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Whining / Whinging Neigbour's...

Discussion in 'The Pub' started by my67xr, Aug 13, 2016.

  1. my67xr

    my67xr Bike Enthusiast Staff Member Premium Member Contributing Member

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    Does anyone else here have whinging neighbour's ?
    I am having problem's with one of my neighbour's, he's complained to me twice over the last 6 month's about too much noise, and sometime's being able to smell paint fume's.

    He bought the house next door about 6 year's ago and after 2 year's he buldozed the house and had a new one built there over the next 8 month's
    Over this time we had to put up with all the dust and noise etc, builder's starting at 7am and finishing late, truck's coming and going all the time blocking our driveway etc, and having no side fence for a couple of month's (was hard due to us having 2 staffy's)
    This new house he has built is a lot bigger than the original house, it another 8 metre's deeper into the block so the rear wall is level with the front of my shed, and has a side door to a patio area alongside my back door.

    We have lived here since early 2005 (rental), my shed is at the rear of our property alongside this guy's fence.
    Most of the noise is either from my compressor (3hp 17cfm) or from an angle grinder.
    I have my compressor set up down the back of the shed under a steel bench with 19mm wooden side's to stop some of the noise so i can't see that as being a major problem.
    The angle grinder only get's used when i'm fixing my trailer or need to make something etc and wouldn't be used for more than an hour all up, over a whole day.

    My family is pretty quiet most of the time, kid's playing in the back yard kicking footy's, trampoline, small swiming pool during summer, etc, and i don't do a lot of work here, only what i need to do here to save money, eg diy stuff and fixing my car and motorbike's.
    Last time he complained was about 6 month's ago when i was fixing my rusty trailer, i had to cut the chassis off and remake it.
    Over a week i got it cut up and welded back together again, i would have only made noise for roughly 2 hour's all up per day.
    Paint fume's yeah there would be some, but 99% of my painting is done with aerosol's, i even painted my trailer with them due to me picking up some paint cheap.
    When i painted the trailer it was in the middle of my back lawn about 10 metre's away from the neighbour's fence.
    It would have taken me a couple of hour's to prime, let it dry, then paint.

    Now i don't start making noise till after 9 or 9.30am, and i don't make noise after 5.30pm at the latest.
    Neighbour called the council and complained, i had the council inspector come out to visit.
    Inspector came out the back and asked me what i've been doing to make all this noise, i showed him my trailer and let him know exactly waht i'd done to it.
    Even showed him the rusty steel that i'd cut out and replaced, he had a look in my shed, and around the yard and said that what i was doing was all ok.
    He even mentioned that work on the trailer that i'd done was excellent
    Inspector told me if i wanted to that i could run a business from here, and all i needed to do wass contact the council and put in an application.
    He said there were a few condition's involved like not having too much traffic come and go, keeping the noise between business hour's, and he said the sort of work i did he couldn't see a problem for a getting a permit approved.

    Today's complaint was about the compressor and paint fume's again.
    I have been grit blasting my front brake disc's, etch primed and painted them with aerosol's on the other side of my yard to his place.
    The compresor would have run for 10 to 15 min's at the most each time, and the painting took about a minute to prime each disc, then anoth 2 minute's later to paint them.
    They are drying in my back yard (opposite side of yeard to complaing neighbour)
    The paint is acrylic and enamel's, and on the odd occasion 2 pak clear (home use stuff without the toxic hardener etc) in an aerosol (but not even today)

    Any one have any idea's on what i should do about this problem ?
    I'm not doing anything wrong by the council, and i'm not tuning race car's and Harley's etc here.
    I don't run a business making trailer's, or doing bodywork on car's.
    Maybe i should get permit from the council ?
     
  2. KICKERMAN360

    KICKERMAN360 Well-Known Member

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    I wouldn't do anything. If he is approachable, I would go talk to him and ask what exactly is the problem and what can be done about it. Additionally, if the inspector says what you're doing is fine then you can use that in subsequent visits and/or complaints from Council. It's not unusual behavior either. If he isn't approachable, you may just ignore it.

    I had some neighbours downhill from me having fires in their backyard almost daily at one point and the fumes would propagate to my house and engulf it. After a few weeks I decided to write an email to the Council as fires in a suburban area is illegal (one or two times a month I wouldn't mind, I think I'm a good neighbour). This guy would also use saws, nail guns, grinders etc all day on weekends which was ultra annoying. I have no idea what he was doing but it sounded like he was rebuilding his house. Anyway, the Council was like WTF and gave him a notice. We got a noise and fire diary-type-thing to keep track of whatever he does.

    Perhaps ask him to buy you one of those compressors that don't make any noise? Sounds like he has heaps of money to rebuild a house.
     
