Residents of multi-storey buildings quite often face the problem of noisy neighbors. Sometimes this phenomenon interferes with full functioning, rest and sleep. Daily sounds of repairs, conversations in raised voices, knocking and loud sounds of music and TV can create an unbearable atmosphere. During the daytime, the peace of citizens depends entirely on the conscientiousness of their neighbors; the hours of silence at night are strictly regulated by law.
When wondering how to find a solution to noisy neighbors, you should first consider all possible options for impact. Multi-storey buildings force you to put up with certain nuances of the neighborhood. Neighbors above may turn out to be new residents and start renovations, or stay up half the night, throw parties, but regardless of the preferred lifestyle and type of people, the law protects and guarantees the right of citizens to rest.
Legal grounds for peace and quiet
It is prohibited to exceed the permitted noise level from 22.00 to 7.00 on weekdays, and from 23.00 to 8.00 on weekends or holidays. Serious repair work, accompanied by loud noise and knocking, is recommended to be carried out on normal days from 8.00 to 18.00, on weekends no earlier than from 11.00 to 18.00. Noise levels exceeding the norm are measured and recorded by specialists, subsequently serving as the main evidence of violation of citizens' rights.
The main actions that disturb peace and quiet include:
- loud sounds emanating from any sound-reproducing devices, equipment, possibly using amplifiers;
- sound-reproducing actions in the form of singing, playing musical instruments, shouting;
- the sounds of a car alarm that has not been turned off for a long time;
- the use of various types of pyrotechnics;
- construction or repair work.
Club of Defenders of Silence
Hi all! I accidentally came across this site, friends, I honestly didn’t know that there were so many of us who suffered from noisy neighbors. I won’t describe all my torments: noise, commotion, children running around the parquet floor day and night, sharp sounds of falling objects, moving furniture, loud music, scandals, police officers, knocking on the radiator, sleepless nights, loss of nerve cells, then moving as a means of salvation . I thought we would move in a different way, ahhh nooo, in the new house it turned out to be even worse, the upstairs neighbors are drunks who don’t work, constantly yell, drink, listen to music and who naturally have children who naturally love to make noise at any time of the day. In general, this is not about this, I am a completely adequate person, I do not like violence, I am not a drunk, but each person has his own limit of patience. I know many of you have thoughts running through your head like: “I’ve got everyone, I’ll take an ax, I’ll go up and chop everyone to hell, and then whatever will happen.” When you try to adequately talk with your neighbors, to say that they are really bothering you, they simply don’t hear you. The typical phrases “we have the right until 23.00” or “these are children” are just boring. It is useless to write to the district police officer or to the court, it has been proven by experience. Play music loudly, other neighbors will start to hate you, knocking on the radiator or the ceiling is pointless, you just have to endure it or it’s better to shoot yourself, just kidding. In general, this post is about how I, with the help of simple devices, forced my neighbors in a week to turn from noisy, inadequate drunks into quiet, nice people who stopped making noise altogether. REALLY! They stopped making noise altogether, not a sound, not a rustle, even somehow unusual.
In general, it was like this. I'll describe it briefly. I take my laptop, connect it to the music center, download from the Internet a vile high-frequency sound (like some kind of sound, very thin), from listening to which in three seconds my head starts to hurt just terribly. I install a program that plays this sound uninterruptedly (by the way, when I quietly turned on to test this sound in the kitchen, after 5 seconds my wife came running from another room and said, someone else is squeaking like that here, turn it off, it makes your head hurt unreal!). I'm installing speakers to the ceiling. That's it, the Machine of Hell's Revenge is ready!!! Further. I go up to my noisy redneck neighbors in the midst of their stormy bacchanalia and say so sweetly: “Dear, when you start behaving more quietly, there is no peace from you day or night,” to which it is natural: “Fuck you, we do whatever we want.” “We don’t give a fuck…” “Okay,” I continue in a calm, very serious tone, “The fact is that at home I do experimental psychology and every time you make noise, you will experience a severe headache, I WARNED YOU” and I'm leaving calmly. The redneck muttered something obscene after him. The noise continued that day. The next day I decided to put the car into action, as soon as they started their next Sabantuy, I turned on the music center with this sound louder, and I and my wife went for a walk for an hour. We're coming. Silence. You can't hear your neighbors. It's 10:00 p.m., which is usually when the fun starts. My wife tells me - wow, I don’t know what you came up with, but it seems to work! The next day, our neighbors still continued to make different sounds, but they were much quieter, not like before. As a precaution, I turned on the sound again in the evening and went for a walk with my wife. This continued for 5 days. Then ATTENTION!!! A local police officer comes to me and says, “They’re complaining about you, you’re disturbing your neighbors.” “I say, what is it, to whom and how am I bothering them?” - Apartment 217 (they), you give them a headache. - What do they say, I turn on the music loudly or get rowdy at night. - No, it’s just a headache - Or, when I have a headache, I’ll call you the same, it’s just that usually when something hurts, they call 03 (and I’m standing there, I can’t hold back my laughter) - Okay, figure it out for yourself. “Okay,” and the district police officer leaves. I continued to play this sound for a couple of days. And then just silence. You can barely hear them moving around the house, just so as not to make the slightest sound. After 20.00 there is absolutely deathly silence! Like this. On the street they avoided me, probably thinking that I was some kind of sorcerer))). They moved a year ago. An old man and an old woman drove in, but you couldn’t hear them at all.
