General Chat

I've just been woken up about 40 minutes ago by my neighbours music blasting out. Folk music just before 3.15 am in the morning. This happens about once a year when he's got the hump with somebody. Don't believe we have done anything wrong. So it must be the other side. What a pain. If we did it there would be ructions. My husband works shifts but is off tomorrow, they are shiftworkers too. We are always quiet at night as hubby is in bed by 10pm if he's on days. I'm really fed up I went up to bed around 9.30 last night as I haven't been sleeping well and get woken up with this racket. Had to get up. Put a music channel on to try and drown it out a bit. Trouble is I couldn't do the same back as I have kids in bed etc. I don't know what with the mad fence woman and this I'm doing really brilliant. Diane

Diane, you poor soul, as if you didn't have enough going on with 'the mad fence woman'. Are there any improvements or developments on that score?

Call the cops, dont you have a limit on what time noise can be made untill?, in Aussieland 12 midnight. Theresa

Oh dear Diane, Was thinking the same as Linda, it must be dreadful, the fence episode is bad enough, can nobody help, what about other neighbours?.

We have a problem with our next door neighbours. A young couple with five children and three dogs. Last year had to get the council involved because their garden was in such a state and they only had the one dog then, but they would throw all their rubbish out there, it was disgusting. Woman from council didn't think there was a problem until I told her it took three skips to take the rubbish away. We also ended up with ants in the house and everyone complained of rats in the gardens, council believed me then. Their oldest dog is a staffordshire bull and now their have two more crossed with american pit bulls. The noise in the early hours of the money is terrible, when the dogs are fighting and barking. The oldest, a bitch is constantly breaking free, got into our garden this week for the second time, broke one of my lanterns, knocked over plant pots and left a deposit right outside the back door, the girl next door is so unconcerned. My worry is if the two dogs get in, because my dog is 13, has cataracts and not many teeth. We have built our wall up to five feet and have trellis on the top, they have no wall or fence, their garden is thick mud and dog dirt and urine and stinks. I can see me getting the council involved again, we are hoping they will soon breed themselves out of this house, her youngest is a year old and this is usually the time when she gets pregnant. Their friends visit and insist on parking their cars outside our drive gate and when I complain, they have the most to say, so now I take their registration numbers and report them to the local police, as it is an offence and carries a fine and points. We have thought about moving, but we have been here over 13 years and have spent a lot of money on the house and don't see why we should be the ones to move, when we want a quiet life. I hope things get better for you all with bad neightbours, because it is so stressful. M.

This doesn't happen very often with this side, thank goodness. But they really should grow up. She is 64 he's a bit younger and a bit of a slob. She works shifts in a home and he works at the port. If he was having to get up at 5am to start work and we had done it there would be one helluva argument. My husband has been on days all week so as far as he could know he may have had to get up at 5.45 this morning. Luckily he is off today and didn't even hear it, could sleep through the bomb going off. We had it happen a couple of years back same time and everything but with pavarotti at full blast!! The wife let it slip one day about having trouble with the other side and they may have to do a pavarotti on them. So it is to get back at you really. A bit sad as it disturbs both sides. I am really fed up as I desperately need a good nights sleep at the moment. If I came into some money and could move, I would tomorrow and rent this out to several people who could do what they liked and see how they like it. The way some people behave really makes you wonder. Diane

In the UK, the Noise Abatement Act bars anything that would cause nuisance, offence or distress to neighbouring properties between 11pm and 7am. The local council's Environmental Health Dept take it very seriously now! We had problems with our now ex neighbours just after Morgan was born...music thru the walls in the middle of the night, parties till all hours almost every weekend and when we complained, they sent someone round, attached a device to our back bedroom wall and recorded everything for a week. Came and collected it and had the guy in court. He got fined £500!

I'm not sure phoning the police does much good(didn't in our case anyway!) as i had trouble with neighbours where i used to live. They were students and they used to play their music until all hours and my daughter was only a few months old at the time. They rented the house off the bloke next door but one. Hubby went round a few times to ask them to keep the noise down but they just ignored everything that was said. The last straw came at christmas when i decided to go to next door but one at about 2 o'clock in the morning! I hammered on the door, had a ding dong with him and told him i was going to punch his lights out if he didn't do something about it!! He peered round the door, daren't open it to me cos if he had i'd have got him by the scrag end and battered him!! Thats how bad it got. We were just told to keep a record of the times they played the music but basically they weren't interested. Thankfully we've moved since then to a peaceful area!

I think the trouble with most of these incidents is when people are only renting. They don't seem bothered about causing hassle to others. We are unfortunate that the trouble we get is from people that own the house, you can't seem to get anything done then. I would move right now, if I could but that's when you are stuck. Owning your own house doesn't seem to get you anywhere these days. If I was council I could apply for an exchange or get them to sort the problems out. Doesn't really give you any encouragement. The side that made the noise last night are ok most of the time, as I said it only happens about once a year, but to get your own back on somebody by doing that isn't on, it's just sad. I know the woman that moved on their other side was there donkeys years and did shift work, lived on her own. Now there is a divorced woman with a teenage daughter living there so a totally different ball game. We had teenage boys, anything up to 15/20 there some nights when they first moved in. So although that seems to have calmed down I know there was noise in banging doors etc., so it may be another flare up from them that caused this mornings fiasco. But it's disturbing people it has nothing to do with and thats not on. Diane