Sick and tired of inconsiderate neighbours

[Maria1234567]

Hi everyone. It's just scream out of my heart.. I can't understand why people can be so careless and selfish. Me, my husband and our little daughter always have been nice neighbours and never had any issues with other people. Basically since we moved to ground floor apartment our life became a hell. It was our first official place which we worked hard for to get mortgage and move in... Don't know where to start.. This building allow pets with written permission, but it is not soundproofed at all for this... Leasehold states that there should not be any disturbing, noise for other residents if you have cat or dog... But the reality is different. Basically our neighbours used to have dog and a cat, it was a big issue for us, as we have little child, who goes to sleep early and pets running for hours above us it's just mad even if you don't have children ... We were talking nicely to our neighbours and tried to soundproof, paid for installing carpets in their flat and it became more or less tolerable... But sadly their puppy died and they decided to take another puppy, another kitten. I couldn't believe that they did it after knowing we can hear everything.... So 3 pets above us, waking us up in random hours nevermind heavy footsteps. The girl upstairs works in the police and doesn't seem to care less as they just don't care like no rules apply to her.. It's so awful the way people are.So called directors appointed by management company all have dogs themselves and live one above another and they are mother and daughter, and one of them is dog walker looking after our neighbours pets, so feels so corrupted. We felt unwanted for a long time till I accidentally talked to another neighbour who is also in shock how management company runs this place as she had to live under two bulldogs from top floor, and she had to change bedroom and she is on her 80s!!had to throw ball to ceiling to get some peace ... We had to do that too, when after 3 hours our neighbours completely ruined our Saturday evening and had a cheak to bang back..... I love dogs and cats, but could never behave like that knowing that I can upset people downstairs. They allow pets to play for hours... I'm so frustrated
. And yes we are moving because of it.
I guess I just want support

Thank you too,

We are moving now, we tried to talk to them and always nicely, we actually invited them to listen what we hear. We are that confident that it's bad, so nothing to hide really. But they never wanted to listen to.

They take dog somewhere during the day (daycare or work) but they don't walk him first thing in the morning like owners should do. Anyway we paid for carpets because we were thankful that they were cooperative in terms of soundproofing which didn't help obviously.

In terms of amount of pets, we understand they have 3 now, and it's a fact we can't change. We would be happy if they were more thoughtful and not throwing toys and not let dog run for hours and if there wasn't noise in bedroom till 7-7.30 am. I guess I'm not here for solution, but for sympathy... the best thing is that we are moving.

I just can never understand people who thinks only about themselves. I think for a small flat like that, 1 pet would be easier to tolerate and control. You see on Easter weekend their cats were waking us up at 4am running till 6am (here and there), owners been away. I think it's awful of them, they left doors to bedrooms open...very cruel to us

To answer your main Q: yes, pp can be inconsiderate. Luckily I knew the law and my own mitigating measures I needed to take (they were all done by previous owner; so just added one nice to have ). I guess using the law for free to help us both was my ‘give’. Anyway, it took my knowing the law and seriously threatening legal action for all to behave in line with the lease which was v v clear, and behave with consideration. I was only surprised that it was all easy for them to do as required, as soon as threats of legal action were made.

however, there are some neighbours who complain about one upstairs neighbour and not the other- all in same building and 2 on same level. So, it does require a close look before you can say which is which.

and sadly, in most cases it is put up and shut up or move.

yes, court action could take 12 months if lucky but anywhere between 1/2/3 years. But I was clear no human being could be expected to live under such inconsiderate and selfish behaviour of their neighbours! It was shocking!!!

“therefore it's not an issue and they told us that themselves”
#verybritishproblems
Sorry but they are probably just being polite 😬

Having that many pets in a small flat is inconsiderate to the pets. The cats will be going stir crazy.

Oh no trust me being ground floor does not mean people can't hear you.
I used to live in an upstairs flat. The people below had a child. It nearly drove me insane. I needed to buy house cancelling headphones just to survive. The kid would pound up and down laminate flooring all day. Would scream constantly. Would bounce balls for hours. I could even hear it playing with the door stop. You know the ones that kind of twang loudly when you pull them. This would start from around 5am and some nights would still be going on at 11pm. But at the end of the day it was "normal" noise so I never complained. I moved.