In general, the conclusion is, do not give up, act using non-standard methods, but without visible signs of violence. If you have any questions, I will try to answer.
We are the defenders of silence with you!
Peaceful solution to the problem
The law on silence does not apply to people who conduct religious ceremonies or perform any actions in emergency situations. It is also allowed to hold mass cultural or sporting events if persons adhere to a certain order. By choosing a passive method of struggle in the form of patient waiting, so as not to spoil the relationship, you may not influence your neighbors, getting the desired result. You can also perform high-quality sound insulation of all surfaces of the living space, but this option is too expensive.
First of all, you should talk to the careless neighbors above, describe the current situation to them. Quite often, residents of apartments in multi-storey buildings do not even imagine the seriousness of the inconveniences and problems they create, hoping for good soundproofing properties of the walls and floor surfaces. Personal contact will make it possible to clarify the situation with neighbors from above, allowing the problem to be resolved peacefully, while maintaining normal relationships.
Immediately before the conversation, you should determine the tactics and main arguments. Politeness is much more effective than aggressiveness, so it is better to try to act affably and friendly. While maintaining friendly relations, you can reach a compromise by defining hours of noise and silence. A peace agreement may be the best solution to the problem. Tension and conflict will only make matters worse and require more complex actions.
It is difficult to influence a neighbor if people keep to themselves and are complete strangers. Most often, a noisy neighborhood, causing discomfort and inconvenience, is associated with antisocial behavior of residents of multi-storey buildings who want to completely isolate themselves. In this case, you should enlist the support of other residents, because the constant noise cannot but disturb other neighbors.
Contacting law enforcement agencies
You can also calm your neighbors by notifying them of the inconvenience they are causing in writing,
securing the appeal with the signatures of other residents. You should maintain a diplomatic writing style and describe the situation in the most correct form. In a personal appeal, you can maintain anonymity without specifying last names and apartment numbers. Violators will be guaranteed to be made aware of their actions that violate public peace.
Quite often, personal contact and conversation are simply impossible, because conflicting neighbors can start a scandal or fight. In this case, it is better not to come into contact with inadequate residents, avoiding unnecessary aggravation of relationships. It is recommended to contact the competent authorities immediately.
The local police officer will conduct a preventive conversation, clearly outlining responsibility and punishment for violating public order.
Even if a preventive conversation is effective, you should insist on drawing up a call protocol. This action will help protect yourself in the future in the event of repeated violations by noisy neighbors above and influence their behavior. Sometimes conversations do not bring the desired result and loud sounds and noise continue to be heard from the neighboring apartment, making it impossible to live normally. In this case, you should file a statement with law enforcement agencies.
Actions if the police do not arrive
During the daytime, you can simply call the local police officer, but the noise often bothers you at night. In this situation, you will need to contact the police to calm down the noisy neighbors above. If a whole hour has passed since your call, the noise continues, and the team has not arrived, you should call again. The line operator may refuse to accept the call, citing the area of responsibility of the district police officer, which gives the right to contact the prosecutor's office. Failure to act by law enforcement may be severely punished.
All conversations involving contacting the police are strictly recorded and require an urgent response. It is possible to avoid accusations of an unfounded call to the police if the noise has stopped by the time the police arrive, only by obtaining the testimony of other neighbors. Noisy offenders may deny everything, shifting the blame to the accuser. Only on the basis of strong evidence will an administrative protocol be drawn up against violators.
The police squad, or the local police officer, do not have the right to enter the apartment if the noisy owners do not open the door. All that can be done in this situation is to draw up a call protocol for further response. An educational conversation subsequently conducted by the district police officer on the threshold of the rowdy’s apartment rarely provides the desired result. There is absolutely no point in dealing with noisy upstairs neighbors if the loud noise is caused by children. It is quite natural that babies may cry and scream and this situation should be treated with understanding.
How to punish noisy upstairs neighbors by law
By law, noise at night that disturbs other residents is prohibited and punishable by administrative liability. In order for your neighbors to receive legal punishment, you will have to collect evidence, write complaints and statements, wait until everything is checked and a decision is made.
