You buy a house in an area zoned for agricultural use, dreaming of a quiet and peaceful life ‘far from the madding crowd’. Then the neighbours decide to turn their farm into a conference and wedding venue, and your rural peace and quiet is shattered by boisterous events featuring loud music, singing, shouting, and hooting.
You go to court, and obtain an order restraining the neighbours from organising or hosting any “wedding functions, receptions, conferences and/or similar noise generating events”. But to no avail – the neighbours carry on arranging events in breach of the court order.
Your remedy
Your remedy is another approach to the courts which will, as illustrated in a recent High Court case, brook no nonsense in penalising any deliberate and intentional violation of court orders. The offenders in the case in question were not only fined R20,000 or 6 months’ imprisonment (with a further 6 months’ imprisonment conditionally suspended for 3 years), but were ordered to pay their long-suffering neighbour’s legal costs on the punitive attorney and client scale.
Note that most municipalities can also assist with nuisance neighbours via noise by-laws. But don’t suffer in silence if you get no joy from local law enforcement – go to court!
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