Quick question, I know its illegal to have loud music playing after 11 pm or something, but is it illegal to be talking (not so loud) at 3 am in your backyard? Got a complaint from our neighbors behind our property... wondering if I should keep doing it, cause nothing beats coming back from the city/valley and chilling out the back!

Probably not illegal. But inconsiderate and f***ing rude (if its a regular occurrence)? Yeah....

if you're coming back from the city/valley chances are you're not being as quiet as your think you're being. i'd make sure you've read your rental agreement pretty thoroughly before doing anything stupid unless you own the place.

when you say talking do you mean having a normal-volume close proximity conversation or do you mean a drunk "OH MAN YOU DID THIS AND I DID THAT HAHAHAHAHA" conversation?

Also, don't piss off your neighbours, majorly bad karma.

the time thing is bulls***. its not illegal at all. thats an urban myth(in brisbane at least)

if youre annoying, youre annoying its pretty much as simple as that. each instance judged case per case

ive been jamming with my bro, smashing out some metal on guitar and bass at all hours and we were only told to turn it down a bit, and we had it caining. (we were also complimented on our playing)

not regular, and I own the property.

Its like coming out for a smoke for like 10 minutes, and we aren't yelling its just talking.

neighbors are at least 200 meters away and separated by hedges and a fence. They said in the letter that we drag chairs across our bricks and it makes their windows vibrate, which is on the 2nd floor of their house.

How close are you to your neighbours house? If I went out the back of my normal sized house on a 1/4 acre my neighbours wouldn't be able to hear me if I was talking in a normal voice. You either live on a really small property or you're not as quiet as you think if you're waking them up. If they're already awake then I don't see what their problem is and they're being whiney bitches, s*** in their letterbox.

Alternate solution: just be quiet when you go out.

from the 2nd level its easier to hear s*** over fences and stuff

Freewheelin: You are wrong, and it is 10pm.

Gramsy: How about you show some consideration and common courtesy to your neighbours? Even low noise can carry in the dead of night and wake people up.

If the shoe was on the other foot and your neighbours were waking you up at 3am on weeknights and you asked them to keep it down, what response would you like to have from them?

Your posts show an utter disregard for anyones but your own interests. Jeese there's some selfish c***s around...

you can still talk pretty loud when crunk, a lot louder than you think you're being at the time anyway.

200m? that's pretty far, you live on a big block of land?

if what you're saying is true (and you're really not being very loud at all...) i'd be tempted to tell them to f*** themselves. or ignore them, either/or.

edit: you seem like more of a douche every time you post. you're probably being much louder than you think.

last edited by taggs at 19:01:50 25/Aug/09

f*** off le cock, its a Saturday, I'm not going to smoke inside my house.

f*** off le cock, its a Saturday, I'm not going to smoke inside my house.

then don't be annoyed if you do it outside and you're noisy and people complain about it if it's late at night?

what a rude c***.

Im not annoyed, I was asking if it was illegal.

f*** off le cock, its a Saturday, I'm not going to smoke inside my house.

He's right... if they were complaining about this happening at say, midnight on a Saturday... that would probably be a little bit unreasonable. But they have obviously been annoyed by it on more than one occasion, so.. be quiet, smoke inside, or best option: don't smoke.

Go ahead and continue your Saturday night shenanigans if you want, but don't expect them to help you out or cooperate with you in the future.

last edited by Alt_F4 at 18:55:55 25/Aug/09

200metres wtf
are you exaggerating or what? if not, your neighbours sound like tards

I don't see how what night of the week it is really makes much of a difference. Just because you have weekends off, doesn't mean everyone else does. It's never a good idea to get on your neighbours bad side. 3am is pretty unreasonable to be waking people up.

f*** off le cock, its a Saturday, I'm not going to smoke inside my house.

I didn't suggest you smoke inside your house, I suggested you keep quiet. Is it THAT difficult to keep it to a whisper for 10minutes while you're outside?

There's only two possible outcomes from this scenario Gramsy;

1) You go over and have a chat, be polite, apologise and don't do it again and leave them thinking you're the best bloke in the world and if you do inadvertantly annoy them again they will be much much less likely to complain to you because they like you so much and you showed them courtesy and respect. You may even create a 'hello' friendly neighbour relationship.

b) Tell them to piss off and/or ignore them, leave them thinking you're an absolute arsehole, leading them to continue to complain and annoy you, ring the cops to place complaints, ring the council to complain, find every reason they can to get you in the s***e.

Continue being a c**t if you like, what goes around comes around.

