Noise Nuisance: How to Make Your Neighbors Behave

[leroyjenkens]

I keep having to call the police on my neighbors for them playing their bass music too loud. Will these sub-humans eventually get a ticket, or will the cops just keep showing up and saying the same thing over and over again to them?
I had to call twice yesterday and just called again this morning. I can keep this up longer than they can.

 

[lisab]

Ugh, bad neighbors are a nightmare! Sorry to hear you're having to deal with inconsiderate slimeballs.

I had a sub-human neighbor up until June. His house caught fire and is no longer habitable. Every time I drive home, I see that ugly burned-out, boarded-up hulk and think, "Oh yeah baby, that's soooo much better!"

 

[Evo]

Ugh, bad neighbors are a nightmare! Sorry to hear you're having to deal with inconsiderate slimeballs.

I had a sub-human neighbor up until June. His house caught fire and is no longer habitable. Every time I drive home, I see that ugly burned-out, boarded-up hulk and think, "Oh yeah baby, that's soooo much better!"

leroy, have the police not issuded any citations? If it's after what is considered a resonable hour (10pm here), they should be issued one for each subsequent report.

 

[leroyjenkens]

Ugh, bad neighbors are a nightmare! Sorry to hear you're having to deal with inconsiderate slimeballs.

I had a sub-human neighbor up until June. His house caught fire and is no longer habitable. Every time I drive home, I see that ugly burned-out, boarded-up hulk and think, "Oh yeah baby, that's soooo much better!"

Lucky.

leroy, have the police not issuded any citations? If it's after what is considered a resonable hour (10pm here), they should be issued one for each subsequent report.

I don't know what the police do while they're there. I'm not waiting until after 10:00 to call them. One reason is because it's illegal regardless of what time it is. It's even more egregious because it's done with the sole intent of irritating everyone. Each visit to their house should have them receiving a ticket and the fine should be doubled each subsequent visit.
It's not just harmless music; on some occasions, it's tantamount to assault.

 

[Evo]

It's not just harmless music; on some occasions, it's tantamount to assault.

I know what you mean. Could they be charged with disorderly conduct? Laws vary around the country.

 

[berkeman]

One way of dealing with truly bad neighbors is to look to see if there is something that you can charge them with in Small Claims Court. If there are some damages (lost wages, lost business, whatever), you may be able to take them to Small Claims Court and win a judgement. And if the behavior keeps up, you can take them back...

 

[Evo]

Rig up a device that emits infrasound and crank it up in their direction. Claim that the sound is used for spiritual cleansing.

Buy a vuvuzela and start blowing it whenever they're quiet. Surely somewhere in the world someone is playing *football* and you are rooting for them.

Get a recording of the most irritating babies screaming and crying and leave it on whenever you're not home. Who doesn't love babies?

 

[Ben Niehoff]

Are you in an apartment complex? Filing enough police reports with the landlord will get your neighbors evicted. :D

 

[edward]

I keep having to call the police on my neighbors for them playing their bass music too loud. Will these sub-humans eventually get a ticket, or will the cops just keep showing up and saying the same thing over and over again to them?
I had to call twice yesterday and just called again this morning. I can keep this up longer than they can.

You need to look up your local noise statutes and use them to your advantage. There may be an ordinance against excessively loud day time music.

Usually during the day time the police just tell the offending party to turn it down. After certain hours (9:00] here, police will give them a citation for disturbing the peace.

Get some neighbors to join in on your complaint. When an individual constantly calls police they are soon written off as a crank.

 

[NeoDevin]

 

[leroyjenkens]

I've emailed a lawyer about it, but they didn't respond.
I don't want to make noise to get them back, because then my other neighbors have to hear it too.
They're renting the house next door and I don't know how to contact the owner.

I've read that in Florida, if you can hear their "music" from 25 feet away, then they're in violation of the noise ordinance. How often that's actually enforced, I don't know. It seems like people do it so much that cops don't even care anymore. It seems like one of those things that can only be remedied by harsh fines.
I read in Sarasota city Florida, they had a law where if your music was audible 25 feet away, your car was towed and 125 dollars to get your car back. The second offense was a towing with a 250 dollar fine in addition to the cost of getting your car back. But of course, the criminals fought it and got that law repealed. Too bad, that was a good one.

Another one of my neighbors called the cops on these people for riding their 4 wheelers up and down the road. I was about to do it when I looked outside and saw the cop.

I'll just keep calling the cops on them for a while. You'd think they would get sick of dealing with the police, but their brains are probably made out of poop.

