To think that you shouldn’t choose to rent an upstairs 2 bed flat if you have 4 noisy kids

[shatteredmama]

Just after your thoughts. We rent a ground floor flat, we expect to hear some of the usual sounds of upstairs neighbours such as footsteps, doors closing, washing machine, Hoover, the odd thud. Am absolutely fine with that.

A new couple moved into the flat upstairs, normal neighbour noises could be heard. No problem with that. Soon after they told me they had lied to our landlord and that it won’t just be the two of them, their 4 boys from the ages of 2 -11 would be coming over from their home country and living in that flat with them. Theirs is a 2 bedroom flat, no outside space, our flats are converted from 1 house. As she told me this she laughed and her exact words were oh you’ll know when they’ve arrived. Things are going to get very noisy!

Since the kids moved in the noise levels are ridiculous. Constant loud bangs, thuds, shouting, squealing, we can hear them running up and down their flat. It isn’t occasional. It’s all day every day as not all of them attend school.

I know kids make noise. On a couple of occasions I’ve knocked on and as nicely and politely as possible explained how it’s impacting us. For example when my child was crying and couldn’t go to sleep at bedtime because all the kids in the room above were jumping off the sofa onto the floor, our lampshade was swinging from the impact. At other times they’ve all been running and screeching so loud it sounds as though they are actually in our flat with us. The neighbours have then shrugged, argued back and said they’d try to keep the noise down but there’s nothing they can do.

I don’t know what we can do other than move out ourselves, but with the housing crisis the way it is, it wouldn’t be easy. I feel angry that they lied to get the tenancy and moved the family in knowing that it would disturb us and make our lives difficult.

Would any of you say I’m justified in feeling this way, any practical advice you’d give?

Oh do fuck off...People circumstances change

Every single one of is one twist of fate away this. Stop being so judge

You should speak to them first and ask them to not allow them to jump around if possible (but it does sound as though they are just being children)

Speak to the landlord. Maybe they don't have carpets etc?

If try everything you can as others have suggested, but seriously think about moving and give it a tiem frame. Living with noise is extremely stressful and it will take its toll. It also sounds like your neighbours don't care, and even if they did they wouldn't be able to help it anyway with 4 kids! I'm so shocked to read about all of these houses that seem to be built so poorly. Good luck OP I hope you can't find a solution quickly.

Why do you keep coming back with the same argument?

Clearly you want to see a punishment system started for people you believe have made 'bad choices'. Who says they've made bad choices? Do they say that? You don't know them? They might be very happy.

I'd be worried about myself if I had this weird judgmental then punitive thinking system going on.

Yep people don't understand the eviction process. I would take months / years and they'd be assisted by the local authority. No child would be homeless.

How would you hold all the breeders to account exactly?

It's laughable to me that people have such judgmental and hateful stance, honestly I can't relate to this way of thinking (and no I'm not a breeder myself but I don't hate people who are). Gonna give yourselves all heart attacks with the stress of this thinking.

I’m are you being serious? Wasting police time

Of COURSE the OP isn't the one who's being unreasonable.
Anyone who actually lives in the real world would say the same.

Anyone who lives in the real world, as you put it, would say that there's always at least two sides to every story. We're only hearing OPs account.

Exactly. Being an immigrant, refugee or whatever other far fetched scenario is no excuse for rude, inconsiderate behaviour. Nor is "kids being kids."

These people are fraudsters and selfish, irresponsible assholes.

There's nothing funnier than seeing some bleeding heart, holier than thou git go on about how selfless they are for only having 1 or 2 kids when they really wanted more but all the other oh so selfish heathens had as many as they like. You can live in fear and complacency all you like but not everybody wants to.

This whole talking point is pretty moot when this woman's children are already here and alive. Why go round in circles discussing why she had so many kids? What is it achieving? They're here now so what is being accomplished but throwing all these 'what ifs ' around?

It's bloody hard keeping them quiet but you've got to at least try as an upstairs neighbour. No jumping, carpets, mats, play mats, no noisy hammering toys, headphones, TV volume. Everything you can. There will be noise but it's better to try and keep things as quiet as possible.

