Noisy neighbour warned he could lose home

A Putney man who has plagued his neighbours with noisy late night music has been put on advance warning that he could lose his home if he carries on causing disturbance. Ian Walker, who is the leaseholder of a one bedroom property in Dover House Road has been served with a notice under the Law of Property Act 1925, which means that if he continues to cause problems for his neighbours, he could face eviction.

The notice was served after Mr Walker was fined £3,000 and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £250 after the council took him to court earlier this month for breaching a noise abatement notice. It was his second noise nuisance conviction in just over five years.

Magistrates heard that on September 1 last year, council noise patrollers caught Mr Walker playing music very loudly at 1.30am. The patrollers reported that the noise was so bad that none of his neighbours could possibly have slept through it.

The court heard that playing such loud music meant that Mr Walker was in breach of a 12 month noise abatement notice that had been issued under the Environmental Protection Act in December 2001 after more complaints were received from local people.

On that occasion, council patrollers had visited his property just after 3am and found that music from his house could be heard 40 metres away. When they reached his property they realised that the music was so loud it was causing his front door to vibrate. It was so deafening that it was some time before Mr Walker answered his front door because he could not hear the officers knocking.

The court also heard that Mr Walker was fined £1,500 with £100 costs for noise nuisance in March 1997 and that there had been another noise abatement notice issued to him in November 2000 following more complaints from neighbours.

Cabinet member for housing Cllr Martin Johnson said: "People who make their neighbours' lives a misery should be under no illusion that we will take the toughest possible action against them. In cases like this the message is very clear. If you persistently play loud music or cause any type of noise nuisance, then it could end up costing you your home.

"In this particular case, the leaseholder has been taken to court twice and fined heavily and now he has been served with the legal papers informing him of the dire consequences he will face if he doesn't improve his behaviour. We are not prepared to sit back and allow this type of intolerable behaviour to disturb and disrupt the lives of people living on our estates."