Received this letter from downstairs neighbour. We moved to his rented property 4 years back and the day we moved she came to our door the very next hour asking to put the noise down, I apologised and told her that we are shifting and bringing stuff up. It was just me, my son and our 5 year old son who is extremely quiet and only used to play with small toy cars. The very next week she sent her nephew who came to our door and abused and swore in-front of my son to my husband, my son got scared and started crying hysterically. She complained to our landlord, council so much so that we thought of leaving the house in just 1 week but I stood my ground as we have just moved to the country and getting house on rent was extremely difficult. Enviroment council came to our house and checked each and everything and told her we have nothing in our house that’s making her so mad. They told us we are in the right. The same week I found a letter from her to the previous tenants which had their personal information saying “ can you stop having sex around 1 am and so loudly” and so many other things.
This made us wonder that she has issues with everyone who has lived here with kids or maybe an issue with brown or black people as the previous tenant was black and we are brown. It’s been 4 years and she keeps on complaining even though there’s nothing that we do.
I have a daughter now who likes to play around the house, we sleep by 9 during weekdays/weekends. Since it’s summer holidays the kids sleep a bit late. I was out on a work trip 2 weeks back and that’s when the kids were awake and she complained to the landlord and left this letter.
Can anyone tell me what can we do? We’ve never complained or fought or anything. How can we tackle this? We plan on leaving this property next year in June thanks.
43 comments
Ignore the mad bint.
Yea you just have a racist asshole neighbour.
Keep doing you, you’ll be fine. Legally you have nothing to worry about
I would approach her and ask her to clearly state what specific noises she is referring too, in full.
Obviously you’re going to keep the noise under control, other than that do nothing it’s all bullshit.
Ignore her. I doubt she has a solicitor or a sound machine, whatever that means.
She can wear earplugs if she is so sensitive. Or she could move to a second floor home.
This isn’t your problem and it sounds like you are living normally/reasonably.
She’s definitely done none of those things.
So… __Are__ you making a lot of noise at 1am? That’d tick me off too. But if you’re not, sounds like she just wants things and people to be mad at. Unfortunately, there are poisonous people like that in the world who are unhappy unless they’re unhappy.
Ask if the letter has been proof read by a solictor.
Just ignore it.
She has the recording – perfect. You can listen to it and work out what it is (or call her bluff!)
Ignore her. She does not have a solicitor. She is semi-literate and has nothing better to do.
The landlord will be aware she’s crackers and is probably also just ignoring her.
Don’t answer the door if she’s swearing and being aggressive. If you do, maybe video what happens.
Get ahead of this now.
Get in touch with the landlord / council stating that this is possibly racially motivated harassment, and they as the landlords need to deal with it ASAP.
I had to complain about noisy neighbours once who had weekly 4 day benders, and I was told to download an app to record the noise so she probably isn’t lying about that. It can be really distressing having your life disrupted because of noisy neighbours.
Having said that, she can’t expect dead silence all day. Is there noise at night? Bass from speakers travels far, make sure you use headphones at night, don’t wear shoes in the flat etc.
It’s probably just a badly converted flat, there’s not much else you can do by the sounds of it.
Write back saying
“As you have contacted your solicitor, any further communication must be from them directly”
Send her the letter back, only with all the spelling mistakes underlined in red ink and corrected.
Tell the illiterate bitch to fuck off
Or just ignore her.
Don’t do anything. If you think the noise you are making is reasonable and you have carpets/rugs down, just ignore her.
I happen to work in audio, and a “high powered sound equipment” to *record* allegedly *loud* noises doesn’t make much sense and very much reads as though she’s a mad old cow with no idea what she’s talking about.
Again, just ignore her.
Sounds like her problem, not a problem. If she doesn’t like it, she needs to move! She could also buy her own place so she doesn’t have to deal with whatever mental health issues she has.
Frankly, the letter is confused and incoherent.
“I have hired a high-powered sound equipment”? To make noise? Or record yours?
Some people have an obsession with some minor behaviour by the neighbours, this gets magnified over the years so the mose minor noise is regarded as a major problem.
