Neighbours and noise

[ants83]

Saved up like mad/put the overtime in and bought a 3 bed semi 3 years ago and have done it up with the previous owner a heavy smoker and the house a mess.
After moving in found the attached house next door was rented from the lady that lived there with her son.
Got on great with her , any party's or noise we used to tell eachother , she was the ideal neighbour until she moved out some 6 months ago.
So In place we have what I can only describe as ferrel children and a screaming mother that works a few hours a day.

Not the sort of person that would change her behaviour, she literally shouts at them all day.comes through everywall it's that loud,its ruined my house to be honest and I hate coming home. She shouts herself and the 10year old kid bangs and slams doors and has a filthy mouth, I can only describe these people as chavs. It's like they are living in a detached house and don't give one **** about me or anyone else.

On the plus side they sleep at night and only sometimes play loud music but my god the noise in the day and up to 11/12pm sometimes later just reverberates around my house. Is this normal to live next to?

I don't see why I should move house because of these people.
Calling the council will mean I have to document it if I sell.
Could talk to the landlady/letting agents?


Any similar story's ? I know moving is the best option but as said above why should I be forced out.

Cheers.

 

[Steampunk]

Choices if they won't be considerate.

1. Move.
2. Contact the landlords/noise pollution.
3. Soundproof your rooms. Check out Soundstop for options.

 

[b00merang69]

I know what it is like believe me and the default generic answer you will get is to move which is easier said than done.

I do not believe in private lets due to this, but the council houses were sold.

I really think people that cannot/will not behave after X chances should be removed from society.

 

[Skillmister]

I didn't realise how noisy my neighbours were until I started working from home. I'm on the end terrace of 3. The ones in the middle aren't too bad, they have 2 kids and 2 dogs and other than hearing the kids run up and down stairs or the occasional dog barking it's nothing uncivilised really. Can hear general noise a lot of the time but no doubt they can hear mine so it's fair.

The ones on the other end though are pretty much as described in the OP yet instead of hearing it through the walls the woman who in guessing is the mum is usually stood in the garden chain smoking in her dressing gown and shouting at her older children, their children and their dogs. I don't think any of them work other than a day here and there. I had to avoid having my office window open a lot in summer as people I was on the phone to could hear her! It's one of the few on the estate that is still a council house but from a bit of digging they've been there like 30 years so cant imagine they'll be going anywhere even if I did complain.

Also the number of dogs around that bark during the day is ridiculous. Must be 7 or 8 different houses with dogs that are outside and bark on and off all day and once one starts they all do.

 

[b00merang69]

Could be worse you could be in a flat bellow them, imagine that.

 

[samcat]

Choices if they won't be considerate.

1. Move.
2. Contact the landlords/noise pollution.
3. Soundproof your rooms. Check out Soundstop for options.

Landlord wont be able to do a lot, the general advice for landlords is to not get involved in neighbour disputes as it can become very he said-she said.
Have you spoken to your neighbour yet? Always worthwhile as a first thing to try.

 

[darael]

Could be worse you could be in a flat bellow them, imagine that.

Even more fun when they have that vile laminate flooring and kids running across it with their toys all day long. Not directly from personal experience, but I knew of an elderly couple who lived in a ground floor flat in that situation, with a mentally unhinged mother and child above them. They were forced to move, but their neighbours also happened to move out in the same week.

 

[Liefrich]

I know what it is like believe me and the default generic answer you will get is to move which is easier said than done.

I do not believe in private lets due to this, but the council houses were sold.

I really think people that cannot/will not behave after X chances should be removed from society.

Removed and put where?

 

[samcat]

Even more fun when they have that vile laminate flooring and kids running across it with their toys all day long. Not directly from personal experience, but I knew of an elderly couple who lived in a ground floor flat in that situation, with a mentally unhinged mother and child above them. They were forced to move, but their neighbours also happened to move out in the same week.

Normally a vinyl/laminate floor is a breach of the lease.. Most flats stipulate capet+underlay. If you are ever in this situation please check what the lease says.. They may have to put it back to carpet at their cost!

 

[a1ex2001]

Number one speak to the neighbours, yes they might be unreasonable but you don't know until you ask and if you try and pursue any other option the first question will be have you tried to amicably resolve the situation.

If that doesn't work you have three choices
1) Pursue it with the council as a noise complaint
2) Suck it up and live with it
3)move

 

[Bug One]

I'd look into soundproofing. https://www.soundproofingstore.co.uk/how-to-soundproof-my-wall-against-noisy-neighbours

Talking to them, the council etc will just result in an even worse relationship with your neighbour.

 

[norm]

That was my main concern looking for a house being stuck in a semi or terraced with noisy neighbours, so I ruled them out in favour of a detached. And even now I've got a chavvy single mum family renting opposite me who think nothing of shouting obscenities when getting the kids ready for the school run in the morning and yet nobody else on the street behaves that way. So I think it's endemic with scummy benefit renters they all fit a similar profile, loud, fat, brash, tattoos, multiple kids from multiple fathers, pet dog(s) yet they're living off benefits, no regard for anyone but themselves because they've got an overwhelming sense of entitlement and think the world owes them something, don't value what they've got or where they're living because they've never had to work for it.

I know this isn't particularly helpful to your situation, but not knowing the property market in your area and how expensive it is to find a detached house, could you consider a detached house that needs work doing to it to get it a bit cheaper?

