Neighbour-related problems affect more than 10m Britons, according to Which? ? with noise topping its list of complaints
I recently fell out with my neighbour because he refused to unblock a hole in our fence, trapping a fox cub in my garden and separating him from the rest of his family. After a fairly frank exchange of views, the hole was unblocked and cub reunited.
A friend who lives in a flat across the road was driven mad by her downstairs neighbour slamming the front door as he went to work every morning at the crack of dawn. She eventually moved out. At the bottom of the road about four sets of neighbours are refusing to talk to one other because of a dispute concerning planning permission for an extension.
And about three doors up, a neighbour was upset to find her neighbours' garden designers had ripped down the adjoining fence between their gardens (her fence as it turned out) without so much as a by-your-leave. After failing to apologise and covering the previously lush garden with concrete, the fence-demolishers moved out of the street.
My street may sound like Europe prior to the start of the first world war, but we are not unusual, apparently. According to research by Which?, at least 5 million people are annoyed with their neighbour, and more than 10 million have had a neighbour-related problem in the past year.
Which? found that noise tops the list of neighbour complaints, with about three in five people annoyed by loud voices or arguments, blaring music and TVs. A quarter of those affected are irritated by door slamming, a similar percentage have been disturbed by their neighbours' noisy pets (that could be me ? I have a cat that can miaow for Britain), and one in five by regular parties. Then there is the 5% who can hear their neighbours having sex. Eew!
Which? goes on to say that noisy neighbours disturb four in 10 people's sleep, while others complain that the noise makes them irritable, angry or stressed. One in five sufferers have seen their work or health affected. To resolve these problems, one third of those questioned for the survey said they spoke calmly to their neighbours about the issue, 20% contacted their local authority, while 17% of people were forced to call the police.
Which? suggests that if you have a problem neighbour, you should: keep a diary of when noise or an incident occurs, and how long it lasts; speak calmly to your neighbour about the problem to see if they will stop doing it; if you live in a flat and own the leasehold, contact the freeholder who may be able to take action against the other leaseholder, or if there is no change you can contact your local authority's environmental health department who will investigate the issue and can prosecute where necessary. If all else fails, consider legal proceedings, but Which? warns these are costly and should only be considered after taking legal advice.
A quarter of people who are frustrated with their neighbours have made no attempts to rectify the problem, and 10% retaliated by becoming nuisance neighbours themselves.
Have you had arguments with your neighbours? If so, what was the cause and did you find a good solution to the problem?
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/blog/2011/jun/16/neighbours-problems-noise-complaints
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