LL has bought next door

foolishqueen

Evening Folks,

Just after any opinions and thoughts on our situation.

We have lived in our rented semi-detached for 10 months. No issues with the house; the agents have always responded quickly to any issues raised, but about 4 months ago the house next door was sold and it transpires that our landlady has bought it. No issue at all with this, and in fact it gives me better recourse should we get neighbors from hell etc.

The issue is however, for the past 2.5 months, they have been renovating it themselves. Again, they are perfectly entitled to do this. That being said, we have had to put up with noise - banging/drilling etc. and this has affected my son who has autism as he does not cope well with noise. I'm not overly bothered about this, but they made no effort to come and explain or apologise upfront about the protracted disturbance. If it was me, going round next door would have been the first thing I would have done - just seems the courteous and polite thing to do.

The biggest problem, is that for these past 2.5 months, the landlady aad her husband have been there most days, all day. Now, I'm sure they are not paying us any attention, and we have not really altered the way we live (we are hard working individuals with a young family) but we feel like we have been living on egg shells these past several weeks, and its becoming quite stressful. It's quite hard to live your life and let your kids mess about in the garden for example when the landlady is stood in the garden supervising her husband! Or when you go out the front door and there she is on the front.

Some people might not let this situation bother them at all, but it does bother us. My partner said to me to day its like living in the Big Brother house and she would rather move out until its finished than stay living here. It's like trying to work at your desk in the office but with your boss sat behind you all day every day. Surely most people would find that unsettling?

Happy to hear views at either end of the spectrum - but whether what we feel is right or wrong, it's what we feel, and you can't argue with that

Thanks.

Bella73

To be honest ... I think yes they could have come and said something at the beginning about the noise as its the first thing we did when we got our keys was go around and meet the neighbours and apologised. Advance for noise while we are renovating.

But... The other bits I find a bit odd, I wouldn't care if my landlord were in the garden next door... I really don't see why it should be an issue unless you are ding things that you think they wouldn't like??

I share an office with my boss so again can't really see the problem... Think you need to get over it as they probably haven't noticed and if they have then they probably think you are being odd.

ognum

foolishqueen wrote: »

Evening Folks,

Just after any opinions and thoughts on our situation.

We have lived in our rented semi-detached for 10 months. No issues with the house; the agents have always responded quickly to any issues raised, but about 4 months ago the house next door was sold and it transpires that our landlady has bought it. No issue at all with this, and in fact it gives me better recourse should we get neighbors from hell etc.

The issue is however, for the past 2.5 months, they have been renovating it themselves. Again, they are perfectly entitled to do this. That being said, we have had to put up with noise - banging/drilling etc. and this has affected my son who has autism as he does not cope well with noise. I'm not overly bothered about this, but they made no effort to come and explain or apologise upfront about the protracted disturbance. If it was me, going round next door would have been the first thing I would have done - just seems the courteous and polite thing to do.

The biggest problem, is that for these past 2.5 months, the landlady aad her husband have been there most days, all day. Now, I'm sure they are not paying us any attention, and we have not really altered the way we live (we are hard working individuals with a young family) but we feel like we have been living on egg shells these past several weeks, and its becoming quite stressful. It's quite hard to live your life and let your kids mess about in the garden for example when the landlady is stood in the garden supervising her husband! Or when you go out the front door and there she is on the front.

Some people might not let this situation bother them at all, but it does bother us. My partner said to me to day its like living in the Big Brother house and she would rather move out until its finished than stay living here. It's like trying to work at your desk in the office but with your boss sat behind you all day every day. Surely most people would find that unsettling?

Happy to hear views at either end of the spectrum - but whether what we feel is right or wrong, it's what we feel, and you can't argue with that

Thanks.

Obviously I am not in your house and I agree it would be polite for them to tell you they are doing up the house next door but I do think you are being over sensitive.

Just live your life, they have given you no indication they thing you are too noisy, your kids are badly behaved or you should do anything different.

