This is a RANT.......sorry but what would you do??

[kazam401]

I apoligise for this before I start but am feeling SO SO fed up at the moment I feel I need to vent my anger somewhere and this is 1 outlet of a few.

Just received a letter off the local council regarding "excessive barking" from our dog Miles (Jack Russell 5 years old) "to such an extent as to cause annoyance to nearby residents. Under the Environment Protection Act 1990 action can be taken through a Magistrates Court against any persons who are responsible for noise so loud or unreasonable as to constitute a noise nuisance. Such action can be taken directly by the complainant."

I know this has come from the flats that have recently been completed next to our house.
We now live next door to some 100+ persons whereas before we lived next to no one.
We have suffered 5 years of noise, smoke, dust and vibrations while these so called "luxury appartments" (rabbit hutches or pokey flats as we call them)were being thrown up & we regulary get noise when the workmen come round to fix there draines yet again. We have complained at times due to the work but got absolutely no where.

So some miserable git complains that a dog barks..............and we get a threatening letter saying we may end up in court , presumably with a fine if the complaintant decides that's the way they want it to go.

The poor dog obviously doesn't know he's not allowed to bark...........so when to we tell him he's BANNED from barking?

As far as the complaint goes it's totaly unjustified, someone is in the house 90% of the time and Miles is asleep in the kitchen 95% of the time, he is never left outside while we are out, he does bark when someone comes to the door, but that is his job, when we are out playing in the back garden he does bark when he gets excited, but myself & the kids are generally making more noise, perhaps they will complain about our excessive noise next when we are outside enjoying ourselves & BAN us from using our back garden, that seems to be the way its going now.

When Miles does bark he gets reprimanded by us as we know it's annoying.

This complaint was sent to the council on the 7th November 2 days after bonfire night...........perhaps we should poke his ear drums out as his distress at all the fireworks going off must have upset our miserable neighbours.........gits.

This place is becoming totally intolerable & the sooner we get the blue stickers in our passports for emigration the better, so there goes a time served Engineer with 25 years experience, a Ward Sister at Blackpool Vic with 15 years experience & 2 very bright children who should be the backbone of the future of this country................we won't be looking back.

Thats about it feel a bit better now.................sorry

[windsurfer]

People have nothing better to do than complain. Dogs bark, babies cry and thick moany people breed! facts of life. Am sorry to hear such rubbish. Do councils have nothing better to do? I would have thought litter, under age drinking, lack of police on the streets would be far higher on the agenda but no, lock the dog up!
Sad to think you have to leave the country though!
At least its the weekend!
(wonder how many people from the flats will come back drunk and disorderly tonight!)

[Chillitt]

dogs bark thats what they do. they have to PROVE the dog is barking at an unreasonable volume or at an unreasonable time. that should be interesting to see. i would write the council a lengthy and extremely polite letter(best not do it today.) asking them how many barks in a day or what volume constitutes unreasonable. ask them how they have assessed the dogs barking, and for a copy of any assesment. ask them for the exact date and time of any unreasonable barking. in short become a complete pain in the arris to them. but dont fall out with the neighbours, cos when you sell up, it will affect the resale value! good luck

[joe112]

dogs bark thats what they do. they have to PROVE the dog is barking at an unreasonable volume or at an unreasonable time. that should be interesting to see. i would write the council a lengthy and extremely polite letter(best not do it today.) asking them how many barks in a day or what volume constitutes unreasonable. ask them how they have assessed the dogs barking, and for a copy of any assesment. ask them for the exact date and time of any unreasonable barking. in short become a complete pain in the arris to them. but dont fall out with the neighbours, cos when you sell up, it will affect the resale value! good luck

LOL!!!

Good answer - that'll almost certainly get the complaint dropped!

