Noisy neighbour fined for blasting out pop music
A NOISY neighbour has been hit with a huge fine for blasting out the likes of Madonna and Whitney Houston.
Seyed Mohammadi played Smooth Radio so loud at his flat in Kings Norton inspectors were able to use the ‘Shazam’ mobile phone app to confirm what songs were coming through the walls.
Neighbours were left feeling ‘‘despondent’’ and suffering sleepless nights, with one resorting to wearing headphones to block out the racket.
The 58-year-old Amazon employee had received numerous warnings before being served a nuisance abatement notice by Birmingham City Council.
He denied multiple breaches of the order, claiming he was either at work or asleep at the time. But following a trial at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court this week he was found guilty of 11 offences.
Mohammadi was fined £3,040, ordered to pay £1,500 in court costs and another £150 in compensation
to three separate neighbours.
Prosecutor Alexander Barbour stated the issues had gone on for a number of years with council officers visiting the address at Barratts Road 35 times and issuing more than 50 letters to him.
A number of complaints to the authority prompted a nuisance abatement notice being handserved to Mohammadi on July 24, 2020, which he did not contest.
Mr Barbour said: “There are 11 offences. Each charge represents an alleged breach of that notice by the further playing of amplified sound from Mr Mohammadi’s flat. Mr Mohammadi’s case is he wasn’t at the property at the time and the alleged noises were made by somebody else.
“We say the council has hard evidence that there can be no doubt the sounds were coming from his flat and Mr Mohammadi breached the relevant notice.”
Council officer Robert Hedges set up noise recording equipment in the living room of nearby home which captured 10-minute segments of the sound coming from the offending flat. Other council officers gave evidence detailing a number of other occasions in March and April when they heard Mohammedi blasting the likes of Bruno Mars, Phil Collins, John Lennon, Madonna and Sting as late as 12.34am.
Mohammadi branded the allegations ‘‘unrealistic’’ and said: “The times you are giving are nothing to do with music coming from my flat. Six nights a week I’m working. I’m not there.”
He stated he only had a batterypowered pocket radio incapable of generating intrusive volumes and alleged he was being ‘‘targeted’’ because of health and safety issues he had complained to the council about.
Mr Barbour summarised victim impact statements from neighbours with one claiming the loud music ‘‘controls all aspects of my life’’, adding that they could not have friends and family over.
The tenant claimed their ‘‘mental health had taken a dive’’ and revealed they wore head phones to ‘‘block the music out’’. Another described the noise as ‘‘constant’’ and confirmed they had ‘‘effectively moved out because of the anxiety’’.
Magistrates convicted Mohammadi of all 11 counts of failing to comply with an abatement notice.