Noisy neighbours, or neighbors, as they like to say on the other side of the sea, can be an annoying problem that sometimes will not go away.
Despite your best efforts and heavy hints there is no improvement in the situation and you are left scratching your head wondering what you can do about your neighbours.
When I first left home I took a flat full of character, as the agent was keen to describe it, in an old Victorian building, you know the kind of thing, ultra high ceilings, huge sash windows, lots of space and light, but quite impossible to heat in the winter.
Above me there was one more storey and one more flat, shoe-horned into the roof - nowhere near as nice as my flat but that is by the by.
Living in the flat was a large and charming Irishman and his curvy girlfriend who both liked a drink. He played in a band, semi pro, hoping for better things. I don't imagine they ever considered they could have been described as noisy neighbours.
When the pubs closed and they came home she would make him some supper, okay, yes I know, I am imagining these things and filling in the missing pieces, while he jumped on his massive drum-kit and proceeded to batter merry hell out of it for as long as the feeling took him. 1am, 2am, 3am, it didn't make any difference.
Yours truly pulled the pillows over his head and tried desperately to sleep, knowing full well that in my job as a commodity trader early next morning I could not afford to be sleepy.
When I next saw the guy he would be sheepishly apologetic and say in his charming Celtic way "I didn't keep you awake did I, Dave?" and then he'd smile and place his arm over my shoulder and invite me to a party they were throwing that coming Saturday evening, and somehow all my objections vanished into the ether.
Maybe the fact the he was also built like a brick you-know-what had something to do with that!
When he was not playing drums they managed to keep me awake, the pair of them, with frantic banging on the ceiling that went on for ages, and I will leave that one to your imagination.
So what can you do when you have noisy neighbours?
Get the authorities involved? Report them to the police? Yes, of course you could do those things, but do try the tactful approach first.
No neighbour is going to be pleased or happy about it if your first action is a little heavy handed.
After all, you still have to live there afterwards, and you don't want to be permanently at war with your next door residents.
Try speaking to them first, but do remember to keep calm and polite about it. One of the worst things you could do is go round there shouting and bawling like the proverbial bull in a china shop, trying to lay down the law, even slightly threateningly. Chances are you'll be told to get off!!
If your polite approach doesn't work, or you feel intimidated by them, then writing a letter can be a good way to approach noisy neighbours, but as before, do keep it polite and to the point.
Don't be threatening them with all sorts, don't be calling them names, remember that being tactful is far more likely to produce the desired result. i.e. that your noisy neighbours show a great deal more consideration and care for you in the future.
Writing a letter to a next door neighbour may seem an odd thing to do, but if phrased correctly it can work. After all, your neighbour might even have been unaware that they were causing a nuisance.
Deep down they could be caring kind of folk and they just might feel contrite and do something about it, though as we all know, there are plenty of confrontational people out there who are always looking for an argument, and are neither caring, nor helpful, when it comes to such things, and sometimes letters can have the opposite effect to the one you intended when they step up their rowdiness, an annoying but nonetheless not unusual turn of events.
If matters continue as they are or even grow progressively worse, unfortunately you may have nowhere else to go but to take the matter up with the local authorities, or indeed even the police.
Also be aware that if your noisy neighbours are renting the house or apartment, unacceptable noise could be sufficient grounds for their eviction, though no sane person would want to go down that avenue, unless it was a very last solution.
You can read more of this article and more about how to deal with noisy neighbours on our website.
Here's wishing you a quiet life.
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