Noise and the neighbours

[pidgeon chit welder]

Carmarthenshire County Council has lots of advice about noise , smells and quality of your life in your residential permises .. ( it may be worth your while to look at it )

I think most other councils will have something similar on their sites .

What appears to be happening nowadays is the councils are re stating the noise problems as a noise that will cause you to have loss of the quality of your life in a specified environment.

Then they do noise tests and ask residents to keep records on sheets provided .

CCC. has used this to get ASBOs against persistent offenders , where the problem has continued they have been taken to court and fined etc. for breaking the ASBO terms.

Reasonable noise is usually after 0730 and up to 21.00 .
If you are doing a specific home renovating project and you inform your neighbours in writing of the proposed times or work it is up to them to challenge you in court to stop it ..they may complain to local authority after you start the work but you got first shout in .

I'm not sure that frequent repairing of a vehicle (s) in domestic premises is an allowable noise source unless you are in registered premises and then you have to comply with the planning.


If you DIY every weekend Sat & Sun and light summer evening and create noise or nuisance your liable to get grabbed by the short and curly's.

Best you work say one week end do nowt on the next Sat ,only do a bit on the sun , work two out of sync evenings and always keep a record of your activities

A lady was even done for raking and shaking the fire grate 20 times a night she refused to believe it was annoying the adjacent owners despite them saying it was causing them loss of quality of their life .


A barking dog is not classed as reasonable noise for you should be able to bring your dog in after the first two or three barks .. one case happened and it was noted that the tape held 52 yaps in two minutes ..the owner of the mutt got done.

If someone regularly opens the door and bungs the mutt out to be a clean dog and leaves it there till it barks its silly head off then that is actionable .

Having a dispute with your neighbour could affect either of you in the pocket when one of you wants to sell .

Nowadays most decent solicitors will include the questions such as do you have a dispute with or are you in dispute with your neighbour ... answer that wrongly at your peril for it is a legally enforceable thing ..you can be sued or you may sue if it comes to light and some one loses money from a house sale because of a notified dispute against you .

At the last house sale of ours , one direct question on the legal enquiry papers was :-
" Do neighbours barking dogs cause you problems ?

Thankfully we had no neighbours with yappers



Local authorities have an obligation to help you sort out nuisance / noise problems . If they have cash for it they may also prosecute as a local authority any easy case where fines can be given etc.

If it is against desperate Dan the Headbanger man then it's unlikely they will peep over the parapet more than once a blue moon.

This may change to more rigorous enforcement if Labour get back in the political system .

 

[ytre]

I live on a farm in the middle of nowhere and its so peacefull, i can bang steel with a sledgehammer all day and it bothers noone.
When we got the house renovated i moved into a council estate. I couldn't stick it anymore than 6 weeks, people complained where i parked my car and told me i was an "outsider" and numerous other complaints.

 

[tigler]

P C W , thanks for that , very enlightening !! 52 yaps in 2 minutes eh ? The little b4stard
by me has been known to yap like that for HOURS on end , in fact last Sunday , 3-1/2 hours worth !! That provoked me to report it to the council for the second time. They must have had a letter as there has been a distinct reduction since then , but there have still been a few occasions that have made me want to choke it !! Question , can dogs go hoarse with all that barking / yapping ??!!

 

[pidgeon chit welder]

P C W , thanks for that , very enlightening !! 52 yaps in 2 minutes eh ? The little b4stard
by me has been known to yap like that for HOURS on end , in fact last Sunday , 3-1/2 hours worth !! That provoked me to report it to the council for the second time. They must have had a letter as there has been a distinct reduction since then , but there have still been a few occasions that have made me want to choke it !!



Quote ...
Question , can dogs go hoarse with all that barking / yapping ??!!

Answer
Only if you hide some size 6/0 treble hooks in their drugged sausage .

PS
Six or seven cat anti furball clearance medication bits helps clear any tendancy to hoarseness out ..
I know this for my antisocial yapping mutt owning neighbour was heard to scream at poochie continouosly for 20 minutes at 02.15 one cold night as it did lots of whoopsies all over her bed at that said time.


Seriously try and set up a DVD recording of it , have a radio on in the back ground so that programme time can be proved and record the creature .
Present a copy of the suitably labelled dvd /cd with the log /notes to the local authority and ask for help in regaining your right to a reasonable quality of life in your own home wrt the dog barking .

 

[tigler]

Answer
Only if you hide some size 6/0 treble hooks in their drugged sausage .

PS
Six or seven cat anti furball clearance medication bits helps clear any tendancy to hoarseness out ..
I know this for my antisocial yapping mutt owning neighbour was heard to scream at poochie continouosly for 20 minutes at 02.15 one cold night as it did lots of whoopsies all over her bed at that said time.


Seriously try and set up a DVD recording of it , have a radio on in the back ground so that programme time can be proved and record the creature .
Present a copy of the suitably labelled dvd /cd with the log /notes to the local authority and ask for help in regaining your right to a reasonable quality of life in your own home wrt the dog barking .

