Neighbour is making my life miserable

William Williamson

The house next to mine is a council property, and the most recent tenants are a real nightmare - first it was a lady and her little girl, who would regularly host 'birthday parties' until the early morning (my bedroom shares a wall with their livingroom). Last year a jamaican boyfriend moved in who literally shouts into his phone all night - typically until midnight or later.

Getting up at 6 to walk the dog, make breakfast and get into work for 7:30 is really quite miserable when I have to listen to patois being yelled 18" from my head through the wall. I have put a through very kindly worded notes through their door, to no effect. A few weeks ago when they were last blasting music out so loud I could hear it in my house a few rooms away - I knocked on the window and was told "It's not my music!", from the girl (I assume her boyfriend was playing it - on the stereo in the same room, mind you).

Most recently I tapped on the window as it was almost midnight and had the guy come out and threaten and intimidate me with the threat of violence, that I need to f--k off and so on. (Was really quite frightening).

I don't think I'm being unreasonable to ask that they keep the noise down in a room whose wall we share after 11 o'clock or so, but I really don't know where to go from here. My local council no longer run an out of hours service, so I'm reduced to writing a 'disturbance diary' and submitting it, and then the council will send them a letter? These are people who have an old fridge sitting in their front garden, both unemployed and have no issue with their pre-teen kids being exposed to above mentioned drama.

I'm at my wits end, any thoughts would be gladly appreciated.

joeyowen

If they came around a threatened violence, the police should be involved 

William Williamson

He didn't come to my house, I was knocking on his door at that point to ask him to keep it down, there was the implicit threat of violence but he was very careful to not verbally declare anything (i.e. "I'm going to beat you up") or actually touch me - i.e. nothing that can be actioned AFAIK. 

William Williamson

Frankly I would rather crack a few beers with the guy - find out if I'm pissing him off with anything, see if we can work it out - but how long do I have to keep placating this rude, inconsiderate family?

I'm also somewhat worried that the council will do nothing but highlight the fact I have complained to them - escalating the situation, my bluff being called - and then being victimised in some other 'death-by-a-thousand-cuts' way.

fretmeister

William Williamson said:

He didn't come to my house, I was knocking on his door at that point to ask him to keep it down, there was the implicit threat of violence but he was very careful to not verbally declare anything (i.e. "I'm going to beat you up") or actually touch me - i.e. nothing that can be actioned AFAIK. 

A Common misconception.

Assault does not need to be a threat or even physical touching. Causing fear of harm in a person is enough. So get it reported.

Whether the 19 yr old plod on the front desk actually knows the finer points of judgments regarding the Offences Against the Person Act is another thing though...

boogieman

You're doing the right thing with the diary. The council will talk to the tenants and serve warning notices first but they can terminate the tenancy if they get enough complaints or the tenants ultimately don't comply with keeping the disturbances down. Might be worth checking with the neighbours the other side to get them onboard too? 

William Williamson

@fretmeister so you reckon it's worth reporting, even though I technically instigated the confrontation? @boogieman It's a semi-detached, so no other neighbours. My upstairs neighbour can vouch for the noise the tenants make when they're in their garden/etc. tho?

beed84

Nothing worse than inconsiderate neighbours. I've been there to the point where it's caused me to be at my wits end too so you have my sympathy. Sadly, getting something done about requires some work. Keep on with the diary and report any threats to the police. Even call the non-emergency police if they're keeping you up late and affecting your wellbeing. 

Jalapeno

William Williamson said:

@fretmeister so you reckon it's worth reporting, even though I technically instigated the confrontation? @boogieman It's a semi-detached, so no other neighbours. My upstairs neighbour can vouch for the noise the tenants make when they're in their garden/etc. tho?

I'd bet they can hear it too ....

fretmeister

William Williamson said:

@fretmeister so you reckon it's worth reporting, even though I technically instigated the confrontation? @boogieman It's a semi-detached, so no other neighbours. My upstairs neighbour can vouch for the noise the tenants make when they're in their garden/etc. tho?

Report it.

A complaint to the neighbour is not the same as a confrontation. 

boogieman

William Williamson said:

@fretmeister so you reckon it's worth reporting, even though I technically instigated the confrontation? @boogieman It's a semi-detached, so no other neighbours. My upstairs neighbour can vouch for the noise the tenants make when they're in their garden/etc. tho?

Any neighbour that can hear the disturbance is worth talking to tbh. I'd agree on reporting any threats of violence too, at the very least it'll go down on record and reinforce your case against the selfish asshole. 

Deadman

I think most of us have experienced this at some point in our lives. I know you're in a bad place right now William but don't give up and tell yourself constantly that things will get better. It may take time but won't last forever.

You have our full support, keep using this thread to vent etc.

LooseMoose

I'll probably get called a gigantic p*ssy for this but my suggestion, if you think it's unlikely to get better, is move.

Life's too short - assuming you rent, get the hell out of there.

scrumhalf

If they are council tenants is there not a clause in their tenancy agreement requiring them to be quiet (or not loud) at certain times of the day?

MtB

First forewarn the people upstairs, then wait until the noisy neighbours are doing their stuff, then start an hour's worth of guitar practice with your amp on 10 (at least) and positioned close to the party wall. ;-)

You do have a 100 watt amp, don't you?

JezWynd

I was in a very similar situation a couple of years ago - extremely inconsiderate neighbour holding all weekend parties that ran on into the following week. Brawls outside the flat, taxis disgorging more pissed/stoned party goers clutching cans. I felt deeply for his neighbours on the other side as they had a new baby and had purchased their property from the Council.

We eventually got him out, it took over 12 months and meant keeping a diary of every event but it worked. The Council took him to court and we gave evidence as to his selfish, inconsiderate behaviour. The judge saw through his useless promises to reform and gave him 4 weeks notice.

That said, I'd second @LooseMoose idea of moving if it's at all possible. This kind of crap destroys your peace of mind and quality of life.

57Deluxe

Can he get good weed though?

thomasross20

I've had this twice.

I think you'll find there's next to no help.
I'm one case we had to wait years for them to move out. In the other the landlord only shifted them after they damaged his property.

William Williamson

Honestly, it's the straw that broke the camels back and has motivated me to finally find some land to build a house on - so thank you all for the kind encouragement in that direction. 

I will call the non-emergency line to report the confrontation later today, and I will keep this disturbance diary. Maybe it will illuminate that I'm making a mountain out of a molehill, but if not hopefully should provide some good ammunition.

Cheers,

boogieman

thomasross20 said:

I've had this twice.

I think you'll find there's next to no help.
I'm one case we had to wait years for them to move out. In the other the landlord only shifted them after they damaged his property.

Were your cases a private landlord @thomasross20? This involves a council tenant, so there's more likely to be help available.

Sesh

Keep doing the diary, keep reporting it. Stereo's can get confiscated if they don't respond to the council's warnings. Yes, it might mean you will never have a good relationship with your neighbours. That doesn't sound like much of a loss.

A few miles from me a woman was nearly imprisoned for similar un-neighbourly behaviour, which reached a pinnacle when she waved an inflatable penis about. It's dead classy around here.