Does anyone know what the awful noise coming from the flat above Matoom restaurant last night was? It sounded like someone shouting into a PA system. If it happens again is there anything that can be done about it? It woke my children up and stopped me from sleeping.
Was it karaoke?
There was noise at 9pm on Friday night and again last night when we walked past at about 8.30pm.
It was really loud and did sound like a party or event.
Hello. We’ve had problems with the new tenants of that flat for a week or two now. Very loud music all the time with the windows flung open, chucking rubbish out on to the lane at the side of the building etc. They’re keeping my son awake at night and we’re not even in the same building. I’m trying to find out who the landlord is. Matoom said it’s John but didn’t have his contact detail, is that the same John on here who I understand owns a few places in the area?
Do you mean @Anotherjohn? (They are more likely to notice if you @ mention a user as they get notified 
)
Thankfully, it’s not one of mine.
Unlike other Boroughs, Lewisham does not provide a noise patrol service. You would have to record dates, times, of repeated nuisance before the Lewisham Environmental Health ‘Service’ would take any interest.
Could a Land Registry search find the free holder or lease holder (it will cost £3), who you could then write to in the hope that they would like to know of any issues and may investigate?
Thanks all. Once the Manager of Matoom is back in a couple days I should be able to get the landlord contact details from them. I understand he is on holiday at the moment and will return to quite a lot of complaints from local residents and businesses! Hopefully we can resolve it that way rather than via the council which sounds like a pretty painful process.
Good luck. My experience though is offsite landlords have little interest in their tenants activities, as long as it does not cause damage to the property.
Thank you. I did wonder if this was the case as when I went onto the Lewisham website to find out how to report it the only option was to fill out an online form which they said would be responded to within two days! Not much use when the noise is keeping everyone awake!
Such a shame Lewisham have ditched this service- if it’s not dealt with st the time it’s seems like it will just happen again when these repulsive people decide to .
I think the days of angry villagers with torches and pitch forks has gone . Shame .
Have you tried calling 101? Can be a nightmare to get though to, but if you do they should be able to provide a quick knock on the door to quiet things down a bit.
Just spoke with the guys at the architects. It seems quite a few of us have now submitted complaints to the council and also a couple to the police. If it happens again I would say do submit the report to Lewisham council as they are all piling up now. I will also try 101 next time. Landlord route has been tried and didn’t help. Direct talk with the tenants has also been tried and they turned the volume up in response. If (when) it happens again and if the council have not responded, the next idea is to club together and send a group letter to a local councillor. @Rachel I can’t work out how to message you on here but if you pop into the architects they can add you to the list if you want to be involved.
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From what I know about the council’s environmental health team, which includes having been at a few meetings and met some of the team on various occasions. As previously pointed out, they do not run a monitoring service, however they do work on a Saturday night, and they can arrange to change shifts to work other nights if regular disturbance occurs then. The main thing they will need is detailed evidence - keep diaries that note the times of any problems and if it is contained inside or spills into the street and when. Make recordings too, but only if safe to do so. If there are enough of you then form a little action committee to speak on behalf of everyone, get signatures from others who may also be disturbed but not reporting it. The committee can then take all the diaries and evidence and go to environmental health, speak to their councillors and generally keep on top of it, relentlessly if needs be. The better organised you are as a group, and the more detailed information you have, the better your chances will be.
Good idea. If people would like to use the forum for this, I’ve created a topic here which can be used: Log of noise above Matoom restaurant
The council knocked on my door a couple of years ago after my house alarm decided to go haywire whilst I was away for the weekend. They are there somewhere.
In other words, the citizen does all the work, then hands it on a plate to the salaried official who might or might not do something.
Yes.
It is the worst episode of Batman ever.
The citizen is best placed and most incentivised to do the work.
Great! Where do I get myself a salaried official’s job! Sounds like a right doss!
Thank you- I will pop in and definitely add my name to their list. Lewisham environmental health finally contacted me today so they now also have my details and complaints. Hopefully the volume of complaints will give them some sort of momentum to do something about it.
I don’t think it is a shame; vigilante action often leads to the wrong people being punished.
