The disgruntled lady complained neighbours ran their dishwasher during 'quiet hours' and slammed cupboards and doors.

By Richard Ashmore, Senior News Reporter

10:15, Thu, Sep 5, 2024 | UPDATED: 10:17, Thu, Sep 5, 2024

Woman not liking noise and dishwasher

STOCK IMAGE A woman tried unsuccessfully to sue her neighbours over noise (Image: Getty )

A woman who failed to sue both her upstairs and downstairs neighbours over noise has been fined £38 herself for "ceiling tapping" and "cupboard slamming".

In a bizarre case from Canada Lindo Woo lost four small claims court cases against fellow residents in accommodation in the city of Burnaby in British Columbia (BC).

Ms Woo and her neighbours live in what is known as a strata development, similar to a leaseholder arrangement in apartment buildings in the UK where people own their flats but also contribute to communal costs. 

Last week a BC Civil Resolution Tribunal rejected the latest complaint by Ms Woo against her neighbour Mr Lorenzo with an adjudicator instead ordering Ms Woo pay a fine for poking her ceiling and slamming cupboards "so that he would understand" her annoyance.

CBC news in Canada reports Mr Bruno said he was just "going about his life" and the tribunal decision maker Kristin Gardner said evidence in a previous failed case against a downstairs neighbour pointed to the "possibility that Ms Woo has a particular sensitivity to noise". 

Burnaby in Canada

The woman made four small claims against what she felt were noisy neighbours in Burnaby, Canada (Image: Getty)

According to CBC Ms Woo had also unsuccessfully filed a similar complaint and lost against her downstairs neighbour Ms Amarshi.

In her latest bid against her upstairs neighbour Ms Woo sued for "running appliances during quiet hours, entertaining guests, stomping, dragging furniture, dropping objects" and over "a motorised exercise bike and flooring creaks, knocks and pops."

Mr Bruno countered claiming he was the victim and that "Woo's constant complaints to the strata and the police amount to harassment."

Dishwasher

Among the complaints registered there was one about noise from a dishwasher (Image: Getty )

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Tribunal member Megan Stewart ordered Ms Woo to pay Mr Bruno £38, or $50 Canadian dollars, and said she could not find Mr Bruno was creating a nuisance. 

She concluded: "Though I accept the noises Ms Woo hears bother her, I do not agree that on an objective basis she has shown they rise to the level of negligence or nuisance."

In the UK, research by Churchill Home Insurance found there were over 450,000 noise complaints made to local councils in 2022, a rise of over 70,000 in just two years.