Hi all, sorry if this is too long - it's a long longer story! I'm posting this here to give courage to those experiencing bad neighbour problems, because you can do something about it.

So, just for background, I moved into my home in 2004, a 1900s mid terrace with not quite paper thin walls, next to an elderly lady, and a middle aged couple. The middle aged couple rowed from time to time, nothing too bad, and the elderly lady was practically silent. The rest of the neighbourhood was quiet, nearly all of the time.

Before Christmas last year, the elderly ladies' granddaughter moved in. This woman, in her 30s, was known by police, and the council and also to be a drug user and a nuisance - having been evicted from her previous council property (after considerable effort from her previous neighbours too). All quiet so far. At some point in February this year, the elderly lady passed away, leaving the property to her daughter in law (not granddaughter), but I didn't know this until later in the month (when the funeral procession left the road).

Late February (before I knew she had passed), there was an almighty row, with what sounded like furniture smashing and I could hear the granddaughter screaming 'just f*****g stab me then'. I called the police straight away (and they took quite some time to respond), and the council the next day out of concern for the elderly ladies' welfare, and so began a few months of hell for me and several other neighbours.

The granddaughter had moved in with her own children, all of which were bad apples to say the least (aged 15 to 19 ish, and all known to the police). Every Friday and Saturday was the same saga, they would play music during the day, switch off at  6 or 7pm, then come home and start again any time between 10pm and 2am, lasting until 4 or 5 am. There were groups of youths outside drinking all day long, damaging cars, various people coming and going, and drug dealing, and more fights. I even witnessed the youngest boy, probably about 15 yrs stealing milk and yoghurt from a doorstep. I now harbour a deep resentment for the singer Adele, and have flashbacks when I hear her voice.

Several times I called the police, but it wasn't a priority call, and the family would watch for the police cars (turning off lights and music when they saw the cars). Only when fights started did they immediately respond.

By mid April, I was beside myself. Wasn't eating, listening to every little noise, not sleeping, crying at the thought of leaving my home and pets alone while I was at work, not wanting to go home from work, scared of what I might find etc. I felt very alone, with no-one to talk to who would understand just what it felt like to be where I was.

The local council Anti Social Behaviour Unit had been made aware by numerous complaints from residents and the police reports that these people were making lives a misery, and we all received a hand delivered letter asking us to contact them mid April. Although the ball had started to roll, I had already lost all hope - had started to investigate selling up and getting the hell out of here by this point.

So I phoned them, turns out they were squatting, and I agreed to speak to the Environmental Protection Service department. These guys were very helpful, and are key to making progress on these sorts of cases. I had to call them several times over the next few days, and the family were served with a noise abatement order a few days later. Just as the EPS suspected, the family broke it (over the royal wedding weekend I believe), several calls were made to their late night service, but the family were so switched on, they would keep an eye out for anyone looking at the property; EPS were never able to visit my property to listen, partly out of my own fear of repercussions from next door, and them being spotted! Do not fret - read on...

On May the 14th the family were issued with a section 21 - yep, an eviction notice. It doesn't quite end here though...

The last time I had to call the police was when the stroppy teenage girl of the family (who abused a kebab leaflet dropper once) came back with her under age friends at siily o'clock and they started their party antics again, this time the back window was smashed by one of the gang. Now that the tables had turned and I took great pleasure in calling the police, and sitting in the dark watching them all scatter, only to be caught and chucked in the back of a police car. Ha ha ha!

And here we are now, on the 28th of July, and apart from the noise of the front door being repaired, furniture being removed, and the occasional visit to check post, it's been blissfully quiet (the house is still empty)

So don't give up hope with noisy neighbours, I know all too well that it can seem like your world is actually falling apart, and you can feel helpless. My mum said not to run away and let them win, but her experience of a noisy neighbour was limited, and its not about winning or losing, it's about quality of life. Speak to your neighbours (those that you know and can trust), MPs, anti social units, the police - try everything.

And just so you know, there is no law that says you cannot make noise between 11pm and 7am - it doesn't exist. If noise nuisance disturbs you in your home you should report it - even if that's a call to the local police station to record that you called.