Noisy upstairs neighbour

I second what's already been suggested.
Loud rounds of applause, maybe try an airhorn at their door while they're at it, f**k up the mood, that'd do the trick.

Then, IF they come (no pun intended) to the door, just tell them that they need to keep it down, or alternatively just airhorn and run.

Alternatively, why don't you and your bf f**k really loudly, see how they like it?

Hello all. A bit of advice please.

I'm 24 and a PhD student and live with my boyfriend who is 26 and works full time. Our flat is a nightmare. I'll leave the issues with the flat itself and our landlord for another day; for now my biggest issue is our upstairs neighbour.

The building is an old house converted into flats and noise seriously travels. Since we moved in in September we've been woken up and kept awake by the person upstairs, who I believe is an undergrad, several times a week in the middle of the night (anywhere between midnight and 4 am usually). Sometimes we are kept awake until the alarms go off. We've spoken to him as has the landlord (who we share) but had no luck and are still being disturbed. My partner and I have done the undergrad thing and now keep a normal working day, and expect to not be disturbed.

On top of this, the noise of him and his girlfriend conducting their love life together is a problem for us. At first we tried to ignore it, but have now resorted to turning up the telly really loud to a) block out the noise and b) make them aware that they are not keeping their private life private. I work at home, and the noise of them at it while I'm working on my doctorate is irritating and disturbing.

What would you do? Asking them generally to be considerate hasn't worked. Other forums have said doing things like making a noisy round of applause when they're done, or playing some unromantic music really loudly is a good trick. Given the rickety nature of the house in being not exactly sound proof, though (bits of ceiling plaster fall off even if someone upstairs walks around too heavily ie all the time) and their right to a full love life, I don't know how far I am reasonable to be cross at this particular type of disturbance and to expect them to be considerate in this respect.

At night my partner and I have taken to wearing earplugs, which have made things better but are by no means fail safe. My partner also has a history of medical problems with his ears so having to do this isn't ideal but we understand our living situation involves compromise and are willing to do our part. What can we do to encourage our neighbour to do his bit, and where should we draw the line, both in terms of what we should tolerate and what we shouldn't?

report it too the police, its classed as noise pollution so will get sorted

Unless they were having wild parties which caused damage the police dont generally handle that sort of thing.

OP, try contacting environmental health, clearly the insulation between floors is rubbish so they might be able to get the landlord to fix it.
We had similar issues in our old place (fortunately we didnt hear sex noises, plenty of that in halls though) and ended up moving in the end as the landlord was rubbish.
Now we live in a slightly quiter place (except weekends when people like their bassy music) but they've decide to knock down a nearby building to build some houses, so hope to move into a house where there could be less noise problems.

You have done most things. Your LL is the one with the power to terminate their tenancy if they are creating excessive anti social noise. He doesnt seem that keen. they are ignoring you, so do the airhorn or move elsewhere. Fact is its an old building and that cant be changed.

The options normally available are mediation , where you reach an agreement between each other or a statutory nuiscance if the noise is a threat to health or has a significant impact. Doesnt look like these are available to you, so if it were me I would be looking to move.

in regards to law, i believe it it is found unsutable by the council, then the landlord has to make adjustments, but it really depends. i suggest write a letter to both the landlord and the tennant, explaining whats wrong and also send a letter to the council

I have dealt with these things in real life. What you say is sensible, but imo it is slow and will take too long to resolve if ever. The problem is just as much the lack of noise insulation as the unreasonableness of the neighbour. Environmental health arent going to get involved , especially as they are private tenants.

The LL is the person with the power to do seomthing, but he wont. the OP could take them to court for stat nuiscance, but its a lot of hassle and extra expense.

The only other way is direct conflict, but it doesnt seem as though the OP have the inclination or know enough heavy friends to do anything.

Thanks everyone.

I asked the landlord whether the neighbour had a clause in his contract, like we do, not to disturb the neighbours as like you say, we thought that could be grounds for having a solicitor send a letter or get us out of our contract, but we didn't get an answer.

Our landlord ignores attempts at contact when she gets bored of a conversation (which is why we have dodgy electrics and furniture that's still broken from when we moved in) and have given up pursuing this with her. If we were going to take more formal action it would have to be through a solicitor because dealing with the landlord gets too complicated. The fact it took be 5 months to get a contract for the flat in the first place should have been a warning sign.

Although the house is definitely a factor in this, I asked the people who lived here before whether they had problems with noise from upstairs, to see how far it's the house and how far it's this particular person. The people here before didn't have problems, and the man upstairs moved in a few days after us so have to presume to an extent its him.

As well as the sex noises, he has loud music etc. Luckily only one proper party, which ended up with broken glass in our garden which I had to clean up. We've also had repeated problems with him dropping cigarettes into our garden along with other things. He also lets his electricity meter run out which for some strange reason sets off our fire alarm. Various other problems. He's all round inconsiderate and I'm completely fed up. I understand he's just a normal undergrad and not a bad person, but its affecting our quality of life here.

do not have a fight. my brother got charged with abh for a crackhead kicking off his wife and sons door saying hes going to kill them due to the noise in a flat. legal and council are the safest

I didnt say have a fight. theres a reason this person is not taking them seriously though. As i said the Council are unlikely to be interested as it costs them money. the available solutions are slow and expensive. the LL is the only person who can do anything (other than the noisy neighbour).

The police do handle it, thesame thing happened to me and it was sorted quiet quick.

I have dealt with these things in real life. What you say is sensible, but imo it is slow and will take too long to resolve if ever. The problem is just as much the lack of noise insulation as the unreasonableness of the neighbour. Environmental health arent going to get involved , especially as they are private tenants.The LL is the person with the power to do seomthing, but he wont. the OP could take them to court for stat nuiscance, but its a lot of hassle and extra expense.The only other way is direct conflict, but it doesnt seem as though the OP have the inclination or know enough heavy friends to do anything.

The police do handle it, thesame thing happened to me and it was sorted quiet quick.

I have dealt with these things in real life. What you say is sensible, but imo it is slow and will take too long to resolve if ever. The problem is just as much the lack of noise insulation as the unreasonableness of the neighbour. Environmental health arent going to get involved , especially as they are private tenants.The LL is the person with the power to do seomthing, but he wont. the OP could take them to court for stat nuiscance, but its a lot of hassle and extra expense.The only other way is direct conflict, but it doesnt seem as though the OP have the inclination or know enough heavy friends to do anything.

OP, to your knowledge are any other people in the block being disturbed by your upstairs neighbour?