Out of interest, are there bare wooden floors in your flat, they can be very noisy in normal use.
Tell her that since she has hired a solicitor, all correspondence should come through the solicitors.
Tell her to please not contact you directly.
Reply with a note saying you consider this to be harassment and welcome discussing it with her solicitor
Turn it round & tell HER to stop banging on her ceiling with a walking stick at 1am.
That’ll confuse the silly mare.
I would complain to council of her harassment. The broken and misspelled English looks like you’re dealing with a mental case. If she does get actual enforcement involved, it’s better you have a case first. Sometimes the first person that makes a claim is seen as the victim regardless of how ridiculous it is. Might not hurt to reach out to the old tenant if you can find them.
Start having loud sex late at night. It’s your only option really.
She’s not going to prove anything without proof. Also no solicitor in their right mind would tell a client to hire ‘sound equipment’ or tell them to write to the neighbour, that’d be the solicitors job. I am however concerned about her Doctor taking advantage of her in her poor mental state, she does mention how she’s under her Doctor 🤔😂
“Dear Neighbour,
I’m sorry that you feel that our standard nightly activities are causing you a problem. As you know, we did not construct this building, and therefore had no control over the level of sound insulation between floors, however, it truly sounds like this is affecting your ability to function and that is of concern to me.
Please remember that we also deserve as much quiet enjoyment as you in the property, and your harassment regarding a situation that we have zero control over is not acceptable. I’ll be keeping your letter as proof of this harassment should this matter go to the courts.
Have you considered that living in a poorly sound insulated flat might not be suitable for your personal circumstances?
With thanks,
Upstairs. “
Write back and state that you refer them to the answer given in the case of Arkell v Pressdram [1971]
You are not to blame.
See LB Southwark v Mills [https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld199899/ldjudgmt/jd991021/mills-1.htm](https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld199899/ldjudgmt/jd991021/mills-1.htm)
> They both complain of being able to hear all the sounds made by their neighbours. It is not that the neighbours are unreasonably noisy. For the most part, they are behaving quite normally. But the flats have no sound insulation. The tenants can hear not only the neighbours’ televisions and their babies crying but their coming and going, their cooking and cleaning, their quarrels and their love-making.
This was found to be normal use of a dwelling, so you are doing nothing wrong and they have no right to complain.
If this is the first warning they’ve given you then it’s crazy and they won’t get very far in court. They haven’t given you any notice or chance to rectify things before jumping to worst case. I wouldn’t worry.
Given they’re on medication I’d give it the botd that might be affecting their mood and they’re being dramatic. The way it’s written and also the fact that they clearly don’t know how to gauge their tone, starting with an apology, a threat and then begging. They might have a learning difficulty. I’d take this as someone who probably does just want the noise lowered who doesn’t know how to effectively communicate.
I’d write a note back saying this is the first you’ve been warned about it so you, unfairly, haven’t been given the chance to do anything about it and can they communicate with you through reasonable means. Keep a record of your note and theirs.
Either that or just ignore it and be wary of the noise you might be making at night. If you’re not making any she has nothing on you. The smallest things can sound really loud on the other side of a thin wall.
If you think this is all In her head and you’re worried about your neighbours mental health you can also make an anonymous safeguarding report to Adult SS.
Reddit will always tell you to kick off in these situations but you’ve got to live next to this person.
The repeated use of “as” when they’re trying to say “has” is mind-boggling.
This person would struggle to pass a spelling test intended for a 7 year old, they don’t have a solicitor. They probably don’t even have the “high powered sound equipment” they claim to have – but even if they do, is it true that it would pick up loud banging from your property at 1am? As if not, you clearly don’t have anything to worry about anyway, if all she’s got on the recordings are footsteps from a person getting up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, absolutely nobody is going to consider that a nuisance, that’s normal human noise that cannot be prevented.
The world isn’t big enough for us all to live a quarter mile apart from our neighbours, you have to adapt to being able to hear the sounds of people living their everyday lives even when you’re at home. Despite this being well known, several people do still expect to be able to enjoy a level of eerie silence even when they live in a flat or terraced house. Those people are stupid and should be ignored.