[Bogus]

I,ll bet youre hopping, but youre lucky its not an ASBO or worse. If these ********s want to get you they can, and its easy, it only needs two or three of them to say something and its suddenly true.
They can accuse you of anything they damn well like and the law will only help you if youve got bottomless pockets. Im sure youll get plenty of smart advice on here, but for the most part its usually worthless against such people
They obviously lead pretty pathetic lives, but hey, this is the society that weve got because their type of behaviour is encouraged, applauded and theres an army of grey suited buearocrats just waiting for stuff like this so they can throw their weight around.
It trivialises the very real noise nuisances and the bad neighbour behaviour which exists but what do they care.

I hope it all goes away but maybe its time to move and then return late at night. GOOD LUCK

Bogus

[M35A2]

Ask them for the complainants address under the freedom of information act. The other post was right. They need evidence to prove your dog is barking. I also think it has to be after 2300hrs at night. If your dog doesn't bark for 95% of the time I wouldn't worry about it. DO write a letter to the council asking for proof of the aligation. If they see that you are clued up they wont persue it.

[andrewlee31]

they are all assholes etc etc...

but you can get the collars that control barking, they either emit a high pitched sound that the dog don't like, or give a water spray. they only activate when the dog barks, and soon learn that barks get unpleasant. worked on my barney, he wont bark with his collar on. take it off and its open season on as much noise as possible!! so if hes in the garden for any length of time he has it on and is quiet. Not an Ideal solution but hope it gives something else to think about

[Esamed]

Had a case similar down here, was on the local news.

A playgroup which has been using a particaluar village hall for ages has now had a noise enforcment placed on them, can't remember the exact details but it was brought about because on the ajoining land some houses were built and yep you guessed it. However it took only one complaint and the enforcement was placed on them, now the kids can't play outside for more than 15mins a day. Needless to say when the TV crew went to interview the old git he refused.

On the dog barking issue I have a neighbour who goes out leaving back door wide open and the dog barks non stop even when they are in its never told to shut up or brought in. I have a Jack Russel Cross and this now copies this dog, so when it starts mine legs in down the garden barking too.

If you can't beat em join em.

Steve

[Bogus]

Ask them for the complainants address under the freedom of information act. The other post was right. They need evidence to prove your dog is barking. I also think it has to be after 2300hrs at night. If your dog doesn't bark for 95% of the time I wouldn't worry about it. DO write a letter to the council asking for proof of the aligation. If they see that you are clued up they wont persue it.

Are you sure about the evidence bit? If as little as two people, from separate households say it happened, then as far as plods concerned it happened, and maybe that applies to councils too. As far as getting their address is concerned, that only lets you know who to scowl at or whos windows to put in if youre that way inclined. Nice to know who the enemy is but if youre a pretty straight sort who is not going to resort to serious scare tactits useless info
If these are people whos aim in life is to make yours a misery for whatever reason then please rest assured they can do so with impunity and the forces of law and council are going to side with them.

Bogus

[madcampbell]

i would write the council a lengthy and extremely polite letter(best not do it today.) asking them how many barks in a day or what volume constitutes unreasonable. ask them how they have assessed the dogs barking, and for a copy of any assesment. ask them for the exact date and time of any unreasonable barking. in short become a complete pain in the arris to them. but dont fall out with the neighbours, cos when you sell up, it will affect the resale value! good luck

This is the righ Approach
in short become a complete pain in the arris to them
These Office bods want an easy life so give em grief in a constructive way....

[M35A2]

Are you sure about the evidence bit? If as little as two people, from separate households say it happened, then as far as plods concerned it happened, and maybe that applies to councils too. As far as getting their address is concerned, that only lets you know who to scowl at or whos windows to put in if youre that way inclined. Nice to know who the enemy is but if youre a pretty straight sort who is not going to resort to serious scare tactits useless info
If these are people whos aim in life is to make yours a misery for whatever reason then please rest assured they can do so with impunity and the forces of law and council are going to side with them.