I used to live next to this retard that was a teacher.
I was using the Computer playing youtube clips through Logitech 5.1s in a room on the other side of the house.

He used to complain that me playing music Very late was so loud that he had to turn his Air Conditioner up to full just to sleep.
Yet nobody else either side of me heard anything or at least enough to bother them. He was living behind me and to one side.
Came over 3 times and the 3rd time i said f*** off and ring the cops if you have a problem.
Now get this.
My Elderley Parents lived a few houses down and he got their number from the phonebook and rung them at 10pm to complain about my music.

This guy was like 30 years old. Skinny as a rake and his GF was bigger than Rosie O;donnel. His cats would roam all the yards stealing other cats food getting in fights pissing under houses. He'd only feed them once in the mornings and would get up other neighbours if they fed his cats.
-------------------------------------------------------------------

2nd story.
Was livin next to this guy that was some kind of OBESE ex-bikie who had a GF that was some ex-prison Whore that talked like man.
The GF asked him once if he could keep his TV down late at night so the a****** cranked up louder. Absolute tards they were. Also threw away our mail.

Anyway the GF went away for a few weeks to stay with relative and my friends moved in with their amps and drums and we wailed on every night for 2 weeks and the 3rd week he moved out.

People talking can be annoying especially if you been in noisy clubs and ur pissy and you keep yelling though not realizing it. Its not illegal but you must have been noisy for them to bother complaining.
Swearing loudly at night is quite rude especially if theres kids around.

good stories

Its all about common sense and consideration for others. I doubt your neighbors as far away as 200m. I

f they are they have to be full of s*** or you and your friends are alot louder than you think. I don't know anyone who controls the volume of there voice very well when they are drunk, so i know you are bulls***ting us there.

Your neighbours must have put up with this on more than one occasion so i suggest you listen to them.

Furthermore stop using "its a saturday night" as an excuse. People can eat/work/sleep any time of any day, especially shift workers. Keep in mind you could be waking someone up who starts at 5 or 6am. Be courteous and exercise some maturity.

Partys and smokes out the back at 3am are fine. But if you go over the top you are not doing it right.

invite them over at a reasonable hour for a drink (and a smoke?) to chat about it.







then stab them.

They live behind me, not beside me. I have never met them in my life! Only contact is this letter... My next door neighbors don't seem to have an issue at all... and they are closer.

turn your music up louder so they cant hear you talking

Partys and smokes out the back at 3am are fine. But if you go over the top you are not doing it right.

Yeah that's right. Having a party now and then is fine... I think most neighbours would accept that. If I have an early morning and someone is having a party... whatever, have your fun. If a neighbour was making noise keeping me awake every other week (even if its just talking), most people won't let that slide.

You keep saying they are '200m away'... but they have complained about it so obviously they can hear it. Just be quiet.

I think they are all rattled up because a few weeks ago was my brothers 21st, were we had a DJ playing till 1 am, but we had given a weeks notice of the event. On Saturday it was me and one mate so its not like a group of people, they complained about a random laugh and a chair being dragged on our brick floors... Which I dont do, could have been from when we sat down. I dunno.

With regard to a 10pm "rule" - even if there is a slight difference post 10pm, the basic law is that you can't make unreasonable noise at anytime, day or night. For example, if you are having a band practice during midday, people can rightly complain if you're too loud.

neighbors are at least 200 meters away and separated by hedges and a fence. They said in the letter that we drag chairs across our bricks and it makes their windows vibrate, which is on the 2nd floor of their house.

and

Even low noise can carry in the dead of night and wake people up.

This. Definitely this. I live at Bulimba and I can hear trains from both Bowen Hills and somewhere on the Cleveland line late at night. Its very conceivable that your voices can carry a few hundred meters and over a fence.

Nothing annoys me more than being woken up by some drunken idiots in the middle of the night. Few people seem to have been taught anything about consideration and common courtesy these days (damn, that makes me sound old).

IMO, after 10pm at night lower your voice when you're outside, and don't crank music like it's 1999. An occasional party is totally different to being a complete idiot every weekend. After working all week I want to chill and sleep long and late on weekends. Broken sleep patterns make my personal rageometer go up many notches and I get a burning desire to toss a mini-thermonuclear device over the fence - if only Australia's weapons laws didn't deny me free and unfettered access to mini-nukes.

i'd write em a letter saying sorry n ya didn't mean to be inconsiderate, you just didn't realise the sound could travel so far. tell them you'll be more quiet in the future n wotnots. then go back to business as usual ;]

