Noise complaint moved to next stage...

[dognoisenon]

We appear to be being harassed by a neighbour. Terraced house. We believe we know which one.

We received a Council complaint about 'constantly barking dogs being locked outside'. I called and said I was confused, but was told the complainant would do a diary for 4 weeks and then providing there was no complaint to uphold it would be dropped.

Because we were already having issues we decided to install cameras which records constantly 24 hrs and will capture all noise both inside and also outside.

We fully expected nothing further to happen, but I hadn't got around to calling back. Today we received a letter stating the dogs have been (I quote) 'The times of the barking have been noted as constantly throughout the day and evening. The residents complaining are also concerned about the dogs welfare and find the whining distressing.'

I nearly fell over. This is just not true.

My dogs don't whine? At all? They're walked twice a day, go to an exercise field twice a week for extra fun, and have everything their furry hearts desire.

The dogs do bark occasionally. Maybe 3-4 days a day a couple of short barks at unexpected loud noise, or a door knock. They are also barely ever alone and we know they do not whine or bark when we're out.

I'm not so concerned about the complaint as I know the noise recording machine will capture the truth.

But does anyone work in this area to know what constitutes 'constant' in this scenario? There must be a defninition they work to such as 1 min per hour of the day or something?

Will I be able to get them to provide the dairy data he has falsified in order to claim against him legally for harassment?

While I know we will be cleared. It still gives us another 4 weeks of feeling on edge.

AIBU to look to claim against him for harassment and to prove he falsified evidence?

NB> I have confirmed with our other neighbour, she has no issues.

How do you mean claim against him? As in claim money? What for?
If you know his claims are false just ignore the nonsense in the letters and sit tight. The truth will come clear if they use noise monitors.

@MissBaskinIfYoureNasty This isn't the only form his harassment is taking. It's only part of a picture.

I want him to think about his actions and realise he can't harass people like this.

In my experience some dog owners aren't always aware of the noise their pets make. And I also know that some well treated and perfectly happy dogs yap, bark and whine.

All that said - I think you need to keep your own diary of everything the dogs do (bark, whine, times they are out for walkies) so there's something to compare to the complainants account. If he says the dogs are noisy when you are all down the park - well that would cause some interest.

And you can also record anything else he's doing to harass you as from the sounds of it you'll need it when you get to court.

Well I would make sure that I did not leave them alone for a bit. The noise equipment is set up so the neighbour sets it to record when they believe that there is noise, it picks up a few secs before they press record. Therefore I would worry, if they are malicious, that they could try and wind the dogs up if you are out.

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/law-and-courts/discrimination/taking-action-about-discrimination/taking-action-about-harassment/

If you have proof then it'll be fine.

However to echo a previous poster, dog owners sometimes don't realise how often and how long their dogs bark for. You says yours are barking around 4 times a day? A one off woof or bark bark bark?

Unless they're unhinged, it's odd your neighbours would go to all this trouble. We had similar Ish with a neighbour out the back of us. Thought revving his quad bike all the time was acceptable and his dog tapping away was 'only once or twice) The council (and police eventually as he saw fit to ride it up and down the close!) soon stopped him

And yy to keeping your own diary for comparison.

If you know your dogs aren’t barking, then just carry on like normal and don’t give it another thought.

I doubt you’d be able to get access to the logs. Are you intending to throw a lot of money at a civil case of harassment?

I am not in the UK but I did have someone deliberately winding my dogs up and then accusing me of not treating them properly. It happens. So as a PP has indicated, you have to be very careful, for a while, about leaving your dogs outside unsupervised. Be vigilant in case food, doctored or not, is being thrown over - that happened to us. Cameras can be helpful, as can a good sturdy fence, whose height can be raised by trellis or bamboo screening.

Go for it.

And even if you do go "after money" ... It's often the only way to make people see what their actions cause. Hit em where it counts and all that jazz.

We had similar issues with one of our neighbours from across the road. They took it all the way...
Firstly, ask for evidence of the diary entries like times ect. this will help you to establish when the noise occurs (ours where accused of barking when out for walks, begging while I was cooking dinner, ...).
I then told them in writing that it was impossible to be our dogs.
Sadly, at this point I found out when it comes to noise complaints, you are guilty until proven innocent.

We had all the letters, including removal of dogs by dog warden if noise don't stop. It was a very stressful time. In the end, they did their listening...
Everything was dropped, as it turned out it wasn't our dogs at all. It was one at the back of their property.

In my own investigation, I did find out it who it was, I did thell the owners and council... but as I said, guilty until proven innocent....

If you’re sure it’s not your dogs and you have recorded evidence nothing will happen. It’s possible he has mistaken your dogs for someone else’s. But don’t be surprised if some of the noise is from your house, as barking travels far and is very distressing to hear constantly. The best thing you can do is co operate, trying to claim for harassment isn’t going to help and if it is your dogs it’ll make it harder overall. My neighbours dog barks constantly and because they don’t mind they assume no one else minds, but the walls are thin and I hear it as clear as if it were next to me. Noise is considered a nuisance if it Disturbs a neighbour and it doesn’t have to be constant or at anti social times for action to be taken.

