Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Barking dog... complaint not getting through.
A nearby house was keeping a dog out in their back garden last year for hours and hours, sometimes at night (say past 11pm). The dog would bark endlessly, sounding distressed and lonely. I would only be aware of him when my home was quiet, so it took months before I started thinking something needed to be done.
Firstly, locating the dog was difficult, it meant going round the block. I finally did it one day that the barking was really bad. Met a couple of other neighbours also checking on him, who explained where the dog lived and added that he had had a better life (I understood then that he wasn't looked after properly). Back home and onto the RSPCA, who weren't interested as I couldn't say whether or not the dog was injured or in danger – plus I hadn't kept a diary of start/end of barking times and my estimation wasn't reaching their minimum criteria.
A year later. I can still hear a dog bark/howl in the evening and am assuming it's the same one, or at least from the same house. This time I wrote to the council's enforcement team. Took some ten days to get the response below... which isn't exactly a response, as it's telling me to phone instead – something I chose not to do because the problem is not urgent, is intermittent and difficult to track.
Is their reply saying that no one will read my email, that I have to complain about the noise as it happens (not easy) and that, basically, nothing can be done for that poor dog? Am I dealing with the wrong service?
Am sorry if I sound pretty useless in this case, but I do feel very useless in working out the procedure – I can't seem to fit the cog in the machine.
Haringey Enforcement Team response
We are not able to respond to website complaints immediately as the mailbox is not continually monitored. If you do suffer any further noise nuisance can you please follow the procedure below.
To contact the service, please telephone 020 8348 3148 if out of hours or if the problem occurs during the hours of 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday, please contact our day time customer services team on 020 8489 1000. Noise related and other relevant calls will be passed to the duty enforcement officer. You will be advised if there is no officer on duty.
If there is an officer on duty it is our aim to call back complainants within 30 minutes and in any event within an hour. If there is agreement between the duty officer and the complainant that a visit is appropriate then an arrangement is made for an assessment visit to be undertaken. We aim to visit within 1 hour and currently achieve this 70% of the time. At the assessment visit the duty officer is able to give feedback on any proposed action and offer advice on action that should be taken if future noise is experienced.
If you would like to comment about the service you receive please complete our customer survey. www.haringey.gov.uk/enforcementconsultations.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Sarah_24 on
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I also submitted written complaints to the council, I received an acknowledgement that they received it but other than that I have had no response and that was 6 years ago so they had plenty of time to get back to me. I think that is the auto-response that tells you to call to report the noise as it is happening. I have problem neighbours, share a livingroom and bedroom wall with them. They don't work and party endlessly. My experience of reporting noise is that you have to call as the noise is happening, then wait on them calling you back, by which point if the noise if still happening then they will attend. If it is not still happening then they won't come out and they will advise you to call back when the noise is happening again.
At 3am or 4am when I usually call it takes about 1-1.5hrs from placing the phone call to having someone attend.
I know people are going to say that I just need to talk to my neighbours but he isn't a very nice person, one woman asked him to turn it down as she had work in the morning and he screamed at her, calling her a f@#king C--- for 10 mins out in the car park. After 6 years of living beside these people I have developed my own ways of dealing with the noise. None of which involve the council, having them involved didn't seem to make any difference and I was the only one suffering from having to wait up for them during the night (as they had to come in to my flat and witness the noise). Two months ago someone from their party was stabbed and died outside the flat and within a week they were placed back in there and the noise, although slightly dampened just started again. These people are council tenants and just seem happy to do whatever they want and intimidate anyone who tries to ask them to act resonably.
So not meaning to hijack your question but I would be very interested in knowing the answer too.
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Permalink Reply by Isabelle on
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Hmm... I do have a similar issue with the party wall and neighbour listening to really LOUD TV till late! so I feel sorry for you... I've not attempted to call the council because, when I'm in bed at midnight, I find putting earplugs in helps to fall asleep better than filing a complaint. He's not particulary easy to talk to but I found that leaving a couple of letters helped a little... Still not enough, so I'm in the process of insulating the wall on my side (already failed the first part, attempting another method)... might only half work because of the chimney breast, but I'm trying.
I've been advised to keep filing complaints (though I've not gone down that road yet), get a meter that can measure noise level and keep a diary, as well as keep trying to get him involved (something which in your case might not work). Very tricky.
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