I was hoping for some help...
Kind of a long story but I will only list the main events.
Also please excuse my typing, I did this on my iPhone.
Anyways we are owner occupiers living in a free standing property who since moving in about four months ago have been experiencing problems with noisy neighbours who rent the property next door.
When we moved in our neighbours where a single mum (40'ish), 2 daughters with Green P's (20?) and a boyfriend plus 2 giant dogs.
On our very first Friday night in our first home, our neighbours had a party until well past 2am with the music being so loud we had to abandon our living room and could still hear their music in our bedroom. We did not take any action, figuring it could simply be a one off event... We were so wrong.
The next weekend our neighbours decided to clean their house whilst blasting out music at full volume with all their windows and door open. I went and knock on my neighbours door asking them to please turn the music down. The mother's response was "it's only 2pm".
I explained that the music was so loud we could hear it throughout our entire house. She replied "and?" I tired to reason with her and asked her to turn it down, she said "no". I then asked her to least turn the sub woofer/base down. She replied "don't know how". Needless to say I walked away with the matter unresolved and the music continued until around 6pm.
This behaviour of parties or loud music continues for another 2 months until we finally had enough and called the police one Wednesday evening when their TV volume was so loud we could hear it over our TV in our living room.
The very next Saturday night they had another party, so another call to the police. After the police left, the 2 daughter actually came around and told me off for calling the police. Apparently it being "11pm and having a party" is a valid reason to ruin your neighbours evening.
When I told them we had to abandon our living room they replied "you have other rooms". They also told me no one had ever complained before, this I find hard to believe. At this point they started to verbally insult me so I shut the door on them. Anyways 5 minutes later the music returned. Come midnight, we called the police again, police revisited yet at 3am the music was still playing. Really wish I had called the cops a 3rd time.
Now after that event we contacted the EPA Council and their Landlord. The EPA tells me that any noise that disturbs my rest and relaxation in my home and yard is an "offensive noise". The police told me we could call 24/7 for a noise complaint, the council paid them a visit and the landlord sent them a letter. There is basically no way they can not know or understand the noise pollution laws within NSW.
Yet despite all this they still continued. Yet another Saturday night party another police call and the minute they left the took revenge on use by blasting out Queens "we are the champions" and "rock you" music louder than ever before whilst screaming and banging on the fence in time with the music before returning to their duff duff music.
Yet more calls to the council and their landlord (asked them to attend a meeting still have not) and we also requested mediation though the CJC (still have not replied and it has been 2 weeks).
Now this is where it gets interesting, we don't believe the mother resides next door anymore as we only ever see her car a few times a month and since the last round of phone calls, their behaviour has changed, well slightly....
They now seem to like inviting guests over every weekend (11 to 8) and when we consider the timing of this it really feels like they have changed tactics on purpose to get revenge on us. Basically they play music in the back garden (not as loud as previous) but also have very loud conversations (we can hear ever word, they scream / sing with the music plus yell a lot at each. Plus they are letting 2 small kids run riot (not my neighbours kid's) plus the 2 large dogs get excited with all the people and kids around and bark a lot. The "adults" actually cause more noise than the kids and the dogs combined.
Now it is certainly not the same type of noise disturbance as previous complaints but a similar overall noise level and effect on us.
Don't misunderstand me, we understand kids and dogs make noise but they are making more noise than all our other neighbours combined who also have kids and dogs. We also don't care about car noise, lawn mowers and all other general neighbourhood noises as they are normal and to be expected.
But at the moment, we are forced keep our living room windows and patio door closed and roll down our security shutter to limit the amount of noise from them in our living room and even then we can still hear them, our garden is so noisy you have no hope of relaxing and we are simply dreading ever weekend.
Not to mention the loss of sleep and stress this is causing me and the feeling that it is ruining our first home.
What I would like to know is the following....
1. What my legal options are if all landlord, council and police action fail the stop this behaviour or if we simply have had enough and want it ended more quickly?
2. Is the landlord responsible for the behaviour of their tenants?
3. If the mediation goes ahead, is there any suggestion on how to deal with these problems during mediation?
4. Does it really matter what the disturbance is (music or guests) if it is frequent and has the same effect on me and my wife?
And finally and I know this is more of a personal option and less legal.
1. Is it reasonable of me to expect my neighbour to keep the noise down to a level where I can relax in my own home and yard 24/7 as the EPA guidelines seems to indicate it is.
Again sorry about the length of the post and my bad typing. If you have any questions or require further information please ask.
