# Tenant Noise



## socky1 (18 May 2009)

Don’t know if this sits best in this forum. Owner occupier of 3 bed semi-d for the last few years. Having a few noise issues with house adjoined which has been rented out to rent allowance tenants for the same period. New tenants recently moved in. Having noise issues around constant banging of doors/presses and kids running up and down stairs till 11pm each night. We have a 1 year old baby who goes to bed at 8pm but is frequently woken up by the noise. Now I realise there is a bit of give and take when living in semi-d house in an estate and we would like to think or ourselves as reasonable individuals. We respect other people privacy and would like to think it would be reciprocated. I know it doesn't help the fact of poor constructed homes thrown up over the last number of years.

Initially spoke to neighbours directly on four separate occasions appealing to their nature to keep noise down a bit but this ended up being a fruitless exercise as their English is poor and don’t understand where problem is.  Luckily I got contact number from previous tenant of landlord. Spoke to landlord on first 2 occasions who stated he would have a word. However the last few occasions I have rang the landlord has not answered nor returned by calls from either myself or my wife which is extremely frustrating

Looking to get landlords address. Landlord is registered with PRTB however obviously for privacy reasons they can’t divulge this information further. Just wondering if anyone had any advice to take this further or am I fight a losing battle and should live an let live.
tks


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## round1 (18 May 2009)

A landlord is legally responsible for tenants anti social behavior.
Make sure to document all communication with him, especially the 
non returned calls and leave message with him that you are 
considering taking action through PRTB if problem persists.


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## socky1 (18 May 2009)

thanks for the advice round1. Having been documenting some of the instances of noise and will continue to do so. Am also making out written request to PRTB to try to obtain more details from the landlord. Is there a cost incurred to dealing with PRTB.


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## round1 (18 May 2009)

Third parties (ie individuals other than tenant and landlord) are entitled to bring cases to PRTB. There should be no costs.


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## Seagull (19 May 2009)

How old is the house? It sounds like the sound insulation is inadequate. It might be worth getting onto the developer to have sound checks done with a view to their improving the sound insulation.


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## socky1 (19 May 2009)

house is about 7 years old. Bought it second hand. Developer is bankrupt at this stage and was never approachable on this front - pulling teeth springs to mind. Could spend X amount improving insulation but we don't envisage living in this location forever.


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## Cayne (19 May 2009)

round1 said:


> Third parties (ie individuals other than tenant and landlord) are entitled to bring cases to PRTB. *There should be no costs*.


 
Incorrect.

Theres a fee of €25 to lodge a dispute with the prtb.

[broken link removed]

My advice, save your 25 quid, work with neighbour and hopefully they will see your point of view.


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## socky1 (19 May 2009)

tks cayne,
I understand what your saying with PRTB route. Have tried working with neighbour by having polite conversation on 4 separate occasions but its fruitless at this stage. As for landlord he doesn't even answer my calls. Ultimately i'm appealing to peoples best nature but obviously this doesn't look like its going to work on this occasion.


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## Daisy (3 Jun 2009)

Hi socky1,

Just read your post now and was wondering if you had any update on how things have progressed?

I'm in a very similar situation to you, it's been going on well over a year now and I'm sick of it.  The landlady is ignorning my calls.  I was thinking about complaining to the prtb?

We have tried everything, speaking to them directly numerous times, calling the landlady, she even came out to resolve the issue in the early days but just stopped taking our calls and ignoring our voice mails/texts.  We've had the Gardai out a number of times also.  They stay quiet for a couple of days and then bang back to normality.  Our issue is with music, we're willing to ignore the door banging at midnight, the loud talking, the boom boom music from their cars when they arrive home at night, we're willing to put up with all of that if they just lower the music 

Would love to hear if anything positive has come from your issue.

Thanks
Daisy


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## billythefish (3 Jun 2009)

How do you even know if these people are registered with the PRTB? If they aren't and you threaten going to the PRTB, you might get an instant response....


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## socky1 (3 Jun 2009)

Hi Daisy,
I feel your pain. You can get to stage of getting obsessed by it where u will tolerate sometime like keeping music down for a period of time. I don't have a problem with music from neighbours its just general banging doors/running up down stairs and screaming late at night. It has improved a bit. I know the landlord is prtb registered and found out lives locally but never returned calls in the end. Was going to knock on landlord home but don't know if good idea. It now turns out that landlord used letting agency to vet tenants and place them. I got a call from letting agents stating any issues should come through them - they are probably mates. So this landlord seems to think that he is immune to criticism and non return of calls once property is let out through letting agency i.e. pass the buck even though landlord owns property. A lovely individual. 

All i can say that i know for a fact if i rented out property the very least i would do is treat being a landlord as a business and not a hobby and the least i could do is mediate in the matter and listen to both parties to reach an amicable solution and not bury hand in sand and pass the buck.

haven't put in prtb request because situation has improved a bit and don't know if they do anything for third parties. i.e. i already have details of landlord and he couldn't give a hoot what goes on once he gets rental income. 

Maybe if you feel it too much to bare and your constantly worried bout who you will be living with next door, its time to bite the bullet and try to get yourself a detached.


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## Rois (3 Jun 2009)

Sorry to change the subject, but I have a lodger under rent-a-room scheme.  Problem is he's out all night and sleeps all day - he's still in bed now at 5pm!  I work at weekends, so need to get my housework done during weekdays, but he complains if the hoover/washing machine etc are on as it disturbs his daytime sleep!! Driving me mad at this stage.


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## L0llip0p (8 Jun 2009)

As a landlord registered with PRTB etc, my understanding is that contacting them to try and resolve a dispute will only add to your grief. They are vastly under-resourced to even deal with collecting fees from landlords for new tenancies nevermind actually deal with more complicated matters.

Given that your neighbours arent blasting music out the windows all night, its going to be very difficult to do anything about this because technically, its not anti-social behaviour if you're just loud in your home.

spoke to garda before who said in such a scenario, they cant do jot about requesting the person to quieten down unless they're raising the roof off the place.


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## cleverclogs7 (8 Jun 2009)

Rois said:


> Sorry to change the subject, but I have a lodger under rent-a-room scheme. Problem is he's out all night and sleeps all day - he's still in bed now at 5pm! I work at weekends, so need to get my housework done during weekdays, but he complains if the hoover/washing machine etc are on as it disturbs his daytime sleep!! Driving me mad at this stage.


 

Does he work nights ? or just out ? i would tell him straight out sorry but  the house need to be cleaned and clothes washed.of course i wouldnt be hovering at 8 AM. try to meet half way. you know its cheaper to put the washing on after 7pm .


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## sally (8 Jun 2009)

It's my understanding that you have to have a special meter fitted in order to avail of cheaper electricity in the evenings, if you don't have one of these meters fitted then your cost for usage of electricity is the same no matter what time of day you switch your appliances on.


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## Sue Ellen (8 Jun 2009)

The rules regarding noise regulation are shown [broken link removed].  I understand it is not a big deal to bring a case to the District Court as mentioned in link.

There are many previous threads on this subject


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