A family at the end of its tether over party noise coming from a neighbour’s house is questioning how nothing could be done to silence the racket despite noise control visiting the house twice last weekend and finding the noise to be excessive.
A Napier man, who lives with his wife and infant child, said they had been lodging noise complaints about the neighbour over the past two years.
Things came to a head with a party that ran from the early evening of Saturday, September 30, until 9am on October 1.
The man, who does not wish to be identified, spoke with the occupant of the noisy house, who apologised and said it wouldn’t happen again.
It happened again.
On the night of Saturday, October 28, the man made another call to Napier City Council’s 24-hour noise control line.
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A Napier house was the subject three noise complaints on October 28/29. (File photo)
The council, like numerous others, contracts Armourguard to undertake noise control duties.
Armourguard turned up at the noisy property at 8.13pm and noted there was indeed excessive noise coming from the party, so the occupant was issued an ‘END’ (Excessive Noise Direction) notice, requiring him to reduce the noise to a reasonable level.
The noise continued and Armourguard went back to the property at 1.37am, but this time the noise wasn’t considered excessive.
An hour later, the noise still blaring, that man made a third complaint. When Armourguard got to the house at 3.01am they recorded excessive noise, meaning they had the power to issue a seizure notice and seize the equipment that was making the noise, and to issue an instant fine of $500.
It is a legal requirement under the Resource Management Act that any such seizure must occur with the presence of a police officer.
Armourguard would not comment and referred all questions to the council, which said Armourguard staff first called police at about 3.20am then made “a number” of subsequent calls to police, but because police were unable to provide an estimated time that they could attend the incident, and because they had other noise complaints to attend, Armourguard cancelled the seizure notice.
A council spokesperson said “it’s not unusual for police to be unable to attend, due to other more pressing matters they deal with every day”.
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If an END (Excessive Noise Direction) is ignored, the equipment making the noise can be seized or inactivated and the owner can get an instant fine of $500.
But police said they weren’t called to assist with the stereo seizure until 4.06am, then got a second call at 4.26am, advising them that police were no longer needed.
It wasn’t until Friday, November 3, that the council issued the instant $500 infringement notice to the occupant of the house.
The occupant declined to comment when contacted by Stuff.
The man who complained about the noise said the situation had become intolerable.
“It’s been happening for the last two years at least once a month. We’ve been pretty patient. I definitely haven’t been unreasonable. But we’ve got another baby due, and it’s not stopping, despite assurances. He assured me last time when it was obviously really out of line that it would stop. Then three weeks later it happens again,” he said.
“I was up until 4.30am with a screaming toddler who couldn’t sleep with the noise. It’s madness,” the man said.
“Being in a situation where we are so helpless is the hardest bit. The neighbour has no incentive to stop. They will stay self-centred as there isn’t a punishment that snaps them out of their own perspective,” he said.
BRADEN FASTIER / STUFF
Nelson Waimea Clay Target Club president Martin O’Connor says the future of the club is uncertain because of a neighbour’s noise complaints.
He met with his noisy neighbour this week.
“He said ‘why would I buy a nice entertaining house if I can’t entertain?’ He had zero concept of the people around him. He thought a party to 3am or later once a month was minimal disruption. How many all-nighters is enough and what will make them stop?” he said.
Other councils report varying levels of success when it comes to requesting police assistance for seizure following a noise complaint.
Christchurch City Council’s head of regulatory compliance Tracey Weston said statistics were not available “however, given the number of confiscations in recent weeks, it does not appear to be an issue currently”.
Hamilton City Council’s unit manager of City Safe, Kelvin Powell, however, said police were only able to attend about 20 per cent of requests.
Auckland Council’s principal specialist environmental health, Veronica Lee-Thompson, was able to provide figures for the week of October 22-29, in which time the council received 998 noise complaints and four seizures were undertaken with police assistance.
“During that period, noise control officers noted that police were not able to attend 13 requests to attend a noise complaint site or provide an estimated time to attend,” she said.
A Wellington City Council spokesperson said police attendance had been delayed in the past during very busy peak times.