Sadly have only seen those with say 9 cats; usually20 or30/40 held to be inconsiderate and owner limited to a certain number.

quite hesitant to say that here as no max number exists and it all depends on all circumstances

If pets are allowed then I don't think you can complain about footsteps, barking constantly would be another thing.

It's like if a downstairs neighbour was disturbed by someone's child, and then moaning that they had another baby "knowing they could hear everything" unfortunately noise comes with flats and you bought one knowing they could have pets.

(Although I'm sure it's very annoying)

We had an open conversation, and they said they can barely hear anything, so we can't hear their voices too. Only when dog barks. Our daughter is nothing like what you describe. But I'm sorry you had to put up with this. I believe it can be loud from downstairs too. But it's not our case, if they hear something, it would be 0,00001% of 99% of their impact noise. Basically floor is our ceiling!! Saying that we don't disturb them, means they definitely not hearing our daughter running etc

We were not aware of that pets are allowed, it's something we didn't experience as we were renting 2 flats where dogs are not allowed. I would not compare children and dogs.... Although of course children can be very noisy.

Children could possibly worse 😬 I had neighbours above me when I was in a flat and heard the little boy running around all day. Saying that I could also hear people having a wee 🙄

I can hear my cat racing around rooms. I hear her jump off the bed if I’m downstairs, I hear her racing around jumping up and down the stairs all the time. I’m detached though (after previous noisy neighbours) so I know we aren’t disturbing anyone, but poor op, it sounds like there is poor sound insulation between the flats.

It doesn’t make sense. Seemingly, the sounds of a cat walking around is enormous, yet people walking around in the flat don’t bother you? Even cats running downhill by make any extra noise than cats walking, and cats are very light on their feet when walking/running, yet you hear them as though they are elephants? But nothing from people walking around?

Irrespective, it sounds like an extreme building soundproofing issue, not an issue where your neighbours are doing anything wrong at all.

Sadly this is flat living. It's noisy. Do think it's strange the management allows pets as normally they don't

I feel for you. As I say soundproofing should be better in flats... My point is, that people should set rules, and with little boy it could be harder not to let him run, but you certainly can train a dog and can take them outside when they want to play. And just to use heart and brain when making decisions to have that amount of pets in small flat.

Exactly, they allow but with written permission, but no one cares. As it says on leasehold no noise should disturb other residents, but in reality every single flat almost has a dog and it's like to live in dog hotel...no one cares

Well, please you can read what I described during thread responses, it's not walking, but running!! And mainly dog! But cats can very very loud and they did wake us up by running above. It's very low ceiling and you can hear them running even in different side of the flat! They do things wrong by letting their dog running for hours, etc, waking us at night. It could have been avoided. I would never take 3 pets after knowing that soundproofing is bad and it disturbs people

Well, please you can read what I described during thread responses, it's not walking, but running!!

Yes, I can read and I understood that. Please read my post where I referred to a cat running. It’s hard to believe that a cat running, and they are generally very light on their feet whether walking or running, can disturb you so greatly whereas a person averaging 70kg does not disturb you at all when walking round in the flat. It doesn’t add up.

Yeah, I was going to say this. Sorry, but for a lot of people, living under or above other people is a noise nightmare.

I don't think they're being inconsiderate on purpose - just living their lives as they want to.

But sorry you're going through this.

This. Children are the noisy ones.🙄

My cat doesn’t stomp about. Cats don’t. You can hear him jump from a window sill onto the floor but it doesn’t reverberate through to next door; whereas I can hear the kid next door bouncing a small rubber ball on the wooden floors 🤷‍♀️

I'm surprised you can hear the dogs.

I have two large boys and and they keep startling me because the seem to appear ninja like behind whenever I open the fridge.

