Neighbours complain about the noise (of the bike)

Hey folks,

So I got my second letter from the council saying they have received a complaint (probably from the same people - next door) about the noise of my motorbike.

The first one said they had complained about the noise and I was not allowed to have the engine running while I took it up the path into the garden, which I haven't done since.

Last Saturday daytime, I fitted some heated grips and started the engine briefly a couple of times while the bike was in the back garden. I didn't rev it and it wasn't running for more than 30 seconds to a minute. I just wanted to check that everything was working OK, as I had made (albeit minor) changes to the electrics.

Now I have another complaint from the council from a neighbour complaining of excessive revving and fumes from a motorbike coming from my premises.

To be honest, its really starting to p*ss me off. I don't think I have done anything wrong. It's my own house (not the councils) so as far as I can see I should be able to do what I like as I can't see it is causing an unreasonable annoyance. Unfortunately there are no strict definitions I can find of this though.

I am tring to consider my options of what to do. I don't really know the process of what happens from here. Anyone experiences this?

I am toying with the idea of having the council tell them to remove the ugly ass caravan they have illegally parked on their drive (as they are not allowed to keep it there). I don't really want to have a bad relationship with the neighbours, but it does look like they are going to be annoying gits regardless. Perhaps this will give them reason to think twice about complaining again. I wanted to go and talk to them, but I have been advised that it is not a good idea.

Anyone have any experience of this?

Lib

the council will need proof of the noise before any legal action is taken, they usually sit outside the house with a decibel meter in cases of noise complaints once a certain number of complaints have been made.

What time was it? if it was 1AM then i can understand but if it was in the day then i have a feeling that they are elderly therefore need to pass the time by complaining

The council may give your neighbour a device to measure the sound, there is a preset limit that you allowed to be under at reasonable times, I will get all the details for you and PM it to you.

You might be able to get hold of a meter yourself and measure the noise level, at the end of the day if your using a road legal exhaust then you should be fine. just write back to the council after you have measured yuor noise level and tell them to wind their necks in, but in a nicer way.

I will get back to you

Yeah, old couple next to me complained about my RS and me using it to get to college every morning...

They came out and I told them "ill stop revving it TO WARM IT UP when you stop moaning like a wounded wilderbeast during sexytime I hear some nights".

Put a stop to that...

But seriously, if you know who it is write a letter and copy it in case there are multiple people that may do it. Explain that you are being wrongly accused and its within your right to run a vehicle you own during daylight hours however you like. It isnt at night time which means they cant actually do anything.

You HAVE to and I really mean this you absolutely have to confront them over it. The ones down my road just didnt like me and didnt like bikes. If you've got a loud exhaust then its partly understandable on their part if you were revving. If not you are within your right to do as you wish. Seriously, write explaining you know they have been complaining to the council and that they are greatly exaggerating or making it up. Warn them to stop or you will explain it to the council they have been liars.

Edit - Also its your duty as a law abiding citizen to alert the council to this. Also with videos you will have proof that you havent done anything wrong. They will likely want you off the bike for doing that. Bad relationship? Too late... really is too late now. They have their opinions of you. They are a pile of biased crap so its time to turn the other cheek and beat them just by being clever and some simple videos to keep yourself clean.

Also for the record, make a video of your bike and going to work every morning even if its on your phone. Video yourself getting the bike up the path and then starting the bike. That way if they complain again you can turn to the council and prove your innocence.

Hey , let's have a meet round your place and show them what noise is

Hey , let's have a meet round your place and show them what noise is

..

Kidding, Probably would help.. Would still be funny though

Really hope what ever action you take works in your favour.. Would help but.. Not sure on the best option..

They sound like a right bunch of moaning minnies!

Like the man says, they need proof of the noise and your neighbours will probably have been asked to keep a record/diary of any 'excess' noise you make. Might be worth doing the same. As long as your exhaust is legal.....

And if you want to pop round and have a word, I'd think twice, even though it sounds like you would do so with a best of intentions. Confrontation can be interpreted as intimidation. Intimidation can land you in court.

