To speak to my neighbour's about her disabled child?

[RootsBeforeTheFruits]

OK I've named changed....

I've recently moved house and have been at the new house about 9 months, for the first few months next door was empty and being renovated. Once it finished it was quickly rented out to my current neighbour's. She's a nice enough woman we have a gab in passing, she had a son with additional needs.

Here's the problem ....it's a terraced style house and he frequently bangs shit out of the walls, in the day I don't mind as much it's the day, but he bangs well into the night i don't mean the odd tapping it's actually shaking our walls. It frequently wakes my children up in the night and they've been extra tired in school.

Do I speak to her about it, i explain to the children that he has additional needs and more than likely can't help this behavior, I really don't know what to do

I also don't think it's written in stone that a disabled child will be chucked out of their home for being disabled.

It’s not as black and white as that @Bumpitybumper but essentially you can’t evict a family for anything resulting from their child’s disability. The LA needs to take reasonable measures to avoid eviction (which would include soundproofing). Reasonable adjustments for an autistic person would likely require the LA not to use temporary accommodation such as a B&B because of the impact on the autistic child’s regulation. The LA can’t evict without a court order, and good luck getting one in these circumstances. It’s all in the Equality Act 2010. 👍🏻

Case law proves that I am right:
https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2020/1277.html

You can indeed be evicted for noise nuisance that occurs as the result of a disability.

It's not written in stone, but it's possible that noise disturbance can result in eviction irrespective of the cause of the noise.

This case is very different however compared to a profoundly disabled chid,/ teen who haa no concept of how his actions impact others

The woman was disabled and made involuntary sounds. The council even accepted that she was being treated unfavourably on the grounds of her disability but was acting to protect the rights of the neighbours.

I'm not saying that this legal precedent means that the court would always side with neighbours that have been disturbed by the disabled but it clearly is untrue that evictions can't be made due to the Equality Act as someone suggested upthread. It is all about balancing needs and rights.

Your case law (first instance decision ie will not bind a subsequent judge) proves that her eviction was discriminatory under the EA, but proportionate. It does not establish that evicting a child in similar circumstances would also be a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim. As a general rule, noise created by a child for medical or developmental reasons would not be considered a statutory nuisance by authorities, so you wouldn’t get far with the Environmental Protection Act. Even if you did, you would still need to satisfy the criteria under the EA as explained above.

This is a child not an adult. If the child's behaviour is creating a problem then Social Care intervention will occur before any eviction would be considered.

It is obvious that unless an almost identical case is brought to court then we don't really know what would be considered proportionate in cases like this. My point was more that the EA does not trump noise nuisance laws. It is indeed about balancing needs and rights.

Thankfully we dont lock disabled children up anymore

It's 2025. Disabled children are no longer hidden away thankfully.

@Madthingsasking as a layperson, is there any point at which it would be a kindness to medicate these individuals rather than permitting the violence? It must be awful for them; would not a calming medicine help?

It’s highly unlikely that a disabled child making involuntary noise would be considered a statutory noise nuisance, so the “noise protection laws” (ie the Environmental Protection Act, policed by the LA) would not even be in play. Even if it were, the “balancing act” looks very different in the case of a severely disabled dependent child, compared to an adult living independently.

And the EA would also kick in by ensuring that an autistic child (assuming a typical presentation) would not be hoofed into temporary accommodation for a neighbour’s convenience, which was my original point. Not putting an autistic child in a B&B is broadly similar to not putting a child in a wheelchair on the fourth floor without a lift.

Not hidden, but provided with a home that can meet their needs. Sounds like this family could benefit from a detached house with rooms padded or whatever so the child has less chance of injuring himself or family members.

Banging on walls doesn't equal violent and uncontrollable. It won't be the children like this who are terrorising the elderly, selling drugs and being a nuisance in public places.

You can't medicate autism. 🙄

There's melatonin to help some children sleep but of course it won't take away stimming or their need for sensory seeking including hitting walls.

Well yes that would be lovely but we dont live in an ideal world.

Banging on party walls till they tremble sounds pretty damned violent to me.

A detached home with padded rooms would be amazing but expensive. Most disabled children's parents, especially if they are single and/or unable to work due to their child's needs will not be able to afford it and the council isn't going to house them into a detached home with all of the adaptations needed.

Yes, that’s why I prefaced with “it’s too bad…”

Stop trying to nitpickingly find fault with people who aren’t on board with being subjected to violent uncontrolled noise in their own homes.

They aren't doing it to be violent, they are doing it to sensory seek and because they like how it feels without understanding that it is noisy and will disturb the neighbours from sleeping.

@x2boysThats all great but that’s not OP’s problem. Her kids have a right to sleep in their own home

It is totally possible for a disabled child making involuntary noise to be considered a statutory nuisance. The criteria are that:

it must cause significant interference to the normal occupation of a premises by a person of average sensitivity
it must be caused by some unreasonable or unusual act or omission or behaviour

Councils may well stipulate they won't investigate 'normal' noises from children playing or babies crying but someone headbutting the wall into the early hours of the morning clearly isn't usual or reasonable.

The autistic child may well not be put in a B&B but they may be evicted from their current accommodation and offered a suitable alternative. They don't have an automatic right to remain where they are just because they are autistic.

But the outcome is the same.
Which means it's a nuisance and damaging the OPs right to peaceful enjoyment. Especially at night.