We hear every step of theirs and it is disturbing, but you see I don't even complain about it here, as I understand it's just due to poor isolation and of course they are allowed to move in the flat. I was talking about running pets at all sorts of hours, which could have been avoided to that extend if people upstairs cared. It's their choice too if they walk in loud shoes or soft socks. So to me it's all can be easily sorted if people were more considering... And if you look at people responses, many people say that cats can be very loud. Running pet is a lot more annoying sound for us rather than walking human. I'm here to share what we hear and have no wish to badmouth people.

I'm really glad yours doesn't, but our neighbours ones do. It's 3 of them, I am just sharing my experience and it's god honest truth. Please believe me when I say, as I'm sharing experience with our neighbours in this particular building. Our girl doesn't disturb anyone because luckily in this sense soundproofing works well for other people on the same floor, we suffer from impact noise from above and gave asked if our neighbours can hear our child.

OP, you keep saying that people say they can’t hear your child, that’s what people say to be polite, I get the feeling that maybe English isn’t your first language and that the ‘typical British-ism’ that will be coming into play here will be going over your head.

People will be able to hear your child, no matter how quiet she is, she’s a 4 year old, they’re heavy footed, have no concept of an inside voice and like to play/dance/sing whatever, but as that is a normal part of everyday life, most level headed people will say that they never hear a peep.

Case in point was my neighbours (semi detached house) saying they never heard the baby crying, when they would definitely have been able to as we could hear them snore (both beds against the shared wall).

People will be able to hear your family and are probably irritated by the noise, but accept that it’s part and parcel of living in poorly designed shared housing. By getting yourself all in a tizzy over this you’re just making yourself look unhinged.

If they’re taking the dog out for the day, as you’ve stated several times, they’re being responsible owners, the dog will be appropriately exercised and entertained while out of the flat, be grateful that you’re not having to listen to a bored, destructive dog whining because they’re left home alone.

You’ve decided to move out, which is fine, that’s your prerogative, however it’s worth keeping in mind that you find animal noises offensive, so it’s worth looking for housing where you’re never going to come into contact with pets, which would mean a detached property.

We all have our limits and have to be aware of them, however you can only control yourself in this situation, you don’t know what has caused the people above to take on their pets, asking them to get rid of them, or force them to stay in one room is just as ridiculous as if someone was to ask you to do the same to your child.

I fully appreciate your opinion, but I think it's still a bit of misunderstanding. I would never ask them to get rid of their pets. All I would ask, just to be a bit more thoughtful, because it's just unfair. I guess you would understand if you were in our shoes suffering from noise for 2 years. And for the whole time we talked about noise with them not much, maybe two times for the whole year last year and never officially complained. Not like we ring them every day. I am fully aware of apartment living as I have never actually lived in a house. But things in flats do depend on people's behaviour and how caring they are towards others. I know what you mean by being polite as British, but as I said before, when we were cooperating in terms of soundproofing we were very honest to each other and they did say they only can hear very slightly if my daughter has tantrum. Which I believe as I can hear their dog barking very slightly too, not to disturbing level!! My daughter tantrums happen very rarely and never for hours. Like 1 percent towards their 99%. Child crying is airborne noise, somehow this building is soundproofed brilliantly in this sense. Because we are surrounded by dogs on the same floor flats too. I know for a fact we don't cause disturbance to other people, as we are on ground concrete floor and no one under us, we are out all the time and my daughter is asleep from 8 pm. I am very conciderate about other people. Other neighbours from ground flats were confirming that they can't hear my daughter. It's because in this sense, airborne noise it's well isolated and due to layout of flats. Her bedroom only shared with upstairs flat. I don't know how else to proove that I'm saying truth. I will not wish enemy to hear noises like we hear for 2 years and it's been torture. One more thing to say, that I love dogs and cats a lot. And always had cats myself, so it's nothing against animals. And I don't mind dogs barking and running around in shared wall on the side, let's say in the semi or terraced. It's different when it's above you all the time, loud to that extend that you can't hear or concentrate watching tv and it's disturbing your peace and privacy.

You would quickly change opinion if you would actually hear, all our guests think it's shocking noise too