How do you handle neighbors w/ loud late night parites?

[spima3]

Well, I think our neighbors are not going to be too friendly any longer.

They have 3 kids in their early 20's and since they all hit legal drinking age, they have been having quite a few parties. In the winter it wasn't bad, they kept it in the house, but almost every other weekend since summer started, they have had parties in the yard. We haven't said anything, because we kept thinking it's only one party, we'll let it go.

Last night, it was 3 am, and they were still outside partying. Loud talking, laughing, cursing, cars coming and going and in the morning they have garbage all over the road and on our side of the street. They don't clean up our side, or the road, only their yard.

The parents are home when all this occurs and it just blows my mind that they are just so rude and inconsiderate of their neighbors. DH went out around 3 am and asked them to quiet down, and got major attitude from the one son. Today when he was out w/ the dog, he ran into the oldest son and told him about the problems, and if they could please not have anything past midnight or take it in the house. The kid told him it was the 4th of July, but DH said yeah, maybe one o'clock, but 3 or 4 in the am is too much. Besides this has happened 4 or 5 times already. Kid told him nobody can dictate how they live their lives. DH said it's simple courtesy.

DH plans on talking to the father when he's around, but if they have been allowing this, I don't think it's going to do much good.

So long story, what is our next course of action, should we get the brush off from the father? I don't want animosity w/ the neighbors, we've lived here for 13 years, and except for some minor issues, it's been cordial.

But last night I went in to check on my youngest, 10 yr old, who was still up at 3 am because the noise was keeping her up. They're room faces the neighbors, but it wouldn't matter, with the way the sound carries at night, it was like they were in our backyard. We are no longer willing to put up with this, but what to do from here?

 

[golfgal]

Since you talked to the kids and they aren't going to do anything about it your next step is the police. Also, after midnight it was no longer the 4th .

Our neighbor kids had a couple parties last summer without parents home. They are over 21. It was getting pretty loud and DH went out and asked them to quite down. They apologized and moved inside. We didn't have any other problems after that. This summer they had one party and our neighbors across the street emailed us to find out what WE were going to do about the kids and their party . We weren't even home. We told them if they were having issues to either go outside and ask them to quiet down or call the police .

 

[themilesfamily]

IF the talk with the dad isn't effective, call the non-emergency police number and complain the next time it happens.

We had a similar situation in our neighborhood. It was a mom with some teenage kids. She would spend nights with her boyfriend and the second she walked out the door there would be a ton of kids piling into the house. These parties went on all night long. There would be yelling, fights outside, furniture and junk got thrown into the street. There was vandalism on our house once.

When the vandalism happened, I went and talked to the mom and she denied it was her kids and took a huge attitude with me. I got no help, the parties continued, etc.

I finally called the police the next time there was yelling out in the street in the middle of the night. They paid a visit and I will say after a couple of police visits, things started to improve. I hate to use the police in this way, but we had a toddler in the house at the time and the yelling constantly woke her up and scared her -- so it became kind of an emergency situation for us. Serious enough to call the police, I thought.

I'm all for parties, but people don't have to have them EVERY weekend and they don't have to go on in a loud way until 3 a.m.

 

[Christine]

Our neighbors behind us were big partiers. Almost every weekend during the summer. Their backyard backs up to mine which backs up to all the bedroom windows. They weren't quite about it either. It would be midnight and I would hear a grown man going "Wooooooo--Hoooooooooo" all night. Finally, we started calling the cops and they were happy to go by after 11PM. After a few times, they got the message and started quieting down. Now the parties are limited to once a year or so.

OP--I'm sure your area has a noise ordnance. They aren't allowed to make all that noise all night long--there's probably an hour at which you can make a legal complaint.

 

[Jennasis]

Call the police.

And be prepared for a neighbor feud.

 

[Tinijocaro]

Can you use white noise in each room where people are supposed to be sleeping? If you get nowhere with the parents, I would definitely call the cops.

 

[DawnCt1]

Since its become a pattern and not the once on occasion birthday party, graduation, etc. 10 pm is late enough. If there is another party before your DH gets to talk to the father and says emphatically, "no more noisy parties", call at 10:02. Tell them it is noisy and you have to get some sleep. If you get no response or a terrible response, call the police and file a noise complaint. There is no excuse and no one should have to put up with that.

 

[clh2]

Talk to the dad... and if doesn't improve quickly - please call the police.

I'm not an advocate for "calling the police" but if you've tried to work it out, and the other side isn't cooperating, really, there are few options that are effective.

At that point, i wouldn't worry about what the neighbors reaction is - you did in fact try to handle this like adults.

 

[DeniseinNS]

I would start calling the police and let them deal with it. We have had the same problem with a house 3 houses down from us, only it was probably 30+ 17-18 year olds partying and drinking and the parents were home at the time letting all theses underage kids drink Some people just need to have some common courtosy for their neighbours.