Bogus

Just because someone complains about the noise, that doesn't mean anything. Noise comes in volume. They have to prove that the volume is above acceptible levels.

[da SLUG man]

go somewhere that you have to book in... e.g. a hotel or xmas party with tickets and take photos and speak to lots of people!

get friends to go round and threaten neighbours

neighbours stop complaining and you can prove that you were no-where near!
possibly after a short time they'll move away!


if you had a dog before they moved in, then there's surely no complaint... it's like complaining about road noise after moving next to a main road!
people complain about airport noise... after moving near an airport!!... WTF that's all about??

[BUSHWHACKER]

Ahem!

Yes received one of these letters, we have two dobermans.

1. Environmental Health receive thousands of these nuisance complaints that are never actioned and waste tax payers time blah blah.
2. It's up to you to monitor your dog while you are out of the property and test the noise for yourself, keep a log of the experiment etc. It's a pain but you need to find out for yourself and then use it to defend your animals (if nothing found of course). I can advise of what we did if you want ideas.
3. If your dog is barking, swallow pride hard and get help, there is a solution.
4. Communicate with the local Council, my officer was very chatty and very helpful and respected the fact that I took the time to be concerned too. This also helps the timewaster(if so) look a right prat when/if he complains again.
5. It also helped, however, that the doberman is not an excessive barker as a breed, they only bark when they need to.
6. Find out (via CCTV) if the dog/s is/are being aggrivated too. Our nextdoors lil'brat shouts down the drive, until the day I frightened the sh**t out her [best not to ask how, it is an ex council estate (only understand one language) and we're a very quiet couple normally, anyway it doubled the effect...lmao]. Plus I found other more worthy culprits barking in other houses, which I have to say bugs me now more than ever knowing what I know now.

I might still have the letter I wrote to my 'officer' if you want a peek.

That's all I can think of for now..

Dont worry there's many more stages to go through before action is taken against you. Plus you have a right to know if they/neighbour starts monitoring with the required LEGAL equipment.

Keep editing post if I think of more: in the meantime just wanted to say I was off work at the time and no way were the dogs playing up anyway, a good point to made in your case if the same.
Mrs B

[kazam401]

Thanks for that Bushwacker,

But as I said before, this accusation is totally unfounded. Someone is in the house 90% of the time & we NEVER leave Miles alone for any significant length of time. he's very rarely left outside if we do leave the house and he only yaps when someone comes to the door or down the drive (if he is out the back).
We know he doesn't bark when he is left on his own, as often we sit in our front room which is a fair way from the kitchen & we never hear a peep out of him.
We now think that someone has got it in for us as the letter states more than once "dogs" plural, whoever (if anyone......more on that later) has lodged this complaint does not know our family or family members.

It will be interesting to hear the letter of complaint read out to me on Monday morning when I telephone the official, just to be able to judge whether its legit or not.

I have been having several heated conversations with the council regarding the removal (or lack of it) of our houshold rubbish lately, and would hate to think that these aligations are just a fabrication of someones twisted imagination.

We consider these aligations as a slight on our family & the way we live our lives and will be DEMANDING an apology off the instigator, otherwise we are going to seek legal advice & sue the complaintant for slander and defamation of character.

That's what I'm going to be telling them come Monday morning anyway

[Dunno]

Been There Done that as they say!!

Some neighbours just want to moan. Mine have complained about the dog and said they did not want to make it "OFFICIAL" as the wife had horses at the time and they did not want her to loose them - LAUGH, I ****ED MY SELF!! I told them to "GO FORTH AND MULTIPLY" They have moaned about the kids making a noise, Balls against the fence, the gate banging and suggested I put a closer on that (oops still not fitted!), also people parking behind the houses.

As to the dog barking we had one of the collars and it did work with him and he has now settled down and I never have to use it now.

Your Neighbours will have to keep records, and the authority have to monitor and witness the noise, but so long as you are taking steps to sort it the authority will probably leave it at that.

Good luck