To ring my neighbour's doorbell every half hour

[Bellini81]

To make sure they are up? Back story is we have a house of "professionals" who live four doors along (no idea how many live there, but there is a few of them) and come the summer months they hold regular parties that spill into their back garden and keep us all awake, we knock when they wake our kids up but they are always so very pissed and it's like talking to a bunch toddlers when asking them to take the party indoors.

Last nights party went on till 3am, we went and knocked 4 plus more times before the noise settled down. I've got work today so I can't have a lie on go catch up on my sleep

Would I be unreasonable to go and ring their doorbell every half hour with a cheery smile to make sure they don't get to sleep off their hangover?

I've just lodged a complaint with the local council but I'm sitting here so tired and fed up.

Depends where you live - prob not a safe or sensible thing to do in my area. I would go via the noise complaints route if it's regular partying and just get some earplugs if it's the odd one- off.

I had nightmare neighbours in my previous house. I managed to find details of the letting agent online (I googled the address and it came up several results in), who passed my complaints to the ll who dealt with it sharpish.

As an aside I'm now a landlord and any noise complaints would be dealt with very seriously by me.

My partner has done the speakers against the wall thing before.

He said he done it and put heavy metal on at around 6am while he then went to work a 12 hour shift. I thought it was brilliant when he told me.

I'm not sure if it was because it was a restaurant but we had noise issues at our old house in E.London. We lived in a mews maisonette that had a restaurant a 2 doors down but to the back of us. They used to have live music with steel drums, sounded like they were playing in our front room. We called the council out when it was too much and after 3 visits they put some sort of decibel limit on them and from then on they could only play at certain times and only so loud. We could still hear it, but we could sleep through it. Think it is a course of reporting every instance to the council.

Case* not course. It's late, I didn't preview.

I had a note recently to say a party was taking place next door although I had guessed by the trussing up of the communal gardens

This note promised to keep the noise down

The music wasn't loud but they seemed to have invited some men who had foghorns for voice boxes. Despite being at least 25 they got very very excited every 19 mins and cheered, whooped, ran around, rolled on the floor, screamed, shouted. It was like being in a grown up soft play centre. It was like the twilight zone.

You couldn't hear the TV, no one could sleep, I couldn't read, it was horrific and went on for 8 hours!

I feel your pain. I almost went over but the loud man babies were weirdly a bit aggressively intimidating

Passive aggression is great therapy.

I once had a noisy neighbour who was very similar.

I used to put "Art of Noise" on full blast a few hours after they went quiet.

Then Yoko Ono's album "Fly".

It did the trick!

Terrible waste of classic contemporary music, I admit!

I also recall the house at the back of us has a lot of parties. One party a couple had a loud and long row about their relationship. After about an hour of it, around 4am I opened the window to shout at them to STFU and looked left and saw my next door neighbour just about to do the same thing. We gave each other a mental high 5 and simultaneously yelled SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! Until they went indoors

I think you must live near us - SE area of London? - we shout through the window and were told that we had a nice loft extension and they were sure that it must be sound proofed. - this at 4.45am. I am reluctant to go round but might see if other neighbours are being disurbed (I may knock on your door, who knows) and if they fancy popping round en masse next time...

Doingmybestmum no unfortunately it's north east London but I would have loved you to have been my neighbour! Sorry you are going through similar though

I phoned the possible letting agency today and they said it wasn't their property, (it might have been my imagination but they sounded cagey.)

I think I found the actual house owner and managed to get an email address too, I emailed an apology over if it wasnt the right person and also details of the goings on there and haven't heard anything back (it's a work email address) so I've either got the completely wrong person, they haven't read it yet or I've got the right person and they are dealing with it? Who knows, I'm dreading next weekend already, I'm taking part in a charity race on Sunday and I'm praying they don't throw another party and keep us up as I'll be in no fit state to put one foot in front of the other

I phoned the possible letting agency today and they said it wasn't their property, (it might have been my imagination but they sounded cagey)
TBH it doesn't really matter who the letting agent is as they are under no obligation to take any action even if they are managing the rental.

Why don't you knock on the door again and ask to speak to the name that you got from Land Registry??

You should find out then whether they live there or not and if they don't live there you could ask if the tenants have a forwarding address for them.

Actually probably best that you get someone else to do this for you so that the tenants don't work out why you want the LL's address.

I know by now you probably think that I am quite pessimistic about getting action towards noisy neighbours but it is only that I want you to know how things work in reality.

I used to think that as soon as I found out the LL and LA details that they would be appalled by the behaviour of their tenants and take action.

I was shocked to find that they didn't care and since this happened to me I have been finding out that this is common and happens to a lot of people in the same situation.

I had a note recently to say a party was taking place next door although I had guessed by the trussing up of the communal gardens
Do you mean that your NDNs were having a private party in your communal gardens??

They did! I did not actually mind because it's the first time they ever have and it was a special occasion. But they seem to be friends with a few complete knobs.

They did! I did not actually mind because it's the first time they ever have and it was a special occasion. But they seem to be friends with a few complete knobs
It is a bit cheeky to have a party in the communal gardens and just tell everybody else about it.

They should really have asked permission.

I hope they cleaned up afterwards.

Buy air horns and blast them through the letter box instead of ringing a door bell haha

Good on you OP - been in this situation and it's so frustrating.

