problem neighbours?

Question

this question might be a bit long, buts its only so you can get the idea of what is happening, my neighbours are the kind of people of sleep all day and up all night, you know the kind that doesnt work and stuff!! they have parties all weekend every weekend. they atract youths to their door and the close way,these youths are then kicking other neighbours doors and smashing glass etc. i have on several occasion called the local council who say they have a anti social referal for the neighbours, but how long does this take to go through. the police dont seem to care and come out and move the youths on and once they are gone the youths are back at the neighbours door again.. its a no win situation. my kids are scared to go out to play incase they involved with what is happening there. any advice on what else to do would be greatly appreciated. oh and also i have requested a move out of the area and im number 3 on the list so it shouldnt be long, but i cant deal with it for much longer.

Answer 1

I can see why you would want to move house, the following options may apply.

1. Nuisance. Clearly noisy neighbours might amount to a nuisance — that is to say, the unreasonable use of one’s land such as to cause a substantial interference with the ordinary enjoyment of another. This requires an element of give and take: the landowner must show the same consideration for his neighbour as he would expect his neighbour to show for him. A noisy party after 11pm in a quiet residential neighbourhood might be expected to breach this principle and the resulting loss of sleep would be a nuisance. If the house-owner does not respond to your concerns about the prospective level of noise you could go to court for an injunction to restrict the level of noise after 11pm. It is not however certain that the court would grant an injunction for a one off occurrence and this would be expensive, so it may really be an option.

2. Statutory nuisance. Your best alternative is to complain to the local Environmental Health Department inviting them to exercise their powers under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (EPA). They must take "all reasonable steps" to investigate your complaint and can write to the person concerned saying that a complaint has been made and asking them to take any steps that may be necessary to reduce noise. If they believe a statutory nuisance is likely to occur they must take action. Many local authorities have noise patrols so an Environmental Health Officer (EHO) or Technical Officer could call at the time you expect the noise to occur, to see if it amounts to a statutory nuisance. If it does he must issue a notice requiring the neighbour to stop causing the nuisance and it is an offence to ignore this without reasonable excuse. Local authorities can also confiscate equipment causing the noise. There have been some reported successful prosecutions for one-off raves of this sort but it will depend on the authority concerned.

3. Health. The EPA would also cover situations where the premises are "in such a state as to be prejudicial to health". In theory this could cover situations where the food and toilet facilities are inadequate if there is a party with many guests, but the courts have interpreted this very narrowly.

4. Copyright. Now a bit of lateral thinking! Any public performance of music would need to have the permission of the copyright owner. This can be obtained usually from the Performing Rights Society (www.prs.co.uk) which can grant a blanket licence for all the music being played, on payment of a fee. A public performance without a licence is a breach of copyright both by those who play it and by the person who allowed his premises to be used for the public performance, who can be required to compensate the copyright owners. The PRS could even apply for an injunction. Of course, usually a private party does not need a copyright licence but since this appears to be a regular occurence it could well be different.

The only other alternative would be to interest the Council in taking out an ASBO on your neighbours, but this would take a lot of record keeping and would probably be called as a witness.

Answer 2

First, find out if this "so called neighbour" that was at the hearing, really lives in your neighborhood. If you find out she doesn't, that means your neighbour could have been lieing at the hearing. If the "so called neighbour" doesn't actually live in your neighbourhood, report this to the officer and HAVE PROOF! Train your dog so well, he's like, the friendliest and most no-aggresive dog EVER! Show this progress to the officer. Get your sister to come and talk to the officer her side of the story, as she is also a witness. Tell the officer what YOU think your dog was trying to do! Remember, when talking to the officer, no screaming, swearing or in ANY WAY going out of line. Be calm and sophisticated about it, same goes for your sister. When finding out if the "so called neighbour" really lives in your neighbourhood, DO NOT do anything illegal. ALWAYS play safe. If, for some strange, strange reason, you do not get to keep your apparent innocent dog, find your dog the best home EVER that will take him. Good Luck! Hope I helped! P.S. below i've left 2 links to some dog training sites. Good luck!

Answer 3

I know how you feel my upstairs neighbour is the same - I asked her nicely not to have her washing machine on its spin cycle at 1.15am as it was disturbing my sleep and I had to get up early the next morning (it was a monday night) she told me to f off. The next night (child benefit night!) her and her drunken boyfriend tried to smash my windows. When I contacted the police they gave me the number of the anti social task force. They have been out a few times and she has had warnings but its still the same.

She gets drunk and fights with her bf and friends in the street, on the stairs (she once smashed a bottle all over our front door step). We hear her and her bf having sex - all this in front of her child (aged about 10).

i have not had a decent nights sleep for the past 6 months because of this sl*t! The best of it when she has to walk past me she cant look me in the eye but if she is in her car she can look me up and down.

My lease is up in may and I cant wait until I am out of here - its actually a nice street, its just the cow upstairs that lets it down.

Phone your local council and get them to give you the number of the anti social task force. The helpline number is 24 hour for the one in N.Lanarkshire so I think it is the same everywhere else.

Good luck I know how horrible it is - keep phoning the police and keep a diary of what is going on to show to your local housing office.

Answer 4

We are having similar problems with our neighbour and after 2 years of complaining to the housing and having the police out it's going nowhere...it's a sad situation for hundreds of us in this country and a serious failing on our government....you need evidence of what is going on...the council have supposedly been given powers to deal with these sort of people but are reluctant because of the cost..(money is more important to them than your sanity)....if the noise from your neighbours is very bad in your house most nights then get on to the council and ask them about monitoring equipment...this is tamper proof and provides them with a good account of what is happening....also one of you on the street could try and get video evidence...and as a last resort try getting your local newspaper involved if the council don't seem to be interested...this sort of problem makes me so angry as no one wants to help...

Answer 5

Keep calling the police & Council officials You can call them any time day or night especially the council.

All you do is get on to the council & they will give you the Councillors home phone numbers.

You ring them & they will sort it out very quickly as they wont want their sleep disturbed.

You can also complain to environmental health who will have to come out in the middle of the night also.

You have aright to peace & quiet.

Answer 6

the first and foremost part of your question seems to be that you are more concerned about what they do to the point where you know when your neighbors sleep and what they do. Why don't you mind your own business and if someone violates your property or a city ordinance then I would try to resolve it directly with them and f that doesn't work, I would report it to the police or village. The last thing you want is to have a war with someone you have to live next to. What they do is none of your business.

Answer 7

if you find its getting to you then tell your GP and he will help you with a letter for you to pass onto your council who MIGHT just consider you for a swift move away and also ask your local councillor to call in to see you and explain it all to him and he might be able to work for you in council office with the housing department. Good Luck to you lovey

Answer 8

Call the police every time they are having a party. That'll get it broken up.

Answer 9

go & moan some more to the doctor a G.P.s letter will bump up your points on a housing list, so will health visitors & social workers etc...it does work out trust me been there been depressed got thru & so will you

Answer 10

We've our own neighbours from hell, there's a lot of good advice on the NFH website.