The Student Room Group

trouble in halls...

I'm a fresher in halls, and our 'hall' is like houses of 8 people with a shared kitchen and bathroom facilities.
At first i thought i was going to get along fine with most of them, although i would probably not say they were the kind of people i like to hang around with. They're very much into clubbing, dance music, bringing 'popular' guys back to the flat etc etc. Whilst this isnt me at all, i dont have a problem with people who are like that (i accept that its pretty much the norm!)

BUT a few nights i have had big problems with them. They come back at around 3am and bring into our house about 10 or so lads who i dont know. They then go in the kitchen (DIRECTLY above my room) and proceed to yell, shout, stamp and other really noisy things. The house is quite badly built and so this wakes me up as its so loud, and usually continues for a good couple of hours in which i cannot sleep.
Also, when the guys from other houses arrive or leave, they have to pass my door as its right near the front door, and for some reason they think its a good idea to bang on my door as LOUDLY as possible when entering or leaving my flat!!

I've spoken to my flatmates about this, and they have said things like 'oh we werent making that much noise' or 'we told them not to bang and they did it anyway' which i didnt really think were very good excuses.
But to top it off last night, when they came into my house, they went to the kitchen and i distinctivly heard one of the girls say 'everyone bang on the floor!!' which was followed by, unsuprisingly everyone banging really loudly on the floor. A guy up there then said 'is there someone below us?' and the girl responded with 'yeah, charly'.

I cant see what i've done to piss them off, all i've asked is they try to keep a little quieter by not banging on the floor and on my door at 3am, which i feel is reasonable?
What can i do? I've got essays to write now which count to my grade and i can't afford to lose sleep almost every night because of it, especially when it is clearly the fact they are now doing it on purpose?

The only thing i can think of is reporting it to the warden, but surely thats going to get me more hassle from them when they are in trouble for it?

Please help.... at the moment i want to move out, but i would have to pay the rest of my fees for the year AND however much my new place cost.....

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Reply 1
You poor love. You're not being at all unreasonable- these people are being deliberately rude, unthoughtful and obnoxious. I've asked neighbours to turn music down in the wee hours of the morning too, I would imagine a lot of people have.

I would have a word with the wardens, but say you're concerned about them turning against you even more if they know you said something. Maybe they could send an email to the whole group of flats saying there have been general complaints, that way nobody knows it was specifically you.

You really have my sympathy, it's a horrible situation to be in. You hope by the time people get to uni, they've grown up a bit, but in some cases obviously not!
Hi,

Im sorry for your trouble in halls. Im guessin this is like a 'allmost everyday thing', or an 'everytime they go out' thing. I guess this can be classed as anti-social behaviour. (so it says on the poster in the common room where i live :smile: ). Erm what i would suggest is talking to the supervisor or head in charge at your halls about the problem ur having. Normally it might result in them getting thrown out, you moving just to a different room or them lot getting moved.

I have not had much of a problem so i can only offer you limited help. I really hope this can help or guive you guidance.

Good-Luck
Reply 3
thanks for the replies, im glad that you dont think im being unreasonable!
I think im going to have to go see the warden at the beginning of next week and have a word!

I've also just been up to the kitchen and its in a right state, and my flatmates were like 'hi!!!!how are you????? and then complained that i seemed 'in a mood'...
Reply 4
They're playing silly little mind games with you. Take them to the cleaners. Let them know that you won't stand for any of this. You deserve to live, work and socialise in an area in which you feel safe and secure, and if these silly little bints are comming in the way of that: Talk to the warden and sort them out.
Reply 5
e-lover
They're playing silly little mind games with you. Take them to the cleaners. Let them know that you won't stand for any of this. You deserve to live, work and socialise in an area in which you feel safe and secure, and if these silly little bints are comming in the way of that: Talk to the warden and sort them out.


I dont think that will work. They'll just do it more subtly so theres nothing to actually complain about.

If i were you OP i would try playing them at their own game. Like when they're all 'hi!!!! how are you???!' after theyve been doing that all night an left the place in such a state, instead of pointing this out to them (theyre already perfectly aware theyve been a nuicence after all!) try & stay friendly with them.

'keep your friends close + your enemies closer' kindve thing??!:wink:

if you make friends with them & dont get stressed out with them when they do stuff like that then surely they wouldnt be going out of their way to annoy you.
Reply 6
I didn't point it out to them or anything, its just hard to stay friendly and nice when you are annoyed with someone.
I think im being singled out for something, and I'm unsure what, as they have apologised to both other girls who werent involved in their party last night but havent said anything to me.

