Noisy neighbour - update

[doofdoofdneighbour]

Last year I posted about a noisy neighbour who was playing incredibly loud music as soon as the weather got sunny. You can clearly hear the bass beat in our house, while we have the TV on, with all doors and windows closed.

Now the nice weather has started again - so has their loud music.

Sometimes the music is inappropriate for children, which isn't great as we have young children.

There is also often the smell of weed that drifts over, as they sit in the garden smoking quite openly.

The neighbours are housing association - so last year I complained to their housing officer, who spoke to them, then sent out a (frankly useless) "community survey" which was riddled with spelling errors, wasn't clear what it was asking, and was collected by hand - e.g. anyone who wasn't at home at the time she collected it in had no way of returning it.

We have previously witnessed screaming rows and domestic violence (which we have reported online) from the neighbours - but these things combined have made us unwilling to try to forge a relationship with them.

DH did go over last week and ask them to turn their music down - they had massive light-up speakers in the garden, pumping music out all day long. He had to get past a crowd of 6ish young men smoking weed to ring the doorbell, and had to ring three times before anyone answered. They did however turn the music down - for an hour or so and then it started up again.

Our gardens back onto each other, so we don't come across each other day-to-day.

I have contacted the housing officer again, who has spoken to them, as she told me they may be in breach of tenancy. However, when I requested an update, she said they have requested mediation, if I agree to it.

My questions are:

1. What does it involve? I would rather remain anonymous as we really don't want to be targeted by anti-social violent people
2. If I say no, what happens then?
3. If I go down the mediation route, do I have to declare this as a neighbour dispute if we ever want to move house? (No current plans, but it's good to keep your slate clean.)

Has anyone else done this, and if so, what happened?

I don’t know the answers to 1 & 2, but I’m pretty sure yes to 3, you would have to declare (unless the troublesome neighbour is no longer your neighbour, i.e. they moved). Anything where you formally get someone involved in a dispute is something you have to declare I think (but IANAL).

I may be completely wrong but I thought a dispute was only when they owned the property , not with the tenants, hopefully a property lawyer / expert will come along and clarify this

Can you not say you don’t want to meet face to face as you feel intimidated?

Having noisy inconsiderate neighbours can take its toll and I've been in this situation so I can give some advice but for me this was a while ago so might be different now.
For us we went via environmental health and they gave us a diary to fill out which to be honest didnt come to anything and actually made us feel worse.
If you really are thinking of selling do not go this route as you will have to declare. As bad as that sounds to some you have to think of yourself and your family in this situation.

My advice in all honesty would be to move they won't change trust me. I know some will say why should you but your mental health is most important. It depends on how much you love your home and prepared for the long haul and possible rows with the idiotic neighbour. Mine was the latter but we had it for a couple of years on and off and even now I get anxiety from certain noise. I wish you all the best x

Moving isn't really an option for us right now (one child at a walkable primary school, the other at a grammar in town), and to be honest, it could be out of the frying pan into the fire with another neighbour, unless we moved to a village in the middle of nowhere, which is not our preference.

I'm absolutely fine with normal neighbourhood noise - kids on trampolines, bit of music drifting over the fence, people mowing lawns / doing DIY, but it really upsets me that this one neighbour dominates the entire summer with their music, and makes it impossible to relax in my house, and being outdoors in the garden is out of the question.

I would say no to mediation.

You cant 'mediate' over an issue like this

I would also take it up with The Police & The Council AND make a complaint against the landlords

I can tolerate a bit of noise too but what you've described isnt really normal and especially as you've had to go round and speak to HA.

If moving isn't an option then you either report or try to talk to them again but you've already said your partner already has tried.

Like I said it can take a toll but everyone is different

I’d say you are already at the point where you have a neighbour dispute. You’ve complained to them directly, to the housing association several times, and reported them online. If you were selling I’d expect that to be reported neighbour disputes already. If you didn’t report it when selling and buyer has similar problems, it will be easy for them to find out you reported it already.

So mediation won’t change that position.

I understand feeling intimidated. You could say you will mediate but via a Zoom call with camera off? Or you can say you think there’s no point in mediation as they have not previously made any changes after you complained and you think mediation is just a stalling tactic (it probably is).

You can have mediation where you are not together.

but it doesn’t sounds like this is being treated as ASB, more ‘neighbour issue’
i would raise the issue as ASB and get them to follow their procedure.

who knows what neighbours are saying for them to offer mediation

This could be our current situation except we live in a flat and do have to see these people face to face when we pass in the hallway, etc. They play that heavy grinding bass you describe, frequently have arguments where they threaten to stab each other and are ‘mood altered’ because they’re stoned the whole time. They’re a bloody nightmare.

When one half of the couple moved in we tried to speak to them about the music (the partner came along later in the tenancy) and it was ok for about five minutes then went back to as before. Since the partner moved in it’s even worse because together they think they’re invincible and that they can do what they want without consequence because people are too intimidated to report them.

The problem when you’re dealing with people like this is that even though they’re saying they agree to mediation - to appease the housing association, mainly - they’ve already shown how selfish and unreasonable they are by their behaviour. They clearly don’t care about how what they do affects other people or they wouldn’t do it. Also, my guess is that they want to know who is complaining about them.

So the answers to your questions would be:

1: I don’t think you can have mediation without revealing your identity as the complainant has to give one side of the story while they give theirs and the third party tries to resolve the issue.

2: if you say no, you still have every right to complain about them. Their request for mediation doesn’t mean their behaviour is no longer antisocial.

3: Yes, you would have to reveal your dispute if/when you want to sell.

I really feel for you because I know how bloody awful it is to live with this and our only option is going to be to move because they’re never going to change.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/anti-social-behaviour-asb-case-review-also-known-as-the-community-trigger

My mam had a similar issue a few years ago but without the weed, the couple would have crazy house parties with excess noise 3/4 times a week even on weeknights and blazing arguments in the yard once drunk, she hated when the woman's mam came for their young child as it meant it would be a party night. She consistently called the police everytime the parties kicked off (on the station number not emergency line) to complain and eventually they got sick of coming out to tell them to quieten down and after many warnings slapped them with a community noise order (or something like that?) and they were much better, she now has lovely quiet neighbours.
surely the police will be equally inerested in your neighbours and especially so as there is weed, you could try suggesting to the police that with the amount of people smoking weed there you are worried large amounts are supplied by them to the guests or that a dealer is attending and selling at the property which may stir them into action, the houseing association will be disinclined to move them if possible as is more hassle than them just trying to placate you so make yourself so annoying to them that its easier to just move them/take more action!

Report every time on your police force’s website ASB reporting form (there will be one somewhere). Every time, and email your MP and local councillors too, often. The HA need a kick to deal with it properly.

We had terrible neighbours in a HA flat and it took months of reporting every single time before people did something about it. I was Googling and finding email addresses if the HA chief complaints officer and all sorts. Eventually she was evicted.

Btw don’t move! The fact it is HA is a positive as they can be moved on and the HA will respond to contact from councillors and police. If they were homeowners you’d have far fewer options.

I agree with this! Saying something to them doesn't work. They don't care anyway otherwise they would have stopped last year. You have an advantage where they are social housing & housing officers have a legal responsibility to deal with the situation!