Quick Back story:
Myself and my husband, both 30s, have 2 children aged 1 & 4. We have rented our semi d home nearly for 2 years and our neighbor (bit younger than us, no kids) moved in a few months later. We had never said more than hello to each other until all this trouble kicked off.
- The End of January she complained to our landlord via text. Just that there was lot of noise during the day the previous few weeks and banging. She Did not come to us first. We were quite taken aback by the complaint and the next day I went to her face to face to apologize and clear the air. I explained the noise. And told her we would keep it down. I was very civil. I told her to please call in if there was any further issues. She didn’t agree or disagree to this. She didn’t say much just that she understands children will be children. She didn’t acknowledge my children, who were standing there with me.
- The following day she started logging the noise, which we saw 4 weeks later when she sent her next complaint via text to landlord who sent it onto us.
- This time she was much more detailed which included logs of noises, dates and times. She started by saying we were quiet for “approx 11 days” which “proved the behavior can be controlled”.
- She claimed we were forcefully and repeatedly slamming doors. She said she counted 50 times in one particular day. She said she tested out slamming doors in her own house and that it would have to be done with serious force to make such noise. These noises are in-fact noises from our children playing. We have wood and tiles throughout the house. Rugs are expensive but we have some. These noises were also noises from kitchen presses and drawers closing repeatedly from us simply cooking & cleaning throughout the day, no one was forcefully closing anything and it was never the actual doors.
- We quickly made changes to combat the noises including repeatedly telling our 4 yr old to be quiet, stop running, jumping, playing with his cars without a mat under them, to the point where I am so stressed out when he plays now. We have spent over €50 to appease this woman on things such as soft closure pads, which we have put onto every cupboard door and drawer in the house, finger guards for the actual doors, an extra kids play mat and just this week a camera to record audio as proof.
- We went to the gardai soon after this second complaint. We felt harassed. We filed the issue with them.
- By this stage I was not willing to meet face to face with this woman as she clearly did not have any interest in speaking to me and is not a reasonable person. We informed the landlord that we went to the gardai. We asked him to please let her know what these noises actually are, that we are not forcefully and repeatedly slamming doors, that it is children playing and we have taken measures to prevent this from continuing but to remind her it is daytime, normal noise.
- This week she complained via text to landlord for the third time.
- This complaint stated the ‘door slams have reduced’. So the landlord obviously did not inform her that these noises were not doors slamming. He appears to have no interest in this matter. He is very nice and we have had no issues here until this. He said he spoke to his solicitor who says our lovely neighbour has no case here, it is all normal noises. He told me we shouldn’t be worried about our tenancy rights as I told him I am concerned now. Our neighbor is using all the right buzz words particularly in this third complaint to go and make a formal complaint somewhere, the local authority perhaps.
- This third complaint mentions noise “early mornings and “late at night” and “disturbing her sleep at night”. We are very lucky that our children are great sleepers and will be settled by 9pm through till 7/8am. So we are unsure about these claims and therefore purchased a camera.
- The third complaint has also included 3 audio recordings. They are all noises of our children playing, 2 are of our 4 yr old son running, 1 is of our 1 year old banging her cot while going down for nap & sleep. We have moved her cot from the wall. But 1 year olds are quite unreasonable people so I’m not sure what else we can do about that. There is no voices audible but is this normal thing to do, recording children while they play and are in bed?
- This third complaint she says it is ‘now a noise nuisance rather than a general complaint’.
- The landlord has said he would like for us to meet her face to face to discuss this. I agreed. I’ve now changed my mind particularly since hearing the Audio recordings. I feel threatened at this stage. She has crossed a line now. This is harassment of my family and my children. My husband is going to speak to her instead and keep it very civil and matter of fact.
- This situation has been increasingly effecting our quality of life in our home. I am feeling very anxious and it is effecting my sleep. I am regularly shushing our children for simply being children.. My children are being recorded going to sleep and playing, in their own home.
- I know this has gone too far and should have been sorted months ago. She should have come to us first. Our landlord should also have nipped this in the bud weeks ago. It seems like neither wants to deal with confrontation. Even the garda we spoke to asked us why is he entertaining her at all. She also told us to keep doing what we normally do and that we’ve been more than accommodating making these changes and apologizing to her.
- Just to point out, We have been on the other side of this. We had neighbors beside and above us for years in our last place. Before we had our own. We never once complained, we understand kids being kids and what’s considered normal noise, however annoying it might be.
Beyond freaked out and angry at how this has turned now. I feel we have been more than accommodating to her and I refuse to apologize again. She owes us the apology now if anything!
Has anyone experienced this level of complaints from a neighbor? What would you do at this stage?
Thanks if you read this far!