I can’t agree with you. The incentive of the victim of crime is often revenge, and therefore better left to police, environmental health officers and other enforcement officials. When there is no enforcement by the people who have responsibility for it, then we have a big problem and that is, I fear, where we are in Lewisham at this point.
DF
The term is natural justice - what you are describing is world where inconsiderate scum bags have subwoofers AND pitchforks.
I think we can no longer expect the council or the police to protect our peace so yes , No 1 get organised and work as a team but there is a place for direct action too.
Out if interest when music comes blasting through your double glazing why is it never Bach ?
What? what you are describing is nothing like what ‘natural justice’ means. Did you mean ‘law of the jungle’?
It’s funny you should say that actually NigelA. I live on South road and my neighbour plays ‘Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit’ every morning at 6am on loop until about 6.45am, on full blast with windows open. I’ve reported it to the council and police, but nobody seems to be able to do anything. Admittedly, the bottom end is lacking but the mids and tops are actually giving me tinnitus. Rap, rock, pop or Baroque - if it’s played too loudly I just want it to stop 
Mercifully the double bass as we know was not around at the time of Bach. I agree type of music irrelevant, still s first to me though .
Surely that kind of long term nuisance can be dealt with - just not acceptable .
Beige
Surely the law of the jungle is playing music all night knowing that most neighbors or locals will be uncomfortable or afraid to confront them ?
Taking direct action is reasonable so long as not excessive . Why do you think any redress outside of a set of laws that are not enforced counts as vigilantism?
What exactly do you mean by “direct action”, @NigelA?
I think the action you take depends on your resources but open to anyone really .
If a polite request doesn’t work , strong words , mild abuse, threatening to ring their bell at 6am every day , posting their photographs on lamp post with a sign saying “ not wanted “ , parking over their drive , etc all fair game .
Some people if they felt confident would threaten violence or do violence . Although I wouid not recommend anyone steps outside of the law , they wouid have my sympathy.
That sort of thing .
AR88 I did try to explain what I meant re direct action but it was flagged as inappropriate so can’t elucidate I’m afraid .
I didnt think it was controversial but there it is .
I’m afraid we’re left with put up with it , flag it with LB Lewisham and wait and wait , ponder whether a police service that doesn’t really investigate burglary might get excited about it , reflect on your own intolerance about being kept awake, move, learn to love generic music in 4/4 with exaggerated bass and little harmonic movement or, fill your ears with concrete .
For the avoidance of doubt I’m not condoning self-harm .
NigelA, I am pretty sure your posts are tongue in cheek but can we just steer the topic back onto what we can do without getting locked up 
Has Environmental Health given you an explanation of why they can’t/won’t enforce?
Lewisham’s website is clear on what they will and won’t do. So I am surprised nothing can be done:
Noise problems we deal with
We investigate complaints about excessive and intrusive noise from:
loud music, TV or radio
parties or other entertainment
pubs, clubs and entertainment venues
building and DIY work at unreasonable times of the day
constant dog barking
car and burglar alarms.
The money for this comes from the same place as providing care for frail elderly, people with disabilities, and children without safe homes. It also shares with local school funding. Throwing money at problems doesn’t fix them but no one is going to shower eldery strangers for free every day unless they’re getting paid. No one is going to spend monday to friday looking after your kids unless they’re getting paid. If you want services you need to pay for them, either throuh taxes or privately.
If you think private rather than government provision of services is superior, this is an opportunity for you to pay for private services, maybe a lawyer could help?
Not a recommendation for this course of action (any kind of litigation is an extreme step) but there’s probably scope for a civil action for nuisance brought by one or a group of individuals affected.
How long do you have to participate for?
More info on this here, @mrcee: Why can't brand new users send private messages?
All has been quiet for a while now so hopefully something has changed.
Has anyone else noticed the loud music again over the past few days? I can’t quite work out if it’s coming from the flat above Matoom or somewhere else. I thought that the issue had been resolved so was filled with dread when I heard the noise again. Hopefully I’m making a fuss about nothing and it will pass but based on our past experience I immediately thought the worst. I know living on the south circular is not exactly quiet but in this weather it would be nice to be able to have doors and windows open without the added noise of loud, thumping music.