You could pop a note round though, say sorry if you've caused them any distress/annoyance and you'll make a effort not to do so any further. Not much more you can do after that really. There's very little they can do seeing as it sounds like you're not actually causing that much noise! And you're in your own home.

Noise pollution is all about perception. There is legislation about what the noise limits are but this is confined to actual activity, if you were about to build a property then the local authority would tell you what level of noise you could make and between which hours. As a private resident, there's very little to dictate noise/emissions apart from the Clean Air Act which usually only applies to open fires. Unless you plan on setting fire to your bike I wouldn't worry about it

Sounds like Riffmaster has some good info for you.

Have you checked your local councils website? Specifically look to complain about noise, and you might find some information relevant to you. The reason I suggest this, is that info is present on my councils webby.

I had cause to pursue it a while back (with regards to fires) but got carried away reading all the other crap.

If memory serves, there is quite a lot of red tape (for them). And the letter may well be lip service for the complainees. Unfortuanty you won't know if the complainee is connected to the council someway. And hence gettin special treament.

If I was you, and you can establish who complained, I would certainley counter complain. Purely cos they didn't have the decency to approach me first.

Don't let it worry you though m8, sounds like you are not being inconsiderate from your post. Continue being considerate and the complaint will be seen for what they are, just whinging.

My first bit of advice to you is not to worry, I have a annonymous enemy at the moment who has complained to the council about me for numerous reasons, written love letters and posted them through my door for the missus to find and told lies to social services about me.

Just do what I do and let the council send you letters , call you up and come out and see you, they will see that everything is in order and I have never known them to be anything other than nice.

I think you are also entitled under the freedom of infomation act to request a copy of any complaint made against you in its entirety, if it was an email, hopefully it will have an email address from which it came. (i'm in the process of doing this).

And by the way, you dont need road legal cans if the bike is on your property.

There are some real dysfunctional moaning arse people out there, just roll your eyes and carry on, nothing will come of it. or put a load of wind chimes up as close to their house as possible, soon they will be praying for the sound of a bike.

speak to the officer dealing with the case at your local council.

try to work with them instead of against. in my experience most environmental protection officers are decent reasonable people who are more than capable of spotting a pisstaker. talk to him/her, try to find a happy compromise without giving too much... they seem to appreciate cooperation

works for me

something like this with someone who lives near my dad, basically they got told to move as they were being twats to most people on the road...

so hopefully they will tell the other people to stick it up there arse

the legal limit on noise comming from your house is 76 decibels which. if you put your ear to your exhaust you might get. just go round and tell them to piss off. one side of my neighbours once complained about my music so i turned it up. if its YOUR house and not a council house the council need your permission to gain access to your property if they come into your garden/house without permission your liable to sue for emotional distress becuase you thought you were being robbed

Also if you need to take time off work for them you can sue for that. ontop of all this. if you keep recieving complaints you can ifnact report the neighbour to the police

I hope this might help. i think the decibels might be a tad off but its around that region.

Thanks for the advice folks.

...I will get all the details for you and PM it to you.

 

Thanks that would be great. Any info on what the levels are and at what distance would be very handy.

... You might be able to get hold of a meter yourself and measure the noise level ...

I actually have an sound pressure level (SPL) meter for my job. That will give me a dB readout.

As a private resident, there's very little to dictate noise/emissions

I haven't been able to find anything specific out either, just that the noise must be 'reasonable'.

go get legal advice this sort of thing is not a easy thing to deal with dont leave it to its to late!

council need your permission to gain access to your property if they come into your garden/house

if the council need to gain access to your property they well just get a court order.

and you can be kick out of your own home but thats something only the courts can do

go get legal advice this sort of thing is not a easy thing to deal with dont leave it to its to late!

 

council need your permission to gain access to your property if they come into your garden/house

 

if the council need to gain access to your property they well just get a court order.

and you can be kick out of your own home but thats something only the courts can do

The most likely outcome IF somebody was causing a nuisance through noise would be a ASBO (similar to an CRASBO but civil rather than criminal)

Thanks for the advice folks.

