Neighbours from hell

Fraise

You're entitled to Quiet Enjoyment in your home, and if your neighbours actions - slamming doors at night etc - are preventing you having quiet enjoyment you can do something about it.

It's usually best to try and get on the good side of them and unless they're absolutely awful they'll probably quieten down. If not, just take it further. That includes the barking dog....the council will deal with that quickly.

If they really are the neighbours from hell, and it is subjective - what some people deem awful others find acceptable - maybe you should move. But unless you move into the middle of a field you're going to have neighbours around, and even neighbours opposite the road can be a nuisance.

To be honest, most people are pretty decent, and if you can afford it you'll find the nicer residential areas with quiet roads usually have OK neighbours.

Don't worry about admitting to problems with neighbours. They're extremely common and people know neighbours can clash.

As long as the dispute is historical and has been solved it shouldn't put potential buyers off. Of course, it would depend on what the dispute was. If it was something like a neighbour blocking your path or being a 24/7 oddball that would be alarming. But if it was a case of them once slamming doors or you falling out over something that's now been resolved and it's all ok now, it shouldn't put too many people off.

Anyone who has a fear of neighbours will be looking for a detached property set far away from neighbours anyway.

robotrobo

Fraise wrote: »

ff. Anyone who has a fear of neighbours will be looking for a detached property set far away from neighbours anyway.[

my neighbours next door who live in a det bungalow are fantastic neighbours , they live in spain & have done so for 11 years , they only come home for 5 months of the year.
after experiencing horrible neighbours for 15 years , its like living in a different world , moveing was the best option for us , & the plus side also is that my neighbours are very nice people anyway.:)

MABLE

MABLE wrote: »

Many years ago I lived in a Victoria conversion and the owners above me had uncarpeted wooden floors. The noise was awful and despite having some friendly words with them nothing changed. In the end I decided to sale the flat but I did advise the potential buyer of the issues.

However she was young and said nothing like that would bother her.

As I had not made my complaint official I did not have to say any thing but I felt it was only right to let the buyer know.

OFF TOPIC

Funny enough after posting this message received a letter from the authority that this property resided in and have been awarded a council tax refund because of rebranding.

I left there over 17 years ago.

sniggings

Fraise wrote: »

You're entitled to Quiet Enjoyment in your home, and if your neighbours actions

where do you get that from?

Fact is you are entitled to quiet enjoyment in respect of LL to the tenant, not neighbour to neighbour.

Most if not all LL/HA will have rules on noise and all/most will say normal living noises are not a noise nuisance, such as walking on wooden flooring in a semi, closing doors etc

If you expect a LL/HA to rule on whether someone closed a door to loudly you'll be waiting a long time.

hotchoccolatte

Thanks for all of your replies.

We don't want to move as despite the NFH, we moved here due to 2 reasons - the location, it's a quiet little village, well it was quiet til they moved in and we have an amazing view of the countryside from our window. We searched high and low for a property like this as anything that was in our price range was just a terraced house or a semi detached in a rough area. We used to live in a terraced house and had the NFH there too so that's why we thought moving out the way to a quiet village would stop all that. The NFH on our last street were even worse than what we have to put up with now.

We are taking steps to block them out of our lives. We've put a fence up and going to put noise insulation on the walls. Hopefully they will move before we ever do. We couldn't afford to buy a detached house!

Davesnave

hotchoccolatte wrote: »

We don't want to move.....
We are taking steps to block them out of our lives. We've put a fence up and going to put noise insulation on the walls. Hopefully they will move before we ever do. We couldn't afford to buy a detached house!

Good for you. I think that's the right attitude.

It's a difficult balancing act, weighing up the pros and cons of a place, especially when one con seems so large. Knowing the realistic alternatives helps a great deal, as the grass elsewhere isn't necessarily greener.

MABLE

Presently we have a rapper living next door and at times it has been awful.
However with the support of that properties landlord they have given him notice.

mikepoole

Davesnave wrote: »

While I don't disagree with this, I think that some people might be better putting that effort into relocating, simply because they don't have the right personality to go head to head with a NFH.

We all have different talents and weaknesses, so while one couple might be able to pursue a matter like this through to the bitter end and achieve a result, others could well make their own lives worse.

It's not just about making an effort, it's being skilled and resilient in the right ways to withstand the difficulties which are bound to arise.

