Hi oasis69, thanks for posting that bit about calling the police re talking noise.
I’m having a similar problem with my neighbours at present. I live in an old 1960s walk-up (which doesn’t have much noise insulation at the best of times) with a staircase in the middle of the building. There are windows in the common property wall for the purpose of ventilating the staircase, however they are next to the balconies on that side of the building. Which means when people have loud gatherings on their balconies the noise travels and can be heard inside our units. You can practically hear every word they say. And smoke from their cigarettes blows into the hallways and our units as well from under our front doors.
The owner who lives directly next to me has had lots of loud parties with music blaring into the early hours of the morning most weekends. I might mention that he is also a member of the EC. Funny that.
The common wall dividing our units is between my bedroom and what (I assume) is his living room. Again you can hear loud conversations as if it was in my own unit.
It’s driving me nuts. I didn’t know you could call the police to tell selfish neighbours to shut up, actually assumed they wouldn’t waste their time on that. I’ve asked my rude EC neighbour to quiet down but to no avail. So thanks oasis69 I know who to call next time 