View Full Version : Noisy neighbour?
One of my friends has had her neighbours video recording her house and family, and has had an official complaint by the police that she is causing continous noise which is upsetting the neighbours.
Now, whenever I go over to her house there may be the occasional cry of a baby, and the noise that children make, and a bit of piano playing.... but is that really grounds for her neighbours to complain to the police?
Where does she stand legally on this matter? Does anyone know or have any experience? What constitutes nuisance noise?
She is worried as the police warned her she could be evicted, even thogh her mother owns the house....
The neighbours have even crept into her garden to take photo's, and video the house constantly.... is this in breach of her human right to privacy?
Cheers :)
The councils do have squads of noise people that can take you to court after a certain amount of nusiance is caused.
The video & photo taking sounds dodgy to me though!
I would have thought that the pictures etc were a breach of privacy
As regards noise, there are specific limits and times. I think between 0900 and 1700 you have the option to make a lot of noise, but not so much as it is a proper public nuisence.
I think its a little stricter up to 2200 and then minimal between 2200 and 0700 or summat like that.
Ok course, next door might be shift workers, to whom every sniff is a deafening racket when they are trying to sleep.
But it does sound like it is OTT
The video & photo taking sounds dodgy to me though!
Agreed. She probably has cause for complaint about "invasion of privacy"
Taking pictures or making recordings of others without their explicit permission is a criminal act. Certainly it is a breach of human rights and no doubt some lawyer somewhere could make a lot of money arguing the case.
Noisy neighbours is not something that the police should be dealing with. It is a civil, not criminal offence and as such only the local council have powers to deal with it, though those powers are very limited when it comes to privately owned housing.
The best solutions is to get together with the neighbours who have the problem, in the presence of a third, independant, party and hammer out the problem face to face. Usually this sort of thing stems from mutual misunderstanding and can be sorted quite easily with only a little compromise on all sides.
Get em to meet up before things escalate and get out of hand would be my advice.
also planting rose bushes and poisne ivy on the perimeter helps to ward off unwanted ppl.
If they are trampling over their garden, isn't that trespass?
The Gill
10-07-2003, 11:37
Saw a program the other week - basically the neighbours had put up video surveilance cameras inc microphones all over their house pointing all over the place.
The folk living next door and surrounding were not best pleased that they felf that they were being spied on - cameras were even pointing towards their windows, back garden etc.
Basically the program said that the video nuts were not breaking any laws ! Surprised me but that's what they said.
shadowninja
10-07-2003, 12:37
how much noise are they really making? and what sort of noise? or really is the noise you mentioned the only noise, and not done outside of 7am to 11pm? if so i can't see the problem. starting up a loud car at 3am or playing loud music at night regularly would clearly be annoying
has she tried buying a garden hose and ... um ... watering the microphones? 'Ohhh sorry I didn't realise they were hidden in that tree'
-Darren
Re: Cameras
Buy an air pistol with a scope, and take them out. Not sure how legal that is, but no funker videos my house!
yeah fcuk em,
if its my own private house, not council owned, then no fcuker can evict me, no one, the stupid mush's must have thought that it was a council owned house to say that you may get evicted cos in council house's you can.
it is a long drawn out process involving the environmental health dept of the council. regardless of how many pics or videos your neighbours are taking that means jack, the only evidence that can be used is a decibelmeter supplied and used by the environmental health dept. this is obviously used to measure the level of the noise. and again the process of prosecution starts of with letters from the e.h.d. requesting that if noise levels are not abated within such n such a time further action would be taken, which, if the noise is loud enough, would end up being a fine.
with regards the neighours videoing, if the cameras are slightly pointing on their own halves they can get away with it, as a preventative measure, (i.e prevent burglers!!).
but if they are pointing directly into your property then i'm pretty sure they are committing an offence, and under data protection act you are entitled to contact them to make an appointment to view the tapes as long as you believe that they have recordings of you on them, if they decline they are breaking the law.
the best thing to do would firstly go to citizens advice and discuss it with them, they are quite helpful, and what they dont know they will find out for you, and cheaper than solicitors, (c.a.b. is free).
after that it would have to be solicitors though and take it further.
dont bother with the rozza's unless it is causing a breach of the peace then its not their ball game, and a breach of the peace is defined as
'disorder or distubance in a public place, which results in violence, the threat of violence or provokes violence from another'
and they would probably just come round, have a listen to the noise from outside and give the neighbours a severe case of fob, (fobbing the job off for someone else to sort)
however if they have come and had a word with you, if the noise levels really werent loud, then they may have done that just to appease the neighbours.
my advice
curtains closed, music full wack, FCUK EM!!!!!!!!!!!!
:D :thumbs:
I can say with certainty that after 11 there is hardly any noise... the most of it comes about once a week when they have an argument and usually a gate or door gets slammed, and a brief bit of shouting... It's not as though there is loud music every night, or constand DIY or anyhting...
I may have to sent letters to her neighbours pointing this out :mad:
shadow21
10-07-2003, 13:38
I think I would do the same thing, i.e filming them and taking photos all day long, and complaint to the police at the slightest noise they make...
Some people are so saaaaad... :( :(
send them a letter saying
' if you want noise, we'll give you noise, hows about ove a thousand sxoc members on your front, revving cars, playing dere batty boy music!!!! '
ahem, sorry, watched ali g indahouse last night!!!!
and i had the volume turned up!!!!!
my neighbours are noisy b$st$rds though, but theyre ok, if they are too loud i tunr mine up so its no chew!!!
I suspect they phoned the police because they don't yet want to get solicitors involved (and all the cost that entails).
If they even slightly film me parking outside there will be trouble... We're talking unbunged Blitz trouble! I usually take my quiet runabout, purely as it's a small street so I don't annoy them... But the gloves are now off! Might as well give them something to REALLY complain about :rolleyes:
If they video me I will simply video them.. through their front bl**dy window, and see how they like that! When I started filming a plod in a talivan on one occasion he too serious offence (Strange, as he had been filming me not breaking the law), so I suspect they would too :)
kirkster
10-07-2003, 14:25
My advice....
send hayden round, he's the resident ninja.
Kirky.
Martin T
10-07-2003, 14:40
The law quite simply states that the noise must be unreasnoble. From what I read, it is nothing like unreasnoble.
Oh and if its privately owned, the council have the right to confiscate the noise making equipment, except they cannot kidnap children!!
The regs assume something mechanical/electric is making the noise.
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