Noisy tenants make life ‘hell’ for neighbour with illness

Over 50 noise calls to the council, two trespass notices and eight months later, Catherine feels like she is still at square one with her neighbours.

The main difference between March and now is the increase in medication prescribed by her doctor.

Catherine – who did not want her last name used – suffers from chronic insomnia, fatigue, severe anxiety disorder, and is in the process of being diagnosed with a stress-related disorder causing abdominal pain.

Earlier in the year, before a group of new tenants moved into the house next door, the resident in the suburb of Woodridge had been recovering from depression and just come off anti-depressants.

Just as the withdrawals from the drug subsided, the noise began.

It could range from loud music in the day to night – maybe on a week day, then in the weekend. What sounded like computer games would be “thundering through the house”, while loud music “drowns out our TV”, she said.

Separately, there was “yelling and swearing” from the property which was just a few metres away from Catherine and her husband’s bedroom. She suspected windows and doors were often left open, allowing the noise to travel.

“It’s like going camping with them ... They know we’re here but they just don’t care, that’s the problem.”

At most, there would be four quiet consecutive days before something would start again.

The couple made dozens of phone calls to the council call centre and had lengthy communication with the Wellington City Council’s acoustic engineer, Lindsay Hannah.

Staff at the call centre were “lovely”, she said. Sometimes noise control would not show up or would arrive three hours after the complaint was made, by which time the noise had subsided.

Council spokesperson Victoria Barton-Chapple said nine separate complaints were investigated of which only one was deemed excessive, in May.

Council’s environmental noise officers also undertook their own investigation and witnessed no excessive noise, she said.

“Recent assessments have been from the position suggested by the complainant; however, the noise was still considered reasonable by the officer.

“Enforcement has not been escalated as there is no evidence of ongoing excessive noise.”

Catherine felt invalidated to be told there was no excessive noise when most noise readings were taken from the street, despite repeated requests to take them from the back of their property.

Hannah, from the council, told her: “Based on the site visit and site layout and geometry of the area and sites I would expect the noise if deemed excessive at your property to be audible at the street also and wider area.”

The couple attempted to get in touch with their neighbour’s property manager, Mark Dickison, but were largely ignored.

Dickison had issued a 14-day notice letter to the tenants but noise levels returned after

“It’s like going camping with them ... They know we’re here but they just don’t care, that’s the problem.” Catherine

the period ended, Catherine said.

“It's clear that the expectation is for tenants to not make any noise, this is one unrealistic and in breach of their rights as tenants,” Dickison wrote in correspondence with Catherine.

Showing up unannounced and uncomfortable with his attitude, Catherine had Dickison trespassed from their property.

Dickison declined to comment when contacted by The Post. “I’m not in a position to comment, it’s with the police,” he said.

Two months later, Catherine’s husband was trespassed from their neighbour’s property.

The neighbours would occasionally inform them via a text message when having a party. But other times, Catherine’s husband would have to text or knock on the door to try and quieten the noise.

“It’s not about who they are, it’s behaviour,” Catherine said.

One tenant, who asked not to be named, said the number of complaints were “definitely not warranted”.

Three men, aged in their late-20s, lived at the property, he said. “It’s easy to assume we’re the bad guys because we’re the younger people but it’s not always as it seems.

“Every time the noise has been audible but not excessive so we’ve been within our rights to be making the noise we’ve been making.”

He blocked Catherine’s husband’s number after he had police issue a trespass notice because he was “sick of the harassment”.

“They expect us to live like monks and it’s just not going to happen.”

Moving out of their first home had crossed Catherine’s mind. But with limited part-time work, it was financially not feasible, she said.

“My health has been ruined and I’m thinking ... I’m going to have to find somewhere else to live, I’m going to have to leave but how do I do that when I’m too unwell to work.”

When Catherine raised issues around her increased medical prescription and the “indifference” her neighbours showed, she was disappointed by the responses she received from Hannah.

“This is private information to you and not any of my business,” wrote Hannah.

A couple of weekends ago, the neighbours appeared to be away which was “fantastic”, Catherine said. “It was like having our house back again.

“I don’t know what the future holds and living with that uncertainty is really bad for my mental well-being.

“I can’t actually live like this, and I can’t get this year of my life back ... My life is not how it used to be.”