Ducktape your mouths. /end

we had inconsiderate neighbors.. we didn’t know them or piss them off.. but they were the only ppl in the block who let their dogs out into their backyard to s***.. and it’s a small back yard..full of dog chewed car seats and dog s***.. landlord eventually told them to clean it or move out.. so 1 weekend they redid the back yard.. so that was nice..

anyway this a****** also played bass and drums.. every day and every night.. and really loud.. 1am at night on a weeknight and this fgt was banging out practice riffs

also the a******s would flick there cigarette butts over the fence into our yard..

anyway we kinda got back at the a******s..

one day we received a hand delivered letter from their credit company saying this was there last notice.. it was mistakenly delivered to us cause they wernt home, and the company had the right to sell all their personal belongings.. so of course i do the right thing and just bin it

couple of months later.. they had hired a big truck one afternoon and were in the process of getting as much of their stuff out of the house as possible.. looked like a rush job.. and they were up till 3am getting stuff out.. so we were wondering what was going on..

next day a repo truck pulled up.. they must have been tipped off anyway the repo truck took the rest of their gear and now finally there is peace and quiet in the neighborhood again

the end


moral of the story.. dont be a c*** to your neighbors

good stories

need dragons.

Dragging chairs and making a window vibrate 200m away sounds like a crock of s***. They need to man up.

I think the 200m is really 2m.

Superform's post is a perfect example of what I was getting at in my last post. Some day, some how, your neighbours will find a way to get back at you if you piss them off.

f*** off le cock, its a Saturday, I'm not going to smoke inside my house.

If it were a week day I would have said to shutup but seriously it's the weekend. We had neighbours that complained about the sound of car doors closing.

p.s I bet they are old and crusty

200m? Realy?, u live in like 2-3 Acres?

200m is two rugby league fields. Surely you are exaggerating.

we had issues with the tards behind us...

me and the three other houses all rang the cops, sent letters to their realestate agent, and for 3 days mowed the lawns really early in the morning after their piss ups.

haven't heard a peep since.

We only have your word to go on...

I doubt someone would have heard you at 200m much less be woken up. So you were probably being loud. Or lying about the 200m which then begs what else is bulls***.

But lets assume it is 200m and that you were actually loud.

The fact that you were up and smoking at that time suggests you were probably drinking, as a result you could have been yelling.

Maybe if you didn't smoke you wouldn't have gone outside and wouldn't have had a problem ?

But then again you smoke so common sense and logic aren't a strong aspect.

What demon said.

If your neighbours didn't come to you first and wrote a letter of complaint as their first option then f*** em, they don't deserve to be considered. Let them complain away all they like. In the meantime put more between you and them if you can - trelises and thick vines.

Have a look at this: http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/BCC:BASE:1251996192:pc=PC_286
A rule of thumb is not to make noise above 74db after 10pm.
This page will make more sence of my 74db: http://members.iinet.net.au/~mtattersall/NoiseExposure/ApproxNoiseExposure.html
Its a good idea to buy a db meter if your plaining on making alot of noise alot of the time.

I know what will solve your problem. Sneak out night and take a s*** in his mail box. Preferably on a Friday night so there's a fair chance that it won't be checked until Monday afternoon.

for like 10 minutes,

for like ... That usually means you are under-exaggerating to bias your story, so I would hazard a guess that you are over-exaggerating the 200m's. Which probably means you were not just talking.

Don't be a rude prick and learn to live properly.

Or move out to a place where there really is 200m's to your next neighbour, then you can talk after a Saturday night without disturbing anyone.

I agree with Le Cock. You dont' want to piss off your neighbours, becuase if they want to they can make your life pretty f***ing miserable. And is that all worth it for being loud in the middle of the night?

moral of the story.. dont be a c*** to your neighbors

that's right folks, stealing people's mail is a c*** act
and probably considered a fairly serious crime by authorities

My advice, STFU.

Some people work weekends/shift work they dont need some arsehole waking them up every weekend with random drunk talking. If your having a party you should always let the imediate (i.e. neighbours you share a fence with) know as well.

Sounds like the letter was direct from them to you, not through the Police/Council? If they are shift workers they maybe they couldn't go to see you in person because when they were home (being quiet) you were asleep or at work.

Go have a chat, apologise. and in the future, dont be a yobbo. Even if it is in your own (massive) back yard.

Also threw away our mail

This is a crime, mail tampering is punishable by jail term.

but they were the only ppl in the block who let their dogs out into their backyard to s***

huh ?

What sort of freak doesn't let their dog out to s*** ?

We let our dog s*** all over the house, there's nothing wrong with that, is there?

