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Dog noise complaint :(

25 replies

Leah597 · 09/10/2019 23:38

Hi, I have been living in my disabled flat for 6 years with my 2 dogs. I have had people live above me in the past who have had no issue with my dogs, and said they have never heard them bark and they are no issue. When I first moved in there was a couple with a new born baby and I never heard the baby cry once, and I asked them and they never heard my dogs.
Skip to this month, a man has moved above me and been both mentally and physically disabled i only leave the flat 5 hours on a Wednesday, my home has 2 way cctv in every room for piece of mind for my family. Last week I was coming home with my shopping and I will admit when they hear the car pull in they will start barking until I open the door, at most this is no more then a couple of minutes. The man above me came down the stairs and says that my dogs are doing his fking head in!!! He then stepped to my face and said that he wasn't going to report me to the council but he wants me to know that me and him now have problems!!! I had a full anxiety attack in front of him and said my dogs don't bark I can prove it I can show him, and then he continued to say they bark all day and he can't sleep in the day because he doesn't sleep at night very well, so they are keeping him awake during the day. (He doesn't work)
Long story short I am petrified I am going to lose my dogs, they are all I have and to he honest I really don't think I would have made it through my dark times without them. Any advice??? The council allow one dog but I have two (yes I know my own fault) but in all the 6 years I have been here I have never had a complaint about anything. I haven't left my home since because I don't want to upset him, as this is making me very ill.

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MrsFattyBumBum · 09/10/2019 23:41

If you have CCTV with sound in the house you have evidence they don't bark?

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MrsFattyBumBum · 09/10/2019 23:41

He sounds vile :(

Hope you are OK Flowers

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Leah597 · 09/10/2019 23:42

Also I should add the dogs do not bark in the day or night at all!!!! I have cctv to prove this, they only bark when I come in on a Wednesday. And the dogs are walked daily as I have 3 carers a day coming into the flat along with someone who stays with me over night

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QueenoftheNowhereverse · 09/10/2019 23:44

Back up up your CCTV as firstly evidence that your dogs don’t have a barking problem, but secondly of this mans behaviour.

If needs be, the council might be able to contact the previous upstairs tenants to verify your dogs are well behaved. Sorry that you’re going through this.

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Leah597 · 09/10/2019 23:45

Yes the cctv records noise as well and I admit they bark on a Wednesday when I get home and they hear the door, but apart from that they do not bark when I'm in the flat and they also wear dog collars that react to barks when I leave the flat

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Leah597 · 09/10/2019 23:46

Thanks for the reply and help Smile

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Leah597 · 09/10/2019 23:48

Thank you Flowers just never been spoken to like that before, I just felt very threatened but feel like he has one on me because I have 2 dogs not 1 (my fault I know Sad )

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Namechange55 · 09/10/2019 23:53

If you have video proof they don’t bark I wouldn’t worry. Enviornmental health deal with noise complaints, not the council. If he mentions you having 2 dogs I’d say one is your carers!

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Leah597 · 09/10/2019 23:55

Good idea Smile thanks for replying Star

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FriedasCarLoad · 09/10/2019 23:55

Could he be hearing someone else’s dogs?

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Leah597 · 09/10/2019 23:58

No I'm the only tenant with dogs in the flat, what I don't understand is that I have never heard any of my neighbours above before but since he has moved in I can hear EVERYTHING he does, I can actually pin point what room he is in. I told him this when he was shouting at me and he told me if I got any problems come knock on his door don't go to the council

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HypatiaCade · 10/10/2019 00:01

Has he lifted up carpet that used to be down in his floor? That might explain why you can hear him.

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Leah597 · 10/10/2019 00:05

This is what I think he may have done yes, but I can't walk up the stairs to knock and see, so I think he was saying that to knock on his door because he knew I couldn't anyway. I'm worried about all noise now, I have even stopped watching tv and have been watching programs on my tablet with headphones because I don't want him complaining anymore and shouting at me. I don't know how much he can hear up there concidering how much I can hear of him Confused

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Fuma · 10/10/2019 00:24

OP from my reading of this the issue isn't your dogs but your neighbour. Even if your dogs were barking constantly day and night (and I say this as someone who really doesn't like dogs) - which they aren't, and you can prove it with your soon to be backed up footage, yes? So it isn't a point of dispute - the immediate problem is that your neighbour is acting in a threatening and abusive manner towards you.

