I live in a flat on the middle floor in a converted house, the bloke above me is very noisy, stomping around, shouting and fighting with his mates when they come over and due to the cheap conversion, I can hear it pretty much like he's in the same room when he gets going.

His most annoying habit seems to consist of badly playing the same bit of music over and over again on his guitar, but as it's acoustic, I kind of didn't mind as I assume you can't really adjust the volume on that, and frankly he needs the practice! Last night he started up with a new electric guitar, and went on for several hours playing the same 20 second bit of music over and over again. this time though I couldn't hear my TV over guitar. I fear this will now become a regular occurrence.

I'm not sure what to do, I don't feel like I can politely ask to him to turn the noise down as he's very chav-tastic and considering how he talks, and acts with his supposed friends, if I came away from the encounter without a black eye I'd probably be doing pretty well. (I thought his drunken mates used to fall down the communal stairwell, it turns out from someone else who lives in the building that he in fact pushes them down the stairs "for fun" whilst chucking glass bottles at them)

Apart from staging a dirty protest in his post box, does anyone have any suggestions on how to deal with this? I quite like my piece and quiet, and having it ruined by some inconsiderate git makes me quite cross.

ASBO.

No, seriously. Is the DSS paying his rent?

Don't private landlords have duties too?

Get in touch with your local council.

Some level of noise has to be accepted in such a building, but it sounds like this is bordering on the anti-social side.

If I get in touch with the council, won't they have expected me to have had a word first?

dan1980 – Member
If I get in touch with the council, won't they have expected me to have had a word first?

I would not have thought so.

say you have but he was drunk and he seems to have forgotten about it and he threaten you so please dont mention it to him

Peace through superior amplification

Just checked on my local council's website and they give out a number to phone the Neighbourhood Response Team about noisy neighbours.

If you don't own the flat move!

bombers

I'm surprised no-one's suggested owning him with bombers yet 🙂

Cheers for the advice. I'm sat here not massively looking forward to leaving work in case he's going with his guitar again. Fingers crossed that as it was a new toy, he felt the need to play it loud yesterday, and the novelty will have worn off.

@skiboy
Damn, beat me to it!

@flippinheckler
In month 3 of a 6 month contract, so not sure where I stand with that.

What is this "owning him with bombers"?

I have seen it mentioned a few times now, but I can't work out what it means.

The council won't ask you to confront him. They'll get you to keep a diary of the disruptions. Then they'll write to him to tell him to stop. Then they'll send round a noise abatement officer, then prosecute.

Probably worth getting the neighbours to complain too. I went through all this with a neighbour who insisted on leaving his dog in the garden all night, keeping everyone within 100m awake due to the incessant wolf-like howling. It worked, but you have to jump through the hoops and it takes some time.

take set of bomber forks and hit them with it. A person fended off a burgalar with a set of these hence the phrase.

Oh, I see!

Thanks for explaining that.

IME the Council will do **** all, but give yours a try.

Its worth having a word with your landlord the and say you will not feel like renewing if nothing is done!

take set of bomber forks and hit them with it. A person fended off a burgalar with a set of these hence the phrase.

And his muscular arms.

it turns out from someone else who lives in the building that he in fact pushes them down the stairs "for fun" whilst chucking glass bottles at them

Sod the noise, if that was the type of beautiful person I had to share space with I'd be serving notice on my contract – either walking away (costly) or holding out / staying out as much as possible for the next 3 months whilst finding a better place… Sincerely hope you're in a position to consider that option.

IME the Council will do **** all, but give yours a try.

Probably right. In our case the noisy neighbour was a middle class type who probably didn't fancy the idea of an ASBO, whereas the scally in this case would probably wear it as a badge of honour.

Moving is probably the best option.

Peace through superior amplification

+1 My Hifi breaks several strategic arms limitation treaty laws and has silenced many a noisy neighbour in the past

Superglue in his locks when he goes out. repeat until bored

Police.

they were remarkably supportive and pro-active when we had a noisy neighbour.

just MTFU and ask him to be quieter you wuss

Just think. It could be worse!!! At least its only a guitar!