Where to complain
You need to complain to the local police officer, the police or the prosecutor's office. Moreover, at night, the most logical solution would be to call the police, however, they cannot always help, since while they are driving, the troublemaker may stop making noise. Police officers simply cannot legally charge your neighbor with an offense without any evidence.
You can write a statement to the district police officer without evidence. He will independently conduct possible checks, ask other residents and draw a conclusion, however, the evidence will significantly speed up the process of considering the application.
A visit to the prosecutor's office is an option in case neither the district police officer nor the police could help.
Report against upstairs neighbors for stomping
A sample application for your neighbors who are too loud can be downloaded from the link. ⇐
Noise fine
Administrative liability for noise involves the imposition of a fine. The amount of this punishment depends on the subject of the Russian Federation, as it is established independently.
So, according to the law of the Novgorod region “On Administrative Offences”, your tormentor can be fined in the amount of 500 to 1,500 rubles, and in St. Petersburg the fine will already range from 500 to 5,000 rubles.
The fines are quite significant and may be able to curb the addiction to noise.
Application Form
The form of presentation of the document can be quite free and carry both personal and collective appeal. It is advisable to clearly describe the nature of the complaint, the hours of noise and the measures taken to suppress the violation. The district police officer is obliged to accept the application for consideration. In case of refusal to register a document, an official refusal with justification should be requested. The application to the district police officer must contain:
- the official name of the law enforcement organization and personal information of the applicant;
- the text of the statement must clearly outline the current situation;
- further indicates a request to take measures to suppress the violation.
It is recommended to pay special attention to the registration of the submitted application, taking into account generally accepted standards. As a result, the applicant must receive a document confirming registration with the specified date and number. An application sent by mail should be sent with a notification of receipt, which will subsequently serve as confirmation of the application to law enforcement agencies.
The most severe option for suppressing noise from neighbors above may be to file a claim in court. Additional evidence, witnesses and documents will help you get a positive decision. Disturbance at night and noise levels exceeding all norms must be registered by experts and confirmed by a specific act. Testimony from neighbors will also be taken into consideration.
How to teach neighbors who make noise from below a lesson
In addition to neighbors who may bother you from above, there may also be noise from neighbors below. At the same time, it is much easier for them to take revenge than their neighbors above.
To punish them, you can use the following methods:
- constant movement of furniture around the apartment, constant loud cleaning of the premises, accompanied by loud music;
- you can fill them with water, but everything should be dry;
- You can pump a raw chicken egg with a syringe under the upholstery of the front door. After some time, the unpleasant smell will be not only in their apartment, but also near their front door.
Statement of claim to court
The appeal is registered by the district or city court of first instance at the place of the incident. The statement of claim must be made in writing in accordance with all generally accepted rules. The document must contain:
- full information about the identity of the applicant and the respondent, residential addresses and telephone numbers;
- reasonable evidence of an offense;
- demand for compensation for moral damage due to deterioration of health, need for treatment;
- a clear indication of the source of noise and the duration of exposure to the victim;
- expert opinion confirming that the noise level is exceeded;
- medical report on diseases caused by the actions of the defendant;
- receipts for medical expenses and medications;
- protocols drawn up after multiple calls to the police;
- witness's testimonies;
- photo and video recording of the offense.
An application to the court is often a last resort measure to suppress an offense and will help to effectively reassure neighbors from above when all other methods have been exhausted. A collective appeal can confirm numerous violations of public order in the form of constant shouting, loud music, fights and regular parties. The average family also sometimes behaves a little louder than is allowed, but these cases are quite normal and natural.
What to do if the police don't deal with noisy neighbors
The inaction of law enforcement agencies can be dealt with by contacting higher authorities or higher officials. Write a complaint to the head of the police department, and if he does not react in any way, then contact the prosecutor’s office. Usually two or three requests are enough.
See our other article on collective complaints, there are many forms and sample statements there.
The prosecutor's office is a very serious body, however, and its employees cannot always help, just like police officers, they can be inactive. The final authority is the court.
Strict penalties for offenses
Extreme measures are used exclusively in cases of severe violations that do not allow for a full life and rest. A noisy upstairs neighbor may even lose his apartment. The practice of such cases is not great, but in case of systematic and malicious violation of the rights of tenants, a class action lawsuit can initiate the eviction of the apartment owner.
Initially, the offender is warned of responsibility and given a certain period of time to eliminate them. Lack of changes and continuation of systematic violations may lead to harsh actions from the administration. Forced appeal to the court to make a decision to sell the apartment and issue funds to the owner.
A violator of public order may initially face a fine, the amount is quite small, but for subsequent offenses the actions will be considered malicious. Prosecutors most often win in court, because the main argument is on their side. It will be necessary not only to prove that the neighbors above exceed the sound standard, but to reasonably confirm the violation of rights and the impossibility of normal life activities.