 

[Hilly]

I was in a similar situation when I was in a temporary house (new place was being built, my nans house was empty, so stayed there until house was finished). It was hell. The neighbours (I was end terrace) used to swear and shout at their three kids, who used to make SO much noise; I learnt the names of all of their kids, just by hearing her scream their names. It used to wake me up every morning and no amount of being nice to the neighbours, or telling them to STFU worked. It was a council house and they had previously been moved to here as they were removed from another council house. The front reception room was just not usable due to the noise at all hours.

I took great pleasure in turning up my music late at night and ****ing them off in retaliation.

I eventually moved when my now house, was finished. I'll never go back to a joined property. I hate hearing people and also worrying about whether people can hear me.

 

[a1ex2001]

That was my main concern looking for a house being stuck in a semi or terraced with noisy neighbours, so I ruled them out in favour of a detached. And even now I've got a chavvy single mum family renting opposite me who think nothing of shouting obscenities when getting the kids ready for the school run in the morning and yet nobody else on the street behaves that way. So I think it's endemic with scummy benefit renters they all fit a similar profile, loud, fat, brash, tattoos, multiple kids from multiple fathers, pet dog(s) yet they're living off benefits, no regard for anyone but themselves because they've got an overwhelming sense of entitlement and think the world owes them something, don't value what they've got or where they're living because they've never had to work for it.

I know this isn't particularly helpful to your situation, but not knowing the property market in your area and how expensive it is to find a detached house, could you consider a detached house that needs work doing to it to get it a bit cheaper?

If only we could all buy a detached house Where I live even the nice semi's go for over 600K which puts them out of reach of normal families. We've lived in a terraced house for 15 years nearly and while the neighbours on one side have varied from the lovely to the massively annoying it a nice house in a great area so I won'r be leaving anytime soon.

 

[ants83]

That was my main concern looking for a house being stuck in a semi or terraced with noisy neighbours, so I ruled them out in favour of a detached. And even now I've got a chavvy single mum family renting opposite me who think nothing of shouting obscenities when getting the kids ready for the school run in the morning and yet nobody else on the street behaves that way. So I think it's endemic with scummy benefit renters they all fit a similar profile, loud, fat, brash, tattoos, multiple kids from multiple fathers, pet dog(s) yet they're living off benefits, no regard for anyone but themselves because they've got an overwhelming sense of entitlement and think the world owes them something, don't value what they've got or where they're living because they've never had to work for it.

I know this isn't particularly helpful to your situation, but not knowing the property market in your area and how expensive it is to find a detached house, could you consider a detached house that needs work doing to it to get it a bit cheaper?

Describes them perfectly I think they also might have a kid called oi who I have never seen!!
I could sell and move to a detached as I have made a profit but only after 3 years it wouldn't make financial sense, the boiler and rads were 3k alone.

I don't think soundproofing would address the flanking noise at all. The party wall would cost at least 1k and I'd rather put that towards moving.
But it's would cost at least 5-10k to move house with fees and stamp duty ect.
Just frustrating that I'm stuck here with this noise . These people should all live in the same areas .
Apart from next door it's a pretty nice street just been ruined. Even if these lot moved out then I guess I could get even worse ones in.
Detached is the way to go I agree but not at the cost of making myself skint.

 

[Adam]

I had a similar issue and once it's in your head an you identify it then it's very hard to switch off from it. I moved in the end (to a much bigger house while the loser is still there on his own) but I don't think any amount of communication would have solved the problem. My old neighbour was an inconsiderate idiot and nothing would have changed that.

 

[norm]

It's just such a sad reflection on the state of UK housing though that a lot of properties just aren't fit for purpose, we aren't exactly limited for space in this country only ~10% of land is actually built on, yet the housing developers knock out smaller and smaller properties on increasingly cramped estates where you're living on your neighbours doorstep as front gardens seem to have been relegated to history and the councils make up ridiculous rules like a certain percentage of new builds have to be social housing so those that have worked and saved get the pleasure of living next to a bunch of layabouts who'll only bring the neighborhood down. It's essentially money before any sort of basic living standard which in a modern soceity should be a prerequisite for building houses.

 

[Fireskull]

They sound exactly like my neighbours! One of the main reasons we are looking to move is because of them, new house HAS to be detached, that or at least a metre thick old stone wall....

 

[task]

I had a noise issue in my last property, bought it needed a decent amount of work but the area was nice enough and the neighbours seemed decent. Couple of years down the line and the neighbours partner left him and his delinquent daughter moved in leading to lots of arguments and an altercation on the front steps involving the police. Later he changed jobs, working during the day as opposed to evenings. That meant in the evenings he started playing obnoxiously loud music to practice as a "DJ", a new line of work he was exploring, this extended to during the day also. Dropped a few hints when I saw him and did the thing of playing loud music back but nothing changed.

As we wanted to sell we decided not to go down the noise complaint route, we just sucked it up for a year or two while we prepared to move, new property is a detached bungalow so no noise issues!

 

[ants83]

Interesting to hear other stories too. The landlady did talk to me in the summer and introduced herself and said if they were to noisy to let her know. But as the money is coming in (well most from the taxpayer) I doubt she would care now but I guess a word might not hurt , but at best she wouldn't renew the lease I'm guessing.
Me and my partner are due a baby soon so I'm hoping it cries all night but in all honesty I don't think the chavs will even hear it above there own noise..