'Who says they've made bad choices?'

I think it's universally accepted that having more children than you can afford to support is a bad choice.

And who cares if 'they're happy'? If your bad choice is making others unhappy, then you're a selfish person who should be 'judged'. You're welcome! 🤷🏼‍♀️

Oh, we're not remotely stressed. Because I for one nip this kind of selfish behaviour in the bud straight away. So no stress here!

I 100% believe that you're absolutely not at all stressed as you sit and angrily quote reply to numerous responses that dared criticise you and feel the need to remind everyone twice in a single, short post about how not stressed you are over this (while throwing constant insults I may add).

Should have found a way of sneaking it in a third time, that'd have been really convincing.

Nor can most people there's a housing crisis if you don't know? Doesn't mean they can be downright inconsiderate.

I've been there OP I owned a ground floor flat and had to put up with horrendous parties and noise and abuse every weekend from the girl renting above me. It nearly broke me. She was eventually evicted after I complained to her landlady.

I now rent a first floor flat with my daughter and am so careful not to make too much noise as I know what's it like being on the other side of it!

Firstly I'm well aware of the housing crisis, hence my initial comment.
Secondly, we only have OPs side of events.

Eh, is this post meant for someone else?

I'm not remotely angry and I haven't insulted anyone, just responded to those who have disagreed with my stance, which is the point of a discussion forum.

You, on the other hand are being extremely passive aggressive for no reason. 🙄 But whatever you feel you need to do...

I can't believe some of the arsey comments on here, and know that most of those making them would be screaming blue murder if they were in this situation.

Six people - two adults and four kids - living in a two-bedroom flat is serious overcrowding. The landlord could probably get into trouble for this. And life must be a nightmare for the OP living underneath this.

The landlord, like many landlords, clearly didn't pay enough attention to sound-proofing, but then they rarely do.

It's not the OP's fault if the family get evicted. This flat isn't suitable or safe for such a large number.

What else would these people do with their time if they weren't enthusiastically bashing the working class and poverty stricken. That's your answer I think.

I'm confused why so many on this thread have decided to just assume that the neighbour hasn't tried to quieten her children. OP mentioned that the youngest is 2. Young children aren't exactly renowned for listening to their parents and doing what they are told. Serious lack of compassion going on here.

There are lots of Fire Regulations about how many occupants you can have in a flat. I'd probably expect two kids in one room and the baby in the parents one but this seems somewhat overcrowded. Is your Landlord aware they lied on their application? Whilst I'm unsure you can refuse to let to people with kids, I imagine it's not doing the flat any favours having six people living in a space the Landlord let to two. I'd speak to the Landlord and do some Public Health investigating if it were me.

I had a bit of a look and many Landlords are restricted by the Council as to the number of tenants they can have living in a property. A two-bed would most likely have a maximum occupancy of three or four. "Overcrowding" means there should be one room per person living there and I imagine this excludes kitchen or bathroom so the flat would need six rooms to qualify. Also interesting are the laws for children over 10. It may also be that as it's a converted house, maximum occupancy is actually two or one couple which is why they didn't mention the kids when they let it. I'd definitely be enquiring with the Council and the Landlord as it sounds overcrowded to me.

Well all the ‘have some compassion for the kiddies’ holier than thous who are not being drive demented in their own homes would hate me because I did report my neighbours who had 12 people, including children, in a 3 bed flat licensed to suit 6 max, and they didn’t get their lease renewed.

Aside from environmental health breaches - many rental properties are licensed for a set number of people only here and the landlord will be fined for each person over that - people who think they can make as much noise as they want in confined spaces with poor sound proofing because they have kids and fuck the neighbours and their mental health, get the same amount of compassion and consideration back.

Ive lived under a big family with noisy kids. I had to move because I couldn’t take it

While they sound pretty inconsiderate, that is also something that comes with the territory in a flat. You are the one that needs to make your peace with it or move.