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very noisy neighbours.


mooky
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Another weekend of hell it seems.

I live in a detached house with double glazing. I have just got up after another night a very loud throbbing music.

It starts friday evening and goes on until sunday night. Sometimes there maybe a break of a couple of hours, while the 52year old man and his friends lie comatosed on the lawn.

A weekend to me now means. Noise, very very loud. The odour of cannabis wafting everywhere. Men urinating all the time; why can't they do this less publicly.

They even have the cheek to try to send their kids around to me 'to play on my computor'.

So I lock my gate. I can't stand this all the time. What can I do?  Why should I have to go in my garden or lie in bed with ear plugs in .

Why should I have to put up with the smell of cannabis. Believe you me watching a drunk, drugged older men all weekend is no fun.

I am a party pooper. I am a boring old fart. I do respect others wishes. I have immaculate manners, and respect for my neighbours.

Why do they have non for me. I am ranting.... tiredness creeping in.......................................

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Why don't you move to France - anybody on these forums will tell you how much respect the inhabitants there have for each other, how well behaved the kids are, how there is no drug problem or binge drinking....

[6] [6] [6]

(I do sympathise, by the way, and am sure you are not a boring old fart at all).

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Mooky, that sounds just awful - especially the noise - interfering with your sleep, it exhausts you and probably makes you very bad tempered - a temporary grumpy old fart.

Since you do know the neighbour whose home it is, have you actually talked to him directly about the inconvenience he and his friends put you through? That would be the first thing to do, and perhaps to add that if it doesn't stop, you will have to take it further. The police (probably not the gendarmes) often like to come around and check things out on Saturday nights, and here at least, they are very responsive to such calls.

Regardless of what your attitude might be towards cannabis, it is illegal and most people would rather not have the cops have a sniff around their home for it, so if you imply to your neighbour that you know about it....

When we first moved to where we are now, we had a terrible time with some neighbours (newly-arrived too) who were having all-night parties with many friends - the laying of the land meant that from my bedroom window I could hear everything that they were saying. In the middle of the night I got up, and started yelling on the top of my voice to them, telling them that I could repeat verbatim everything that they had been saying, and that I could list everyone's name even as I heard it all. The bloke came as close to my window as he could, saying "Madame, ne criez pas, je suis la!" in a very calm and low voice. Then he invited me for coffee the next day. I went there and brought them a jar of fig jam (made from their figs - overhanging tree[:D]) and we have become the best of neighbours and even friends now. They still have their parties, try to keep them as quiet as they can, but alcohol does flow, and people do get louder as the night goes on. But I know that they do try to keep the noise down, and as I am now well disposed towards them (they often invite us now), I do enjoy the fact that they are having a good time...so I close my windows, and put my earplugs in as far as they will go.

I wonder if sometimes, the seething about those events, is not any worse than the events themselves.

 

 

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Mooky I am so sorry for you, you don't say whether you are in france or england, if you are in england, I would go to the enviroment health dept in your local council, they will certainly look into your complaint, they have to by law, they will come and monitor the noise wilst it is going on, even during the night, please for the sake of your health, don't put up with it, if you are in France, you still don't have to put up with it, I'm afraid I don't know the difference between the duties of the police and gendarms, please start with one or the other, each one will direct you to the right place, I also think penning a letter to the Marie is another option. Please let us know the out-come. All the very best to you.
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I have talked to them as well as I can. We find it difficult to communicate as they speak the local dialect.I know it is what these people do every weekend. They come next door because it is only the one man who lives there. Quite honestly they put upon him. Their wives come around with the kids for a few hours then leave their blokes drinking overnight. I live alone, and have a pleasant disposition and they know this. We have always been friendly. he asked me around once to a party. I was offered vast quantities of whiskey. I don't drink I had never been so bored in my life. He has only a small room but the biggest amplification system , with flashing lights. He is very proud of it. Matters are made worse as after being on Seroxat and Zolphidem for five years I have finally finished taking them. I am suffering very bad cold turkey symptons. I suppose before I didn't hear the noise so much at nights because of the sleeping tablet. Apart from talk to them I haven't done anything yet. My other neighbours are getting angry too. I thought they might talk to them. They just go to his gate and tell him to ' turn the music down, you w****r. They just turn it up. I will have a chat with the Mairie on wednesday, when we have a village meeting.

