hi guys

desperatly in need of advice.

Me and my mother live in a council flat with another flat above us.

these flats are known to be poorly built after the war and when the old man above us passed away we were the 1st flat in our road too have the experimental sound proofing put in.(2mm of felt with an MDF board on top of existing floorboards.)

We were then promised in writing that no children under the age of 14 would be put in upstairs flats on this street.(still have letter).

Bristol city council then procceded too put into the flat a 20 stone + lady with a 3/4 year old child,who proceeded to have her friends round till 4am with there children,who road tricyle's round on exposed mdf floors at 3am etc.

After a long period of unbelivable behaviour we found out that the lady is also a diagnosed schizophrenic.(which when put to the council they denied).

they now admit this is true,we rang the council about her behaviour who just tell us too ring the enviromental health,we ring the enviromental health and they tell us too ring the council.

On 1 occasion the enviromental health did turn up,they pulled up right outside at 3am and rang our doorbell by which time they had been spotted and silence.

We have rang the police who walked from our front door too our front room door before exclaiming,is that what this is about and looking at the cieling,we had said nothing,they said council must do something.

This woman and her mates have flooded our flat 8 times,3 in 1 year to which the council told us,claim on your insurance.(if we claimed that many times our policy would go through the roof and we would be penalised for no fault of our own.)

This woman has had her door kicked in by the police and sectioned under the mental health act twice,and we now know she was moved from her previous address because of her being a problem.

We did manage to get this council to come and sound test the property once and they said it was fine,(have letter too prove).

Then last year we were told by one of there new employees that they know the sound proofing is not up too standard and are reciving complaints daily,some people who have had the sound proofing done at a later date have had more quality work done,(we were the experiment.).

This is now on going for over 8 years,we have had 1 visit from the council and 1 from enviromental health,who now just tell us too ring the other 1?.

I have friends who work in the council and they have said because the lady is coloured and has mental illness the council havent got the guts too throw her out.

We have 8 years of noise records kept?

Here is one of there little gems...."further to the recent visit by the night team and the noise WITNESSED and the apparent lack of carpets in the upstairs flat.However we can only act if the persons concerned are behaving unreasonably,to establish this we need to WITNESS the noise.?????.

We have constant lies in writing from them,they do not answer our letters on time,i rang them 4 weeks ago concerning the 4 hours plus of hoovering we had been subjected too that day,(its a 2 bed flat) and was told id get a call within 4 days,still waiting?????.

I have been told by a council official that they "KNOW SHE IS NO ANGEL".

She has also tried the racism card and told them i had threatened to kill her,but i heard her make the call and rang the council immediatly,luckily i ended up speaking too the same person she did so she wasnt belived.

Yes we can hear every word she says,we can hear her go to the toilet,we can hear light switches go on and off?????.

My mother has been so bad at times she cries as soon as she has to leave work.

We heve heard the lady delibratley tell her child too slam the doors etc,but when we banged back because they have done nothing in 8 years we get threating letters from the council?.

I want too take the council too court,we are going through the complaints procedure at the moment,they still dont answer the letters within the time the are sposed too occording too there own rules.

Does anyone know of a solicitor that will go against the council because ive been unable too find one,our any other advice,experiences would be greatly apprieciated.

My mother has lived in this flat for 31 years,never missed her rent once and never had any compliant from anyone,except ones in retaliaton from upstairs,please can anyone help?.

regards.

p.s this is a very brief run down of events and is a lot worse than above.

hi again.

id just like to say that i want the outcome to be that bristol city council is forced into redoing the sound proofing to a standard that we and the lady upstairs can both enjoy our homes in the way we should be able too.

regards.

Hi

sorry to hear of your dilema i know 1st hand how living with unreasonable noise can make your life a living hell. I would say first of all maybe visit your local mp if they hold a open surgery and see if they can do anything to help on your behalf as a go between you and the council but keep your grievence to the main issues. Alternatively you could write to your local paper a complaint about the local council (not the resident) as all councils hate bad publicity but remember you need to be clear in your own mind what is reasonable and unreasonable as you could be in danger of looking like a moaning minnie. Good luck I hope you get an acceptable result.

As a general rule of thumb, noise nuisances from private homes are dealt with by Environmental Health. If the noise is coming from a council property then it is the council's housing team that should deal with the complaint. Maintain your diary and put a formal complaint in, copying in your local councillor, a councillor on the Housing committee (e.g. Lead Member) or MP - that normally gets things moving.

Good luck