To call 101 about neighbour?

[wotabastard]

My downstairs neighbour went absolutely ballistic at my toddler having a tantrum this morning as I was getting my children out the door to school and nursery this morning and I was actually scared to come back in my flat on the way home.
We generally walk on eggshells already, creep about and don't use the room above her bedroom in the morning. She has shouted and screamed at us before and sent her very calm and pleasant boyfriend up to ask us to be quiet, however he sympathised with me and was clearly embarrassed to be at my door. We make usual family noise and I try and modify it to the best of my ability. We do not play loud music, tv, stay up late or get up early. We were only up and about from 7.45am this morning (school at end of street). The noise she complains about is footsteps even when it is barefoot tip toeing, I really don't know what to do. The floors are laminated and I am saving up for decent rugs to hopefully muffle some sound.
My toddler wakes at about 6am and I creep through and quietly bring her to my bed where she bf's til we get up to get ready. At approx 8.40am we were due to leave and she started having a tantrum. I had opened the front door as her wellies were out there but it was such a wrestle. Suddenly I heard downstairs neighbour screaming at her to shut up at the top of her voice and viciously slamming her door. My toddler was shocked and even more upset after! It was horrible. As I came down the stairs I saw her standing in her doorway holding her phone out as if recording us. Then she glared at me and flounced inside, again slamming the door so the whole frame rattled. I found her behaviour so aggressive and threatening. My 10 year old daughter was with me and she was clearly shocked too.
I really want some advice as this cannot continue. When we first moved in last December the smell of cannabis sometimes drifted up and filled our hallway and I never complained! I also hear music/tv etc from them. I appreciate people do their own thing in their homes and I try to manage my expectations for communal living. My flat was empty for a long period before we moved in so I gather she has become used to utter silence.
My daughter got off my bed one morning months ago and ran across the floor once at about 8am and in retaliation she went round the whole flat banging on every ceiling in a really threatening manner. My ex was home so I went down stairs and knocked on their door to try and calmly discuss but she refused to answer her door even though I could hear tv and smoothie blender going. That's just once instance. We haven't heard a peep from them in ages til this morning. I feel anxious and stressed in my own home when my children are just being children and I hate constantly telling them to be quiet, especially when they are not being noisy in the first place!
Is 101 an overreaction to maybe get someone to speak to her?

The property is a privately rented old Scottish tenement building for those asking about laws/policy.

If you’re in Edinburgh or Dundee, your landlord may be in breach of council rules.

Anywhere else, it’s stalemate.

Glasgow area.

Glasgow area

Lol, snap! I promise I’m not your downstairs neighbour.

Having had dealings with GCC about the charge of the light brigade above me, I can tell you that the council will not give a fuck if the neighbour calls them to complain about excessive noise. They might offer to install a noise meter (you would be informed) but they’re not going to take action re “normal household noise”.

The law is entirely on your side.

I have total sympathy for the poor woman though (and you!). It sounds as if the experience has tipped her over the edge.

If I were her, I’d be frightened that frothing like a maniac at you would simply antagonise you and the situation would escalate even further.

Given the size of the rooms in Glasgow tenements, I’d also be amazed if your LL would go to the expense of laying down carpet.

I reckon that note will send her sky high.

Anyways, there is guidance in Scotland, however it’s not law, but councils have thr right to issue fines for those who haberdashery laminate incorrectly installed in an upper floor flat.

To be fair, thr neighbour should e complaint to the environment shency and the council and have the landlord sort it out, not behaving as she isn’t doing to the op. Enough fines and then landlord will have to get it sorted.

www.heraldscotland.com/news/12507337.Laying_down_law_on_laminate_floors_Bid_to_cut_noise_complaints_from_those_below/

I know, my flat is bloody massive.

God typos sorry,

Before you send the note, contact your landlord. Is she renting too, do you know?

Anyways, there is guidance in Scotland, however it’s not law, but councils have thr right to issue fines for those who haberdashery laminate incorrectly installed in an upper floor flat.

In which case LL may simply rip up the laminate and sand the original floorboards.

That’s even worse than laminate.

I just called letting agent, they told me to send a carefully worded email to the repairs department and they will forward it on to the land lord.

Can you direct your neighbour to the letting agent to complain? If she moans enough the LL will install carpet pronto.

We had this. It's awful OP....the trouble is, families really aren't the best people for flats. My neighbour was SO awful about our reasonable and normal noise that I used to want to cry whenever the kids walked from one room to another.

It's not fair to stress the children out...make them tiptoe etc...they never chose to live in a flat so I just stopped bothering eventually.

We moved out...our neighbour wasn't going to. I know that's not very helpful to you though.

How about making them wear slippers inside?? Just a suggestion as my neighbours trot about in high heels

Our whole street is predominantly older people and families. They are very large three bedroom tenement flats designed for family life.

If she moans enough the LL will install carpet pronto.

