Is it at all possible?

Question

I own an ex council house in ablock of 4 flats, all the others are still council owned. My problem is this....... the sound proofing in these houses arent very great to put it lightly, and I was wondering that if I complained enough to the council due to hearing neighbours having sex and playing loud music, they would somehow sound proof the remaining houses which they still own? I have had to listen to thump thump music for thepast year and although the neighbour beside me stopped, the ones below have started.I knpw now that I should be keping a diary of these incidents ect adn keep in contact with the local police adn council, but i do feel that some of the proble, is poor built housing.Can anyopne shed some light on this?Thanks in advance

I have to say as well, when we have people over, we only have musis playing as backround as we all like to talk adn cant over loud music, I know for a fact pple down stairs cant hear it as it cant be heard in next room. We also have speaker stands too. We asked them on Saturday toturn it downa dn they did for 5 min, then turned it back up again. We are expecting our first child in Aug and im scared that if we dont get it sorted now, it will cause even more probs in the future. We arent complacent people but wehave had enough of being nice!I think that was our probin the first place.

hi, i totally agree with everyone. Approaching them in ahumane way before resulting to other measures. I have to say though, that we have approached them adn were very friendly, have since spoken to old owners who said that they had same prob. I believe in being diplomatic, I hate confrontation. We all like music, but I have to go into my bedroom to escape it adn still I can hear it. Why should i have to not use one of my rooms si that they can listen tot heir music so loudly?!

Answer 1

Keep onto the council because they have to do something - unfortunately you will have to put up with the noise for months before they actually do anything - this happened with my neighbour, the council interviewed them and they said all the right things, everyday we have the music thumping right up until 9.00pm. Ask for an incident diary and note absolutely every sound that interferes with your day to day life. The noise environment people will eventually issue you with a recorder so that they can monitor the sound and if proved that it is unacceptable they will take the necessary action - it will take a long time though

Answer 2

I lived in privately owned apartments for years here in the States, and had to live with the "thin-walls and noisy neighbors" problem the whole time. The problem is by no means unique to government-owned housing. I'm afraid that if you had the place inspected before purchasing and the problems were not identified and corrected at that point then you're out of luck.

I have no knowledge of the sort of political system you're dealing with, although I am guessing you are dealing with British authorities of some kind.

But it seems to me that those people still living in "council-owned" housing are the ones who would have the best chance of getting the council to make any changes. Maybe you can approach your neighbors and ask if they've experienced the same problem. If they have, then you can suggest the idea of petitioning the council for redress.

In the meantime, maybe you could buy a fan, a "white noise" generator, or a noise-cancelling gadget to try to muffle the unwanted noise.

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Answer 3

IMO you need to prove to the council that you have a noise nuisance prob before you can ask them to soundproof against it.
You seem to know the procedure so use it. That done, proof obtained, you will have a case for them to do the work.
Don't worry about the baby s/he will sleep through it. If you are worried about the noises/he will make, then don't. All babies cry for a reason. Prolonged crying might suggest bad parenting, which would be another issue entirely.

Answer 4

Our downstairs neighbors like to play their music loud sometimes, but so do I, so we just tell them to turn the bass down at night, as that is what seems to penetrate the walls. You could also offer to arrange to get them some foam platforms for their speakers that isolate the sound a wee bit - if done right with the proper materials, this can actually improve the sound! You can ask about upgrading the sound proofing, but I'm in the US so I am clueless about your local regulations. I am, however, a blues-rock guitarist, so I do know my suggestions will at least help if they are used. Regardless, good luck!

Answer 5

i like to play my music loud too and had the cops called plenty of times when i was younger only way to soundproof is to insulate walls and thats a project ask for them to keep it down certain hours and you will have a baby crying soon at all hours so you all need to get things fixed the police can come and tell them to shut er down but thats really not good they will think best if you explain yourself and in a human like manner over and over if need be then the police

Answer 6

im afraid you have a real problem ..the council will not act on this problem ,and probably never will ..and as they do not own it any more they will not accept any responsibility for it .get in touch with your local enviromental health office .they will monitor it and they can act on what they find

Answer 7

Its best to have evidence when asking for things like this, record the noises that you are hearing, so they understand your problem. then ask one of them to come out and look for themselves.
good luck
x

Answer 8

Definatley keep reporting them!