So ignore the letter.
I agree that it sounds like she is being completely unreasonable- but is it remotely possible that the noise she is complaining about is coming from somewhere else? Another neighbour or dodgy plumbing banging loudly or something like that? Is there anything you could do to try and rule that out?
Instruct a solicitor to send her a letter before action for civil harassment, threatening a court application for an injunction if she doesn’t cease her behaviour.
Is she an older lady? She might just be being a bitch but sometimes people experience these sorts of hallucinations as part of the onset of dementia.
In no way did they go from getting a sleep app, to getting “high powered sound equipment” and have “evidence” logged with the solicitor in the space of a week.
If you see anyone visiting her try to speak to them as they leave her property. Explain the situation and see if she is unwell.
She may just be an a-hole. Or this maybe dementia starting to show.
Needless to say she doesn’t have any ‘sound equipment’ or a solicitor.
Maybe, just maybe, keep the noise down
That letter is complete bollocks. Sorry but it is.
There is no way she hired “High powered” sound equipment to record banging from upstairs. A phone would do.
No solicitor would take this case and the landlord probably doesn’t care.
I would first contact the landlord and explain, if they are a decent landlord, they may understand that she is just harassing you.
If it continues, politely inform her that you will be filing a harassment charge if she doesn’t stop.
Noise complaints are mainly investigated by the police or council, and unless you are moonlighting as a DnB DJ, they won’t do anything as this is a civil matter.
I personally would ignore the letter.
Write back a succint and suitably British reply:
“Off you fuck, crazy lady”
Do not engage. Keep a record of her harrassment of you. I’m sorry, she is going to make things tense, but keeping a record means you have evidence and can protect your family.
Another redditor has suggested similar.
Respond saying
“Thank you for your letter. However as you have already contacted your solicitor regarding this issue, we are now unable to discuss this matter with you at all any further. Any communication between us would be improper as it is now a legal matter. Any communications that need to be made MUST be done through your solicitor. Any other efforts made to the contrary will be treated as harassment, as your complaint has been already filed with the courts. Your solicitor will have advised you of this. Please let us reiterate the importance of this, any attempt to contact us now will be flagged as harassment.”
Hopefully that might be enough to dissuade her from interacting with you any further. Because not only does she need to go through the solicitors (assuming there even is one), any attempt made runs the risk of her getting done for harassment.
I might not be a lawyer, but I do think you have a case to say she’s been harassing you. Especially given the fact that you’ve had environment council people out to assess the situation and they’ve determined that you’re doing nothing wrong.
But the words of strangers on the internet isn’t ideal. So I would suggest seeking some form of legal advice, just in case. I imagine most solicitors wouldn’t treat it with any real threat, so it’s not worth paying for advice. But there are free advice places all over the UK. For example, the Citizen Advice Bureau, who are made to help people with all sorts of things including issues like this.
Had one of these neighbors living below me before, it was a nightmare. Claimed that I was moving furniture or slamming doors in the middle of the night. Some of these nights I slept like a dog and got an angry complaint tomorrow.
The floor was concrete so anything I did wouldn’t even make a noise. Got my landlord involved and proved this in front of him, doesn’t matter.
I guess I was probably the pipes, I occasionally heard of some mechanical noise from the flat above at night too, though barely noticeable. Which is a common thing unless you don’t have anyone living above or below you.
Glad I’ve moved out of the place.
There’s so much missing information here that nobody in their right mind should offer any advice.
The “what you do to keep the noise down” portion of this, seems to be completely missing …
>It was just me, my son, and our 5 year old son
r/holup
I was in your situation once. Noise complaints when I was just living my life peacefully. After a few days of arguments I asked to sit in their flat whilst they moved around upstairs in mine normally.
It was an eye-opener for us both.
The noise was horrendously loud and I totally understood her point. The building was shit and my flat had floorboards.
We ripped up the floorboards and laid down thick carpet – sometimes both sides are correct.
All the comments from people giving you advice to be aggressive are unhelpful.
Of course, she could be a lunatic, but it’s not definite.