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  3. GreyImport

    GreyImport Administrator Staff Member The Chief Contributing Member

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    Sounds like u have won the battle already .... the council is on your side

    Next time he (the neighbour) approaches u then give him the name and number of the council rep.

    or ..... this would be my reaction to a bitching neighbour

    up_yours.jpg
     
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  4. my67xr

    my67xr Bike Enthusiast Staff Member Premium Member Contributing Member

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    The complaint about noise and fume's also included dust too 6 month's ago.
    He said that one day he had cloud's of dust come over the fence across his property.
    That was caused by my 15 year old son mowing the front and back lawn's, and there was a few dry patch's where the lawn had died off during summer.
    The noise complaint's he said i was making noise from 9am to after 6pm every day, and he said it was worse than living next door to a crash shop or a factory woth running machinery all day.

    After this first complaint i started making a log of any work i did from home over the next few week's.
    The work totalled about 6-8 hour's spread out during a week, sometime's including a couple of hour's on a saturday,
    All this work was done between 9.30am at the very earliest (usually after 10.30am or 11am, and nothing after 5.30pm (at the very latest)
    I think i did this for about 3 or 4 week's just incase i had a visit from the council again so i could show him exactly what i was doing and when i did it.

    Forgot to mention it above too,
    but the inspector said that he got around 10 to 15 noise complaint's a week from the whole council area where he worked,
    and that only about 1 or 2 people a month got a warning or had to cease what they were doing at home
     
  5. my67xr

    my67xr Bike Enthusiast Staff Member Premium Member Contributing Member

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    Thank's for your feedback.
    The neighbour and his wife are both in their early 60's, the guy work's from 6am till 3pm, and his wife work's casual hour's.
    I'm 48 year's old so not a party animal, infact last party we had here was my 40th and that wasn't that loud either.
    The neighbours on the other side of our backyard are alway's having party's (almost every weekend over summer) with lot's of drunk's there and are pretty loud with yelling, laughing, music and carrying on till all hour's of the night.
    And we had 2 other neighbour's in unit's along side us at the front, one is retired and the other is semi retired.

    Last couple of time's i've spoke to him he say's this is not on, and it's got to stop.
    I ended up saying whatever and walked away from him while he was still ranting
    I can't see myself ever stopping this kind of work as i'm very hand's on, jack of all trade's type of person.
    Being a stay at home dad i spend a lot of time home and i like to keep myself busy, i have so many project's on the go at any one time, then there's alway's mate's that drop in unexpectantly and ask me to help them do stuff too.
    I rememer a couple of month's ago the neighbour banged on the fence and told me off on a saturday morning at 10.30am for using a circular saw.
    I was cutting up a few piece's of wood making a skateboard ramp for my 9 year old son and the saw was too noisy.

    Think i might start up another work log so i have all the detail's if i get another visit from the council
     
  6. Damus

    Damus She is a BEAST and riding it is comparable to sex Dirty Wheel Club

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    My neighbours (all of them which is quite allot being that I am in units) are unbelievably tolerant of my bs.
    My bike is STUPIDLY loud and I frequently go in and out of the car park (where I also do all my mechanical work) at all the worst hours 1am, 3am, 4am etc. Not only that I do allot of mechanical work at that time also, I remember the night I was banging my wheel bearings out for 2 hours at 3am in the car park. It was f-ing loud and I promise the whole neighbourhood would have been plotting to obtain C4 and strap it to my bike.
    But for one reason or another no one has ACTUALLY said anything and I haven't the faintest idea why.
    Over the period of the last year and a half I have made allot of friends with the neighbours because I am always in the car park working on the bike and I guess their curiosity got the better of them and they are like "Every time I go to my car your working on your bike, I see you in the rain at 1am working on your bike. I see you ride it all the time so it's working, what are you doing!???"
    Then I give a brief speech about the difficulty involved in outsmarting Honda, this is then quickly followed by my delusional rant about how this bike is going to break the record for its class and set an unbeatable lap time at eastern creek.
    Then they say "Good for you! Better than being a drug addict stealing cars and robbing people".
    So my advice to you is move into department of housing.... expectations are much lower hahaha.
     
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  7. risky

    risky risky

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    acrylics and enamel spray cans are no problem, 2 pak is so keep those cans under cover.had a similar problem from the coucil and am in the clear. ask the council inspector to give him a ring and explain to him aerosols are legal otherwise bunnings could not sell them. suggest a visit to the gp for a health check.
     
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  8. A.C

    A.C Well-Known Member

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    In QLD we have a local laws database maintained by the state govt, and generally each local council lists their specific ones somewhere on their websites as well. These provide detail on things like noise, disturbance, visual amenity, nuisance vegetation, etc. It might be worth checking with your local council so you know exactly what the requirements are and can quote them back to the neighbour when he complains.
     
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  9. Linkin

    Linkin The Mechanic Premium Member Contributing Member Dirty Wheel Club

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    Stick a pair of earplugs in his letterbox :fuckyou:

    Can't really see a problem with what you're doing... not like living across the road from a mcdonalds where the stupid gits start cleaning their car park with a leafblower at 6:30am every morning :headbang:
     
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  10. sharky

    sharky Well-Known Member

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    As long as your using personal handtools in the right hours you have nothing to worry about except his whinging. I have a 10yo daughter who once a month likes to ride her 50cc minibike for half an hour about lunch time, which is just around the time the new neighbours like to arise each and every day, it only took one whinge from them and now when my daughter rides her bike I push the 2stroke mower around aswell, but a little earlier than lunchtime now
     
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  11. kiffsta

    kiffsta Senior Member

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    I don't think you need a permit as the council have already said what you are doing is okay.