Exactly! You pick the battles you want to fight and hope to win. Plus you also have to understand what the definition of "win" is - judge your opponent, will they be silent and tip-toe everywhere if a legal entity tells them to do so yet cannot police them 24/7

I sympathise with the plight, I really do. We've experienced several NFH in our semi over the years - all different personalities and therefore some were chatted to and understood, some stared blankly and drooled and some saw it as notice to make more noise and they could not give a f...

Guest101

Fraise wrote: »

You're entitled to Quiet Enjoyment in your home, and if your neighbours actions - slamming doors at night etc - are preventing you having quiet enjoyment you can do something about it.

It's usually best to try and get on the good side of them and unless they're absolutely awful they'll probably quieten down. If not, just take it further. That includes the barking dog....the council will deal with that quickly.

If they really are the neighbours from hell, and it is subjective - what some people deem awful others find acceptable - maybe you should move. But unless you move into the middle of a field you're going to have neighbours around, and even neighbours opposite the road can be a nuisance.

To be honest, most people are pretty decent, and if you can afford it you'll find the nicer residential areas with quiet roads usually have OK neighbours.

Don't worry about admitting to problems with neighbours. They're extremely common and people know neighbours can clash.

As long as the dispute is historical and has been solved it shouldn't put potential buyers off. Of course, it would depend on what the dispute was. If it was something like a neighbour blocking your path or being a 24/7 oddball that would be alarming. But if it was a case of them once slamming doors or you falling out over something that's now been resolved and it's all ok now, it shouldn't put too many people off.

Anyone who has a fear of neighbours will be looking for a detached property set far away from neighbours anyway.

What you describe is NOT quiet enjoyment.

Guest101

AmandaBurton wrote: »

Back in 2006 our neighbours in the adjoining semi sold to a young couple. It was the start of a nightmare which lasted nearly a year and made me so ill. Like the OP’s NFH they would slam doors, shout, sing, snore, lock their dog in a bedroom to bark all day, use the spare bedroom as a gym with large heavy equipment banging on walls. Honestly, I thought I would lose my mind. I work full time and because I couldn’t sleep because of their noise until 2 in the morning, I started to underperform at work. And days off had to be spent out of the house as the noise during the day was unbearable. I tried going next door to explain that I could hear EVERYTHING…them going to the toilet, their love making and everything else.... but she just laughed and said ‘lucky you’. She threatened me with the dog and it all got very ugly. I didn’t know where to turn. Because it wasn’t council housing they didn’t want to help, so after a threat of violence one afternoon from her, I called the police. A lovely policewoman visited and after hearing the terrible racket for herself, went next door and told them in no uncertain terms that she would have them locked up if it didn’t stop. Rather than help, this made things ten time worse. The banging of doors increased and the loud music went on and on. Bloody Travelling Wilberrys.... I put our house on the market and when the board went up, the NFH told me that she’d make sure I couldn’t sell it, ever. To my delight, a young couple came to view, within a few days of it going on the market and they put in an offer. They asked about the neighbours and I told them they were new and that they could be noisy. Their answer was, ‘well we are too, so that’s good’! I’ve since seen photos on Social Media of wild parties they’ve had in my old house! I think they call it Kharma? I worried for years about my buyers coming back to sue me for not declaring the police visit, but I was so desperate to escape the noise. I managed to purchase a house where there were no neighbours either side, just at the back. The whole experience has made me obsessive about any noise which disturbs me. A guy near us revs his ‘exhaustpipeless’ motorbike late at night in the summer, with not a thought for people with small children or people who may be in bed at 10pm. So so selfish. In the height of summer we cannot have our windows open if he's tinkering with his bloomin' motorbikes. Luckily we don't get that many hot days! People just don’t seem to care that their actions may be distressing to others. Just so long as they are enjoying themselves. We considered all sorts of solutions before deciding to move. I lost money on the house, but for my own sanity had to get away. I feel so sorry for the OP. I feel your pain and hope that they move soon and leave you in peace.

Well clearly they knew the law and the police woman didnt.

What exactly would she lock them up for?

It getting worse was the direct result of (whilst well meaning) incompetant policing.

I think whilst most people would be considerate with noise, if a police constable (or likely this was a PCSO) turned up with threats like that they would get told to Foxtrot Oscar.

Clearly the house was poorly built as whilst they might control the levels of noise during their 'intimate sessions', the toilet flushing is a sound which is a normally quiet one - the fact you coudl hear it says more about the thickness of the wall than your neighbours (who by the sounds of it werent doing that much different to any other house owner)