A noisy party next door keeping you awake at 1am? We’ve all been there at one stage or another.
So what do you do?
A) Race over there in your bathrobe and slippers and tell them to shut up.
B) Call the police.
C) Keep turning over in your bed, wishing them a nasty hangover tomorrow.
There are actually more options – provided you didn’t do anything hasty that night.
For one, you could go over and find out, whether that party was a one-time event, such as a house warming, or someone’s birthday. If it was, perhaps there is no need to worry about future disturbances of the same kind, especially if you let them know how you feel about that level of noisiness.
It pays to assume that people are inherently good. Yes, there are neighbours that take pleasure in destroying other people’s peace, and there are neighbours that don’t care much about anyone else, but most neighbours aren’t evil. Your neighbour could simply not think that his party or his stereo were THAT noisy. Once you raise the issue and they realize this behaviour disturbs you – it could stop once and for all.
But how do you complain to someone about something that he does that bothers you? Honestly and tactfully. It can make a world of difference if you say how you feel. Do you hate complaining? Well, say it: “I hate to complain, but that party you had till 2 am last night was really loud and neither of us could sleep. I’ve been so tired the whole day after.”
If the same neighbour insists on being annoyingly noisy (I would say 2 – 3 times a month qualify, after your initial warning), then you could use a different approach. Write down all the disturbances, the dates and the times, so that you would have all that information handy when you confront them or eventually talk to the authorities about it.
When you can’t talk to your neighbour in person, the next best thing is to leave them a note. Be it because they work late, or because you can’t bear the thought of a possible confrontation, it doesn’t matter – writing a note is also a very good step. If this is your first note – politely explain who you are, what you are writing about and what you would like them to do. If this is your second or third note to them, because the noise just won’t stop, you could include your log of their parties and the law (with the relevant pages photocopied and paragraphs highlighted).
Are you the only one who’s not happy about the noise? Talk to the other neighbours to see whether you have their support. If a group of people opposes to such behaviour, the guilty neighbour could cave in more easily.
Find out whether your neighbour is a tenant. If that is the case and he/she won’t cooperate, you could complain to the landlord about the noise. Any written evidence – such as the little diary we discussed – will help support your claim.
