Noise from neighbours upstairs

[TracyM1985]

Someone please offer some advice as I am my wits end.
My partner bought a ground flat in February this year, didn't do her research and rushed into it.
Anyway, her upstairs neighbours are a family of Africans with 2 children. They seem like fairly decent people, don't blare their television or music and the father works. Other than this however, they barely leave their house. Their daughter is 6 years old and never outside, apart from school. I am not trying to tell anyone to parent but even on hot sunny days (few and far between in Glasgow) the children are indoors. Never see friends or them leaving the flat ever. Its bizarre.
The issue we have had is noise from the child running, jumping and ball bouncing for hours on end. We are aware some noise is expected and have both lived in flats before but this child is wired at night presumably because she isn't ever outside apart from school.
We have politely asked them to stop her running after 8pm at night as we are up at 4.30am for work, wrote them a letter and final straw was at 9.45pm my partner lost the plot and smashed their ceiling with a brush so hard they phoned their landlady to come out.
She was extremely condescending and rude and behaved like we were being dramatic. Our dog who is noise sensitive and a total wuss quite frankly, has run off umpteen times and hides in hedges out the back when the noise is bad.
our dog is a quiet little staffy and rarely ever barks and is the most loving dog on earth.
We don't mind a bit of noise we are reasonable people and understand we will hear them, but allowing a child to run riot for 3 to 4 hours every single night is unacceptable.
I imagine sound proofing is poor and the last thing we want is a war as we have got to know surrounding neighbours well and have built up friendships with them.
We have asked them did previous owners mention noise and they said yes but it wasn't the reason they sold. Find this hard to believe.
We are reluctant to involve the council as they're probably not going to do anything about children noise and also it can affect selling in the future.
Since the 3 attempts of asking them to be a bit more considerate have failed, we have taken to fighting fire with fire and every time the child runs after a certain time of night we are blaring music
This is not what I want to be doing with my evenings but I don't know what else to do.

I don't really think you can stop a child running. It's their natural way of moving, and you can't expect people to have the same day and night routine as you. It's a problem with insulation. Flats should have concrete floors

You are the problem neighbour here. Blasting music is a vile response to children being children - of you don't want noise from above, don't buy a downstairs flat.

What's the relevance of them being African, incidentally?

Why is the fact that they are African relevant?🤔

OP you can't say Africans!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why is it relevant that they are African?

Smashing the ceiling with a brush sounds far worse than a 6yo moving about.
Playing music is far far worse.

If you're up at 4:30am for work, how do you know she never goes out? I mean, even if you both work at home, then you're not staring out of the window all the time.

'upstairs neighbours are a family of Africans'

And why is this relevant?

Totally antisocial for a child to run round at 9:45. An 8 pm cut off is a bit extreme. Have you considered that your 4:30 starts are a problem too and make flat living unsuitable for you?
Suck it up and put the flat on the market. This will not get better.

Why mention they're African? Would you have pointed out if they were Scottish?

Anyway, her upstairs neighbours are a family of Africans with 2 children

And why is that relevant?

Since the 3 attempts of asking them to be a bit more considerate have failed, we have taken to fighting fire with fire and every time the child runs after a certain time of night we are blaring music

You're really not covering yourself in glory here

Out of the 2 of you - you're the unreasonable antisocial ones.

I've a downstairs neighbour who bangs really hard on the floor, several times now when I've very rarely had my niece and nephews in running around, when I've been hoovering. They have become noisier intentionally slamming doors and windows really loudly. It's aggressive, when I am not doing anything to annoy them on purpose and am just living my life. It caused me a lot of anxiety before, and I do think it's a structural issue and the flat should be built better, but I don't believe I am being loud at all day to day

Why can't the upstairs neighbours be more considerate about noise

Weird they never go out

Not a lot you can do. Insulation don't sound great. Cover it up with your own noise if you can (radio etc), wear noise cancelling headphones as a temporary measure. Move to get rid of the issue permanently and don't buy a ground floor flat again. Im on first floor and can hear neighbours below and get woken most mornings.

Your options :

1. Sell it
2. Rent it and you move out
3. Sound proof your ceiling (expensive and not guaranteed to help)

It's not realistic to stay living there and think it will get any better. Theyre not going to get quieter and you're not going to stop noticing the noise. The sooner you choose your option and get things moving the better.

Not a he

How is wanting to watch your television for a couple of hours at night without a child running, jumping and ball bouncing for 4 hours antisocial?

We have similar next door and it isn't fun. So loud

Stop talking absolute shite.

You have shot yourself in the foot by mentioning their ethnicity, which is irrelevant. Maybe edit your post?

But, regarding the noise, you are right, there is no reason a child of that age should be noisily running around post 8PM. They are perfectly capable of taking shoes off and trying to be quiet.

If it is excessive, record it and complain to your council’s noise prevention unit. However, I would try and have a polite face-to-face chat first and maybe have them round for a drink/bite. Going to war should be a last resort.

Why don't you live in your own place? Nothing on earth could get me to live in a downstairs flat again, it was torturous. Destroyed my sanity. Just meet your girlfriend for dates and enjoy having your own property and peace.

Goodness.