‘I’m running out of hope’: NHS worker driven to brink after 20 months of hell from anti-social neighbour

An NHS worker has spoken of her despair after 20 months of relentless anti-social behaviour from a neighbour, which she says has left her sleep-deprived, struggling to do her job and at times contemplating taking her own life.

The tenant, who asked not to be named, first went public with her ordeal in October 2025, when she told LBC News she had already endured 13 months of disturbances from the flat above hers. Seven months on, she says little has changed.

In March, she described being kept awake night after night by her upstairs neighbour’s “socialising and nocturnal activities” — banging, furniture being moved, cleaning and sorting going on into the small hours, all of it amplified, she says, through laminate flooring.

“On Sunday night, I had 4 hours sleep and had to use emergency annual leave on Monday due to exhaustion,” she said. “I had 4 hours sleep again last night, and I am really struggling to cope with a full-time job in the NHS.

“I hear everything through his laminate flooring, amplified. I am using earplugs, have tried white noise machines, it is no good. I am very desperate, my mental health is really suffering and I am feeling that I am running out of hope.”

In December, the tenant lodged a complaint with the Housing Ombudsman over the way Hackney Council had dealt with the matter. The watchdog later said it was satisfied the council had complied with its orders, and closed the case..

The following month, in January 2026, the council outlined potential legal action and promised her updates by late February. Three months later, she said, those updates had still not arrived.

A closure order which would have banned anyone from entering the neighbouring flat for up to six months was issued. Since then, the tenant says, nothing has improved.

A Hackney Council spokesperson said its anti-social behaviour officer had spoken with the resident three times in March — once following an incident in the block, again to discuss noise monitoring, and a third time to update her on work with the police on a potential closure order.

A referral has been made to adult safeguarding and a Community Protection Warning is being considered.

But for the tenant, the wait is taking its toll.

“I cannot sleep at all in the flat,” she said. “I need some communication, clarity and timelines from Hackney [Council] urgently. It is extremely taxing to have to chase information over and over again with no responses and long delays every time.”

Her case is far from isolated. Figures from the London Datastore show there were 7,644 reported anti-social behaviour incidents in Hackney in 2025, compared with a London borough average of 6,655.

Hackney’s own tenant survey, “How our tenants think we’re doing”, shows just 28 per cent of tenants were satisfied with the council’s approach to complaints in 2024-25.

That figure is only slightly above the London average of 26 per cent — pointing to widespread frustration with social landlords across the capital.

A Hackney Council spokesperson said: “We take all reports of anti-social behaviour seriously and understand how distressing this situation has been for the tenant. Our anti-social behaviour team has been in contact with the tenant and is working with partners to take appropriate action. Because this is a live case involving individual residents and potential legal proceedings, there are limits to what we can say publicly.”

Anyone struggling with their mental health can contact the Samaritans for free, 24 hours a day, on 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org