Last year the people in one of the flats next door to our house (shared wall) put a note through our door saying they were having a party at the weekend but would be careful to keep disruption to a minimum and it would all be over by 11. It got to about 9.30 and we were still waiting for the racket... Went upstairs and put our ear to the wall and you could just about hear a few people chatting. It never got any louder than that. If only all neighbours were like that (we moved. They are not)

On a practical level: I struggled with PND and poor sleep, and learnt quite a lot about how to plan for sleep - or at least relax and not worry about not sleeping, which is the next best thing. It comes in handy during the summer as we live close to a country park where we hear the sound of people barbequeueing and partying into the wee small hours.

One of the tricks I was taught is to focus on the noise itself, rather than trying, hopelessly, to filter it out. Listen to the music, or the words, or if you can't actually hear it, try to catch the rhythm of the cadences and meter of the conversation. Write a story in your mind about what they're saying, what their lives are like; think about the music you're hearing (if you hate it, try to compose a better-selling track).

You might not be able to sleep through it, but you might find that you are more relaxed, and more likely to doze and be a little more refreshed than by being angered by it. I should point out, however, that what I was told is that sleep is a habit as much as a need, so this technique may not work immediately.

I find that reminding myself that a sleepless night won't kill me, using earplugs and plotting fantasy revenge helps me.

I once went to pick up DS from his friends huuuuuge terraced (4 floors plus basement) house in posh London and found the kids having a disco (with a DJ) in the basement. Not very loud to be honest.

As I arrived there was a Big Fight going on at the front gate with a neighbour wailing 'but my baby must sleep. You must not make noise'.

She had heard the noise from the street when she was walking past with the pram - and since she was in the next door house, it's likely the nursery was 4 floors up (like I said, huuuuuge houses).

The host was pointing out that a) the kids started partying at 5:30pm, b) it wasn't that loud as she didn't want to deafen the kids (they were 10), c) they had just turned it off, and d) it was 7pm.

I know the feeling well. I had reached a compromise with my downstairs neighbour about cutting the trees She said she was happy, few months later I came home to find cutting the trees down to 3ft, I screwed my courage up and when I returned home the following night asked her not to cut the trees to 3ft. Her reply was the Housing Association Rep had given her permission and anyway 'You are at work all week we have to live with it'. I phoned my HA Rep who said she had said that the tenant could trim them. I never got any feedback from the HA Rep, but it stopped the tenant for a while but any recovery for the trees was quickly removed. The night of the reps visit I endured a very loud gathering of my neighbour and 3 tenants from an adjacent property. Who without naming by name, extremely loudly (just to make sure I got the message) of i.e I had gone behind the other tenants back, what she needs is? etc all evening. I kept repeating to myself do not escalate it like a mantra. That night she kicked off with waking me 4 times every night which after 10 months has escalated 1st to starting making loud short lived noise from 10.30pm till 4am, now the level of short lived noise she makes is unbearable from when I get in to when she goes to bed approx. 3.45 am. I am up at 5.15 am and do not get home till early evening. HA rep is friendly with her, have they done anything. She has stopped using noisy appliances in early hours but still wakes me up. Rep has not even updated me or enquired if there is any improvement. So much for the Caring Housing Association Charters to provide a service were everyone has the same rights, especially the right to peace and quiet during the night time hours after 10pm. My advice is get very very friendly with your housing rep before making any complaint. I have my stereo securely packed up as I would dearly love to blast her out with all 4 large speakers, but that would also affect my 4 lovely neighbours who do not want to get involved.

The Japenese used noise to cause sleep deprivation as a form of torture during the 2nd world war because it proved to be so successful. In the year in which the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge supported the launch of the mental health charity can we try to take the loaded guns that a few selfish people hold and disarm them . After reading so many different accounts of noisy neigbours/parties. After the election if you and anyone else you know could squeeze any time out of a demanding schedule to write 1 letter/email and copy to Prince William, Catherine Duchess of Cambridge, New PM, local MP, Council, Housing Associations, any and every paper. Please note you will only get a response from PM if you write a letter to Downing Street and email on Parliament website is limited wording. Instead of so many victims lets turn it around and find a positive solution and not a platitude of ineffectual words and rules. The same goes for anyone who has or knows someone is being bullied. Let us all take the power away from them. I want my children and grandchildren who respect the rights of others. To live in a world where everyone, whether it is enjoying themselves or selfish people using it as a weapon, do not have the right to inflict it on others.

Oh my, you are in a truly dreadful situation. Can you not get a housing swap? I couldn't have put up with all that for so very long.

I don't think your four neighbours are that lovely actually.

our non existent noise laws are a major issue
however, I've written letters everywhere and no results

I think there was a debate in parliament about fireworks only being allowed on particular days and they said no to that too. it's a nightmare.

I had one party holding neighbour, with the help of the management company she calmed down a bit but eventually I went in and had such a fit of rage I think she thought I needed sectioning, but at least she stopped. Then her landlord wouldn't let her stay on because he'd had numerous complaints.

God you have so far had the patience of a saint - I got a full on stampy rage at my blinds clacking against the wall the other night and as you can imagine that really wasn't loud at all!

FYI I think Cotton Eye Joe on a loop is probably the most annoying thing to blast through the walls