Oh Dear Part Duex

[buggi]

am i a bitch too?

you might remember me mentioning my nightmare of an old lady neighbour downstairs who complains about every damn noise i make (usual living noises such as walking around my own flat etc). well normally i am at work most of the day, but i have had the last two weeks off work so have been in sometimes during the day, just chilling out watching tv etc.

yesterday i had a letter from the ASBO department of the Council who want to come and see me because their tenant has complained.

obviously she is pist off i have been around for the last two weeks!! how dare i occupy my own flat.

so, for the last two days the music channel on my tv has been on and the radio in my bedroom.



seriously, she may be old but i've had enough. i tread on eggshells around her and i've had enough. i can't breath without her knocking my ceiling. she wants to know the definition of noise is, she's feckin got it!

ps. they want to come and see me at 2pm in the week. obviously she has told them i don't work! well that is just going to make her look worse when i tell them i do

 

[fossyant]

She'll come unstuck - we had a battle axe next door, and one over the road..... we just left them too it - the next door neighbour really liked us in the end as I cut her grass (she had no lawn mower) and only fell out with the old lady over the road when she spotted me with a bag of cat litter - "have you got cats...?" Erm no...it's for the pot plants........ half true - we hadn't got cats then - we did have the week later.... !!

Even if the council come in and do noise surveys they'll know.

 

[ACS]

My brother had neighbours who spent all their time complaining about his garden. My brother has two boys who like to play football, rugby and ride bikes into the fence so his garden was never going to be an exhibit at Chelsea, whereas next doors was pristine, perfect and you could play bowls on their perfectly manicured lawn.

Any way during one of his ‘sessions’ he asked my brother if he could keep an eye on the house and water the lawn so it would not dry out during the summer. My brother said ‘of course’ and later that day visits his in-laws on the farm, returning with a substantial amount of industrial fertiliser in the boot.

So matey boy and wife drive off in their 10 year old Volvo for 2 weeks in sunny wherever and my brother feeds the lawn with the fertiliser and waters liberally over the next 2 week’s.

Needless to say when the neighbour s returns the grass on the lawn is almost knee height and as far as we know he still has to cut it every other day more than a year later. My brother’s philosophy being that he now does not have the time to complain about his garden as he is fully occupied keeping his own under control.

 

[allen-uk]

As an old git who doesn't like noise, particularly from noisey TVs or music centres, I don't suppose there is ANY chance that you are making too much noise, is there?

A

 

[VinceNoir]

It's usual for really old peoples hearing to be f*cked. You're unlucky, maybe her hearing will start to deteriorate in the next 10 years.

 

[Mayniac]

Just out of curiosity buggi, do you carpets or laminate floors? Evidently, the fashion of installing wooden flooring has lead to a huge increase in noise complaints in flats.

Of course if you do have carpets, and you really want to p155 her off.......

 

[oxbob]

It will be the carpet shark's stompin about, knit them some little woolly boots

 

[buggi]

As an old git who doesn't like noise, particularly from noisey TVs or music centres, I don't suppose there is ANY chance that you are making too much noise, is there?

A

here is a list of just some of the stuff that I have had to put up with since moving in:

• before i even moved in properly, called the police out 2 hours after i had finished painting (with a roller) to tell them i was banging and drilling. police turn up, sit outside my dark house (11.30pm) for half hour before knocking the door to find i'm in my nightshirt. gave em a cuppa, showed em my paint brush and lack of hammer and drill. checked next day to see what time she had called... 2 hours after i packed up painting.
• Dad came round to fit blind at 10.45am. drilled two holes. she amazingly managed to climb the stairs to complain.
• when decorating before i moved in we bent over backwards to accommodate her re noise levels asking her to tell us when she went out. my dad spent all day sanding by hand (in hot weather and he's old, he looked ill by the end of the day when i came home) only to see her come back from a day out at 5pm. he could have done the job in 2 hours with a sander. i went mad when i found out and told him he was allowed to do noisy decorating in the day but he hates to upset people.
• waits for me to come home and told my mum she can't settle unless she knows i'm in.
• when my friends come for a cuppa she bangs on her ceiling and gobs off at them on the stairs.
• constant rows with neighbours over the parking. there is limited parking and neighbour parks his car in only legal space. she complains, police come round, threaten to ticket all of the neighbours because none of us are really parked properly (half on pavements) but everyone else just accepts it coz its the way it is. (she only complains about said neighbour coz it spoils her view of a main road!!!) accused said neighbour of keeping his apprentice at work longer than needed so that his car is parked there longer just to annoy her. when no one is parked there she waits for said neighbour to come home so she can shout at him while he pulls his van in front of her house for 30 seconds while he waits for gap in traffic to reverse onto his drive.
• sent threatening letters to other neighbour coz her kid was playing in the garden and laughing when she was jumping on her trampoline
• have spent 300 quid on HUGE rug and extra money on soundproof underlay just to shut her up.
• i go out at 7.30 am, come back at 7pm, go to bed at 11pm latest. i don't have a tv in my bedroom which is above hers, so no noise there. my tv in lounge backs onto other neighbours bedroom wall and she says she can't hear a thing. 3 nights a week i'm at my mum's til 9pm anyway
• comes out of her flat and gobs off at me when i'm leaving for work.
• bangs on ceiling when i'm shagging. that one really pisses me off.

apparently she had continual rows with the previous occupiers of my flat and basically she doesn't like me or anyone else being in the flat above her. i have even acted as mediator between her and other neighbours to try and calm things down. but this has fecked me off now. this is 2nd time i've had a letter from the council.

worst thing is the council just keep passing the buck to another colleague. apparently they moved her from another property because of same problem and each department just washes their hands of her but none of them talk to each other.