I dont feel like i have been being unreasonable, or really complaining about it in anyway - surely a polite request shouldnt get the response that it seems to have got?
Reply 7
Sarahl89
.... 'keep your friends close + your enemies closer' kindve thing??!:wink:...


I agree with Sarah, more than you'll get stressed out about it, more likely they are going to repeat that - all the time :biggrin: I think lots of us have been in similar situation, you'll get used to it with time and it wont affect your work.
Reply 8
I guess you are right, although i cant help but think what kind of people they must be that they are doing it on purpose, to P*** me off and that if i ask them nicely to stop they make it worse? I can't imagine doing that to someone - makes it hard for me to want to be nice

I'm gonna try though
Reply 9
I perfectly understand you, but even if you decide to move halls, most likely there will be some people who will be doing something like that on purpuse 2 (me and my friends all live in different halls and in every hall there are people who are "drinking partys" - or how i'd call it - AT LEAST twice a week, and they are really loud and you can't be surprised by all kinds of food, drinks, bottles, vomite?, tv's, screens, chairs, etc. flying down your window :s-smilie: I was shocked when i was a fresher, but you get used to it with time :biggrin: So all i can say it, don't worry, people are weird this days!)
Good lord. You poor thing! I completely sympathize with you on this ordeal; though I'm not at University yet I've had my fair share of nightmare neighbours.

All I can really say is that you are blatantly deservant of the kind of environment that you were expecting when you came to University; you deserve peace of mind (and peace of ears!) but most of all, in no way do you deserve some bunch of prattling idiots putting your education at risk. Your essays, sleep and general education are suffering, and you're paying for the right to learn. My advice is that if it doesn't solve itself somehow, then take action. You deserve to work in peace.
Reply 11
what i would do is buy some big speakers...and every day at 9am when they prob will be sleep just blast out really loud music...:wink:
Reply 12
Unfortunately people like to single out those who are different to them. In my first year, my flatmates thought it was hilarious to put up pictures of dead animals everywhere when I was the only vegetarian in the flat. Nice eh?

However, I couldn't really complain about that as it was a) a one-off incident and b) not exactly anti-social behaviour that was causing me to lose sleep or anything like that. You, on the other hand, have a concrete case for asking to be moved. I think it would probably do you good to move to a new flat/house if you can and start again, especially as it's affecting your sleep (and subsequently your concentration and quality of work).

Talk to your accommodation office and arrange to move.
It's not that they're intentionally singling you out, well, they are, but when you tell people not to do something, they intentionally go out of their way to do it. So just as everyone has said above me, put on a brave face and pretend it's not bothering you, because they want it to bother you, there's no fun in it if it's not having an effect on you.

Good luck.
Reply 14
Report the morons. Your paying to live there, you deserve your peace at such unreasonable hours.

Stereotypical "wacky, loud" students can seriously **** off, they're so cliched and pathetic. I'm lucky in the respect that my although they generally worship dance/clubs/mainstream music, my flatmates are nice and considerate in the early hours if they come home with mates.
Reply 15
Getting a slight mixed response, with some people telling me to be nice and hope they stop,and others telling me to report it.
Havent said anything to any of them today about last night and havent complained, but i know they're going out again tonight. If they come in again at 3/4am and make the same amount of noise as last night i think im going to have to report it.
Thanks for the advice so far everyone!
I feel really sorry for you, what a bunch of selfish idiots. Although it seems backward, I agree with those who said you should pretend it doesn't bother you because if they're now being noisy on purpose they're doing so to get a reaction from you (which is unpleasant, and really pathetic). The next time they do it report them to your warden the next day. If they have a go at you play them at their own game and say "really, well it wasn't me. Maybe it was next door/downstairs/upstairs" and smile sweetly at them. There's not much to lose if they're not interested in trying to get along with you. And ask to be moved asap. Good luck, it must be a total nightmare.
There are some knobs around. Get this - my boyfriend lives in a house and some girls moved in next door and they made friends with one of the lads who my boyfriend lives with. Now the gobby slags have already come into the house, stolen food.. and last night they proceeded to knock on the front door for half an hour at 4 in the morning, nobody would go tell them to get lost cos they were all pissed.. and then they went round the back and climbed through a window and more or less broke into the house.. what the hell is wrong with people?!
Reply 18
wouldnt it be easier to move where you lived.
Reply 19
sprinkle itching powder (or something similar) on their sheets? and then have a word with the warden

if that doesn;t work, then i suggest you watch the SAW movies :wink: