claire edwards

Partner and I have just brought our dream home in Hamilton Hill, WA - it wasn't our first choice of location, but we love the house.

When we moved into our new home our next door neighbour was leaving on a trip to Europe, well he's back and don't we know it.

We popped out for a bite to eat in Freo (Thursday night) with some friends who are visiting from the UK and when we got home at 12 midnight, the music was on loud. Rob thought he would nip it in the bud and went around for a friendly chat. He knocked on the door...no answer...he looked through the window to find our neighbour in full swing, dancing by himself, arms in the air in his dressing gown...they had a chat.

The same thing happened last night. Well, sort of. The neighbour came over to say hi and started explaining that the previous owners just used to call the police instead of knocking on the front door - he thanked us and told us to knock if it got too loud. The music went up loudly again, then down again at about midnight, after which there were some strange noises (Like he was chopping wood) coming from his back garden. So, this morning, we woke up to the sound of music again coming from his house....it was like he was out (Car wasn't there) and had just left it on....I don't know when this guy sleeps!

This guy (Neighbour) is 55 years old - he told us - his girlfriend is back in two weeks from Europe, which would either calm him down or it will make things worse, if she's a party animal like him. I would like to point out that me and the other half are social butterfies and like nothing more than having friends over, bbqs and the odd party.....but we are mindful of noise, especially on a school night and tend to go into town at weekends.

Has anyone got any tips or experience of the best way to handle this...I think we need to have another chat and try to come to some sort of agreement with him....what if that doesn't work?!

Loubags

Sorry to hear about your hassle with the neighbour. I'm afraid I can't offer any great words of wisdom to help, but I have been in that situation myself, so know just how frustrating it can be.

Our first house was a small terrace and the guy next door was renting it out when we first moved in, so we didn't meet him until he moved back in. ( He said he'd been working abroad for a few months, but I think he'd actually been banged up in Winson Green Prison ). He was a nightmare of a bloke!!

We initially tried to be friendly, asking him round for a drink etc etc and trying to gently persuade him to keep the music down. ( The worst thing was that all he generally played was Enya - AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH :curse: )Anyway, to cut a long story short - this didn't work and we ended up having huge arguments, with him generally only responding to threats of physical harm. The worse thing was that when he sobered up in the mornings, he used to write us letters saying how sorry he was and what a crap life he was having. I used to dream about where I'd stick his letters one day!

He eventually had the house reposessed after a couple of years and all was good again. We weren't in a position at the time to move, so just had to stick it out. Hopefully, you will be able to resolve things quickly and I'm sure the best way to start is just what you're doing.

Here's to a quiet weekend for you.

claire edwards

Enya.....jesus!

My worst fear is that things won't work out and things (For whatever reason) get out of hand.

I get the impression this guy likes his beer too and there seems to be a steady stream of people coming in and out of the house.....usually young lads.

I'm not russtling the net curtains or anything, I just happened to be on my veranda when these people arrived.

Loubags

Hopefully he's just celebrating his return home and catching up with mates for a few nights. Try and keep it as friendly as possible as it's really stressful when it gets out of hand. I can laugh about it all now, but when I lived next door to this guy, I did end up in tears of frustration sometimes, especially when I was having to get up early for work.

Fingers crossed that it will be fine

claire edwards

Only time will tell I suppose. Thanks for your help. I will let you know how things go.

x

Wendy

I lived in three different houses in the UK with noisy neighbours. It's awful and if you don't nip it in the bud it WILL get worse.

I've had all the excuses possible from all three of our previous neighbours, it's never got better only worse. The next time it happens tell him that you don't want to report him, but make it clear that you will if you have to. Don't be soft on him at all, these kinds of people only think about themselves.

claire edwards

Good advice, thanks. The previous owners were a couple and I think he worked away on the mines, leaving her on her own in the house for long periods of time. Understandably, she probably didn't want to confront this guy on her own....and maybe he got used to getting his own way, maybe.

Not anymore.

Is that what you did? Report your old next door neighbours to the police? Did it all stop once you did? What happened?

Wendy

Well in the last house, when we moved in there was a lively couple renting. They moved out 3 months after we moved in then the guy that owned the house moved his daughter and her 2 kids in. One lad was 7 and the other was 12.

On the first night that they moved in, she had a party. No problem we thought, it's a one off. WRONG! It happened every weekend (both Friday and Saturday) for 3 weeks. On the 2nd week my OH went round and asked her if she'd mind turning it down because our daughter was woekn up by the noise (she was 9 months old). She said 'F$%^ Off, you miserable b%^*$#d' Nice! The next week end she did it again, he went round again, she said the same thing. The next morning someone (no prizes for guessing) had written all over our conservatory in that snow stuff 'Here lives Victor Meldrew' (I laughed a bit, cos it was funny and I've been calling my hubby that for years)

It carried on for about a year, not all the time but about 75% of it. When her son got to 13 he started doing it too. He'd come home from school (she was at work) and put his music on full blast, go outside then kick his football against the front wall. If we said something to him he'd tell us where to go too.