 

[Crackle]

Lived below someone who had sanded floorboards. He used to sit on the floor and trump loudly and often. Didn't 'arf entertain my dinner guests.

 

[oxbob]

I think you have a case yourself here Buggi, turn the tables tell the council how she is stressing/depressing your quality of life

 

[derall]

It's usual for really old peoples hearing to be f*cked. You're unlucky, maybe her hearing will start to deteriorate in the next 10 years.

Whilst hearing gradually deteriorates through the ageing process (presbyacusis), this acts to reduce sensitivity to quiet sound. However it's accompanied in many cases by 'recruitment' which is an abnormal sensitivity to loud sounds - loud sounds sound much louder than they really are. The basilar membrane (which is covered by the hair cells which convert sound into nerve impulses) becomes stiffer, so instead of a sound wave deflecting a small area of the membrane they deflect a much larger area (they 'recruit' adjacent areas) which in turn generates a much larger neural impulse, which the brain interprets as a much greater sound. So when an old person says your music's too loud, they really do perceive it as being too loud.

Ask the council to leave noise dosimeters in your flat - the recordings of noise levels can then be compared to the neighbour's complaint to see if she has a valid case or not.

 

[Over The Hill]

Two things-
1. If the previous owners of the flat had a problem and did not tell you (there is a standard form they should fill in) then they have misrepresented the flat and you can sue them for the value of your loss (the flat must be worth less with her in situ). If they told you they had a problem then nothing you can do.
Take care what you do as you will need to declare it yourself on the sale of the flat.

2. In your lease there will be regulations about flooring (mentioned above) and loads of other noise and conduct rules. If you have breached the flooring rule then you need to carpet the floors before you can take any action but if you are OK on that (or there is no carpeting rule) then find what rules she has broken and then go to the freeholder and get them to take action against the other tentant. They have an obligation to take action.
That way you are in the clear as the action is not from you.

If all that fails have a flood in your bathroom that unfortunately ruins her flat below.

 

[ComedyPilot]

The onus here is on the council to prove you are being noisy. An ASBO is not something they take lightly, and has to be given in court when found guilty, and that takes evidence. My experience of councils is that they prefer the police to act first, and they slip the ASBO on top. They don't like doing it all themselves.

Comply nicely and politely with their requests, but don't be walked on.

 

[buggi]

Two things-
1. If the previous owners of the flat had a problem and did not tell you (there is a standard form they should fill in) then they have misrepresented the flat and you can sue them for the value of your loss (the flat must be worth less with her in situ). If they told you they had a problem then nothing you can do.
Take care what you do as you will need to declare it yourself on the sale of the flat.

2. In your lease there will be regulations about flooring (mentioned above) and loads of other noise and conduct rules. If you have breached the flooring rule then you need to carpet the floors before you can take any action but if you are OK on that (or there is no carpeting rule) then find what rules she has broken and then go to the freeholder and get them to take action against the other tentant. They have an obligation to take action.
That way you are in the clear as the action is not from you.

If all that fails have a flood in your bathroom that unfortunately ruins her flat below.

i have considered this o yea, previous owner didn't tell me and nothing in my lease about what carpets flooring etc or that i can't have my ferrets (which i am a bit worried about even tho they are absolutely no trouble to her i know she has prob complained about them. but that's ok, i'll invite the guy round all day and he will see how much they sleep!)

The onus here is on the council to prove you are being noisy. An ASBO is not something they take lightly, and has to be given in court when found guilty, and that takes evidence. My experience of councils is that they prefer the police to act first, and they slip the ASBO on top. They don't like doing it all themselves.

Comply nicely and politely with their requests, but don't be walked on.

i am going to phone the guy tomorrow, tell him to write down my phone number, then i'm gonna say "Right phone [give name of other person i dealt with] in housing department and get some background on this woman, phone the police and get background off them and then when you have done your homework, phone me back and make an appointment that is convenient to ME and then you can come round and chat to me to tell me what YOU are going to do about HER because if you do nothing i am going to sue you for allowing your tenant to harrass me! ... o yes, and while you are at it, find out what happened to my complaint last time i phoned up and spoke to your colleague!" that should shut them up for a few days. and then when they phone back and say they are taking the complaint no futher i am going to say "WRONG, you are going to come around here and tell me and my neighbours what you are going to do about her as we are sick of it"