Demand to Cease and Desist letter advice

[BettercallSaul]

Have suffered noise nuisance and low level harassment from the neighbours from hell for over ten years.The other day the local authority junior environmental health officer informed me that dog kennels are given special dispensation re; noise nuisance, is this correct? I appreciate some noise is unavoidable but the owners are literally barking mad and as soon as the hounds quieten down they'll bark or howl to set them off again not to mention the open air parties until 4am. Would a Cease and Desist letter from a solicitor have enough clout, and what is a reasonable fee? Many thanks.

[Amethyst]

Is it actually a licenced kennels you live next door to ? You're already in touch with the council so if it is a licenced kennels you could ask whether it is a breach of the terms of the licence.

Kati might be able to help

[BettercallSaul]

Thanks for your reply. I did look into that and they just check the premises are suitable and secure and no mention of nuisance to neighbouring properties. I think I'm at a disadvantage as they both used to work for the local authority.

[Amethyst]

Were they a Kennels before you were a resident? Has the issue been getting worse recently ? ( as you mention it's been there 10 yrs - has something changed to bring things to a head - increase in numbers they're taking in etc ?)

Who's having the open air parties? presumably the owners of the Kennels live on site? Is that a recent thing, and how often etc is it ? ( The parties and noise through the night wouldn't come under the same rules as Kennel ( if there is an exemption for a Kennels it doesn't give them free reign to do what they like ) )

[Kati]

Ghostfriend should be able to say for sure, but I know that there can still be an issue with noise nuisance from even just a single kenneled dog. Boarding kennels for example are rarely given planning permission unless certain distances are adhered to between the kennels and neighbouring properties.

Is the property a boarding kennels? or just an outside 'family' pet?
Can you tell me which LA you are under? (there are many different variations of the legal standing depending on where in the country you are)

[BettercallSaul]

Were they a Kennels before you were a resident? Has the issue been getting worse recently ? ( as you mention it's been there 10 yrs - has something changed to bring things to a head - increase in numbers they're taking in etc ?)

Who's having the open air parties? presumably the owners of the Kennels live on site? Is that a recent thing, and how often etc is it ? ( The parties and noise through the night wouldn't come under the same rules as Kennel ( if there is an exemption for a Kennels it doesn't give them free reign to do what they like ) )

Thanks very much for your reply. Yes they were a kennels before but we were told it was only a part-time thing as they were professional foster carers. It always sounds like the same two dogs,which I presume are their own pets and I've collected hours and hours of noise. Initially the kennel noise wasn't excessive until we turned down an invite to one of their open air parties. Then the human howling to start their own dogs barking began plus other low level incidents of harassment such as encouraging the foster kids to gesture, and stalker-like behaviour such as trespassing to stare into the windows of our property. I've tried all routes from Environmental Health ( they did set up recording equipment but amazingly the neighbours kept quiet for exactly 30 days ), the foster care dept; the ASBO dept; and even the police all to no avail. In the SAR copy of the ASB Ofiicer's report they admit holding open air parties with a live band until 4am but the ASB Officer was obviously prejudiced, for example she states she received a 'warm welcome' from the neighbours and portrayed me as a cross between a rampant psychopath and prolific wife-beater. My partner thought it was funny, I did not!