 

...I will get all the details for you and PM it to you.

 

 

Thanks that would be great. Any info on what the levels are and at what distance would be very handy.

 

... You might be able to get hold of a meter yourself and measure the noise level ...

 

I actually have an sound pressure level (SPL) meter for my job. That will give me a dB readout.

 

As a private resident, there's very little to dictate noise/emissions

 

I haven't been able to find anything specific out either, just that the noise must be 'reasonable'.

Im almost certain that there is a level that is deemed reasonable, get yourself a reading and let me know. Dont stand next to your bike to do it obviously, stand a similar distance away similar to your neighbours boundary

Confirm what Riffmaster says, the measurements are to be taken at your boundary.

I know when we are working in public places we are limited to 96db - possibly similar for home?

If your bike is taxed and mot'd with a road legal can on it, as long as your using your bike in a normall way (That includes running it to warm the engine) i can't see that theres anything they can do or say.

One thing i may add though, is a forum BBQ on bikes at yours sounds like a good idea

What a bunch of ninnies! Got to agree with what everyone else is saying here and just ignore it (unless it is in the early hours!). Have the council actually stated what will happen if the complaints keep happening?

My parents told me that when my oldest brother was born the next door neighbours complained to the council about excess noise. The neighbours were quite open about it though and would call my parents up to shout at them for "letting your Mark run down the stairs like that" or "we can hear you playing with your son in his bedroom PLEASE would you shut up!". Some people are just angry, and although it's easier said than done I think if it were me I'd probably end up turning the bike over more often just to rile them. Nothing illegal or that seriously takes the pee but running an engine to test heated grips is nothing. And having to push your bike into your garden - what if you dropped it? They wouldn't take any of the blame then, even though it was because you were trying to be considerate towards them. Sod 'em I say, poke some poo through their letter box and give them something to actually worry about (don't do that btw)!

Maybe some people just don't like motorbikes. Well some people definitely don't like motorbikes, for some unknown reason. "They're noisy/loud/dangerous" and because they think that they just dislike ANY motorbike they see or hear (or probably can hardly hear in your case). So whenever they hear your bike fire up they think "there's that bloody bike again, dangerous noisy thing" when in actual fact their car probably makes just as much noise reversing up the drive in the morning.

I would be as tactful as possible with this, and as long as you aren't riding around your lawn, or revving the engine, with race cans, then I don't see what the authorities can do, you sound like a reasonal neighbour, but some people just have to have a gripe about something..

I have my bike in my back yard, so the sound bounces around the yard and windows, if I am off out early (pre 10 am), I move it into the alley to reduce the effect, thats being reasonable in my book, especially as I know it is louder on choke..

If it wasn't the bike it would be a hedge, a wall or the dog, some people just are crap neighbours, and it's not you...

All my neighbours are noisy at some times!

So am I occasionally!

It bothers me more than most because

of working nights!.

I've managed not to fall out with any

of them yet.

If I was sure who had complained I would

go round and try to sort it out amicably

Then I'd probably thump them!

Just write a nice letter back to the council telling them exactly what you told us in your OP about not having used the bike engine on the side path since the last letter, hence you have been reasonable and complied with the last request, and that that this complaint can only relate to the occasional starting of the motor on one isolated Saturday daytime when you were performing maintenance on the bike, as the bike has not been running at the property at any other time. Tell them that you feel your neighbours are being unreasonable and exaggerating, and that in your eye's there is no noise problem to be addressed. Say in the letter that you'd be pleased to meet the council officer to discuss the matter further, and demonstrate how loud your motorbike is (baffle back in of course!) if he feels it is necessary.

Feck them. Your bikes legal nothing they can do.................................

I start mine at 3am some mornings to go to work or come back at that time. I dont rev the bolo*ks off it just ride normally

I'm up for a BBQ at yours too. Let us know when. You could even pop a note through the doors of the nearest neighbours informing them that you will be holding a BBQ and there may be some noise and you're sorry for any inconvenience.