I live in a council house – listen to the noise-hell neighbour I live with whose blaring TV makes my flat SHAKE
A MONTH into living in her council flat Sarah Chipperfield is planning a relaxing evening of dinner and reading.
She loves her new home but the minute she’s settled on the sofa her tranquillity is shattered by the blaring noise of her neighbour’s television.
It’s so loud she can even hear what show they’re watching and within minutes the noise is so overwhelming her head is thumping, and she can’t think properly.
Dismissing it as a one off, Sarah had no idea that she would still be living in ‘noise hell’ three years on and it has become such an issue, she has to leave her flat for peace and quiet.
Having friends over is impossible too and some have stopped visiting.
“I thought my council flat would be a sanctuary. Instead, I have a noisy neighbour from hell. It’s made me physically and mentally sick,” Sarah tells Fabulous.
“I thought the noisy TV would be a one off. It wasn’t.
“I have had to leave my flat and walk the streets. The noise has been so bad.
“The downstairs neighbour’s TV is so loud it causes vibrations in the floor. I cannot sleep, think or relax.
“I know I am not alone. It is time councils cracked down on noisy neighbours.”
Single Sarah lives on the second floor in a block of 24 housing association apartments for the over fifties in Cirencester, Gloucester.
The former primary school teacher who lives with complex PTSD following workplace bullying and childhood trauma is currently on Universal Credit and pays £670 a month for her one-bedroom flat.
“This Christmas marks the third anniversary of moving into the council flat,” she says.
“It should be a time of festive fun and joy. Instead I am forced to wear ear plugs most evenings and I am barely sleeping.
“I can’t have friends over for Christmas parties. The noise from downstairs overwhelms them and they just leave.
“Anyone who has had a noisy neighbour knows it is hell on earth. It’s unrelenting.”
Sarah is not alone in her noisy neighbour battle.
A Good Move survey revealed two-thirds (64 per cent) of people have had arguments with their neighbours, with noise being their biggest bugbear, including music, loud parties, and noisy children.
While a flagship 2021 study for the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) showed noise is the single largest issue of complaints made to local authorities in the UK.
The World Health Organisation says noise is a disease burden that is second in magnitude only to that from air pollution.
Sarah has always been a private renter but in 2021 she was served with a Section 21 eviction notice.
The law – known as a no-fault evictiton – means a landlord can ask you to move out with two months notice, without needing a particular reason.
I had a two-year bin war with my next door neighbour
Gemma Smith and Sophie Wood were engaged in a weekly feud for a year over their wheelie bins.
When Gemma moved next door to Sophie, 34, who is unemployed, in November 2020 they were civil to one another.
Gemma, who is single and doesn’t work due to stress, says: “Sophie seemed nice and we’d stop and exchange pleasantries.
“But it all changed at the beginning of 2022, when Sophie’s bin was full and she put her rubbish bag in mine.
“I took it out and put it on top of her bin.
“It fell off, gulls pecked at it and there was rubbish everywhere.”
Both women refused to clear up the mess, claiming it was the other one’s fault.
Gemma says: “I felt so angry.
“There was cat litter spread all over my drive — it was absolutely disgusting and we ended up shouting at each other.
“We were both as bad as each other — we’d walk past each other and I’d tell her she was a lazy cow and to clean up after herself.
“We’d scream insults at each other.”
Within six months Sophie had set up a CCTV camera and threatened to report Gemma to the council.
In retaliation, Gemma set up the baby monitor — which can record video — to try to pin more wrongdoing on Sophie.
Then last July Sophie spotted Gemma in tears on her doorstep following a burglary at her home.
Gemma says: “Sophie came straight round and asked if there was anything she could do.
“We are now the best of friends and help each other out all the time.”
“It was during the third Covid lockdown,” she recalls.
“No one was renting privately. I had to move into temporary private lodgings. Then I was homeless and sleeping rough.
“I had to beg and plead with Cotswolds District Council for help. I was overjoyed when they offered me a corner flat.
“It was a fresh start for me.”
However, within four weeks of getting her flat in Decemver 2021, Sarah’s neighbour’s TV was blaring most nights from 6pm, sometimes until 3am.
Sarah says she knocked on her neighbour’s door and politely asked if she could turn the volume down but they denied being the ones responsible.
“They told me it wasn’t their TV but it happened night after night,” she says.
“I continue to ask the neighbour politely to turn down the TV. One night she and her boyfriend both told me to f*** off.”
I have feared for my safety. I never thought it would still be a problem three years on
Sarah Manchipp
Just a few months after moving in and at her wits end Sarah went to the local authority and was put in touch with a council ‘neighbourhood coach’ for advice.
Their job is to help council tenants settle in to their homes and handle any disputes.
“I have followed the coach’s advice,” Sarah insists.
“I am always polite to my neighbour and my coach said they would speak to them but it hasn’t helped.
“I called the police, but they said as I was housing association property they needed to rely on their guidance.”
Sarah, who is single, who has a teaching and forensic degree, began keeping a journal of the noise.
She recorded audio and video files on her phone to show the local authority housing team what she was being put through.
Now, she is still trying to tackle the ongoing problem.
How to report noise polution
According to GOV.uk, you should take the following action:
- Try to solve the problem informally by talking to them.
- If your neighbour is a tenant, you could contact their landlord.
- You could use a mediation service if raising the issue informally does not work.
- If the dispute involves a statutory nuisance (something like loud music or barking dogs), you can make a complaint to your local council.
- Contact the police if your neighbour is breaking the law by being violent or harassing you.
- As a last resort you can take legal action through the courts.
“I continue to ask the neighbour politely to turn down the TV but the response has sometimes been aggressive,” she says.
“I have feared for my safety. I never thought it would still be a problem three years on.”
Sarah knows many other housing association tenants who say their complaints about noisy neighbours fall on ‘deaf ears’ at the local authority.
“Even when I played them the tapes and showed them the video, they seemed reluctant to act,” she says.
“Other tenants in other buildings say they have been driven crazy by their own noisy neighbours.
“I was told to try and just handle it.”
Sarah says she is on the house swap council list and would move out if she could find another council flat.
She adds: “I am being run out of my flat because of noisy neighbours.
“There are no flats up for swap. The council thinks I am a serial complainer. My mental and physical health is at breaking point. I know I am not the only one.”
Sarah believes councils around the country put noisy council houses or social housing tenants into the ‘too hard basket.’
“Councils hope it will go away. The noise abusers’ rights matter more than my rights as a vulnerable person,” she argues.
Sarah is now calling for a national overall of noisy neighbour regulations and for stronger regulations governing the rights of the victims of so-called noisy neighbour abuse.
“It is enough to make you suicidal. I am terrified someone is going to die because a noise dispute escalates and no one does anything about it,” she says.
“It is time to act. I have followed the rules, and no one cares. Noise abuse victims clearly are not shouting loudly enough.”
Fabulous has contacted Sarah’s local council for a comment.