Also we have drunken a-hole neighbours (well across the road and up three houses) and they party like it's 2008. I go to bed at 10pm you can hear them yelling and carrying on, wake up at 3 still going, get up at 7 on a Sunday morning yep still going but a little more subdued and slurred.

How the actual neighbours put up with it I'll never know. We are just far enough away to not be too bad, although I have considered calling the cops a few times over the years. I think people that are that selfish (they do it pretty often) don't get the courtesy of a friendly neighbour chat.

Plus I've busted their deliquents son's mates stealing beer from my downstairs fridge.

Back to OP, if your are coming up all juiced up and in teh backyard at 3am expect complaints.

threads like this make me so glad i live in a noisy zone :D i crank out my choons every night! 2-3am finishs on weekends are par for the course. sit out the back talking n drinking as long as i want... orrjeh. never had a noise complaint in the 12ish years i've lived here :D

main road, fire station 8 doors down, major police station about 4 blocks down, over my back fence is an insular security village that's all walled up, one side neighbour is like 80yo n deaf as a post n the other side nieghbour cranks thier own s*** loud as. i can goto sleep no matter how much racket there is... in fact if it's too quiet i need a fan or something to make some mthrfkn noiz!!@# heh.

oh great that's you is it demon - can hear you all the way from the south side
complaint inc

haha, problem with old deaf people is they watch their teles at super loud volumes!

we used to live in a 6 pack in greenslopes a few years ago and the old dude next door would have his tele up super loud all the time;

Go over, apologise and say you didnt realise you were being so loud, have a pleasant chat and try not to repeat it again.

Be nice to your neighbours, it can be the difference to living in peace or suffering endless grief until either one of you move.

Stay out longer. Say 5am. Then you wont have to come home and talk.

Or learn and use sign language.

jim ;D whaddabout the old quake lan days... everyone had speakers, ctf 8x the pain rockets till dawn orrrrjeh! no one complained about that! ;]... or did they?!

haha, problem with old deaf people is they watch their teles at super loud volumes!

we used to live in a 6 pack in greenslopes a few years ago and the old dude next door would have his tele up super loud all the time;

yeh ... the old girl next door likes to get up early n put her radio on john laws talk-back show while she hangs her washing out. has it blastin' as she's pretty deaf. duzzn't bother me though... turn the fan to the next higher setting, roll over n go back to sleep :D

Ticcles, seriously, f*** apologising. Recognise that some people are always going to be unreasonable and there is nothing you can do about it. If you are behaving reasonably the police should be able to recognise that. It works both ways.

Dropping a letter in is pretty reasonable, they could have called the cops/council/etc straight up and not given the OP a chance to do the right thing. I've had the same situation where I came home to find a letter under the door about my dogs barking in the afternoon.

I could have gone "f*** them c***s, dogs bark and nobody can stop them and who the f*** have they the right to complain" and gone down the path of having a nasty relationship with my neighbour -or- I could (and did) went over, said sorry, thanks for letting me know and I wasn't aware it was impacting you, etc.

Now we get along great with the neighbours, if we catch up at the local shops we'll stop and chat or if we're both out walking then we'll walk with her for a bit. Last week my wife was heading off to work (15-min walk) and it looked stormy. The neighbour was about to drive off down the shops and gave wifey a lift even though it was in the opposite direction. All because we were polite and courteous instead of being asshats.

The dogs still bark just as much but the neighbour is able to tell us in a friendly way instead of resorting to letters, calling cops/council/etc because (I believe) of how we handled it in the first place.

Solution: quit smoking.

Having a smoking party outside where everyone ties chairs to their legs. :D

I think in the past everyone smoked in doors but since the attacks on the rights of smokers began its become fashionable to not smoke inside the home.
Especially in rentals where young people, who dont understand what smoking does to them, are more likely to live.
Therefore you get more people hooked on smoking standing outside smoking and talking loudly because the nicotine overstimulates their brains and excites them into talking louder.

I think in the past everyone smoked in doors but since the attacks on the rights of smokers began its become fashionable to not smoke inside the home.
Especially in rentals where young people, who dont understand what smoking does to them, are more likely to live.
Therefore you get more people hooked on smoking standing outside smoking and talking loudly because the nicotine overstimulates their brains and excites them into talking louder.

I think you'll find it comes from landlords who don't want their house to smell like ash. And partners/parents who don't want people smoking around their young children.

The fact that they can't smoke indoors in public probably does help though. But i won't even let friends smoke in my car.

f*** smoking anyway

there hasn't been any attacks on the rights of smokers, only non-smokers

Oh and as for the OP, the only logical thing to do is get your car into your back yard and do doughnuts while blasting music as loud as possible at 4am.

