The Neighbour From Hell !!

Being unable to sleep at night can be an incredibly frustrating and draining experience. But not being able to sleep at night because of a neighbour from hell takes frustration to a whole new level.

Above me lives a man who insists on making continuous loud noise which begins begins in the hours of the late afternoon and continues until two or three in the morning. The noise consists of endless banging, thumping and bizarre scraping noises. He also has some kind of motor or engine in his upstairs flat which he switches on at four or five in the morning and which never fails to wake me.

So, I lie awake at night, every night until somehow I manage to find sleep but I am woken every morning at two or three.

After sustaining this noise for several months I decided to politely ask the man if he could keep the noise down a little. I approached him in a calm and friendly way which was certainly more than he deserved but was met with an astonishing tirade of lies and denials.

According to him he doesn`t make any noise at all and in fact he claims that he has to put up with noise from me. More bizarrely than that he then went onto claim that he has to  suffer the  noise from me regularly using power tools in my home. Bizarre because I do not own any power tools and have certainly never used any in my flat.

He became aggressive and confrontational so I decided to leave and return to my flat. I then proceeded to speak to one of my neighbours who told me that he has history and that this is what he does. The lady told me that he has bullied and intimidated everybody in the building and that some tenants actually fear him as he seems to be somewhat unhinged. She also said that the man does nothing but lie so I might have to prepare myself for worse to come. Also, she said that the local council and the police have a file on him because of his previous antics.

The very next day I was shocked to receive a phone call from the agent that I rent my home from. She said that my neighbour from upstairs had called her to complain that I had been aggressive and confrontational toward him. I was furious that somebody could tell such ridiculous lies. I explained to her what had happened and she did say that he  did seem to be odd because he suddenly started to rant about things that had nothing to do with the situation regarding the noise or me or indeed anything coherent.

The agent advised me to contact the council and let them investigate. The fact that the police and the council already have a file on him would certainly help my case. About an hour after our initial conversation the agent called me back to say that she had just spoken to my landlord and that she was aware of the fact that this man had caused trouble before.

I contacted the council and the very helpful and pleasant man informed me of what would happen and the procedures involved. Unfortunately the procedure will take a great deal of time, time that I simply do not have as I desperately need sleep. Already I am staying at my parents home some nights just so that I can get some sleep.

I have begun to look for a new place to live because the situation is unbearable but this whole situation has raised some very important questions about just how hopeless the law appears to be in Britain when it comes to neighbours from hell. It would seem that the only way for me to achieve any peace is for me to leave my home thus allowing him to continue living exactly how he chooses completely unaffected. How can this be right? I have done nothing wrong and my life is being made to be completely miserable by a man who has spent many years bullying people and damaging the quality of other peoples lives and yet I am the one who is gong to have to go through the stress, time and expense of finding somewhere else to live. Surely the boot should be placed firmly on the other foot but then that`s British law for you.