 

[hotvette]

You may have a case for a nuisance claim in Small Claims Court. It would be espeically potent if you could get others to file the same.

http://www.courtreference.com/court-reference-blog/2009/01/09/nuisance-claims/comment-page-1/

 

[brewnog]

Have you tried going round to have a chat with them?

 

[turbo]

I've emailed a lawyer about it, but they didn't respond.
I don't want to make noise to get them back, because then my other neighbors have to hear it too.
They're renting the house next door and I don't know how to contact the owner.

Go to your city's assessor's office and find out who owns the house, and how to contact them.

 

[lisab]

Have you tried going round to have a chat with them?

That's a good suggestion. Maybe take a neighbor with you, keep it friendly. Maybe bring a beer for a neighborly welcome chat.

Btw, did the loud music just start out of the blue? Or were there any interactions with this neighbor that might have initiated this behavior? Are they new to the neighborhood?

 

[brewnog]

It just seems to me that people these days push for a litigious solution first, rather than just having a chat to try and work things out. It's your neighbour after all.

 

[leroyjenkens]

That's a good suggestion. Maybe take a neighbor with you, keep it friendly. Maybe bring a beer for a neighborly welcome chat.

Btw, did the loud music just start out of the blue? Or were there any interactions with this neighbor that might have initiated this behavior? Are they new to the neighborhood?

These people have been in the neighborhood for about a year and have been a problem since day one.
They don't deserve to be talked to nicely, they deserve to be forced into compliance.
They're not children. At least not physically. If they don't know how to behave, then I'll have the police or courts give them an incentive.

 

[Evo]

Here is some idea of how to procede.

http://www.tenant.net/Other_Areas/Calif/misc/noise.html

 

[edward]

As I mentioned earlier most communities now have noise ordinances. Google it dude.
Use the law to your advantage.

In my local jurisdiction any music that can be heard 125 ft from the property line of the source is illegal between 7:00 AM and 10:00 PM. 10:00 PM to 7:00 AM is even stricter.

As a general rule police try to avoid starting neighborhood feuds. The first few times they come out they will simply tell the offender to quiet it down.

Be polite with the police. Don't demand anything. Talk to them and explain that you have an ongoing problem.

BTW record or keep a log of the hours that the loud music is playing.

 

[turbo]

In our last house before buying this place, a neighbor at the end of the road had a daughter that was dating an idiot. The idiot had a really crap little car with a stereo that cost more than the car. Thanks to his sub-woofer, we could hear him out on the main highway, three blocks before he got down here, and he continued to assault us while he picked up his girl-friend and got the Hell out of Dodge. It was sickening. Call the cops and be damned. Finally she broke up with him and we got a bit of relief.

 

[Moonbear]

In one town where I lived many years ago, it wasn't enough to call the cops to get a citation issued. I had a noisy neighbor (at 3 AM no less) and finally asked the cops if they were issuing citations, because it was a recurring problem. Well, d'oh, that's when they bothered to tell me that I'd need to file a formal complaint at the police station, not just call and ask them to talk to the guy. So, definitely ask about the ordinances in your area and find out if you need to do something more to get them enforced.

I've lived places with all sorts of ordinances, from noise limits that started anywhere between 8 PM and 10 PM, to none at all. I've never lived any place that restricted noise at all times of the day, so if someone called the police earlier in the day, all they would be able to do is tell the person that the noise was bothering the neighbor. Afterall, there are things that people need to do that make noise, so there are usually allowable times for that (such as mowing the lawn or running saws for construction...a lot of places say that between 8 AM and 8 PM it's okay to be noisy).

And, is it actually a separate house, or an apartment? If it's an apartment, you're probably better off reporting them to the landlord than the police. If it's a separate house, that's pretty loud if you're hearing it at volumes bothering you at your house.

 

[leroyjenkens]

Some noise is acceptable. Necessary noise is acceptable within certain times. Unnecessary noise isn't, no matter what time it is. You have to mow your lawn, you don't have to have your music turned all the way up.
Should I be allowed to shine lasers in their eyes? There's no difference between that and forcing sound waves in people's ears. In fact, it's not as bad because you can close your eyes, you can't close your ears.

It's a house, but the people rent. I don't know how to contact the owner of the house.
I hear it because they have the bass turned all the way up. Bass travels very far, so all you hear is bass. And bass is a very offensive sound when it's really loud. It doesn't sound good.
The trend of having your bass turned all the way up is the worst trend ever. It's horrible on every level. They get huge subwoofers and put them in the trunk and force everyone else to hear it. The products should be banned and the crime of using them should be a felony.