Given that he's volatile and sounds like he has a fairly unsavoury lifestyle (sleeping all day, not working - why?) I would definitely avoid all further contact with him as a first step - not by restricting your activity but by refusing to engage if you encounter him. It's amazing how a brisk "hello, sorry, must get on" and a big bright smile can throw people off their tracks. Practice in front of the mirror until you look confident.

However I would also get as much back up as you can longer term. Do you have a tenancy support worker? Or social services contact? I would want to alert someone in a position of relative authority to the fact that you as a vulnerable adult are being threatened and intimidated in your living environment. Just talk about "my dog" and if they ask at some point down the line why there's two then yes the other is your carer's or your friend's - it makes no odds really and I doubt if, having allowed you one dog, they'd be particularly fussed about a second one anyway. They should though be very bothered about you encountering aggression and threats from someone who is also a tenant and I would hope that they will take action. Good luck OP.

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Nat6999 · 10/10/2019 00:31

I live in a block of 9 flats, 3 of which have dogs, believe me you can hear every growl & woof, every time anyone puts a key in their door, the postman comes, the communal door opens, the bloody things bark. A flat is not the right environment for a dog.

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Leah597 · 10/10/2019 00:48

Yes you may be correct, however surely it's the same if I lived in a semi detached house with one common shared wall. Just because someone has a garden doesn't mean the dog will bark less, if anything they bark more because people are more accepting of dogs barking outside. I am very tolerable of his behaviour and noise and have not said anything.

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Leah597 · 10/10/2019 00:55

Yes I have a HCA, a MH nurse who come daily as well as a district nurse who comes every other day to give me morphine etc. They have all been made aware, not sure what help it will do, their advice has been to just ignore him.
He doesn't work because he lost his wife last year and he was living in the block of flats next door, and he didn't want to have sex in the flat with his new girlfriend so when the man above me moved back down south he applied for his flat and got it.

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pumkinseason · 10/10/2019 02:11

Ask a carer or family member (if any are around) to pop upstairs and check if he has ripped the carpet out. If the sound insulation is much worse for you both then he may have done.

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MrGsFancyNewVagina · 10/10/2019 02:16

The insistence that you speak to him and not the council, would suggest that he’s already had a run in with the council. He seems very keen not to communicate with them, doesn’t he?

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Leah597 · 10/10/2019 13:37

Yes it was very strange he must have said it at least 3 times that he wasn't going to contact the council and he didn't want me contacting them if I had any complaints either.

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embarrassedabout · 10/10/2019 14:02

I was also going to say it's a bit strange he keeps saying about not contacting the council Hmm. What has he got to hide? Maybe he's already in trouble for being aggressive to other neighbours. I wouldn't worry about the dog noise, like you say, no issues with previous neighbours plus you have proof. I would however contact the council and report the incident and that you felt threatened just incase he ever does anything like this again, at least then it's on record.

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MrGsFancyNewVagina · 10/10/2019 16:46

Actually, are you sure he’s even supposed to be in that flat? He could be sub renting and doesn’t want them to know. It strikes me as very very strange that he managed to get moved from a flat to another one, simply because he wasn’t happy, when there are people in desperate need. Something is off about that.

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LadyB49 · 10/10/2019 17:15

If you are worried about having two dogs...... What about speaking with the Council and see if they would make an exception. Support in this from your nurse and Dr would help show they will your mental health. I do appreciate they might say no...and there you are with two.

O you could ask if you could get a second dog????

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Lunafortheloveogod · 10/10/2019 17:23

I’d report his arse in a second, he can’t expect you to live silently forever while he traipses around like an elephant and threatening you for a dog being a dog for 5 minutes. I’d actually complain about his behaviour too as that alone is antisocial to say the least.

He might be subletting, he might’ve been on his last warning in his previous flat and none of that is your fault.

I doubt the council moved him specifically cause he couldn’t shag his new missus.

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Leah597 · 10/10/2019 19:53

Thanks for everyone's replies Smile you have all been so kind. I was speaking to my carer earlier and come to think of it, I remember when the council come to show the above flat it was actually shown to his new girlfriend and not him because I first thought it was her moving in above. Then once the council woman left she then went and got him and they both went upstairs together. The funny thing is she doesn't live with him, she rarely comes over mostly at the weekend Confused

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