In all my years as a social worker/and priest I have never seen such cannabis abuse as I have in some of the rural communities around here.

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Mooky, I am so sorry, that just sounds terrible. I can understand why you would hesitate in calling the gendarmes being such close neighbours and worrying about further friction. Hopefully, you will have success when discussing it with the Maire and perhaps you can encourage him to intervene and/or call the Gendarmes on your and your neighbours behalf. I can only imagine how you must be feeling, particularly living on your own. Please do keep us posted and let us know what happens after the village meeting.
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Mooky, what a way to wean yourself of Zolpidem and Seroxat, it does sound like mission impossible.

The first small glimmer of hope in what you say, is that you think the next door neighbour is being put upon to a point, Then, no doubt he would not like being investigated by the police. Second glimmer of hope, is that other neighbours are also aware of what is going on, and possibly inconvenienced too. Surely, this state of things cannot go on indefinitely, not if people start complaining to the authorities. The village meeting sounds a good place to start, as you might be able to suss how other people are reacting.

Things vary a lot from place to place, but I know that here, the police do turn up if someone rings up complaining about the noise. It is one of those few occasions when they actually seem to take notice of the law being broken.

Interesting about the cannabis abuse in your rural community. I don't know what area you are in, but have heard  a similar story from someone who bought a house in a remote hamlet nearby; she was expecting much  peace and tranquillity. Then she found out that some local youngsters were involved in an active drug-ring (probably only cannabis, but nevertheless) meeting up in an abandoned house and  trashing a garden and smearing the door of an irate person who had tried to complain, etc.... It was quite a shock to discover that in this tiny rural, subsistence farming community, drug-dealing was going on.

Best of luck in resolving this dreadful problem and having some peaceful weekends...

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We had the same problem as you but ours was rock/punk band practise. The house nearby is empty 99% of the year and is owned by someone locally.  Last year their teenage children (possibly in their 20's even) used to come on Saturday afternoons and practice their rock group.  Our house had been empty for nearly 2 years so I suppose they got away with it.  We didn't mind to start with because it just seemed to be someone practising the drums but then they started using microphones and singing (if you could call it that!).  They would get there about 2pm and sometimes not leave until 8.30 - 9.00 pm.  I wrote to the Maire and they asked if it was possible to tone it down a bit and that worked for a while, then they had a party one weekend.  We couldn't hear our t.v. even though windows were shut, you definitely could not have sat outside and in the end went for a walk to get away from the noise! The party was from 3pm - 3.30 a.m.  Again I wrote another letter and touch wood it has worked although they did say were any of the other neighbours bothered, but like you we were behind them and the noise just travelled our way.  One neighbour who lived opposite said it didn't bother her because she had had 5 boys and was used to noise.  If my kids kicked out that much noise they wouldn't have survived very long!  It definitely is worth speaking to your Maire, usually I think I would have been concerned as they were neighbours but the fact that no-one lived there the majority of the time and just used it for practice purposes I felt justified - now they have put a donkey in the field who makes lots of noise also in the middle of the night but I can live with that - do you think they did that on purpose!!!!!!!!!!
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We have a friend who had a very noisy neighbour: one day he recorded it all and one quiet night played it all back. He still lives in the same house and it did help. What about doing the same.? Have you got a powerful System otherwise borrow one!!
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Go to your Maires office, make a porte plainte against the noise. I should leave the canabis stuff out of the equasion for now, thatcomes after the next party! then you take a visit to the police muliciple and the gendarmes.

 

I know exactly how you feel as we too have a neighbour who likes to party, he is in a 2 bed house with less than 80m2 of living space with his wife and teenage son, on a weekend they hve been known to squeeze 20 people into their house and blast us out till all hours......last night being an example. He has already had one letter and tomorrow he will be getting another, but my pice de resistance is that nealy a metre of his 1st floor terrace (where they like to party)_ is actually mine, one of those silly land divisions that went on years ago, Well i am going to tell him that we are going to claim it back and build a legal 1.9m wall on it........that will give us more privacy , take half his terrace...read party area, and take his view away as his patio door is ther, and we can do it. That said , if he can agree to stop his fetes at 11pm then I too can be reasonable.

