[News] Moving next to a venue...and then making a noise complaint

[METALMICKY]

The partner of the man whose noise complaint against Manchester’s famous Night & Day music venue could see it close has told a court he has become a “recluse” and lost 30kg due to stress.

Speaking at Manchester magistrates court on Wednesday, he said the couple had moved out in May as living near to the venue was not sustainable, due to the noise and fears for their safety after the complaint.

Night & Day were served with a noise abatement notice from Manchester city council in November due to complaints from a neighbouring flat. The couple moved into their home during lockdown and first submitted a complaint when the venue reopened.

Night & Day noise and stress made complainant a ‘recluse’, court told

Partner of man whose complaint led to abatement notice against Manchester music venue testifies to being driven out of their home

www.theguardian.com

Obviously someone suffering from stress and losing that much weight is nothing to be laughed at. But. They must have known that noise would be an issue when the venue inevitably re-opened after lockdown. Shirley.

I once rented a flat which had the Engine Rooms at the back of it. My landlady at the time asked once if we'd ever had to make a noise complaint and I was baffled. No, of course not. I knew the flat had a club next door. I knew there would be noise.

You hear similar stories of people moving into areas with a local pub and then complaining about drunk people being a bit loud on the way home. Yeah, it's annoying but you moved there.

I don't get it. Perhaps I'm being too unfair

No I'm with you on this one! My particular beef is with people who purchase a property near a school and then continually bitch about the traffic congestion at pick up and drop off times. Little Johny being dropped off in the Chelsea tractor is a sad new phenomenon but it's here to stay. As long as parents park legally with consideration and don't park across driveways etc, homeowners need to deal with it and remember that you don't own the road outside your house and have a divine right to park.

 

[Sid and the Sharknados]

Or moving into a village with a church and then complaining about bell ringing

I could have the sympathy with that if they were complaining the bell ringers were crap.
I think the bell ringers at St Cuthbert's in Darlington have been replaced with a single bloke with a bell tied to each arm and a large dose of LSD, they're astonishingly bad.

 

[Zeberdi]

Didn't a few pubs in Brighton lose their live music licenses because of exactly this? Obviously people have a right to live without constant noise intruding but a bit of common sense is needed surely?

I was a paralegal for a number of years in Conveyancing and Property among other things and as far as I recall, any local resident or or business owner can request a review of a venue’s licence under the powers of the Licensing act if they claim the noise amounts to causing a Public Nuisance or challenge the venue having the licensed renewed - there are quite strict conditions now (ie re. decibels, windows open, hours of live music etc) and the Council can impose further conditions/amendments if necessary.

Re the OP, if there is a licensed business in the area, it’s not up to estate agents but the purchaser’s Solicitor to organise the proper Local Authority Searches, including an online search of the local Licensing Register and the conditions for that premise’s licences. Or if renting, the prospective tenant can access the online licencing register themselves

The purchaser’s Surveyor should also highlight any potential noise issues - in this case a nightclub that had a foreseeable chance of causing noise intrusion once it re-opened. The Vendor must also disclose any existing complaints or discussions relating to the property or any properties nearby or run the risk being sued for Misrepresentation.

People that move next to churches, venues, pubs etc must expect a certain amount of noise and will have little address if they are the only people being effected and the Licensing Registers including any applications are publicly accessible so as others have said, do the research before buying or renting a new property! However if the venue is deemed to be causing a Statutory or public nuisance where the general public/or a group of citizens are effected (ie in breach of their licensing conditions) then they could be fined, asked to make changes to their activities or eventually have their licence invoked.

 

[MJsGhost]

You have to wonder about the Estate agents, cowboy charlatans who sold a property during lockdown knowing there would be no noise complaints in this time and that it would only be a problem once things return to normal?

Surely this is like getting a flat overlooking a railway line then complaining about trains coming through?

I have no love for estate agents, but it should have been blatantly obvious to anyone with 2 brain cells that there might be noise from music once lockdown was over.

Responsibility here is with the doughnut that bought the property, unless the estate agent played some kind of Jedi mind trick on the poor sap.

 

[Insel affe]

I really do not get this at all, you can not blame the estate agent, as they are selling the damn property, on commission and will input and omit certain factors when selling. It is down to the person taking out a mortgage for god knows how many years to check these things.
If you move to the city to be close to local amenities these include ones you do not use, but others will, that is a simple fact of city life.
It will be busy, there will be a lack of parking, there will be pubs, there will be noise, there will be people enjoying themselves when you are not.

I really do not get it, I lived in Camden, for the nightlife, I did not mind the sirens and shouting or drunks at night when I stayed in or popped to the shops, people are there to enjoy themselves and see live music at various venues, I did not mind coming out of my flat in the morning to find drunk people on the floor in a doorway, I knew there would be drug dealers out and about they were highly visible, it came with the territory.

When I met my wife, we went with flow, not even murders of strangers and people we knew put us off living there.
We then had our daughter and the minute we found out we sold the flat and bought a house in Brighton off Elm Grove, far enough but close enough to the city. We looked at everything plus and minus, surely that is one does....

