Neighbours

Neighbour disputes arise when two people or households who live next door to each other annoy each other by the way they live their lives. The problem can be more accidental than deliberate. People often talk about neighbours causing “nuisance”. To take legal action on the grounds of nuisance the problem has to be having a serious affect on your life.

There are various common sense things you can do to ensure good relations with your neighbours:

At night or early in the morning listening to someone else’s loud music, a blaring TV, or spinning washing machine can be extremely annoying. Try to avoid causing these problems by keeping noise levels down. Be sensitive to special needs - a shift worker may need quiet during the day; those with young children need to get them to sleep early in the evening. Be reasonable about the situation - a parent may not be able to stop their baby crying during the evening. Don’t forget: excessive noise is specifically referred to in your tenancy agreement.

• Try not to let doors bang
• Raise stereo speakers off the floor
• Try to keep televisions, radios, audio equipment, pianos and washing machines away from party walls
• Keep the volume down - particularly between the hours of 11pm and 8am.
• Try to keep your windows shut when you are playing music or have the television on.
• Avoid using vacuum cleaners and washing machines between the hours of 11pm and 8am.
• If you live in a flat and you can’t cover the floors with carpet, try to wear soft soled shoes while you are at home. * If you are thinking of having a party, be considerate and warn your neighbours.
• They may want to stay away for the night - or perhaps they would like to be invited!

Communal areas shouldn’t be eyesores or create health and safety risks. So keep these areas clean and tidy and don’t leave rubbish or equipment lying about blocking the way. Don’t allow gardens to become wildly overgrown or dumping grounds. Don't cause a nuisance by playing ball games or being excessively noisy. But also, be reasonable - there may for example be nowhere else to store the pushchair other than in the corridor - but it shouldn’t block a fire exit.

Don’t create eyesores, and be considerate about parking. Don’t block roadways and other vehicular access and keep them, and car parking spaces, clear of unroadworthy and unlicensed vehicles and other obstruction. You are not allowed to work on cars in common areas.

Some disputes make life unbearable and we will get involved in some cases. This will depend on whether: * the complaint is reasonable * the problem is severe and still going on * we can do something about it.

We will only get involved if you have done all you can to solve the problem.

Speak to your neighbour:

They may not know they are bothering you. They may be willing to stop doing whatever it is that is annoying you.

Keep a diary:

If the nuisance is continuous and talking to your neighbour hasn’t helped, it can be useful to keep a log or diary of incidents. Write down the date and time of the incident, briefly what happened, what you did (if anything), how long it went on for and whether there were any independent witnesses e.g. another neighbour, the Police or the Noise Team. This information should be passed to your Housing Officer if there are several incidents over the course of a month. This information will be essential if it becomes necessary to take any legal action against the neighbour.

f the problem is serious enough you can take legal action against the neighbour. There are two types of action:

• An injunction, where the court orders your neighbour to do or stop doing something.
• Action under the Environmental Protection Act, where the court can order someone to stop the nuisance.

If you want to take legal action, seek advice from a Citizens’ Advice Bureau, Law Centre or Solicitor.

Environmental Health departments can take action against certain forms of nuisance, particularly noise nuisance. They tend only to get involved in serious cases, in particular where there has been some attempt to sort the problem out first.

Talk to both sides:

Our aim is to solve the problem, not take sides. By talking to you and your neighbour we hope to find a solution you can both agree to.

Mediation:

Taking sides can make matters worse. We prefer mediation. This means we try to get both parties to work out a solution. We may suggest referring the problem to an independent mediator who can help you agree a solution.

Warning letters:

If it is clear that one side is acting unreasonably and other attempts to sort it out have failed, we may write to them, warning them of legal action if the problem continues.

Transfers:

We don’t usually transfer people because of neighbour disputes. All other attempts to sort out the problem must have been tried and we must be sure that we won’t simply be moving the problem elsewhere.

Legal Action:

We will only take legal action if the dispute is serious, if we stand a good chance of winning and if other attempts to sort out the problem have failed.

The actions we can take are:

• Injunction - to make a tenant do or stop doing something if they are breaking their tenancy agreement. We will need sufficient evidence and witnesses must be prepared to attend court and give evidence.

• Possession proceedings - in the most extreme cases if a tenant is causing a nuisance we can take them to court to take possession of their home. We will need sufficient evidence and usually witnesses.