Question: How do we deal with the intimidating bully next door who makes loud and unnecessary noise all day long?
How do we deal with an intimidating bully? We are relatively new owner/residents in a tower block in QLD – 7 apartments per floor. The neighbour’s door is very close to ours at one end of the corridor. He has been renting his place for several years and works from home. We are semi-retired and also work from home.
Our neighbour rises and begins making noise from 4.30 am every day. We are woken by loud kitchen noises, the garbage disposal unit and his dog barking loudly. These noises continue throughout the day.
We tried friendly discussions and even a note slipped under his door, but not much has changed. We don’t want to feel uncomfortable every time we open our door to leave, or to come home. If we lodge an application through the Commissioner’s Office, we will have escalated the situation, even if the outcome goes our way for achieving our right to peaceful enjoyment of our home.
We’ve spent over a million dollars purchasing what we thought was our last home. We weren’t expecting our new life to be tainted by a bully half our age.
Answer: Any option comes with pros and cons and only you can make the decision.
I can see you are in a difficult spot and you’ve articulated the challenges well. The first thing I suggest is not referring to this as ‘bullying’. As offended as you are by the behaviour, bullying has no actual definition in strata legislation and it tends to have a specific meaning not applicable to this situation. Doing so will remove a little of the emotion from the situation.
After that, you have decisions to make. Do you undertake the formal processes against this person, which would include by-law enforcement or pursuing a nuisance against them? That will take a lot of time, money and effort and as you say, runs the risk of inflaming the situation. You will need to compile a log of these breaches, if you haven’t already done so.
Do you simply ‘do nothing’ and find a way to live with the situation, hoping the person eventually ceases the behaviour, or moves out? Maybe that will happen, although you have zero control over that.
There may also be alternative dispute resolution options to pursue. Again, that will take time and effort.
Any option comes with pros and cons and only you can make the decision. Actually, I think you have already made the decision, judging by your final comment about having spent over a million dollars on your final home. That tells me you think your need to protect your investment outweighs other considerations. Time now to take a deep breath and follow through.
Chris Irons
Strata Solve
E: chris@stratasolve.com.au
P: 0419 805 898
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