If you don't, and moan, to be honest your a tw@t

I believe it is called gentrification, liking the kudos of a cool area or post code, but not too loud or when I don't want to be part of it, because actually now I am here, I realise, I don't fit in, have never been that wild actually and I am rather dull to be honest.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Wasn't there a case of a man moving next to a sports stadium and then spending several years trying to have the resident football team evicted?

John Catt. Fortunately, Brighton council ignored him but it cost the club several hundred pounds each time to fight their case.

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

Reminds me of these dickheads in my city. And wait for it...

One of the ones having the biggest sook was the former owner of the pub who bought an apartment next to it.

Hotel has only been there 160+ years though, might not have been obvious it was a pub. Maybe becomes obvious after 200 years.

Residents of apartment next to pub go to war

Homeowners next door to The Deck, a heritage listed pub in Geelong, Victoria, claim noise from the hotel can hit 80 decibels - equivalent to a lawnmower - and exceeds the legal level of 45.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Lyndhurst 14]

This is exactly what the Duke of Wellington pub in Shoreham is up against. They have had live music there going back to when Roy Chuter was the landlord. They are concerned that their live music legacy could be threatened by a new residential block which could be built next door. They fear the new neighbours could complain about the noise from the pub, talk about the tail wagging the dog. This was back in 2020 so not sure what the outcome was.


https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/18241889.fatboy-slim-rocks-pub-protect-live-music/

 

[thedonkeycentrehalf]

The BBC have been covering this well. One of the arguments is that the developers built it to a low spec which should not have been granted permission next to a music venue. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-63793296

 

[Binney on acid]

I live about 100 metres from a massive 13c church. They have the audacity to ring those bloody bells all hours of the day and night. Then there's those that attend church services. God only knows what it's going to be like on Christmas Eve ! Honestly, the nerve of some people......

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

A friend of a friend runs a venue down by the river in Kreuzberg; he had noise complaints from a local squat upheld by the council.

I have spoken to the guy about this and he was rather bemused but philosophical about the situation. And to be fair his venue operates semi-legally anyway.

It made me chuckle.

 

[Zeberdi]

I have no love for estate agents, but it should have been blatantly obvious to anyone with 2 brain cells that there might be noise from music once lockdown was over.

Please see post above yours - I worked in conveyancing for some years and I can tell you categorically, it is nothing to do with Estate Agents, they just want to sell or let the property

Caveat Emptor

“Let the Buyer Beware!’

This legal principle applied to all CONTRACTUAL purchases. Imposes the obligation on the purchaser to find out everything they need to know before buying the property.

Which is basically what everyone here is saying in various ways.

 

[Icy Gull]

I could have the sympathy with that if they were complaining the bell ringers were crap.
I think the bell ringers at St Cuthbert's in Darlington have been replaced with a single bloke with a bell tied to each arm and a large dose of LSD, they're astonishingly bad.

You have reminded me, when my son got married in a small Norman church we had to leave after the service through the area where the bell ringers were ringing the bells. One of them had BO that was so bad we were almost gagging as we went through the small area

 

[Peteinblack]

This nearly happened to a brilliant small music venue in Bristol (The Fleece, which I'll be going to tomorrow night as a matter of fact to see The Blue Aeroplanes); it was surrounded by several large office blocks which were empty at night, but these were then sold to property developers and turned into apartments. This, of course, put the future of the long-established music venue in jeopardy.

One of the owners of the venue immediately lobbied their local MP and Parliament, and got this reform introduced, which is supposed to prevent this situation.

New laws to protect music venues from noise complaints - Ward Hadaway

The principle of ‘agent of change’ protects clubs and music venues by transferring responsibility to “identify and solve any sound problems” at new properties back to developers, rather than the owners of nearby music venues. What effect will the changes have? Essentially, it means that a...

www.wardhadaway.com

 

[macbeth]

no sympathy whatsoever and then some. these idiots are absolutely destroying a cornerstone of the nighttime economy

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

Or moving into a village with a church and then complaining about bell ringing

And everything else…

Country folk mock 'entitled townies' moaning about rural life

Twitter users mocked 'entitled townies' clashing with locals in the countryside after a bizarre video emerged of a man marching up to a combine harvester in a field to complain about dust.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Questions]

When I was young I used to live by The Carioca Club in Worthing…. My old mum used to always sign residents partitions to get them shut down… I first went up there at 15….. It was so exciting …. Donna Summer - I feel Love was sensational back then.

 

[Rogero]

I can see this happening in Shoreham. The Duke of Wellington has a lively music schedule and flats will be built adjacent to it .

 

[abc]

Or moving into a village with a church and then complaining about bell ringing

That happened near us a few years ago. He also tried to close the nearby recycling site that had been operating for 20 years before he moved in nearby. He was a journalist for the mail on Sunday which may have illustrated his character and he used his profession to harangue and attack decent people. Of course, when he moved back to London because of his job, he suddenly lost interest in his cause

 

[A1X]

I remember seeing a story in a local paper about someone who bought a house next to a railway line, then complained when trains ran along those railway lines past his house. Some people I swear just get off on being busybodies.