Issue with noisy tenant neighbour

[MT01]

Hi All,

I recently purchased a cross lease unit which is the middle of a block of 3. The tenant that lives in the unit next door believes she has a right to listen to music at a volume that disturbs the tenants in our unit. Our memorandum of lease states that the noise levels must not disturb or cause annoyance.

I've spoken to the landlord for this unit, she has spoken to the tenant but the tenant refuses to comply. The landlord is now directing me to noise control but the volume of the music is not very loud outside the house, its the bass penetrating the shared wall that is the issue.

The tenants of our unit have spoken to the tenant directly but she has told them to "call someone who cares". The relationship is now very sour between them. I am now worried that I'll struggle to keep the place tenanted until this lady moves on.

What are my options here? Should I be engaging a solicitor to write a cease and desist letter to the landlord? Should I be using the tenancy tribunal to resolve? Realistically if the tenant refuses to comply will we have any option to request and enforce eviction?

[donna]

Hi MT01,

What's the wall made of? What insulation is there? I know you can get noise cancelling insulation for walls.

cheers,

Donna

[Angela1]

I would still call council and lodge a complaint and explain why the noise is excessive and unreasonable - ie due to close proximity of units and how often the muic is on for.

[eri]

you can do a few things

but be aware

pretty much none of them have any teeth

and labour would like to reduce the responsibilities of tenants, noise etc

and give them a few more rights, pets for example

[Keys]

You don't live there. You are not the landlord of the annoying tenant. You can not go to the Tenancy Tribunal over the issue. Nor the Disputes Tribunal.

[erinak]

Might sound tedious but ask your other neighbour that it is affecting if they'd like to do this as well and keep a diary of the dates and times and for how long.
It need not be over a long period of time, but just as long as it can illustrate if there is a pattern.

Then write a collective letter to her landlord, both signed and requesting written reply how they intend to resolve this.

Email is an acceptable form of correspondence these days, signed and scanned of course if you don't have a snail-mail address to post it to.

Might be worth a shot.
Good luck

[erinak]

What time can you make a noise complaint?

Monday to Friday before 7 am or after 8 pm. Weekends and public holidays before9 am or after 8 pm. *Air conditioning noise is exempt from the residential noise regulations during a heat health alert. Prohibited times apply when the noise can be heard inside a habitable room of another residence.Oct 12, 2018

Prohibited times for residential noise | Environment Protection ...

https://www.epa.vic.gov.au/your.../noise/...noise/prohibited-times-for-residential-noise

Search for: What time can you make a noise complaint?




What time can you call noise control?

If you make a noise complaint between 8am and 8pm (and this complaint is not already escalated or with specific instructions), we may ask you to call back in 30 minutes to confirm the noise is still occurring before we send someone out. If we find the noise is too loud, we may issue an Excessive Noise Direction (END).

My reply:
Sorry, wasn't quite what I was trying to do but this is what I dug out from our local council on noise control.
Might be worthwhile checking out Noise Control on Google in your area.

[PC]

Better get use to it.
Why do people assume LLs have any control over tenants?
That wouldn't be "fair".
Just wait till they get 2 dogs & 6 cats - cause everyone needs pets as of right.

[Angela1]

The tenant can make a noise complaint at any time of the day. However the acceptable decibel limit is higher during the day than to night time. When making the call the tenant will have to make it clear if they are asked

if they are a tenant and other other unit is tenanted also they need to say its owned by different landlord to their landlord. (if owned by same landlord noise control will not get involved then).
They will also have to make it very clear they

have a shared wall and want the noise control officer to come inside and take the reading as normally only a dB reading is taken from outside and they do not disturb the complainant as they are aware they the offender might then see who is complaining and create other neighbourly issues as most people do not want to be identified. In this case the tenant has no choice but to let them in.
Tenant should keep a record of how many times they have called council noise control.

[erinak]

So why this post exactly? Such a waste of space.

you can do a few things

but be aware

pretty much none of them have any teeth

and labour would like to reduce the responsibilities of tenants, noise etc

and give them a few more rights, pets for example

[eri]

thought i'd spare you a pointless effort

my bad

go right ahead!

let us know how you get on!

[artemis]

Have the landlord on speed dial. Hold the phone next to the wall. Rinse and repeat.

[erinak]

Noisy tenant

Have the landlord on speed dial. Hold the phone next to the wall. Rinse and repeat.

Lol! Artemis! Rinse and repeat???

[DazRaz]

Or speak to your lawyer to see what remedies you have under your cross-lease agreement.