Noisy Neighbours

I'm in a 3 storey block of six flats. I'm on the top floor and I can hear the tenants below walking around, they are fully carpeted but you can hear them like they are walking round on their heals, banging cupboards shut, letting doors slam (they are like fire doors that close behind you).

I've told them, it stops for a day or two they carry a on again. Fortunatey it's not that often so I can put up with it, plus I'm moving out soon.

It's one of them things you have to put up with in flats. But heir are limits.

Hopefully my new place will be ok because I'm buy. End terrance house though.
 
Well last night was BAD!!!!, Ended up finally falling asleep at 3am and it was all to do with the neighbour 3 floors up, he had his sub going for nigh on 5hrs!. All you could hear was boom boom boom boom boom boom, silence for 10mins then boom boom boom boom. I can't believe that NOBODY complains, what the hell is the guy doing who lives one floor below that?. I was considering calling 101 non emergency police last night but then i'd have to walk through the corridor to the front door to let them in.

Saturday nights seem to be a huge problem keeping quiet for some people..


Also people go on about houses as if they are better than flats, they are not unless it's detached!. I've lived in places with neighbours that are just as noisy, I've lived in houses with people that'd sooner murder you just for looking at them
 
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Just an update to my thread from a while back...

The guy has now had his mate move in by the looks of things and it's now like having two ridiculously noisy people in the flat who insist on jumping up and down on the spot and squealing like little girls all the time.

I didn't think that it was legal to rent out to someone else in a shared ownership flat...?

There surely must be some kind of complaints procedure that would actually work? Both for the noise and for the 'friend'?

Spoken to them again, and they pretty much laughed in my face. Strength in numbers it seems.
 
Converge said:
Spoken to them again, and they pretty much laughed in my face. Strength in numbers it seems.
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There will be a firm (or collection of owners) who manage the flats. You should start making regular complaints, in writing, to them. There isn't an awful lot they can do unless things get nasty, but they won't like being pestered and ought to pass on your concerns to the owner.

You might also contact them and ask for the details of the owner of the flat above. They might not pass them on, but they could at least pass a letter on to the owner detailing the history and change of circumstances above.

Some flat owners who rent out really don't give a monkey's what goes on in their property (it's a problem we have where I am, with owners living a long way away), but most will recognise that noisy tenants are unikely to be conscientious in other ways, making them unreliable occupants.

The landlord may be able to encourage the guys above to be more responsible, or even decide not to renew their tenancy, but it will probably require you to be fairly persistent. It would help if other people were affected by the noise, and could be persuaded to complain as well, but often it's only those directly above or below who are affected.

You might also get some advice from the 101 phone number. The Police can't do much, but they certainly waste a lot of time on disturbances like this, and may have some useful advice.

Good luck. It really can be soul destroying at times. I was looking at local house prices myself earlier this week, but even if I pooled all my savings I'd still be looking at small semis which might be just as noisy as a flat... though there is something uniquely stressful about people being noisy directly overhead. I don't think our genes have any evolutionary defence against it. :-)
 
I remember a thread on here where a guy built an artificial soundproof ceiling inside his flat to combat noisy neighbours.

He seemed quite pleased with the result. Took away 6 inches from his room height however.
 
Call the council.

It sorted out our noisy neighbour a treat. They came inside our flat at 2am to hear the noise he was making, then had a word with him sharpish. I don't know what they said to him but he hasn't made a noise since, and that was about a year ago.
 
Andrew_McP said:
There will be a firm (or collection of owners) who manage the flats. You should start making regular complaints, in writing, to them. There isn't an awful lot they can do unless things get nasty, but they won't like being pestered and ought to pass on your concerns to the owner.

You might also contact them and ask for the details of the owner of the flat above. They might not pass them on, but they could at least pass a letter on to the owner detailing the history and change of circumstances above.

Some flat owners who rent out really don't give a monkey's what goes on in their property (it's a problem we have where I am, with owners living a long way away), but most will recognise that noisy tenants are unikely to be conscientious in other ways, making them unreliable occupants.

The landlord may be able to encourage the guys above to be more responsible, or even decide not to renew their tenancy, but it will probably require you to be fairly persistent. It would help if other people were affected by the noise, and could be persuaded to complain as well, but often it's only those directly above or below who are affected.

You might also get some advice from the 101 phone number. The Police can't do much, but they certainly waste a lot of time on disturbances like this, and may have some useful advice.

Good luck. It really can be soul destroying at times. I was looking at local house prices myself earlier this week, but even if I pooled all my savings I'd still be looking at small semis which might be just as noisy as a flat... though there is something uniquely stressful about people being noisy directly overhead. I don't think our genes have any evolutionary defence against it. :-)
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Cheers for the advice Andrew_McP, but there are no proper 'landlords' to go to as such, as they're shared ownership properties, so the person generally owns the greater share of the property.

The only people I can go to are the housing association and they are about as useful as a chocolate teapot.

