Noise and Neighbours?

[admin_exported]

Hey

I know what it is like having a neigbour annoy, I had one once were she played the fast food song over and over, and up until 03:00 which almost came to blows, but we moved as she was a council mom, no offence if you live on an estate, its just she could not be bothered to get a job.

Anyway, my neighbour asked me to turn down narnia yesterday, and it was before 22:00, I know they have kids and so do I, so I agreed no probs at all.

But what happens if its like 14:00 and I want to watch transformers or something with my new Subwoofer?

They complained with a broken sub, so god knows whats going to happen once my R370HD arrives.

Any laws or anything, tried reading up, but seems a bit of a grey area.

Thanks

 

[Anonymous]

I don't know about the law but have you considered speaking to your neighbours, perhaps mentioning that you have some new equipment and asking if they can here it? I personally like to keep a good relationship with my neighbours and it goes a long way with issues like this and I certainly wouldn't want to take it to the point of involving the law.

To be honest the only time I really crank my system up is when they are out or away as nobody likes to hear the sound of other peoples music coming through their walls. My next upgrade is going to be a detached house.

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry just seen thread about the situation, sorry to ask a question thats been posted B4

 

[Anonymous]

it's a difficult situation ... what you need to do is switch your system on ... set the volume to the volume that you enjoy .... go to the neighbour's house and see how loud/annoying it is ...

If the system can be heard in your neighbours home, then you have a problem ... either try and reposition speakers or soundproof the room .... or get headphones? ...

 

[Anonymous]

just emailed the council, As I dont see why they cant put up with it for ONE movie between 09:00 and 20:00 it wont be more than 1 movie and I dont listen to loud music.

I have toddlers as well, but an hour and a half and not even everyday, does not seem like a huge ask.

And really prob would only be on a friday or sat night, as I work during the week and dont get home until late.

Will see what the rules are, and will post if you like, prob next week.

 

[Anonymous]

not sure of the exact law, but think there should not be excessive noise between 8pm and 8am ....

 

[Anonymous]

canada16:
just emailed the council, As I dont see why they cant put up with it for ONE movie between 09:00 and 20:00 it wont be more than 1 movie and I dont listen to loud music.

I think you're being a bit hostile to be honest. The council aren't really going to do anything either way and it's really up to you to find a way to live in harmony with your neighbours. From what you have said it doesn't sound as if they are being unreasonable. If you have a good relationship with your neighbours they will be far more understanding than if you have a bad one.

 

[Anonymous]

Didnt mean it like that, just dont want them moaning over 1 movie.

Will have a chat with them, they are quite nice.

 

[GazzyP]

In terms of the law, I understand that 11pm is the point at which you should consider the noise you are making. Pretty much in line with old licensing laws.

I have to add I have never been brave enough to buy a sub-woofer for this exact reason!! SO its just routed through the front speakers.

One day I will live in a detached house.... (dream)...

 

[Anonymous]

Canada, it doesn,t matter what time of the day the noise is getting made, in scotland where i stay the council have a department called The Noise Abatement Society, they come to the complainers property and monitor the sound coming from the offending property. I,m lucky because i stay in a detached and my nearest neighbour is about 100 foot away, but about 20 years ago my first house was a lower cottage flat and my upstairs neighbours had lots of kids running and jumping at all hours. Tried to be nice about it but their attitude was that the man that i bought the house from didn,t complain, ( but i later found out that he was registered deaf ) after getting lots of abuse, ie they told all the neighbours that myself and my wife should not be staying there, bad couple etc, i got the council involved and they too complained that they could hear our alarm clock, closing doors etc. The council came to the conclusion that the cottage flats were notorious for sound insulation and that to stop the complaint of both parties the ceilings in my house and the floorboards upstairs would have to be professionally insulated at a cost of £5000 to both parties. We sold up and moved to a semi then detached. There are different kinds of noise, our complaint was impact noise which is the worst, THUMP THUMP, better to try to resolve before getting solicitor and council involved first.

 

[ashcorn]

Glad I don't live next door!

 

[Anonymous]

I agree with dim-span about going into neighbours and listening.

 

[Anonymous]

My sympathy's Canada , the whole point of having a home cinema is to listen at "Reference level" appreciate HD codecs and feel the bass

There are products to dampen floor borne Sub vibration if that becomes a problem

Perhaps soundproofing the party wall is an option, thats what I would do it needn't be expensive especially if you are good at DIY

In fact it could even be beneficial to your cinema as the room has the biggest impact on how it sounds

 

[Anonymous]

Well.

I just spoke to both of them as they were coming home from shopping, I said sorry for last night, and they said they dont care when I watch movies, as long as its not every single night, which its not, and not after 20:00

So good news, got that settled, and both are happy.

 

[Dalesman]

Noise levels are governed by various laws and there are UK Noise laws as well as Environmental aspects to high noise levels.

