neighbours complaint and banging on our wall

[farmlama]

sorry if this is the wrong place to ask this.

I moved into a council house in february, i have a 20month old daughter and am 5 months pregnant with my 2nd child.

we thought we had gotten a really lucky and had nice neighbours on both sides until on wednesday after getting home from work i had a letter from the council saying a complaint had been made about us for anti-social behaviour. i tried calling the council on thursday and friday but the person i need to speak to is never available so we still do not know what it is about. we get on really well with one side of neighbours (lets say neighbour A) and they have even invited us for a garden party in july, after speaking to them they have said they will write us a letter to say they have had no problems from us and also informed us that the neighbours on the other side of us (lets say neighbour B) are renowned for complaining about people and once even called the fire brigade out because my neighbour A had a bonfire.

Me and my partner both work in the pub trade so 3 night a week one of us wont finish work until about half 10. but as we have a toddler we keep quiet after she goes to bed (her bedtime is 7:30), i dont even flush the toilet after this time because it is opposite her room.

lastnight my parner arrived home from work at 10:45 and went into the kitchen at about 11:05 to make dinner, as he was getting a pan out of the cupboard the neighbour B started violently banging on the wall.

 

like i said i am 5 months pregnat and this is really stressing me out, i dont think getting pans out of a cupboard to make dinner is excessive noise, but i feel intimidated by neighbour B by them banging on the wall as i think this is quite a violent act of rage to react like that, i feel i have to tiptoe around my house and now dont want to have to go into my kithcin at night to get a drink because they are going to complain about us, they are making me feel uncomfortable in my home which up until recently i felt very happy in.

 

My question is what are my right when it comes to them making what i feel are unreasonable complaints and also banging on my walls. as i am in a council house i dont want to be evicted for making normal household noise

[Conniff]

Eviction don't come that easy so be assured about that.

 

Don't telephone the council, send a recorded delivery letter to the address on the letter you received and ask them what the problem is.

 

You can also judge the level of noise with the assistance of your nice neighbour. Turn on the tv or stereo at above normal level and go next door to have a listen for yourself.

Get you partner to talk and raise their voice or drop a saucepan near the wall of the nice neighbour to see how loud it is.

 

Just don't be a prisoner in your own home or be held to ransom by them. If there is a problem with the building, then the council will have to add some sound insulation.

[jackieandwayne]

Please don't be worrying about being evicted! It is very difficult for the Council to evict on these grounds, a whole trial has to happen in most cases.

 

If these people are persistent complainers, then there will be a record of this on their file ad your Housing Officer will know them of old.

 

Your neighbour has to accept that there will be normal living noises. Your HO will advise them of this.

 

Don;t worry anymore about it, except to send a letter to your HO, stating that you are a little worried about these allegations and would like to have it noted that you are not making an unreasonable noise and that your other neighbours would be prepared to say so. I shouldmention that a new baby is imminent, because of they are complaining about your ordinary living noises now, a baby will really upset them, but there is nothing that they can do about it except move.

 

I would keep a record of the banging on the wall, what you did at the time it happened, etc., as well as notes of any confrontations. Little word of advice, whatever they say, whatever they do, don't rear up at them or have a go back, because the minute you do you make them the victim. Just shut the door, walk away and note it all down.

 

Dont worry, you won;t lose your home.

[farmlama]

thanks for your advice, the complaint letter we got said there will be a meeting on friday at 11, but i will be unable to make the time so i will need to arrange another meeting, so i will let the council know that we arent making excessive noise, when they banged on the wall we didnt do anything, just carried on making dinner and talked (about them banging). i may see if my nice neighbours will let us do a noise test and talk to the council about wall insulation.

 

i dont think the baby will bother them as they have children themselves one being a toddler also so they should accept that children will cry etc.

[raydetinu]

Also get the council to look at the standard of sound insulation of the property, there are minimum standards and it will be up to the council to comply.

[gyzmo]

I have a similar complaint. Can someone please point to legislation or case law?

[Conniff]

I haven't had a read of this for years gyzmo, but have a look and go in their forum, you might find just what you want.

 

Neighbours From Hell in Britain

 

This takes you directly to the legal bits but I haven't had a look at this either.

 

http://www.nfh.org.uk/law/index.php

Edited June 28, 2009 by Conniff

[borisbeaver]

Report neighbour B to the council for anti-social behaviour. Banging on the wall is not polite behaviour.

[farmlama]

i have thought about reporting them for it, but the council may see me being malicious and doing it out of spite, im just going to keep a record of what they do

[DoubleOhSammy]

I have had problems with noisy neighbours in the past, and when I DID complain they [my neighbours] said I was very "Petty" and warned me "not to do it again". Then they moved out, as did I, and that was the end of that.

 

I now have neighbours who are VERY nice although the couple above me do engage in shouting matches occasionally....makes for good entertainment oddly enough.

[farmlama]

the lady we spoke to at the council agreed it was petty the complaints they have made about us, they made a 2nd complaint because my partner dropped a glass jug in the kitchen at about 10:30pm (obviously an accident, were not in the habit of smashing stuff). when the lady from the council phoned to report we had a complaint made about us she said im only calling because i have to follow all these up, but im not going to even bother logging the complaint because people are entitled to cook dinner at whatever time they like and for them to complaint because you dropped something on a one off occasion is outrageous. we are not 'noisy neighbours', just people trying to live our lives without people harrasing us over the most petty things.