from this, one site I use a lot in my work and recommend to our lease holders is https://www.lease-advice.org/ hopefully you won't need it much but it has a lot of information useful for leaseholders.

Ozzy2013

I'm possibly the wrong person to give advice on this subject, the people upstairs from me 12 years ago when I moved in had a set of nightclub speakers & parties that started friday & ended sunday every week, & sexy orgies in every room that me & my friends could clearly hear above us...... The council did nothing to help...... I built a surround sound system with some very big, Very powerful tower speakers attached to several amplifiers..... I got in a  bit of trouble with the council but the weekend parties stopped upstairs lol

woodbine

Always a difficult one this, OP have you tried talking to the neighbour? for noise during the night have you tried ear plugs?
All that said speaking to the council is your best bet