To put a note through my neighbour's door?

[Butwhatdoyoudoallday]

We live in a top floor flat, and have done for five years now, and in that time haven't heard a peep from any of our neighbours. A new chap has moved in downstairs and is having very shouty conversations on the phone, or shouting to himself, and we can hear him all through the flat. It happens intermittently throughout the day and late into the evenings. He has just been having a shouty conversation so I popped down to check which flat it was and the racket was unbearable - I feel very sorry for the neighbours on the same floor who don't have a concrete floor between him and them.

I have knocked on his door to politely ask him to keep the noise down, but he hasn't answered. DH has suggested I pop a note through the door but I wouldn't like to be on the receiving end of such a thing.

Would it be unreasonable for me to pop a note through? Saying something along the lines of:

Dear Neighbour,

We are often able to hear your telephone calls in our flat, particularly last night and throughout most of the day today. We would appreciate it if you could keep the noise down a little.

Thank you,

Butwhatdoyoudoallday
Flat upstairs

Maybe point out that you can hear the details of his conversations and you're compiling a book to publish

If you send that you will look like an arse. Notes are never the right way to go.

Can you talk to the other neighbours? Perhaps get together and ask his landlord or whoever manages the building if he's the owner of his flat, to put something in writing to him?

When you say he's shouting, can you tell what he's shouting? Is he shouting at people, or yelling to himself? Is there a care issue there perhaps?

Tbh, if it's the middle of the day and it's not constant, I think YAB a tiny bit U?

Fwiw, I'd go around under the guise of "checking everything's ok, as we could hear you shouting" - just do it every time he's on the phone and he'll get the message...

Sadly he's shouting a language I don't speak, so I can't write a book or know what he's doing. It does sound conversational though, in the cadence and when I went downstairs I could hear a response, so thought it might be Skype or speakerphone or something.

I don't know if he owns the flat (though can find out quite easily) but hoped that I could just ask nicely and avoid going down "formal" routes, hence my lack of comfort with a note.

I would try a few more times to talk to him face to face before sending a note.

I don't think you'll look like an arse if you do have to send it, if he won't answer the door what else are you supposed to do?

At least you're signing it so he knows where it's coming from

He might not know he can be heard, if he's not lived in a flat before it could be hard to judge how much other people can hear.

Fluffy's idea is a good one.

It may not be the same at all. But I had a very shouty lady in the flat below me years ago. She actually had mental health issues and was shouting at herself. At least twice a day. She would slam windows and cupboards too.
#So just be aware the neighbour may not be fully sound mentally.

FFS im sick of note sending, its like being back at school.
Whatever happened to speaking to peoplem you have issues with?

Oh, just read you heard a response.

She's tried, Whale. She said quite clearly in her OP that she has actually tried.

How do you speak to them if they don't answer the door though, whale?

To be fair, the OP has tried knocking on the door but hasn't had an answer so a note isn't that unreasonable but I'd try again first

Try again a couple more times to ask him in person. He might well be hearing impaired - hence shouting and not answering door, in which case you'd have to catch him in person, and use a note as a last resort.

Shout through the letterbox, But? ooh, ooh, no, I know. Tie your sheets together and absail down the side of the building and talk to him through his window.

I will pay you one million pounds if you do that.*

I would say something like ' we just wanted to make you aware that we can hear every word you're saying'...

Blame the insulation/building don't make it a personal attack.

*I won't pay you

I think I might do that, Hecate. Sounds genius!

Fluffy, love your suggestion, but feel I need to defend my ever so slightly U position. If DH has the television on in the sitting room with the door shut I can't hear that nearly as clearly as the neighbour downstairs. He's really shouty! I really was gobsmacked at the volume when I went to confirm which flat! He also carries on up to 11/12 at night sometimes, which is v unreasonable.

I hope he just doesn't realise how noisy he is, and hadn't considered hearing impairment or MH issues.

Just keep knocking til you get an answer. Please don't send a note, it's a horrible thing to do, do it face to face or not at all.

Id phone environmental health or non emergency police and report the constant loud shouting ...get someone official to deal with him.

If there is a language problem or learning difficulty then they will bring in the appropriate help .

No advice really but you have my sympathies. We had a shouty downstairs neighbour a few years ago and he drove me up the wall. As BerryMenlove suggested though, ours turned out to have mental health problems (as well as being a raging alcoholic). It didn't make it any easier to live with, knowing this, but it certainly made it much harder to resolve. So good luck.

could he be a bit Mutton?

I used to have Greek flat mates at Uni and they used the floor phone (them days eh!) and they used to shout. I got worried and asked whether they were ok (had an argument?). They looked confused and when I said 'you were shouting....', they laughed and said 'oh no... That's just chatting!!'.

Some cultures have loud ways of communicating. But at least by telling them I was making them (yes more than one) aware that they were loud.

Good luck!