    The problem is neighbors are like arseholes, everyone has them , some are awesome, some not. One option could be to drop a note in his letterbox giving him a few days some notice that you will be doing some work in the shed, nominate the date and time and this will give him an opportunity to go out for the day. At least he cant say he wasnt warned.

    Keep a copy so if there are complaints in the future you can show that you were trying to accomodate him.
     
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  12. Murdo

    Murdo The Good Doctor Staff Member Contributing Member Ride and Events Crew

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    Next time you have to cut stuff with the angle grinder, start you lawn mower and leave it at full revs next to the fence near his window. Drown out his complaining then. :lolsign:
    Sounds like you have done the right things, so tell him to ring the council if he's not happy.
     
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  13. jazzhunt

    jazzhunt Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    Sympathies, mate, a crap neighbour is a pain in the butt. It may not make any difference but you might consider encouraging him to complain to the council. If he complains often enough (and the inspectors/rangers check a few times and there is no problem) he will eventually be listed as a Vexatious Complainant and everything he says will be ignored. It's a not a quick process and would probably be a misery for you but, if you can bear it, he'll lose all credibility with the council. (FWIW, I work for a council and I know we have a list of ratepayers like this.)
     
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  14. ruckusman

    ruckusman White Mans Magic Master Premium Member Dirty Wheel Club

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    I'm with jazzhunt - got with the vexatious complainant angle, approaching you and being in any verbally abusive BTW is an offence on his part, he's already been advised by the council that you'r all good with what you're doing, screw the diplomatic approach, tell him to cease and desist lest he ends up being on the receiving end of a complaint to the police, because he's out of bounds with harassment
     
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  15. my67xr

    my67xr Bike Enthusiast Staff Member Premium Member Contributing Member

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    I got my wife to read through this thread, we've decided to have a meeting with my neighbour's and try and work something out.
    We looked at the current SA EPA law's regarding domestic noise and working around the home etc
    All the work i am doing is within the law/s and is well within the time's i'm allowed to do it
    We'll see if we can come to an agreement that keep's us both happy.

    I think the biggest problem is that when the neighbour built his new house he moved the living room / family room from the front of the house to the rear (right next to my shed)
    And this new house has window's and door's down the side of the house along the fenceline, and all the window's and sliding door's across the back of his house
     
  16. thebeefsalad

    thebeefsalad Well-Known Member

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    I do, one had the balls to call me out for it (I was fine with that) and in the same breath threaten to sick her dogs on me. She's a crazy **** (her boys warned me) so that keeps things interesting. The police have been here a few times for noise complaints, however being under 85dB at the property line, all they could do was tell me that someone complained.
     
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  17. Joker

    Joker See "about me" for contact details. Contributing Member

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    I get the sentiment that telling the neighbour to shove it up their rear end is very tempting but the problem is that you often can't choose your neighbours and you often still have to live next to them. For the sake of keeping the peace and avoiding headaches a diplomatic approach is probably best. What you're doing is probably legal, but I sorta understand the other side that paint fumes can be annoying. They waft in and are very hard to combat - for an older person I imagine they'd quickly make them feel sickly.

    Have you tried inviting him over to see if he wants to help with some of your projects? left field approach maybe, it sounds like the guy needs a hobby. If anything it might catch him by surprise...?

    I would say there isn't much you can do about the noise, but maybe when your painting you can run an extraction hood or something that puts it through a filter of some sort. I'm sure you could rustle something up quickly and cheaply given your skills.

    Tough one though, especially when you're not technically in the wrong.
     
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  18. Murdo

    Murdo The Good Doctor Staff Member Contributing Member Ride and Events Crew

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    I can understand the paint being a problem, maybe only paint on days when the wind blows the other way.
    I have a neighbour (I have a rented house next door) who had a whinge about me painting a frame on the clothes line. Wonder what they will say when I get the painters in to paint my house later this year? She sits out the back and smokes and I have to smell her stinking fumes drifting my way.
     
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  19. cantafforda600

    cantafforda600 can actually afford a 600 Premium Member

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    as soon as the council gets off your back, straight pipe all of your vehicles and start coming home late
     
  20. pkay

    pkay Junk Accumulator

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    You are well within your legal rights to do what you are doing when you are doing it. You see people try to mess with your mind by making complaints knowing you will feel guilty and reduce your activity and thereby they control what you can and can't do for their personal satisfaction. I had a neighbour complain about me riding my sons PW80 around the backyard even though its no louder than a lawn mower or a leaf blower. I just ignored it, what I do in my backyard between 9 - 5 is my business. In actual fact because I am an arse I now do it more with other bikes as well. The fact he doesn't talk to you about his problems means he doesn't want to befriend you so don't worry about annoying him rightfully enjoying your space. Council get whinges like him all the time, know that the more he complains the less council will listen.
     
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