Direct action , I like the sound of that !! Cheers

 

[MrFluffy]

I used to have neighbors like that in the UK. We had every trick in the book tried by some of them, usually the people with nothing to do so they were sat at home all day, I guess persecuting us was their only hobby and Ive always owned bikes, in some quite highbrow areas at times.
The worst was when we were emigrating to France. We loaded up my renault master with a load of our stuff and parked it up outside loaded, and drove a second van and load to our new place in france ahead to sort out legal stuff etc, which everyone knew we were doing. While we were away, my taxed and tested van was reported as abandoned to the council by one of the b*stards and we came home to find a council "if this vehicle is not removed by date xyz it will be taken and crushed" sticker slapped on the windscreen, date due the next day *gulp*. We came that close to loosing half our gear.
Lots more tales of stupid petty malice. Key'd cars, the prim and proper old dear that took her dog to have a crap on our step every day, the kids that used to use our house as goalposts and hoof through two windows a year on average, and stone the house with bricks if they didnt get their ball back etc.

I can only recommend doing what I did in the end. Moving to the middle of bleeding nowhere surrounded by farms and farmers who will appreciate someone that can fab and weld, not kick off about it disturbing their click button cushy existence or being tormented by their offspring while mum slobs out to jeremy kyle on daytime tv.
I'm ruined now. Couldn't move back now just the same as Sam I guess...

 

[tigler]

You have done what I need to do. My only problem is deciding where ?
I have really enjoyed travelling in France by bike and living there certainly holds an appeal. What are the practicalities though ?
Certainly I am going to move to a location where there are no psycho , inconsiderate , selfish , ignorant , judgemental or noisy neighbours AT ALL to worry about ! An ex military underground bunker would suit me fine !!

 

[pidgeon chit welder]

If about to make a complaint just remember it is a two way thing , the sewerage flows both ways , the stink lingers on for ages and ages.

 

[brightspark]

the neighbours over the road whinged about me doing my house up at a reasonable hour. it had been a sh ,./.,.,/ t tip for ages the answer they got was im getting some guinneyfowl and gees and gonna let the local travelers on the spare land i have never heard a peep since

 

[the snooper]

i once had a noisey neighbour she was a single parent that liked to have a house full of mates late at night and play music late, then sleep in all morning.
soon cured her set some disco gear up pointed the speakers her way and you can probably guess the rest never heard another peep from her late at night

 

[pidgeon chit welder]

I must confess .

I have been trying to find out where to buy some of those very special directional concentrating cones of noise loud speakers and a machine to play them so I can direct only to my neighbour some irritating noise at all hours of the day but my pocket appears to not be deep enough ( at present )

I have found some baby ones on the supermarket shelves ..they are set up to trigger and play ads to you as you are within 400 mm of a product but they aint any where near loud enough for what I'm after.

Imagine a pair of those babies accidently left on one night or four ,set up with a PIR cut out so that when the path of hearing is interrupted there is quiet for 10 to 15 min. then it kicks off again etc.

 

[NigelAylesbury]

I have been through this, and went through the regs and law with a fine toothcomb prior to putting my workshop up. What I found……
“Unreasonable” is whatever some one else deems is unreasonable. The times mentioned above are correct. Small children have to get to sleep.
Keep a diary immediately after someone makes a complaint. The council will always ask them will to do likewise.
Measure the noise you make, I got a sound meter for £48, calibrated at work with our very expensive test gear. It’s never more than a dB out. Just closing the door of the workshop takes off 10dB. Measure the noise of the local traffic.
My next door but 2 neighbour asked me in high dudgeon, how much noise I was intending to make. Plenty far enough away I thought, apart from the fact she works at the council, so I knew I had to be prepared….. I went inside and got the sound meter out, and said ……
“You won’t hear any more than noise than 60dB on my patio before 9Pm, after that time you won’t hear anything. The tools used will be quiet. The background level of traffic is 65dB, therefore you shouldn’t hear anything above what you hear now - and if you are going to complain bring a calibrated noise meter with you when you do- all right?”
I haven’t heard anything since.
This may be of interest; I don’t know how true it is though.
A few years back a well known race circuit always used to have complaints from one or two people local to the circuit about the dreadful racket coming from the cars and the bikes. With the connivance of the parties involved they advertised that one Sunday, they would be holding cycle races, with the posters on the gates showing motor cycles. The Sunday event was actually pedal cycles. Needless to say, the standard issue old dear rang up and complained about the noisy engines as per normal. The organisers said, “What noisy engines? – we are running a charity bicycle race today”. No complaints since.

 

[Dr pepper]

I didnt read all the posts, but I dont think you have a lot to worry about.
I have had a visit from the noise police, firstly there is not a great deal they can do, they dont have a lot of authority.
And you'd be surprised at what noise levels you can get away with up till midnight, my grinder doesnt make anything near the limit 20 feet away from the open garage door.
What you need to be concerned about is if your neighbours are smart and look at other ways to screw you up, most councils have byelaws, and one of them can be that your not allowed to run a business from your house, and allthough your bashing stuff for yersel it will be hard to prove that your not mekking stuff for someone else and being paid for it.
Untidy stuff round your house wont get you into bother you should see some of my mates places, sheesh, unless its a health risk there isnt much anyone can do.

 

[Pete.]

i once had a noisey neighbour she was a single parent that liked to have a house full of mates late at night and play music late, then sleep in all morning.
soon cured her set some disco gear up pointed the speakers her way and you can probably guess the rest never heard another peep from her late at night

My brother did exactly the same, he screwed a pair of large Wharfedale speakers to the wall of his flat and went out for the evening with them on full volume.

 

[lchris21]

Thanks for the info all, even the entertaining ones.LOL.
If things get out of hand I may invest in a cheapy dB meter with datalogging and use that in my counter-claim arsenal.....................