 

[busyshrew]

I agree with PPs - call the police.

And for good measure, get up as early as you can the next morning (between 8 and 9 am is good), and mow the lawn. Take your time, make sure to go over every little spot, and get the weed wacker out too... Then you can get the sprinkler set up, let the kiddies run through it and encourage as much loud-pitched childish squealing as possible.

 

[sunshine1178]

Mutter to my husband about what trash lives in our neighborhood.

 

[Gigi22]

Yes--and leaf blowers are plenty noisy too. Take your boom box out with you--and share all that good disco music!

 

[johnsontrio]

Agree with the other posters... You are going to need to call the police if you want any peace and quiet. People like that are oblivious to the fact that they are being rude and inconsiderate neighbors. I have no problem with the once or twice a year, big, loud, blow-out bashes and mind them even less if the neighbors are considerate enough to tell us about them in advance. It helps immensely when you know to keep the windows closed, the A/C on and sleep on the other side of the house if possible.

These neighbors don't have enough sense to realize that they are depriving you of a good night's sleep. They also are so short sighted as to not realize that the 4th of July isn't a huge drinkfest for everyone and that many people simply have a family get together and go to work the next day. What are their excuses for all the other nights of partying?

We just got rid of a terrible neighbor that was really the bane of our existence. He let his teenagers keep us up at all hours (2-3 am), laughing, cursing, playing basketball, skateboarding, and then in later years, underaged drinking, during the week and also on weekend nights. He would say "what do you want me to do they're just a bunch of kids?" Meanwhile my husband is getting up at 5am to work in a capacity where he is directly responsible for human lives. He was not interested in being reasonable or considerate and the police were called many times to quiet things down.

One word of advice: Call early in the evening, 10 or 11pm, whatever is your community standard for quiet hours. If you wait, thinking they are going to quiet down any minute now, you will find yourself falling asleep just to be woken up repeatedly at 12, 1am, etc... as they start to really get the party going. That leads to much anger and frustration. It's like dealing with toddlers, if you call at the same time, every time, they will eventually know that when they get out of hand, the police are coming. Good luck... Bad neighbors suck!

 

[ksjayhawks]

Don't mess with talking to the dad, just call the police the next time it happens. 11 p.m. is a pretty common time for quiet in most towns/cities, so if it is still loud around 11:15ish, call. Around here the police won't say who called.

 

[quasar4legs]

Another vote for calling the police.
The parents and the children already know that the noise must be disturbing everyone in the street on a regular basis and obviously don't care.

Hope you can get the issue resolved.

 

[spima3]

Well, it looks like it's going to be the police. DH didn't see the father around today, but saw the mother in the yard and went over to ask if he could talk to her about something.

She said that basically she already heard about it, and told him to just walk away as there was nothing to say. She added that if we needed to call the police then we should, just as they would if needed. Veiled threat?

Also, I found out that there is an ordinance with an 11 pm time limit, so the next time they have a party, IF they don't shut it down, that's what we're going to have to do.

I guess I'll say hello the next time I see any of them and see what happens? It's really sad, because up until now we've been friendly.

 

[usnuzuloose]

Not only call the police but I would also document everything. Everytime you talk to the neighbors, police, anything. Write out the conversation and who you talked to. Belive me it helps every little bit. Documenting is your wonderful friend. Hope this helps. Jo

 

[Jennasis]

Well, it looks like it's going to be the police. DH didn't see the father around today, but saw the mother in the yard and went over to ask if he could talk to her about something.

She said that basically she already heard about it, and told him to just walk away as there was nothing to say. She added that if we needed to call the police then we should, just as they would if needed. Veiled threat?

Also, I found out that there is an ordinance with an 11 pm time limit, so the next time they have a party, IF they don't shut it down, that's what we're going to have to do.

I guess I'll say hello the next time I see any of them and see what happens? It's really sad, because up until now we've been friendly.

Meh...doesn't sound like a veiled threat to me. Sounds like the mom doesn't want to deal with her unruly adult kids and is suggesting (and maybe even hoping) you will call the cops. Calling the cops on you would be a threat if you were doing something you shouldn't be.

However, as I said before, you do run the risk of starting a neighbor feud. Sounds like they are the type to perpetuate that type of stuff.

 

[Pumbaa_]

your choice is to live with it or involve the authorities. There is no middlge ground with these folks. I would not confront them again, just call the police they will come by and shut them down. No confrontations with the neighbors, keep to the wave and hopefully it will end soon

good luck!

 

[snarlingcoyote]

Meh...doesn't sound like a veiled threat to me. Sounds like the mom doesn't want to deal with her unruly adult kids and is suggesting (and maybe even hoping) you will call the cops. Calling the cops on you would be a threat if you were doing something you shouldn't be.

However, as I said before, you do run the risk of starting a neighbor feud. Sounds like they are the type to perpetuate that type of stuff.

Sounds exactly like what the mom is hoping will happen.