My guess is that they will not be there longer than they have to be. hey will want the rent coming in soon.

When I get a new property I tend to be there a lot sorting stuff out and then not at all when the new tenants move in.

have you got any jobs you need done on your house because if you have I would get them done now while the LL is around!

just get on with your life, that's what they are expecting you to do!

somethingcorporate

Aside from the politeness issue around warning for the noise the rest is just paranoia. They are probably far more concerned with the building and renovation work going on in their new property than whether your kids are running around your garden.

Just get on with living your lives and don't worry about the Joneses next door.

kelpie35

Unless you have something to hide, why bother. They are only trying to make the house nice for any new tenants.

As to the noise due to renovations, it would have been polite to say they might cause some noise. As long as it is done within the legal hours I don't think you can really complain.

It is unfortunate that your DS does not like noise but that is not their faoult.

Own_My_Own

Do you say hello to them when you see them ? They may not speak incase you think they are interfering in you living in their house.
I get on really well with my landlord. He also owns the house next door and had to use my garden for access (mid terrace) when he renovated it. It didn't bother me at all.

twink22

Our LL lives next door and I do actually know how you feel. We didn't know the LL lived next door until we got the agreement and had paid a large non refundable deposit so felt we had no choice but to continue and not let it bother us.

However when we 1st moved in LL contacted the agent to get them to tell us that my OH goes to work at 6am (still don't why this was mentioned as there was no complaint of noise) and to complain that we park a van in the driveway, although only minor things we felt constantly under scrutiny in the first few weeks.

Another thing that bothers me is that they will only deal with us through the letting agent, don't talk to us or say hello etc for example we had someone come round to do some work last week LL called agent from his home who then called us at home to tell us the boiler man was 15 mins away, can't for the life of me see the logic in not just popping over to knock on the door to tell us, LA even laughed about it. We have got used to it but it just makes us feel a bit uncomfortable now.

sandsni

twink22 wrote: »

Another thing that bothers me is that they will only deal with us through the letting agent, don't talk to us or say hello etc for example we had someone come round to do some work last week LL called agent from his home who then called us at home to tell us the boiler man was 15 mins away, can't for the life of me see the logic in not just popping over to knock on the door to tell us, LA even laughed about it. We have got used to it but it just makes us feel a bit uncomfortable now.

It's possible your LL is afraid of breaching their contract with the LA or being accused of not allowing you your right of "quiet enjoyment" if they speak to you directly, although not even saying hello is a bit extreme !

foolishqueen

Thank you all for your comments. I agree we are probably being over sensitive and a tad paranoid, but alas that's how we feel - so what do you do!

We do say hello to them when we see them (most days!) and they are polite, so I have no issues there. I have made a comment to the agents on how we feel (not a complaint, just a passing comment) so whether that will get back to them I don't know.

We are good tenants (well I would say that wouldn't I!) so they have nothing to fear - I've rented for a long time and have always taken pride in where I live.

They are renovating the front gardens of the properties at the minute (not at my request) so that's appreciated (although after my 2 hour commute home I had to park half way down the street as the gardeners had parked on our drive - that irked me a bit!).

Cheers.

foolishqueen

kelpie35 wrote: »

Unless you have something to hide, why bother. They are only trying to make the house nice for any new tenants.

As to the noise due to renovations, it would have been polite to say they might cause some noise. As long as it is done within the legal hours I don't think you can really complain.

It is unfortunate that your DS does not like noise but that is not their faoult.

I have had to move twice in the last 10 years due to noisy neighbors -unless its something you have been through it can be difficult to empathise

Also, yes, my sons issues are not theirs in the slightest, but had they discussed with us at the start, we could have help mitigate the negative effects it has had on him.

foolishqueen

Quizzical_Squirrel wrote: »

You're the one who's giving this situation the power to make you uneasy..

Good comment Squirrel - I like that