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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Another noisy neighbours thread...sorry.

17 replies

notanumber · 05/10/2010 20:52

I live in the downstairs half of a maisonette. The upstairs neighbours are elderly and have some hearing problems.

I can hear their tele all the time (literally from lunchtime through 'til midnight with no respite), but some times and programmes are louder than others.

I accept that the flimsy soundproofing means that some noise is inevitable, but I think that if I can identify the programme they are watching then its unacceptably loud.

The neighbours disagree - they say it's a reasonable volume and have it so low they can hardly hear it (well they would think that, they're freaking deaf) and my expectations for acceptable levels of noise for the style of flat are too high.

AIBU?

OP posts:

expatinscotland · 05/10/2010 20:53

Be glad it's not techno rave or hip hop constantly, all night.

Original poster

notanumber · 05/10/2010 21:01

It is driving me round the bend though.

It is constant and loud enough for me to identfy what programme it is, which charcter is speaking etc.... It's often audible over my own tele.

OP posts:

PlanetEarth · 05/10/2010 21:09

Can they not get headphones?

Original poster

notanumber · 05/10/2010 21:13

I've suggested it but they seem to find it a difficult concept to get their heads around ("Well we've been to the doctor and he's never mentioned anything like that" - even though I've said they can be bought in Argos).

In any case, they don't want headphones. They think that the current volume is acceptable.

OP posts:

Zhazha121 · 05/10/2010 21:20

Soundproof your home or get earplugs! They lvd there first!!

Original poster

notanumber · 05/10/2010 21:24

I'm not sure what the relevence of length of residence is....

I don't care if the've lived there for forty years or forty minutes, I think that if their televison is audible over my own then it's too loud. Or do you not agree? Am willing to be told that this is unreasonable.

OP posts:

ratspeaker · 05/10/2010 21:31

Do they have hearing aids?
If they do are they being used properly?

expatinscotland · 05/10/2010 21:37

Hmm. No, this wouldn't bother me. Maybe it's because I'm used to it being something truly horrible, like techno/rave or constant hip hop all night, partying all night, arguments where you have to call the police due to fighting, the smell of booze and fags wafting up, etc.

I'm also not home much during the day during term time.

LadyBiscuit · 05/10/2010 21:40

I can hear my upstairs neighbour's TV too and what they're watching. Their telly is on the floor though.

The problem is that our flats weren't converted very well so that's not really the neighbours' fault. Is your building well converted?

expatinscotland · 05/10/2010 21:41

Our walls are like paper. We can hear the downstairs neighbours having a conversation at normal volume.

I can't tell you how much I hate this place.

pixipie151 · 05/10/2010 21:48

No you are not! I totally sympathise with you. I had a noisy neighbout for 12 years. He lived there before us - apparently the people who lived in our flat before us left because of him.

Sadly, I don't have much advice about how to deal with it, we never resolved it and ended up moving away.

What about contacting the council and getting them to check it out? Keep a noise diary too as evidence (although they were much help for us as the noise was mostly at night when they weren't around).

If all else fails, lets hope they find a nice care home in the not too distant future and you get some lovely new (quiet) neighbours!

Good luck

dreamingofsun · 05/10/2010 21:48

if this is disrupting your sleep i would complain to them and ask them to turn it down by a certain time. if they won't do that then i would ask them to get their hearing checked and if they won't i would talk to the council - there's a department that deals with noisy neighbours - they test for noise levels. if it doesn't disrupt your sleep i would buy lots of music cds and turn them up louder so i couldn't hear their tele. i think this is out of order - the old man in the flat below me used to come back from the pub drunk and have his tele that loud - but he did at least turn it down when i complained.

PlanetEarth · 05/10/2010 21:57

A friend had a similar problem with a deaf old guy in the flat upstairs constantly watching telly. They had the police round one time, who came into their flat, heard the noise and said, "That's not acceptable, we'll have a word with him." Shortly after they came back down and said, "Oh, he's just an old guy, you'll just have to put up with it."

So if it had been young people making the noise, it would have been unacceptable, but as it was an old guy they had to lump it!

pippop1 · 05/10/2010 22:00

You could ask them to put the subtitles on, then they won't have to have it quite so loud.

milly911 · 05/10/2010 22:06

I sympathise. I can hear my upstairs neighbours tv and them talking all evening and into the early hours (gawd knows what they find to talk about for such long periods of time). It's like a constant drone. BUT having had truly noisy, anti-social neighbours up there for years before them I find I can live with it.

iliketosleep · 05/10/2010 22:09

Enviromental health rules that if you can recognise characters from a programme then they are causing a disturbance. Give them a ring, they will come and sort it for you.

MrsThisIsTheCadillacOfNailguns · 05/10/2010 22:58

My neighbours are hard of hearing and we can often hear their tv.However,they are the kindest neighbours you could possibly imagine,so I never complain,after all they have to put up with my dc thundering about.I've also had to put up with people playing music so loud that the walls vibrate in the past,so in comparison loud tv is a minor annoyance and I don't really notice it now.

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