very noisy neighbours extra advice needed

[gingerbreadman]

help my wife,kids and i are at the point of breaking. we live in a 3 bed semi but for the last 2 months our new neighbours are hell.the previous neighbours have relocated elsewhere due 2 work,gave house to letting agents.we have contacted agent,council,police all we get is keep a log,needs 2 be criminal matter etc. we have tried to explain face to face but no understand is reply(i dont speak czech). does anyone know what i can do legally to try an get these people out.dont get me wrong im no way against where pepole are from but not sleeping is affecting work,family life etc.im told by agent 4 people are meant to be living in house but we can count 9 regular.seems when agents calls everthing is ok,i suppose it will be when they turn up at 2pm and never at night. its just not us that have complained but 4 other families in street,any other info would be helpful thank-you

 

[Spark123]

I take it you have spoken to the Environmental Health people at the local council?

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

You must contact the neighbours, if by speaking to them or by letter, if this contact is not made, the problem will be hard to resolve.
Your neighbours may not even think there is a problem.
I'm sure out of the 4-9 then are living there one will speak english.
But if you feel unsafe contacting them direct send a letter, do not put yourself at risk.
Then if nothing is done, you can escalate to informing the council(which you have already done)
Under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, councils are obliged to take reasonable steps to investigate complaints of nuisance noise.

Having noisy neighbours can be very unpleasant, but if you are informed you can do something about it. The following advice is recommend

1. If you feel safe enough to do so, try to make personal contact. Many times you will find that your neighbours had no idea they were causing a nuisance.
2. If you prefer to keep a distance, use an anonymous letter or note. Be amiable, and try to let your neighbour see things from your perspective – if they are reasonable people they are likely to appreciate that everyone needs sleep!
3. Collect evidence. If your efforts at informing your neighbours that they are causing a nuisance are unsuccessful, you will benefit from having a diary of their noisy behaviour when you contact the authorities.
4. Be safe. When in doubt, do not engage your noisy neighbours – if you fear that they might escalate the situation into something beyond just noise making, or you feel frightened, bullied or intimidated, then contact the police rather than putting yourself into a potentially unsafe situation.

 

[bhm1712]

I found the best solution when we had problems with very loud music at all hours was to out do them. I got all 3 of my huge guitar amps, placed them against the neighbours wall in our living room, turned them all up to max and played at all hours. Within days their loud music stopped and has not come back. I think sometimes people dont realise how loud music can sound next door in a semi or terraced house, and it just takes a little realisation to occur to get them to change their behaviour.

 

[merlin50]

bhm1712 is spot on i had the same problem many years ago, i put loud music on at 4 in the morning, they were soon banging on my door asking me to turn it off. never had problems after that.

 

[joe-90]

I imagine the type of noise the OP is referring to is people shouting, slamming doors and clunking up and down stairs day and night. Antagonising people with loud music isn't going to make them sit still is it? More likely get him beaten up. There are laws in regard to habitable properties that stop occupancy of a small house by a large group of people. You need to contact the house owner and tell him you'll take legal action against him for breaking said laws.

This is the price we all have to pay because big business wants cheap labour. The average Brit with a family can't live like that - and that is why they won't or can't take the low paid work on offer.

Why not try the CAB?

 

[bhm1712]

i earn a considerable amount of money but if i was out of work i would work for £6 an hour if it was all i could get, and i could survive on it because i would have no choice. This rubbish about families not being able to live off the back of work on offer is rubbish, you have to adjust, sometimes seriously, in order to survive

Back onto subject,

if it is shouting and banging which is the problem, then of course the correct way to do it is to complain the the house owner or letting agency. maybe you could gather some evidence about what is going on which will back up what your saying regardless of what the agent sees when they visit at 2pm. Write a letter to the agency or owner stating what the issue is, and when it is occuring. Make it clear that there are possibly up to 9 people living in the house, as im sure any normal landlord would not be happy with this either. Send any evidence you have along with it and see what happens. If nothing happens, send another letter stating that you will have no other option but to inform the local authority.

unfortunately, the law is not on your side with this, other than the 9 people issue. They may send around somebody to listen and measure the amount of noise being made, and if it is below a certain level they will not be liable to do anything

 

[joe-90]

i earn a considerable amount of money

When you don't then get back to us.

 

[bhm1712]

i earn that now, but i have earnt the minimum wage in the past. I have no shame in working as a toilet cleaner if it was all the work i could get. In between engineering jobs, i worked as a shelf stacker for iceland, at the same time as my missus lost her job. We survived with a £700 pound mortgage and 1 year old baby. it can be done.

 

[joe-90]

Not if the pay doesn't cover the outgoings it doesn't.

 

[bhm1712]

then look for a job which does! there are hundreds of jobs out there!! i dont care what anybody says, Look on job centre, look in the paper. I read them every week and there are tons of jobs. Perhaps not in my field, but i would do them if i had no choice.

and cut back on everything.

TV package = gone
Holidays = gone
Internet = gone
turn heating down
Shower instead of bath
wash on a lower temp
only boil the water you need
use lids on cooking pans
no beer
no fags
energy saving lamps
use 1 car instead of 2
bike to work
shop at aldi

we were spending on 'necessary' outgoings around £1200 a month before the crap hit the fan.

during the bad time we got it down to about £950 and that £250 was simply because we were being careful and not having luxurys. my wage just about covered all of that and that was just over minimum wage 42 hours a week

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

use lids on cooking pans

Eh?

 

[bhm1712]

if you are trying to cook something in a pan with water in etc, if you put a lid on it you dont need to have the gas on as high, as less energy is lost to the surrounding area. So you save on gas.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Every little helps ........

 

[Mw Roofline]

shop at aldi

Lol, the very bottom of the list. If I tried shopping at Aldi, i'd probably do ok till I got back to the carpark and my car was no longer there