It's the only reasonable recourse of action left to you, a letter, how f***ing dare they!

here is the brisbane city councils views on acceptable noise levels

also, whilst intertreking, i found this on the qld police website . its there

partysafe program for the lofl !!!!!


now you can register your saturday nights as parties with the cops so when they come, they'll know what to expect.

i have barmy tourists living in the house behind me atm. they love an alnighter every friday and saturday.
but, because we have band practise at my house on tuesday and thursdays (sometimes every day if gig coming up), and no-one has ever called the cops (touch wood and whistle), i take the good with the bad.

in saying that though, when the dumb neighbours next door were renovating right next to our bedroom window at 5.30 in the morning, before work, i would set up a guitar and huge amp facing there house, and leave it feedback at full volume for the builders all day.
this was because they werent supposed to start til 6.30a.m, but would have all the trucks rock up and unload the escavators and crap beforehand.
if i were to complain about this, id have to go to qld transport because its noise from motor vehicles.
amp was more fun !!!!!!!!!





last edited by lewd at 14:46:09 26/Aug/09

Having a smoking party outside where everyone ties chairs to their legs. :D

i lol'd irl from this

I think the 200m claim is very unlikely.

# Don’t take your own alcohol to the party, unless requested by the host. Take along an extra bottle of soft drink or juice instead!

that made me lol, I equate that to priests talking about abstinence being the only form of birth control

i work most weekends. it is annoying when stuff like this happens and i have to wake up at like 4am, but hey when im not working i am the one getting pissed and being loud so i don't complain. sucks i don't get the same respect for week night. move to the country if you want peace and quite.

my old neighbour complained on their first night at like 9pm on a friday night, i went and told him look mate its only 9pm we will be all gone into the valley in about an hour. he said thats cool. thats the last time we heard from him.

le cock are you a cop or something?

when i asked the officers who came visiting because of the noise complaint what time, or if there was any time that noise levels had to be kept down, and they both flatly said no.

one went on to say that as long as it wasn't an unreasonable amount of noise given the circumstances, it was ok.

not sure why they'd say that if it was bulls***. it's not like we were in the s*** or anything.

Here is my solution, if you give a s*** about them try and keep it down. If you don't give a s*** smoke away and buy a trumpet for those early morning moments.

Freewheelin' - It's probably a test of reasonableness.

7am reasonable noise <> 2pm reasonable noise <> 8pm reasonable noise <> 2am reasonable noise.

The times they give are probably guides (don't mow before 7, turn down music after 10 etc) about when you should be conscious of your noise.

last edited by fade at 16:27:08 26/Aug/09

Freewheelin, the cop probably didn't want to get the manual out and read you the bloody thing. Now where the hell is my freddo you ugly tart

Police may issue a noise abatement direction (NAD) after receiving a complaint about excessive noise and if another complaint is received within 12 hours of the first, police can seize and remove the property that is producing or contributing to the production of the noise. The seized property can be collected on a business day at least 24 hours after it was seized.

Or if you want to super anal about this then http://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/LEGISLTN/CURRENT/P/PolicePowResA00.pdf a 2.8mb pdf called 'Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000'

You'll want page 473 - Powers relating to noise.

Fun highlights include being able to enter your place without a warrent and a Maximum penalty of 10 penalty units (I think each unit is a $100 if google is anything to go by)

ha i didnt tamper with the mail.. i just mistook there letterbox for my bin.. oops my bad

also most ppl take there dog for a walk to the 5 acre park 100m away to take a dump not in the 3x5m yard - that is then not cleaned up for years...

after these c***s had the complaint telling them to clean up the backyard.. they couldnt take the dogs out to the back yard.. so they did what any right minded ppl would do.. put there mid sized dogs (staffies) in 2x2 foot cages on top of each other in the hallway for 12 hours a day.. taken out to the park for 5 mins at a time.. 2 times a day

was f***ing appauling

that was your fault for not letting them s*** outside. you should be ashamed, superform.

haha i didnt put in the complaint for the dog s***.. so i'm in the clear.. the missus is a vet and she had a go at them a few times about the dogs in the cages..

nice one Beanith.........
thats what i was looking for !!!!!

there hasn't been any attacks on the rights of smokers, only non-smokers

You sound like a cranky old man more and more everyday.

last edited by Tiny at 19:47:59 26/Aug/09

there hasn't been any attacks on the rights of smokers, only non-smokers

You sound like a cranky old man more and more everyday.

he sounds like a truth dispencer