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Sound Equipment To Prove Harassment By Neighbours.

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magicbeatledel | 18:11 Mon 23rd Mar 2020 | Technology
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Hi all,
I really need help. We are being deliberately harassed by a Muslim family (This is relevant, as you will see later) who moved in above us a year and a half ago. The noise is absolutely intolerable, and is driving us crazy. They run, jump, hammer their floor/our ceiling deliberately, throw things on the floor. I believe this is a campaign of hate, designed to get us evicted.
My wife suffers from depression and is becoming suicidal over it. In turn, I am becoming homicidal over it. I seriously really want to kill the whole family because of it.

When they first moved in we gave them the benefit of the doubt, as we thought they were doing D.I.Y, and it would all quieten down after a while.
After 3 months the noise was Continuing. I first bumped into the husband in the hall. I politely brought the subject up. He said (by a strange coincidence) not to worry, they were getting carpets fitted that day. Well, that was a lie. The noise carried on. Hard thumping, banging and running and jumping. A couple of weeks later, I went and knocked on their door asking if they could at least take their shoes off as they are old victorian buildings. He said “We don’t wear shoes indoors, look...” and pointed at his feet which did have shoes on. He blatantly lied to my face. I was gobsmacked!
A few weeks later (the noise never letting up) I was woken up at 5am and kept up with it. I am a train driver and responsible for thousands of lives every day. I need my sleep. I do late turns and dont get in until 2am most nights. I dont get up till midday. This day, I was knackered! I phoned up work to see if I could get a A/L day. They said no, as they had no spares. When it got to 8am, I was livid! The next time he banged, I banged back. Did he stop? No! He banged back multiple times, even harder! The next day, on my way to work, I saw him in the street. I went up politely to ask him to keep it down. He just started shouting at me in the street. He actually accused me of banging on his ceiling. I said the only reason I banged on his ceiling was because he had kept me up for hours deliberately banging on mine. He then said he would call the police if I did it again. Absolute joke! I went home and said to the missus that these people are trouble and we are best just putting up with it. For the next year, we didnt say a word about it, despite the continuous harassment. Then, (a year later) out of the blue we got a letter from our housing association. They had put a complaint in, saying we were harassing them. They accused us of the very things they were doing to us. And they said they believed it was because of their race and ethnicity. Absolute pack of lies. Its the other way around, and this just proved to us that it was deliberate. Since then, they have been intolerable! Seriously, its virtually every day, and is intermittent from about 7am until about 9pm when they go to bed. I have complained to the council many times, who do nothing! I have finished work only to find my wife inconsolable and walking along the thames after being driven out of our home by it, and threatening to throw herself in the river.
I came to the conclusion a long time ago that they are trying to bait us. We have a surround Sound System from our old flat (which was sound proof) years ago. However, we never use it. We hardly play music, and we are pretty quiet all round. However, last week, after saying to the missus not to retaliate because they are bating us, I retaliated. The running, jumping, hammering, stamping etc was so bad, I turned on the Surround Sound and put it on loudly for 2 hours. I was stupid! They called the noise people and went silent themselves. Anyway, I have been trying to catch the noise on my phone and camcorder for a year and a half now. No joy! The sound is low frequency and wont pick up. What sound equipment could I use to prove whats going on? I have a ‘Handycam HDR-PJ810’ camcorder. Please help!
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https://www.onlinespyshop.co.uk/blog/is-it-legal-to-record-my-noisy-neighbours/ https://www.soundonsound.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=29991
18:41 Mon 23rd Mar 2020
i dont understad how you think they are trying toget you evicted if they have neen doing it isnce they moved in.
I had a similar situation nearly 20 years ago. It was thumping bass music at all times during the night. One night it went on till 5am.

Environmental Health provide noise recording equipment and recorded evidence against her. She accused both the neighbour on the other side of her and me of racism. In the end and after around 18 months of this she was prosecuted and found guilty of noise nuisance.

Contact your Council Environmental Health Office.
where i work we have an audio department for noise complaints, try contacting your councillor or MP. Keep a diary.
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Because they are lying. Why lie if you are innocent? Why make up lies and also bring race into it, unless you have a hidden agenda? (Ie trying to get us evicted) Did you not read what they have been doing to us? They are causing us untold tremendous stress, and they don’t care. There is no reason to bang hammers (or whatever they are using) repeatedly on the floor, and then tell the council it is us doing it. Because they go absolutely quiet once (after baiting you all day to turn up your telly or put the Surround Sound on) they have called the Council, proving they can when they want to. If you think it is me lying, ask yourself this question? Why would I come on here asking advice about expensive recording equipment if they aren’t doing what I said they are doing? I am simply asking for advice on sound equipment that can pick up low frequency (not low sound) noise to prove to the council that it is them, and not us that are running, jumping, and bashing the ceiling.
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it's difficult isnt it - it would take a hell of a lot of effort and commitment to bang on the floor with a hammer for 14 hours a day every day no matter how much you peed them off. Looking at it dispassionately from what you have said, it sounds like it could be noise of the sort you get between flats, from people just going about their lives. Unfortunately the bottom flat always gets the worst of the deal, and the upstairs people might not even realise that just walking from one room to another is sounding so loudly in your flat. You say "He actually accused me of banging on his ceiling" but that is what you did! so it' not a lie (well actually you banged on your ceiling i suppose. I think the suggestion of getting on touch with EH is a good one, or even the HA to get a bit of soundproofing
good advice from tigger blue
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More subtle. How about telling him that you’ve both been proved positive for the corvi19 virus, and that you need your rest, peace and quite, as you are self isolating. Also that you don’t want to keep coming up to his flat, cough, cough, to ask him to keep it down?
No Peter PEdant, I do not require her majesty’s hotels.
Sometimes a mans got to make a stand. Enjoy your seat.
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Bedknobs, Again, you seem to be implying that I am lying. I never said they are continuously banging for 14 hours a day. I said it was intermittent all day between about 7am-9pm, and was a combination of running, jumping, chucking heavy things on the floor, and banging something like a hammer. And they ARE lying. Like I said, the one time I banged back (after they kept me up banging the ceiling) was over a year ago. The letter we got from the council a year LATER, accused us of continuously banging the ceiling which is rubbish. I do shout up ‘STOP RUNNING!’, or ‘STOP JUMPING’ etc, but thats it. So they know it is causing us distress. They dont stop. They dont care. In fact, it makes them do it more!
However, by your sarcastic tone you obviously have your own agenda to imply I’m lying. If you don’t believe me, go away then. You are not helping. I have come here for help, not to be put on trial.

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