Some info can be found here:

http://www.10db.co.uk/html/noise___nuisance.html

 

[Anonymous]

HI Canada16,

I am glad a talk with your neighbours has resolved any issue that could have arose

, communication goes a long way in those situations.

I thought i would leave some information attached to your post or other people seeking information on this subject, My neighbour decided to make a complaint to the council about my music, which admittedly was a regular saturday thing (only time i really had, we all got to work right), but we had been neighbours for some time & he had never made it known to me that it was an issue, sometimes we are just unlucky and get uncommunicative or unreasonable neighbours, as a percentage it was only 1% of his week that any noise would come from my property.

Anyway i was served with a statutory noise abatement notice, under the environmental protection act 1990, which states........

require you not to play or permit the playing of amplified music or musical instruments at such a volume to cause nuisance from noise,nor cause or permit to be caused, noise or vibration amounting to a nuisance from human voices or other activity.

The councils are cracking down on noise complaints, i can also confirm there is no specific time you are ok to "play it as loud as you like" the law applies 24 hours a day (my notice was served at 5pm), If you are served with a noise abatement notice, their powers if you contravene that notice are, to take you to court & upon conviction you will be liable to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale (have no clue what that amount is) & also an amount equal to one-tenth of that level for each day the offense continues after conviction, they can also remove the noise making equipment & for repeat offenders that live in local authority housing, seek through the courts to remove you from your property.The council will also recover any costs they incurr from you.

Hope this clears up some of the facts for others seeking some answers on this subject.

So Canada16, keep those neighbours sweet

 

[Anonymous]

Wow That's tuff

Had a complaint from my nieghbour and am looking into soundproofing etc..

First though I have ordered an Auralex SubDude in the hope it will help reduce the noise, yes it's the sub that nearly demolishes my house

 

[Anonymous]

I've been dealing with the same problem, live in an old building, wood floors, neighbours in the apt below me.

In my experience it helps to just talk to your neighbours: "I have a new home cinema system, I enjoy using it, if the noise bothers you at any point, please ring my doorbell." I think if you're being reasonable about it, neighbours will actually be less annoyed by a bit of noise and will put up with more. It's the same for their dogs, I can stand their barking much better because my neighbours are apologetic about their dogs and at least make an effort to keep them quiet.

If you can put up some isolation that could help, although it won't stop a sub resonating through walls and floors. The guy selling me my system explained that the vibrations that a sub's creates get worse as you get further from the sub. He gave an example where a customer's home cinema room wouldn't vibrate, while his neighbour's kitchen would vibrate so badly that dinnerplates start rattling. He actually talked me out of getting the sub for my situation.

 

[Anonymous]

I live in a flat, and my neighbour is having some work done to her place. I don't mind in the slightest, even though the noise is a little distracting (not more so than this forum though). My question is, if noise is allowed (9-5 in my building) for building work, then why can't I watch a film with as much surround sound oomph and subwoofer as I feel is sufficient to enjoy the cinematic experience all the more, or can I?

N.B. I don't actually have surround sound or the means by which to create a lot of noise, but I am considering a 5.1 set up.

 

[The_Lhc]

I live in a detached house in the middle of nowhere and I still get told to turn it down by the missus, "because it'll upset the neighbours".

I do wonder about her sometimes...

 

[Anonymous]

This is what the council wrote back :

Thank you for your
enquiry.

The legislation we use
regarding statutory noise nuisance is the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
Whether something is a statutory nuisance or not depends on a number of factors
such as the duration of the noise, time of day and frequency of the event. A
statutory nuisance can occur at any time of the day and there are no time
limits.

I would recommend that
you do not place speakers on party walls or facing party walls. Low frequency
noise (bass) tends to travel further and would be the most likely cause of any
noise nuisance. I would recommend that you reduce the bass as much as you
can.

From what you are
saying, as long as it's not late at night, and not too often I wouldn't think it
would be causing a nuisance.

It would be worth
talking to your neighbours to see if you can come to some agreement about
it.

If you require any
further information please do not hesitate to contact
me.

Regards

 

[Tom Moreno]

the_lhc:
I live in a detached house in the middle of nowhere and I still get told to turn it down by the missus, "because it'll upset the neighbours".

I do wonder about her sometimes...

I get the same from mine! I wonder if they're related.

 

[Anonymous]

Many moons ago, when the world was black and white and people walked funny, I was a final year student back in halls for the convenience of being able to use the University library (not to mention the Union Bar).

The geezer downstairs got a CD player for Xmas but only had one CD - Petshop Boys "West End Girls" - which he insistend in playing over and over again at full blast when he came back from his boyfriend's.

I went out and bought Bach's Fuge in D Minor, speakers face down on the concrete floor and let rip.

That shut him up.