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Code de la santé publique

Section 3: Lutte contre le bruit

Aucun bruit particulier ne doit, par sa durée, sa répétition ou son intensité, porter atteinte à la tranquillité du voisinage

ou à la santé de l'homme, dans un lieu public ou privé, qu'une personne

en soit elle-même à l'origine ou que ce soit par l'intermédiaire d'une

personne, d'une chose dont elle a la garde ou d'un animal placé sous sa

responsabilité.

Est puni de la peine d'amende prévue pour les contraventions de la troisième classe le fait d'être à l'origine d'un bruit particulier, autre que ceux relevant de l'article R. 1337-6, de nature à porter atteinte à la tranquillité du voisinage ou à la santé de l'homme dans les conditions prévues à l'article R. 1334-31.

http://www.sante.gouv.fr/htm/actu/bruit_voisinage_1206/dossier_de_presse.pdf

Les bruits de comportement

Les bruits désinvoltes ou agressifs pouvant provenir de chaînes hi-fi, d’aboiements, d’appareils électroménagers, de travaux de réparations, de pétards, etc., sont considérés comme des bruits de comportement. Contrairement au code pénal qui ne réprime que les « bruits ou tapages injurieux ou nocturnes », le code de la santé publique permet de sanctionner « les bruits portant atteinte à la tranquillité du voisinage ou à la santé de l’homme » à tout moment de la journée. Le constat d’une infraction ne nécessite pas de mesures acoustiques : l’agent chargé du contrôle effectue un constat « à l’oreille » et fonde son jugement sur les critères suivants : la durée, la répétition ou l’intensité du bruit.

Que faire lorsque l’on est confronté à des bruits de voisinage ?

- Premier recours : la résolution amiable

Lorsque l’on est confronté à des bruits de voisinage, une résolution amiable, en amont de l’instance judiciaire, est à privilégier, afin d’éviter une procédure longue et la dégradation de la

qualité des relations de voisinage.

- Second recours

Pour les situations où aucune tentative de résolution amiable n’aboutit, deux cas sont à considérer :

- les bruits de voisinage sont ponctuels : les plaignants doivent appeler la police municipale, la gendarmerie ou le commissariat du quartier ;

- les bruits de voisinage, en particulier ceux provenant d’activité, persistent : la plainte doit être adressée au Maire.

En effet, le législateur, face à cette nuisance de proximité, a donné au Maire la responsabilité de répondre aux plaintes de bruits de voisinage (code général des collectivités territoriales) et les infractions peuvent être recherchées et constatées par des agents des communes désignés par le Maire, à la condition qu'ils soient agréés par le procureur de la République et assermentés dans les conditions fixées par le décret n° 95-409 du 18 avril 1995. Les communes qui ne disposent pas de personnel habilité et de matériel homologué peuvent faire appel aux services de la Direction départementale des affaires sanitaires et sociales pour effectuer les mesures acoustiques [...]

En cas d’infraction, les sanctions encourues ont été aggravées par la nouvelle réglementation : par exemple, dans les cas d’une activité dépassant les valeurs limites d’émergence, le code de la santé publique prévoit non seulement des sanctions pénales (amende de 1 500 € au plus, confiscation, etc.) mais également des sanctions administratives telles que la suspension d’activité.

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[quote user="opas"]

He has already had one letter and tomorrow he will be getting another, but my pice de resistance is that nealy a metre of his 1st floor terrace (where they like to party)_ is actually mine, one of those silly land divisions that went on years ago, Well i am going to tell him that we are going to claim it back and build a legal 1.9m wall on it........that will give us more privacy , take half his terrace...read party area, and take his view away as his patio door is ther, and we can do it. [/quote]

Blinking 'eck!

I'm glad I don't live next door to you Opas![:D]

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[quote user="Monika"]We have a friend who had a very noisy neighbour: one day he recorded it all and one quiet night played it all back. He still lives in the same house and it did help. What about doing the same.? Have you got a powerful System otherwise borrow one!![/quote]

A few years ago we had a "Pain in the A***" neighbour with two dogs. One, a collie was always escaping: the other, a Jack Russell was "binned" in the garden - at the bottom of ours - and yapped its bits off from 06.00AM to 11.00PM.

One fine Summer's eve, I set up my 50 watt guitar stage amp on some high steps right next to the fence and aimed at their house, plugged in a mike, turned up the wick and retreated back up the garden and said soto voce "Shut your bloody dog up!", a few times!

Peace reigned.................

