daily neighbour noise :(

I can see the logic of the gradual escalation but, to me, someone who is  creating a disturbance is not going to respond to a general notice. If they don’t think they are doing anything wrong, they won’t see themselves as being  subject to the general reminder.  If they do know they are breaking the rules, they won’t care.  And you run the risk of upsetting people who mistakenly think the note is directed at them

There is a myth in strata that you have to provide one, two or three written warnings  before you issue a notice to comply.  A Notice To Comply IS a warning – it says the committee thinks the resident is breaching the by-laws and if they don’t stop, action will be taken that could lead to fines.

It’s not a fine or a summons, it’s a warning but one that has teeth as it is a required step in a process that can lead to fines being imposed.

Trust me, having just been to a mediation following a notice to comply, this is a process you want to get going sooner rather than later as it can drag on for months (and still not have a guarantee of success).

And the very mention of a fine can get people’s attention in a way that an appeal to their better nature won’t.

@home to rest said:
Neighbours (parents & kids) are making daily loud noise, yelling, crying etc which is affecting our peaceful enjoyment at home. Don’t think neighbours would respond well to a face to face chat. 

Would you recommend anonymously giving neighbour a note? Outlining ..

a, Noise problem;

b, Offence under by-law 1 ‘ .. occupier of a lot must not create any noise on the parcel likely to interfere with the peaceful enjoyment of the owner or occupier ..’ 

c, Recommend neighbours stop making noise, to benefit of all residents.

After note is lodged, if neighbour continues to make noise, then what should we do?

thanks

If the kids are small up to 12-13 years old of course there is going to be shouting and yelling. What would you expect? What for you is loud daily noise for somebody else is just daily activity.

@JimmyT said:

@Dragandeewhy said:

If the kids are small up to 12-13 years old of course there is going to be shouting and yelling. What would you expect? What for you is loud daily noise for somebody else is just daily activity.

So, does this mean we have to put up with any level of noise created by children?  If not, where do we draw the line?  

Is it unreasonable to expect parents who have chosen to enjoy the benefits of strata living to consider their neighbours and moderate the behaviour of their children?

Or don’t normal standards apply to kids and their parents?

I’m not taking sides on this – I’m just curious to know what others think.

Jimmy

Hi All,

I have read this thread with much reflection, as I and my 2 other neighbours in our wing of an 8 unit strata block have been living with daily disturbing noise from the other neighbour in our wing for 3 years now.

You all raise extremely good points in your posts.

Whilst some occasional noise from neighbours is to be expected, and tolerated, in any strata scheme. There is a difference between occasional neighbour noise and disturbing and intrusive noise.

The noise doesn’t necessary always need to be loud, as the dull thuds of people walking about/ running or slamming doors can be clearly audible and if frequent (say every few minutes) can become a nuisance. It is the “nature” of the disturbance that is often the issue.

I agree that the best initial approach is to discuss the noise with the offending party early and directly. Don’t be confronting or accusing, but do describe what you are hearing and the impact it is having on you. Fair Trading NSW recommends this as the initial approach. Hopefully your neighbour(s) are reasonable people and understand that the noise is having a big impact on you.

Sadly sometimes this approach doesn’t work, your neighbours ignore your requests and the next step is to either issue a notice to comply or attempt mediation via a community justice centre or Fair Trading.

Again sometimes this fails and your neighbour tells you to get stuffed at mediation or ignores the notice to comply and carries on their merry way disturbing you day and night.

Step 3 in our case was to go for adjudication. This as Jimmy mentioned can take months. If you get a successful outcome the other party is almost guaranteed to appeal and if they get legal representation (sometimes pro-bono) you then have massive legal costs to bear. During this process the neighbour will often continue to behave as they always have.

What I have learnt is that sometimes you cannot prevail when your neighbour is determined to live however they please and what could have been a happy relationship between neighbours deteriorates badly. We are now at the stage if we politely knock on their door and ask that they stop slamming doors and bashing furniture, they call the police and complain that we are harassing them.

Sometimes the only solution as I have see too many times in this forum is to simply sell up and hope that you don’t encounter another neighbour who thinks that they have the god given right to behave however they please

As they say it only takes one bad apple to spoil the barrel

@Dragandeewhy said:
Have they chosen or are they forced to live?   . Is it reasonable to expect children to play in front of the apartment building and make noise that playing children do?

Plenty of strata schemes have by-laws that prevent children (or anyone else) from playing on common property.

The problem here is kids playing in their own homes and disturbing the “peaceful enjoyment” of other residents.

Just as well they don’t smoke too, eh?