Unfortunately, unless the people below me can hear the banging too, then it's only really me that's affected :(

Lysander said:
Call the council.

It sorted out our noisy neighbour a treat. They came inside our flat at 2am to hear the noise he was making, then had a word with him sharpish. I don't know what they said to him but he hasn't made a noise since, and that was about a year ago.
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Yeah, but the thing is they won't hear any noise when they came around as it's them walking, or just generally dropping stuff, and other random things. All stuff that they'll stop doing when in the presence of an authority and go straight back to when they're gone :(

Edit: Whoops, I read that as them going in their flat, not mine! Yeah, I could do that, but it's very sporadic where for a few hours here or there, it's fine. Then all hell breaks loose. Maybe I could record it or something.
 
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lowrider007 said:
There should be law that ceilings/floors in apartments should have to conform to a certain level of sound insulation, in my place you can even hear a kettle being boiled above me at night :p
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Pretty sure they do. Although I think in converted houses and such, it is lower. I'd never rent/buy in a converted building unless on top (ooer). Purpose built would be fine though. Don't think they are meant to use that tacky laminate wood flooring in flats either.
 
Having similar issues at the moment (although I wouldn't call them major, just more annoying)

Bought my first home, couple renting upstairs flat, to start with it was just stomping about ( they have a bathroom downstairs which is next to my bedroom) and all the running up and down stairs - they don't seem to be able to just walk normally!

The past few weeks though, it's been non stop arguing, I wish they'd just get on and break up, if they're not shouting at eachother, the bloke is stomping out of the house or they're shouting at eachother outside the house.

I'd complain, but they'd know it was me as I'm the only neighbour. The bloke gets very verbally abusive to his missus, and so I worry because I live by myself, he'd be round giving me what for.
 
What are these bulidings made of thats what Im wondering. Sounds like really flimsy materials no sound proofing etc?

Something to be said for the Asian mania of rock-solid cement apartments! When I was on vacation I realized how brill they are. You could have a rave and neighbours would have no clue.
 
I had this when I was renting a terraced flat years ago. Sometimes even at 3 in the morning when they were drunk, they play very loud guitar. I even knock on the walls to let them know they are disturbing my sleep but the louder they play their guitar and sing "nothing else matters". I once called the police and asked them to come, but the police refused and asked me to call "environmental" something" in the morning. In the end, I moved house.
 
I have noisy neighbours and I have a variety of solutions on how to deal with them.

Arguing - Constant loop of 'One Step Closer' by Linkin Park, partciulaly the "Shut up" section.
Loud dubstep - Heavy metal on full volume.
Screaming kids - Anything with lots of swearing.

All three have worked so far, it's just the neighbourgh 3 doors down I need to deal with now, heard her music at 5am the other day...that was fun.
 
Creature said:
I have noisy neighbours and I have a variety of solutions on how to deal with them.

Arguing - Constant loop of 'One Step Closer' by Linkin Park, partciulaly the "Shut up" section.
Loud dubstep - Heavy metal on full volume.
Screaming kids - Anything with lots of swearing.

All three have worked so far, it's just the neighbourgh 3 doors down I need to deal with now, heard her music at 5am the other day...that was fun.
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That would annoy the people below me though, and they're fine.

Also, as mentioned, the acoustic noise is non existant, I think the flooring is good in that respect. It just does naff all with impact sound e.g. inconsiderate people wandering around with boots filled with lead on.
 
Lord-Jaffa said:
This is exactly the reason why you never buy or rent a flat with people above you, its the absolute worst decision you can make.
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Yep, most definitely won't be doing it again, I can assure you of that! :(

Thing is, the person who is noisy moved in the same day I did. The previous owner (above) was an old person who made no noise from what I saw when I looked round and never heard a dickey bird.

It was just my luck. Balls!
 
Converge said:
Yep, most definitely won't be doing it again, I can assure you of that! :(

Thing is, the person who is noisy moved in the same day I did. The previous owner (above) was an old person who made no noise from what I saw when I looked round and never heard a dickey bird.

It was just my luck. Balls!
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The reason you never heard the old owner is because they were probably dead.

I'd be half tempted to record the noise, or just invite one of them down when the other is in so they can see (or rather hear) what it is you're having to put up with.

If that fails stop being so polite and merely remark that it'll be hard for them to stomp around if they had broken legs. Say this whilst holding the largest heaviest tool you own. If any complaints come your way you never threatened them, you just pointed out something truthful whilst doing DIY.
 
Any other people living in the block of flats hear anything ? If they do go to the police in numbers or see them again and try a different approach.

As weird as it sounds go round one night with a beer/wine/tea/coffee and ask if you can come in and try to make them see your an OK guy and not been a moaning git for the sake of it.

Sounds an unusual approach since they have laughed at your complaints but you do have nothing to lose. Sure I read something like this on PH which ended in happy way using this method. Just an idea hope it all gets sorted soon for you.
 
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