 

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[quote user="TWINKLE"][quote user="opas"]

He has already had one letter and tomorrow he will be getting another, but my pice de resistance is that nealy a metre of his 1st floor terrace (where they like to party)_ is actually mine, one of those silly land divisions that went on years ago, Well i am going to tell him that we are going to claim it back and build a legal 1.9m wall on it........that will give us more privacy , take half his terrace...read party area, and take his view away as his patio door is ther, and we can do it. [/quote]

Blinking 'eck!

I'm glad I don't live next door to you Opas![:D]

[/quote]

I would happily listen to your voice seerenading me off to sleep, than listen to beat music, concouse de crache(spitting) tabble banging , yelling and screaming, then the cars go with blaring horns and the drivers are all pissed.........me ever the mum hoping they do not have a  crash as the kids are in the cars too!

 

as usual Cat, some very usefull sites to look at and throw at the maire and them too!_

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  • 3 weeks later...
Mooky I do sympathise with you.  We live i the middle of nowhere which is probably good for all concerned as I suspect everyone would have been fed up with our 10 yearsof DIY noise by now.............If they are smoking that much cannabis they are probably growing it.............so look up cannabis plants on the web, make sure you know what they look like then in about July look and smell around their property. Beware.....If you have any hidden areas of your property check that too.....it is popular I have read to grow your own on someone else's land!!!  Arm yourself with some weedkiller and if you find any then sprinkle liberally with weedkiller, just make sure they are not his prize tomato plants.................and he cannot complain about somone ruining his cannabis plants can he?.....................sorry a bit of an off the wall reply but effective if you get it right!!!!!

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  • 2 weeks later...
Ive had a really really bad weekend. From friday evening 21.00 nonstop until 15;00 Sundayvery loud music, scent of canabis, and drunk men peering over my fence. I went to the mairie today to complain. So did one other neighbour, also English. Madame Mayor seemed to think it was some Brit conspirsory. She phoned my other neighbours who all said it wasn't too bad. It was awful.They either are very deep sleepers or afraid to complain. I think the latter. Six weekends of no sleep is making mooky a very angry women.
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Mookey, If you are going to make a complaint, do it in writing. to both the maires office and the Gendarmes.  You are risking your health putting up with this, you will stress yourself out and make yourself ill.

Do you have someone in your commune on the commitee who you could invite for the evening and somehow persuade them that they should stay a bit longer..........so they can witness the noise and nuisance you have been putting up with.

 

I shall just add at this point that I sent my neighbour a letter and a copy to the maires office stating what I intended to do if they could not keep their noise down, ie build a wall and reduce their terrace size..........we have had a month of peace and neighbours who I have not even mentioned this to are asking if I am going to build a wall(so obviously this has been a talking point)   Now I have opened my mouth, there will probably be one hell of a fete this weekend!

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[quote user="mooky"]Ive had a really really bad weekend. Six weekends of no sleep is making mooky a very angry women.[/quote]

Please, please heed the advice given here otherwise, as Opas says, you might well become ill with the continued stress and anxiety. I do not know how you can have stood it for so long.

IMHO the sooner you put your complaint in writing to the neighbour or the mayor the sooner it will be sorted out.

Sue

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Mooky, follow Opas' advice and complain by registered letter to the maire. A discussion can be ignored, a letter is the start of a trail which cannot be ignored and can be traced if no action is forthcoming.

Advise the other complainants to do the same.

Start your letter with a mention of your discussion with the maire, quote the date of the discussion and if you can, mention the other complainants.

Mention that the situation has been going on for x months and that you would prefer to resolve the problem without having to refer the matter to the gendarmerie, the DDASS and the préfecture (in effect, the maire's boss).

Mention that the Code général des collectivités territoriales makes it the maire's responsibility to resolve the problems and that she can appeal to the DDASS (see my previous post in this thread).

Document and keep note of all your actions as well as your noisy neighbours actions.

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I am not sure if you have a service de médiation in your town, but it specialises in these sorts of issues.

Here is a link in which the job of the médiateur is explained in French:

http://www.ville-beziers.fr/beziers_pratique/08.cfm

a quotation as a taster:

Les problèmes liés globalement au cadre de vie :

nuisances sonores, aboiements ou dangerosité des chiens, hygiène,

insalubrité du logement, stationnement anarchique.

Les conflits de voisinage liés aux comportements incivils, à des

problèmes psychologiques entraînant des conduites additives

(alcoolisme, toxicomanie).

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