How to effectively deal with a neighbor who doesn't respond adequately to requests at quieting down? (rental, HOA)

[socalfusions]

I have a neighbor who has become quite the noise festival as of late. This is a relatively new move in with around 6-8 kids (a lot) who had another baby which is a screamer, although I can't hear it from my room it is quite loud in the front of my house and I've witnessed another neighbor call the cops at least once for the noise. Besides the kids being more noisy than your average kids which is deal able they have a 2 small breed dogs which are not trained at all and constantly escape their property and will wander the streets until picked up by a family member, unsurprisingly these dogs often bark at anything worthy which is very audible from my room. I've contacted the owner more than once to bring attention to the dogs standing in the middle of the street barking where they are very easy targets for cars due to their dark colors, the owner "seemed" surprised and thanked me for informing them. They still frequently escape into the neighborhood.

Besides these things the most frustrating thing is the early morning pick ups where one of the parents will pull up into the driveway and start slamming the horn, this has happened any where between 7am-9am while also happening at random other times. I was prompted to write this after one of the parents honked not one, not twice, but three separate times, all in 4 honk bursts. I was comfortably lying in bed after a long nights work covering graveyard for someone and this got me pretty heated. By the time I put my clothes on and began to walk out to respectfully confront the driver they were already beginning to leave. I decided to go try and contact any of the owners still home and after knocking a couple of times saw one of the parents appear behind the door, peep out to see me, then walk away. Ha ha. They've seen me before and knowing I could still see them approach they felt it wasn't worth their time to answer, I suppose they might not have remembered me and felt cautious about answering the door but that seems unlikely, I was dressed as though I'd just gotten out of bed. My ideal situation would be walking up to the driver while they just slamed the horn since I'd be approaching them in the act but the thing is they usually only honk in 1-2 instances before driving off and by the time I can get dressed they're gone.

This is the only family that has engaged in this obnoxiously loud behavior in my many long years at my residence. It's possible that this home owner is influenced into this behavior due to my involvement in a legal dispute with another neighbor over a ongoing noise issue, I testified with other neighbors against this particular homeowner and they were fined. They engaged in retaliatory vandalism and harassment in a manner that made it hard to prove it was them even though it was clear it was and lo and behold they have relations with this current noisy neighbor. Now for them to have influenced the parents seems unlikely but they both have teenage kids who could very easily be tempted to do these things which I believe they have. This adds some complications to the matter of approaching these recent home owners since they possibly have a biased view to my residence and its occupants. That being said their actions are not decent by any means and while I loathe having to go through another process of getting through to let them know of this I feel it has to be done.

What should I be considering next if this homeowner truly is trying to avoid me when I made an attempt to politely and personally make a request of them? Should I be vigilant of the next time the driver prepares to start laying on the horn so I can catch them red handed? Will I have to contact law enforcement and/or the city should they simply refuse or disagree to stopping their noisy habits?

On a random note I used to have a similar bad noisy habit in high school, my group of friends were feuding with another group and their was some back and forth property vandalism where I was always mentally preparing myself for an event and would hit my car lock horn, anytime I heard suspicious activity I would beep it which looking back on it was really inconsiderate, my closest neighbor who was a lifetime friend of our family informed one of my parents that it was bothering them and when I was told I was quite shocked that I didn't realize it was doing so and immediately stopped. I even turned the horn beep off when locking my doors on my clicker. So the moral was that some people might be so caught up in their situational activities that they may not realize they are actually truly disturbing others in their vicinity until notified so. I guess my concern is that these residents may be influenced by the prior legal dispute neighbor and that they already be showing an unwillingness to confront the issue though I've only approached them for the second time, the first being their roaming dogs. Perhaps I should be very persistent until it's obvious that they have no desire to take reasonable measures to live in peace and quiet?

[CSD610]

Get camera for outside of your home so it can record who is doing what if anything.
Call the Police regarding the constant noise.
Contact the landlord if it is a rental property but contact them in writing only and keep copies of everything you send them in a certified, return receipt letter so you have proof you mailed it and they picked it up. If you happen to get the letter back because they would not sign for it do not open it. Then take them to court for whatever noise ordinance they are breaking.