I would move.

Whilst he is undoubtedly a tool the problem is that house conversions are a terrible idea and don't give any sound insulation.

Might mean you don't get your deposit back though.

You've got to ask him to keep it down.

Going straight to the police/council/landlord without first asking politely to lower the volume is pretty rude. How will he know he's being too loud without someone letting him know?

I had a neighbour who done all of the above and never once just asked me to 'keep it down'
He was greeted every evening with a thundering wall of Bass. 😈

Peace through superior amplification

Amen brother.

Had a neighbour (busybody old cah a bit racist too) complained to the local housing office about my music once. Had a letter and everything.

And the particular music that got her goat that time? Well, it was a bit of the old Ludwig Van. The Glorious Ninth to be exact.

**** philistine.

The thing with an ASBO is, they're very bad news if you're a council tenant (eviction), and breaking the terms is a one way ticket to jail.

Also buy yourself some earplugs to help yourself sleep.

I'd move, and next time either rent a top-floor flat or a detached house.

try the polite approach… you may be pleasantly surprised.

I used to live down the hall from a gang of chavs that were inhabiting a bedsit.. smoking dope all day and snorting speed and guzzling white cider by night.. all the while techno and macho posturing loud enough to make your ears fall off..

After a while I couldn't stand it any longer and with some trepidation I went down to have a polite word… they were extremely apologetic and eager to please.. the quiet didn't last long though.. and I often had to let them know when enough was enough but they were always pretty respectful..

FWIW my neighbours probably think that I'm a terrifying chav but I too am pretty amiable and eager to please when someone asks politely.

As has been mentioned above.. wading in with the rozzertron and landlords and other officialdom will only make you some very spotty angry little enemies.. not nice

Are both flats owned by the same landlord? I'd speak to them, tell them to deal with it or you are off. I've no idea how tied you are to the 6 month contract, might be grounds to get out of it, CAB might help.

just MTFU and ask him to be quieter you wuss

You have to. You're more likely to create animosity if he just gets a letter one day from the Council saying that somebody complained. He'll know it's you and will be able question why you didn't go and let him know that he was causing you grief. You simply can't assume that he'd be unconcerned if he knew that his antics disturb you; sometimes people simply don't realise that other people can hear what they're doing.

We have a noisy neighbour, it is the teenage daughter of some neighbours who are hearing impaired – in effect she can party until whatever time she likes, the parents alledge they don't know how nosiy she is being – although they got disturbed by a dog barking when someone tried to break into their car once, so I'm uncertain as to their level of hearing.

Because they are not direct neighbours the local authority don't want to know. The local PCSO's have been straight with us, noise from within a premise is the LA's problem, but if it spills out into a public area they can help/take action – sometimes this girl's parties result in her/her mates in the street at 2 or 3.00am. I'd wonder if your local police/PCSO's could consider the stairwell a public area, they probably would in a social housing setting.

I do agree with trying to make him aware of the nuisance he is being, as things for us have quietened down since I put a rather blunt note through the door!

I can recommend the diary (noting what impact the noise is happening e.g. TV up to volume 18 to hear it etc), council noise team etc.

I've had a string of noisy neighbours in the past and the stress is a pain. I once lived below some music students. After a few polite requests for no more after the pub jamming sessions, I restricted my complaints to when I left for work – about 6am most mornings. I didn't stop knocking until someone answered the door. In the end we moved anyway.

Getting lots of people to complain is a lot more effective with the council by the way. They need a reason to attend and then a few noise
readings and then they'll issue an official warning etc etc

smurf

Contact the noise team from the council. They will come round to assess the level of disturbance and if significant they will firstly serve them a warning notice, then if that doesnt do the trick they will confiscate anything that is used to make the noise. That's what they did in Edinburgh anyway.