Regards
Kind of a long story but I will only list the main events.
Also please excuse my typing, I did this on my iPhone.
Anyways we are owner occupiers living in a free standing property who since moving in about four months ago have been experiencing problems with noisy neighbours who rent the property next door.
When we moved in our neighbours where a single mum (40'ish), 2 daughters with Green P's (20?) and a boyfriend plus 2 giant dogs.
On our very first Friday night in our first home, our neighbours had a party until well past 2am with the music being so loud we had to abandon our living room and could still hear their music in our bedroom. We did not take any action, figuring it could simply be a one off event... We were so wrong.
The next weekend our neighbours decided to clean their house whilst blasting out music at full volume with all their windows and door open. I went and knock on my neighbours door asking them to please turn the music down. The mother's response was "it's only 2pm".
I explained that the music was so loud we could hear it throughout our entire house. She replied "and?" I tired to reason with her and asked her to turn it down, she said "no". I then asked her to least turn the sub woofer/base down. She replied "don't know how". Needless to say I walked away with the matter unresolved and the music continued until around 6pm.
This behaviour of parties or loud music continues for another 2 months until we finally had enough and called the police one Wednesday evening when their TV volume was so loud we could hear it over our TV in our living room.
The very next Saturday night they had another party, so another call to the police. After the police left, the 2 daughter actually came around and told me off for calling the police. Apparently it being "11pm and having a party" is a valid reason to ruin your neighbours evening.
When I told them we had to abandon our living room they replied "you have other rooms". They also told me no one had ever complained before, this I find hard to believe. At this point they started to verbally insult me so I shut the door on them. Anyways 5 minutes later the music returned. Come midnight, we called the police again, police revisited yet at 3am the music was still playing. Really wish I had called the cops a 3rd time.
Now after that event we contacted the EPA Council and their Landlord. The EPA tells me that any noise that disturbs my rest and relaxation in my home and yard is an "offensive noise". The police told me we could call 24/7 for a noise complaint, the council paid them a visit and the landlord sent them a letter. There is basically no way they can not know or understand the noise pollution laws within NSW.
Yet despite all this they still continued. Yet another Saturday night party another police call and the minute they left the took revenge on use by blasting out Queens "we are the champions" and "rock you" music louder than ever before whilst screaming and banging on the fence in time with the music before returning to their duff duff music.
Yet more calls to the council and their landlord (asked them to attend a meeting still have not) and we also requested mediation though the CJC (still have not replied and it has been 2 weeks).
Now this is where it gets interesting, we don't believe the mother resides next door anymore as we only ever see her car a few times a month and since the last round of phone calls, their behaviour has changed, well slightly....
They now seem to like inviting guests over every weekend (11 to 8) and when we consider the timing of this it really feels like they have changed tactics on purpose to get revenge on us. Basically they play music in the back garden (not as loud as previous) but also have very loud conversations (we can hear ever word, they scream / sing with the music plus yell a lot at each. Plus they are letting 2 small kids run riot (not my neighbours kid's) plus the 2 large dogs get excited with all the people and kids around and bark a lot. The "adults" actually cause more noise than the kids and the dogs combined.
Now it is certainly not the same type of noise disturbance as previous complaints but a similar overall noise level and effect on us.
Don't misunderstand me, we understand kids and dogs make noise but they are making more noise than all our other neighbours combined who also have kids and dogs. We also don't care about car noise, lawn mowers and all other general neighbourhood noises as they are normal and to be expected.
But at the moment, we are forced keep our living room windows and patio door closed and roll down our security shutter to limit the amount of noise from them in our living room and even then we can still hear them, our garden is so noisy you have no hope of relaxing and we are simply dreading ever weekend.
Not to mention the loss of sleep and stress this is causing me and the feeling that it is ruining our first home.
What I would like to know is the following....
1. What my legal options are if all landlord, council and police action fail the stop this behaviour or if we simply have had enough and want it ended more quickly?
2. Is the landlord responsible for the behaviour of their tenants?
3. If the mediation goes ahead, is there any suggestion on how to deal with these problems during mediation?
4. Does it really matter what the disturbance is (music or guests) if it is frequent and has the same effect on me and my wife?
And finally and I know this is more of a personal option and less legal.
1. Is it reasonable of me to expect my neighbour to keep the noise down to a level where I can relax in my own home and yard 24/7 as the EPA guidelines seems to indicate it is.
Again sorry about the length of the post and my bad typing. If you have any questions or require further information please ask.
Regards