[ucctgg]

I'd like to hear the other side of the story.

[socalfusions]

Originally Posted by CSD610

Get camera for outside of your home so it can record who is doing what if anything.
Call the Police regarding the constant noise.
Contact the landlord if it is a rental property but contact them in writing only and keep copies of everything you send them in a certified, return receipt letter so you have proof you mailed it and they picked it up. If you happen to get the letter back because they would not sign for it do not open it. Then take them to court for whatever noise ordinance they are breaking.

Great suggestions, a camera with audio would document every incident 24/7 and would be irrefutable evidence. Will go the letter route to the landlord and hope that it doesn't end up resulting in me having to go to the cops or court, thanks.

[skelaki]

If the noise is at a level to disturb call the police and let them handle it.

As far as the dogs og, whenever they are out call animal control. Tell them you are concerned about the dogs safety. They'll be more likely to respond if you approach it from that stand point.

[bigdaddy5]

Neighbors with lots of kids usually means trouble. I've witnessed lots of fights, arguments between neighbors when the kids actions get out of hand.

[mandasand]

Honestly, there is nothing you can do above and beyond what the others have suggested. If you don't have an HOA you're kind SOL. Maybe play some of that soothing music or get a noise canceling machine for your room.

[socalfusions]

Originally Posted by skelaki

If the noise is at a level to disturb call the police and let them handle it.

As far as the dogs og, whenever they are out call animal control. Tell them you are concerned about the dogs safety. They'll be more likely to respond if you approach it from that stand point.

I'll look into both of these options thanks. It would indeed be sad to see the dog hit one day after I already personally informed the owner of their dog openly roaming the streets.

Originally Posted by bigdaddy5

Neighbors with lots of kids usually means trouble. I've witnessed lots of fights, arguments between neighbors when the kids actions get out of hand.

I've also noticed this to be true, not sure if it's due to the fact that it's more difficult to discipline them due to the higher numbers but seven kids and a newborn baby just seems like it would be a challenge in general. I actually think that the kids are the ones letting the dog out, I've witnessed one of them let the dog walk through the street and into my driveway where it started barking at something, all the while the kid (teenage age) was sitting in their yard eating a Popsicle watching it do its thing. Some of the kids will start to have a screaming match where each one literally tries to out scream the other. I've been tolerant of children playing noisily in the past but the combination of everything has gotten to me.

Originally Posted by mandasand

Honestly, there is nothing you can do above and beyond what the others have suggested. If you don't have an HOA you're kind SOL. Maybe play some of that soothing music or get a noise canceling machine for your room.

Yeah I figured their wouldn't be an easy fix for this sort of thing, seems like a ask nicely then action heavy situation should they take no real steps to reduce the noise. I've had mixed results with HOA's, when dealing with noise disputes they require a multiple household collaboration in order to avoid neighborly disputes, this is pretty much what's necessary when taking a noisy neighbor through the legal system. Of course an HOA would probably be an easier process to go through compared to court. I sleep with a large fan when I require uninterrupted sleep which so far has prevented me from ever waking due to outside noise, I also have blackout curtains, a constantly running PC, a pet water fountain and ear plugs in the event of noise that could easily get through.

[AADAD]

We had a neighbor like this e.g. parking partially in our driveway, loud at all times of the day. My tact was to make life politely uncomfortable for them and after six months they moved. When they parked where they should not I left several notes on their car and contacted the police. When it was raining or misting I wrote with my finger on their windshield. When there were loud I would loudly exclaim "shhhhhhush" from my window. When they walked their dogs I would say "that's a funny looking dog, was he in an accident?" and in general made them uncomfortable living there. I remember well the day they moved out. Since that time 3 years ago not a worry in the world.

[tickyul]

Get an ultrasonic-dog-silencer and run it though a big, amplified speaker........that will shut them up.