Why on earth would you think THAT would be the outcome???

I'm in the same area as the OP and in a similar situation to OP's neighbour (although my current's upstairs neighbour is only a baby at the moment).

The landlord is unlikely to give any fucks. They don't have to. Law is on their side.

It's the poor OP, and her neighbour, who have to suffer.

We live in a top floor maisonette with a old guy below us. We have carpet in some rooms and other rooms have old wooden flooring in, my toddler I'm sure makes noise. But you know what? He never complains because it's part of the deal, he bought a ground floor and basement maisonette, we bought a first floor and attic maisonette. You make your choices and accept your neighbours, we could have someone much louder than him move in when he decides to sell (he is very old).

Usually there are terms in these places about being considerate, but you are already being considerate. Noise from children I'm afraid is not considered to be nuisance noise, it's just part of life. My parents house has several children living next door and you can hear them running around (it's a terrace). The people who lived there before them would have had me running around as a child to contend with.

Unless your downstairs neighbour wants to buy a property that's detached and you are talking about every day sounds, I'm afraid you know exactly what you are getting yourself into when you rent or buy.

No one wears shoes in my home. They are either in socks or soft slippers. We don't use our living room unless we know she is out or in the middle of the day. She's a student in a multiple occupancy, he bedroom is beneath our living room. Before school we're either in my bed or hiding in the kitchen lol. It's ridiculous.

They are very large three bedroom tenement flats designed for family life.

When the Glasgow tenements were built, back in the 18 whatevers, the builders installed ash in between the floorboards to deaden impact noise. The efficacy of that soundproofing has long gone.

Of course, the tenements were mostly carpeted in those days (a 3 bedroom one certainly would have been).

Do you know if she's a renter or an owner occupier?

You could complain to her LL.

The only way to stop noise is to instal proper soundproofing between the floor boards. I lived in a flat under that of a woman who had carpets everywhere but it was the vibrations that were really annoying. I'd move if you can.

No one wears shoes in my home. They are either in socks or soft slippers.

My current upstairs neighbours takes his outdoor shoes off in the flat. But he still thumps through the flat, dropping/banging things throughout the day and well into the wee small hours, shifting furniture late at night, vacuuming the floorboards at any time it takes his fancy.

In nine years I've never gone to bed and slept through the night except for the times upstairs neighbours were away.

She's a student in a multiple occupancy, he bedroom is beneath our living room.

She could try sleeping elsewhere, although the impact noise from upstair's flat can be heard all over my flat, so that may be of limited value.

I suspect she's taken the view that if you and your family are going to make her life miserable (by living in a flat with anti-social flooring), she's going to make your lives miserable. And then you can all be miserable together.

Everyone miserable - except for your landlord, the cause of the problem.

Your note to her sounds v reasonable. It tells her you're trying to do something to resolve the problem but it also tells her you won't accept her terrible behaviour towards your children. Seen as she won't answer the door to you, i'd send it.

I would record her. Definitely complain about her.

I’ve lived below a neighbour with laminate flooring before, the noise is hideous. Ask your landlord to sort the flooring out. But yes if she is intimidating your child tell the police, for sure.

In nine years I've never gone to bed and slept through the night except for the times upstairs neighbours were away.

God that's terrible. I live in a first floor flat with laminate. I can often hear my neighbour below me snoring the sound proofing is so bad. When they open their curtains in the morning it is so loud it scares me sometimes as it is inches from my head. I never wear shoes indoors and creep about. My brother always complained at how quiet the tv was when he visited. I've been lucky in that most of the neighbours in nine years have been very quiet and respectful of one another. This sounds like a nightmare and I think others have provided better advice than I could. Hope you find a resolution

I think the ?heavy cannabis use has a lot to do with her rages. I had neighbours who smoked cannabis every day and they both had massive anger management issues. Thankfully, they have moved out now.

She sounds like a fucking entitled psycho. I think your note will probably raise the temperature a bit more, but you really have nothing to lose. You are already tiptoeing about out of fear for her frightening violent outbursts- that's no kind of life. I don't doubt that it's shit trying to study in a noisy flat, but that's what the library is for. And as for sleeping, invest in good earplugs. I used to live opposite a nightclub when I had a tiny baby and you do adjust to noise, if helped with some earplugs and a white noise machine. Utterly NO excuse for her behaviour at all, regardless of how loud you might be. As someone else said upthread, you know what you're getting when you move into the groundie of a big tenement building/ glasgow is teeming with student accommodation right now- it's not like she had no options and if she has a problem it should be getting sorted out landlord to landlord, agent to agent.

GCC are big into mediation- it's worth exploring perhaps if you have no joy with the agents/ LLs.

but make no mistake, this IS a police matter- she has committed a breach of the peace under Scots law with her outburst and 101 would take this seriously.

www.communitysafetyglasgow.org/what-we-do/reducing-offending-behaviour/mediation/