Hi, I rent one of the houses i used to live in. Last night, i received a call from one of my former neighbours. The guy was telling me how my tenants have been driving him insane with the loud music they've been playing. It all started around xmas and does happen fairly often. Although, there is no music late at night, he still finds it pretty annoying as he cannot unwind or relax after work having to put up with all the noise. He is now seriously considering selling up and going! What do I do in this situation? On one hand: the tenants are causing nuisance and the neighbours should not have to put up with it. On the other hand, I dont necessary want to drive the tenants away? I did tell my former neighbour that he should consider contacting the police or environmental officer from the local council should this noise-a-thon continues, but what should i do next?

Oh no! You need to balance your tenants rights to enjoy their property as well as your neighbours rights to enjoy theirs. Pity their interpretation of 'enjoyment' is different . On a more serious note, does the tenancy agreement have a clause referring to disturbance to neighbours? If it does, you can simply write a formal but polite letter to your tenants pointing to the clause concerned. Hopefully, they'd be reasonable about it.

Cheers, IvoLets. There is a clause about causing nuisance and/or disturbance. In the end I decided to talk to them. They seemed to be ok about it, but whether they will take any notice remains to be seen.

Not too long ago i was faced with similar situation as your former neighbour! I live in a terraced house with the shop next door and a flat above it. This means that flat's living room is wall to wall to my bedroom. A young lad (son of the shopowner) lives there and quite naturally likes loud music, guitar playing and friends. I dont mind a bit of entertainment myself but not too often or too late and not when i'm at work the following day! It got a bit out of hand: we exchanged knocking on each other walls, i went round few times, but he was wise enough not to answer the door. I rang the police, they did not want to get involved. The guy, however, was nice enough to offer to come round the following day to see if the face of authority will have some influence. I declined as did not want to bother them unnecessesarily. Could not get through to environmental services in the middle of the night. In the end i spoke to the shop owner when he eventually appeared. He agreed to talk some sense into his boy and the last month has been ok. Now, i'm thinking of the options: to move the house (not easy at the moment), move the bedroom or somehow insulate the wall. Any suggestions how it could be done (i mean insulating)?

Are there any windows to close the wall in question? If not, fitted wardrobes with lots of clothing inside could be a solution.