I live in a terrace too, OP and have a yappy dog who is a barker. However, we are very conscious of it and as PP have said, owners can sometimes be oblivious to how much noise dogs can create. My next door but one neighbour has two dogs and they're out in the garden all day. The minute they start barking, so does mine. Our gardens back onto a square so the noise carries far.

I'd let the four week diary go ahead and see what comes back. Then argue your side, responsibly without threats of harassing behaviours. You'll be setting yourself up for neighbour wars and to my mind, it is always better to withdraw peacefully. That doesn't mean you're a walkover. Be firm, fair and flexible in your response if anything comes back.

You need to cooperate fully with the environmental health team. Tell them that you believe you're on the receiving end of a vexatious complaint.

If they repeatedly make these complaints and the council gather no evidence, it goes against their complaint.

So whilst it's stressful, it's best to engage with the officer and have confidence that no evidence will be found. It's useful to keep your own diary entries too, because sometimes you can show definitively that say, you were out, walakimg your dogs when noise from your dogs was 'logged'.

Nuisnace law is fairly nuanced. Nuisnace is roughly defined as spoiling the enjoyment of your dwelling. No set times are permitted for noise. It can be the the noise os seriously loud, but for a short time, or converesley, fairly low level but ongoing for long periods of time.

my DP's neighbourhood is full of people who leave back doors open 24-7 for dogs to go in garden, most of them rarely ever walked or bothered with.

the owners go to work and the dogs bark all day, if they're on night shift, the dogs bark all night.

when one starts the others join in.

any dogs left unattended in gardens are a no-go for me, its really not fair on everyone else.

the owners never believe their dogs bark and always blame others for it.

Keep a diary of every bark. Time /date /how many times.
Likely it won't correspond with ndn.
They are a special breed of arse hole op.
Get a nanny cam set up to record a typical day..

Dog owners are clueless about their dogs barking/whining and will always say it’s minimal to non-existant because they’ve learnt to just tune it out.

That said, even if he is lying, what is it you want to claim on? You want money, for what?

Don't worry. I've gone through hell with neighbours and their noise. Not only did I have to log it constantly but someone from the council actually had to come and witness it for themselves, to make sure I wasn't lying. They stayed for nearly an hour to monitor the noise. The next step will be for them to monitor the supposed barking themselves, otherwise the complaint cannot go further. So if your dogs aren't constantly barking, nothing will happen. Honestly don't waste your time worrying over it if you know it's all a load of nonsense. Keep covering your back like you are doing so you can provide your own evidence.

@DonLewis

You need to cooperate fully with the environmental health team. Tell them that you believe you're on the receiving end of a vexatious complaint.

If they repeatedly make these complaints and the council gather no evidence, it goes against their complaint.

So whilst it's stressful, it's best to engage with the officer and have confidence that no evidence will be found. It's useful to keep your own diary entries too, because sometimes you can show definitively that say, you were out, walakimg your dogs when noise from your dogs was 'logged'.

Nuisnace law is fairly nuanced. Nuisnace is roughly defined as spoiling the enjoyment of your dwelling. No set times are permitted for noise. It can be the the noise os seriously loud, but for a short time, or converesley, fairly low level but ongoing for long periods of time.

Thank you re the nuisance stance.

We intend to engage and show our confidence.

I have a slight concern that one dog's bark IS loud. But it's is 95% of the time a woof, woof, stop.

I appreciate everyone saying dog owners can get used to their own dogs noise. I can totally appreciate that. The 2 other yappy dogs around here annoy me at times as that IS continuous for a number of minutes. Of course I notice my own less. Hence we recorded for the same 4 weeks he did his diary so we could check the actual stats as such.

There would be 4-5 hrs no barks at all. Maybe an active play hour where a say 5 low level barks would escape. Say another 3 hrs quiet a bark at the door at so on.

Good to know I should be able to request the diary sheets. I believe he has purposely set the dogs off several times including throwing a hail of small stones against my glass patio door late at night over the fence. Unfortunately the camera doesn't quite capture where he would have been to do it.

I sincerely hope they do come themselves and listen.

I believe he suffers from tinnitus which may mean it's more uncomfortable for him, and might account for him hearing whining? They don't whine.

We both WFH, rarely every leave them alone, but we'll ensure we don't at all from now on. We'll continue to record.

I know he's lied because he complained to another neighbour about the noise at a time and day when we were at the exercise field running the dogs.

It's really frustrating and he's smearing our name all over the neighbourhood which is a really nasty feeling.

@maddening

Well I would make sure that I did not leave them alone for a bit. The noise equipment is set up so the neighbour sets it to record when they believe that there is noise, it picks up a few secs before they press record. Therefore I would worry, if they are malicious, that they could try and wind the dogs up if you are out.

What? Surely not? He could record one moment of noise and then say that was happening for hours? Or does he HAVE to record each time he hears noise? Why don't they just have noise activated above a certain decibel or just 24/7?

Is he mistaking the other local dogs for yours?

I honestly don't see how he could be. I've had my Mum over for lunch today. So far since we woke at 8am I've counted 6 singular barks, over 4 occurrences. Is constant on an 8 hour period?