Disputing neighbours told to find solution to drum and guitar noise

A couple were told yesterday their semi-detached home was no place for a drum kit and electric guitar played by their teenage…

A couple were told yesterday their semi-detached home was no place for a drum kit and electric guitar played by their teenage sons if they expected to live in harmony with their neighbours.

Quoting the Paul Simon song, One man's ceiling is another man's floor, Judge James McNulty advised the warring neighbours to find a solution to their dispute lest the court would have to make an order which they would end up having to disclose if they ever tried to sell their homes.

An ambulance driver, Mr Terry Sutton, had brought a noise nuisance action against Mrs Mary Quinlan, who lives with her bank official husband and four sons, aged 13 to 21, at Grange Park Road, Raheny, Dublin.

The families live in adjoining semi-detached houses, and Mr Sutton claims the playing of drums, guitars, and singalongs to music of The Verve, U2 and Queen by the boys over the last two years turned his family's life upside down.

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The Quinlans denied the claims and said the boys were not allowed to play their music at excessive levels or beyond 6 p.m.

Mr Sutton said he had approached the Quinlans on a number of occasions, and they were initially apologetic.

But Mr Sutton said the music started up again, usually when the boys came home from school and often late at night when his wife and daughter were trying to sleep.

After making a number of approaches Mrs Quinlan told Mr Sutton he would have to put up with the fact that he was living next door to four young lads with an interest in music.

The dispute dated back to when the Quinlans moved into the house four years ago, and Mr Sutton was unhappy at the prospect of living next to four teenage boys when the previous occupant of the house had been an elderly man, the Quinlans claimed.

Judge McNulty was satisfied the noise levels had on occasion been unacceptable and said he would, if necessary, make an order that the nuisance be abated. But he adjourned the case to May 23rd to give the parties an opportunity to come to some agreement.

In his view a semi-detached house in a suburban estate was no place for a set of drums or an electric guitar.

"My advice is that the drums and guitar must go and the noise be significantly reduced," he said.