Eventually we called in Environmental Health. It had got that bad I physically had to stop my OH going round and belting her (wouldn't have looked good on our visa application ). They put recording equipment in our house (the day she went on holiday!) so nothing got done about it. I called them again when she returned because she had another party, it was 2am when I called them, they turned up asked her to turn the music down. She did that and then about 10 minutes later all of her guests started throwing stones at the windows and calling us names. Luckily for us the EHO was still parked outside our house so they heard it all. They went back round to speak to her and told her next time they'd take action.

It stopped then for a few weeks, but then started again. She'd only put it on for about 15 minutes at a time though, but it would be at all times of the day and night. There was nothing EH could do because they could never catch her.

My Mum then got diagnosed with Liver Cancer, so we sold because we needed an extra bedroom for her. The best thing was the guy who bought it was an old friend of mine. I told him about her, and he said 'well I can outdo any party she can have' and he did. She moved out into a detached house about 3 months after he moved in

I swear if I ever get a noisy neighbour again, I will kill them

claire edwards

What goes around comes around....your friend obviously gave her a run for her money....brilliant!!

I have found myself thinking about this whole situation quite a bit and really dont want to to take over our lives. I have said to my OH that if it does continue after trying to come to a comprimise, we will quite simply move.

Will keep posting with developments.

ps for the record, I call my boyfriend Victor Meldrew too....I laughed out loud reading that you did too.....My OH hates it, but it makes me laugh.

Have a good weekend.

Wendy

Don't let it get that bad that it starts to affect your life. Definitely stop it now or move away. It's not a nice place to be, you spend your life thinking 'dare I go to bed, what if it starts again' It's truly awful.

My OH is more like the guy in My Family (Ben). Don't know if you've watched it but I'm sure it's based on him, In fact I think the whold show is based on us

By the Avon

This was one of the reasons we made our last move. We got a new neighbour about a year after living in our house, it was nothing special but we were very happy there. Things went downhill, driving monkey bikes up and down the street at all hours(bear in mind this was on a close full of small kids) and parties every weekend(and sometimes weekday. We wouldn't mind the occassional do but the place virtually turned into the local tavern,They'd all sit in the car port(closer to our house than their backyard)and they were so inconsiderate it was unfunny. one night they went on to about 3 and then the music came back on at 8. Needless to say hubby was round there in his robe.
We made the move out to the country(1 hr out of perth city) where we now live on our own land and finally my hubby has found his Nirvana.

hoofie2002

When we were selling our house in Surrey, the neighbours son two doors down decided to play his electric guitar with his mates LATE into the night - and this was in a wooden shed outside next to a brick wall - believe me, you could hear it, even with the windows shut.

I asked him once to turn it down [he only ever did it when his mum was out], but sure enough he did it again....and again.... and again.. It ended with me banging on his shed door at 1 in the morning pointing out where I'd stick his f***ing guitar if he didn't turn it down NOW. [I should point out this is after an hour of ringing the doorbell etc]

We then had a 'gentlemans' agreement then that he would keep the noise down - I didn't say stop, I just said keep the noise down. The little b***tard then started playing REALLY LOUD on Sat morning - oh and yes, the was during the viewing of the house by a couple [who bought the house in the end amazingly].

After that I had enough. I told him that :

1) I was reporting the whole thing to the environmental health who WOULD take action [They had already apparently sent a letter saying they were receiving noise complaints].
2) My lawyer was going to write to his parents a letter indicating that if I lost the house sale etc. due to noise I would recover my losses from her through the courts [I was informed that I would able to sue for this]
3) I was moving to Australia and when that happened he could play as long as he liked.

I tried to be reasonable about the whole thing - "fair enough, he's just having fun, don't be a Victor Meldrew". However, it's hard to feel that way when its the middle of summer and you have to keep your windows shut all evening and night. I should also point out, I wasn't the only one of my neighbours who were bothered about it.

p.s. I tried to keep this between the two of us rather than get his parents involved as well, but in the end, they were never there to talk to anyway.

TeresaG

I hope you can get this sorted out.

We live in a flat and the previous people who lived downstairs were a nightmare. We had months of hassle but eventually manged to get them to quieten down and be a bit more reasonable.

We didn't want to fall out with them but in the end we did as they were so noisy and unreasonable. We got to the stage where we were thinking of reporting them to the council and asking for help but then thankfully they decided to move.

claire edwards

the little bugger!!! glad you sold the house evenually though!

Out of interest, do you think the estate agents have to tell you this sort of information if it is made known to them...I wonder?

Thanks for all your advice guys xx

claire edwards

It's just really bad that you had to move because of it.....I like the idea of moving into the country a little bit, sounds fab.