New neighbour's DIY going on SEVEN MONTHS!!!!

moneyistooshorttomention

I think its fair enough to avoid Sunday for DIY work as far as possible and have always done so myself. Some people still regard Sunday as a "day of rest" and most people work Monday-Friday and then regard Saturday as a day for shopping, etc (ie so might well be out anyway).

The times the work is done are the most important things and I stick to doing noisy work in office type hours (ie 8.30-5.30) and possibly Saturday daytime as well. Its had to be Saturdays as well sometimes back when I was still working Monday-Friday myself. Therefore I think its reasonable to expect that other people won't ever do DIY of an evening and will try to avoid it, if at all possible, on a Sunday.

Renovation work can go on for months (even on a small place) if there is a lot to be done - as I know from my current house. Previous owners alternately neglected and bodged the house and I'm having to put that right - so work has been going on for months on my little place. But it has been at intervals of do one Major Job, then another Major Job then wait around for some weeks (eg for workmen to be available) and very much "stop and start" due to workmen and weather. Its finished for the time being now - as I've now run out of money to spend on the place for the time being and it will probably be months before I have any more money to use for this. But there does come a time when work is finished and all money the person has decided to spend has been spent.

Keep your pecker up - he will have finished the work and/or run out of money for more at some point.

Davesnave

pendragon_arther wrote: »

Workmen were renovating a house nearby on a Sunday using loud powertools. I complained to the local environment dept and the workmen were warned to not do so again. Maybe different councils have different priorities.

This wasn't DIY by the sound of it. Contractors should stick to normal working hours, but hard-working (don't I just love that expression!) DIYers often only have evenings/weekends.

Someone I know had a working hours restiction put on his DIY building* as a result of a neighbour complaint. The result was actually much worse for the neighbour because (a) he then made as much noise as possible, and (b) the work took longer.

All the regs in the world don't trump human nature.

*It was building rather than repairs or simple renovation, but the council concerned seems to make up its own rules.

moneyistooshorttomention

This is the thing - that reasonable allowance has to be made for reasonable level of work....

Someone should tell my nfh that one - as she's voluble (one way or another) any time work is done and I just think "What would she have preferred? It was either someone like me or the house was on the verge of deteriorating into an uninhabitable ruin?". I'm already mentally geared-up to the fact that another house near me is going to be up for sale soon and I could be on the receiving end of DIY work going on there (as a very quick glance at it reveals quite a bit of work needing doing).

I've come to the conclusion that most properties need either a lot or a huge amount of work and more so in some parts of the country than others....

lynsayjane

I'm a DIYer and in the process of doing the entire house, like a previous poster it's thanks to years of neglect from the previous owners. My joined neighbours were the ones who told me they did nothing (though it was clear from seeing it too!) and I think are partly glad someone who cares is in there now and we do have a reasonably good relationship.
I work full time so my DIY is done in evenings and weekends (including Sundays) but with consideration. I would never continue noisy work past 9pm, painting/papering etc is fine though. I also noticed a couple of weekends ago that they had their small grand daughter staying so I finished shortly after 7pm knowing she would shortly be going to bed.
At the same time I have been woken up before 8/9 of a weekend when Mr neighbour started digging up his garden which is by my bedroom window.
I think they are early birds to my night owl.
When I had new windows put in I mentioned it to them in advance and apologised for any noise or mess.
It's about being considerate.

While I sympathise with the OP over this taking a prolonged period unfortunately I'm not sure you can do anything about the work or noise unless it's going on at unsociable hours. It's not your neighbours fault you work from home when most people are usually out of the home and wouldn't be disturbed.
Hopefully as others have suggested you can find a quieter place to work in the meantime or a way to distract yourself. In my office I have a chap who sounds as if he is snoring all day long, music and earbuds are my best friend.

fortunefortune

DRASTIC - UPDATE!!! Thanks to everyone who replied to my post. I have since had conflict with the neighbour, and am even MORE stressed out! Very grateful for any assistance on the most mature way to sort it out. Did not mention before, but until Monday night, we had 4 leaks caused by the upstair neighbour's diy. He does a lot of it himself, and clearly is not a professional. On Monday night there were 2 more. So our kitchen has had 2, bathroom 3, cupboard 1. I was going to go into the whole thing, but realise it would go on forever, so to cut to the chase, his attitude is TOUGH and when I said very politely that we were finding the diy stressful going on 7 months and we had hoped it would be finished by now, he said he would maybe stretch the DIY out for 2-4 years and who were we going to complain to? He has also said he was 'too busy' to sort the leak on another occasion. He did not mention before, but has it in his head that we damaged his new outside gas pipe. This is the LIVE gas pipe that is attached to the outside of our bathroom wall, so clearly we are not going to want a gas leak. His grown up bipolar son kicked our water outlet pipe and broke some of it off a few months ago. (I was in he bathroom and hear everything but did not go out as I did not know it was his son at the time and the guy had someone with him and they sounded pretty rough). I did not say anything as I did not want to cause extra tension. So now I feel that maybe his son kicked his pipe at the same time and what is worrying me most is that I think he has gone around telling the neighbours we did it, as they have been giving me funny looks. So questions:- how can you deal with someone who does not care at all that he is causing repeated minor damage to your property - not enough for insurance, but plenty of hassle and stress. Also, should I go round the closer neighbours and let them know the situation about the damaged gas pipe, as I want to clear my name! THANK YOU.

lynsayjane

I probably wouldn't go round the neighbours as it just becomes a he said/she said situation. If he has been telling tales then he'll only say you're trying to shift the blame.
I would try contacting the council, though if it's a privately owned flat I'm unsure what they can do. If you don't own yours contact your landlord (whether private or local authority) and keep them updated with the situation, they may also be in a better position to take action.

phoenix_w

Sounds like it's time to play hard ball, to be honest. Tell him that you've been fair in trying to get him to sort his leaks without involving anyone but if he continues being unreasonable you'll get your insurance to fix any damage to your property caused by his lack of attention and you'll let them worry about suing him for the costs of repair. I'd follow this up by ringing your insurers legal helpline, they should be able to tell you whether it's worth drafting a letter before action to him and give you some advice on how to do that - it should cause him to sit up and take notice.

Tell them that you know his son broke the waste pipe through negligence and he probably broke the gas one as well, and that you wouldn't be stupid enough to cause any damage that could cause your own property to go up in smoke.

Finally, tell him you realise he's got a lot of DIY to do an that's OK - everyone is entitled to. Just tell him that you'd appreciate knowing when particularly noisy work is being done so you can work around it, and ask him to be respectful during early mornings/evenings.

Don't give a toss about the neighbours. He sounds like a piece of work, people will get the gist of him soon enough, and those that don't aren't worth worrying about.

lindze

Hi

That sounds horrendous! If you live in a flat who is your Freeholder? If you own a share of the Freehold and therefore do not have one, you should still have a lease that everyone has to abide by. I think mine states that I have the right to enjoy the property in peace etc etc.

Look on the Leaseholders Advisory Service website. It is a free help service and I have used them a few times and they were very helpful. If you cannot come to some agreement between yourselves they will tell you of any rights that you have and any course of action you could take.

If you have a Lease then you should have some protection I would have thought.....he may well be breaking the terms set out within it.

fortunefortune

Hi, I own my flat outright and so does he. I somehow wish there was a landlord or someone who could take this off my hands and have some control over the situation, but he knows there is no one I can 'complain' to.

lindze

Oh! So there is definitely not a lease? My worry would be that if the roof caves in you could say 'it's not my problem I am still dry' and if the drains over flow he can tell you it doesn't affect him and you deal with it?

Please don't think I am making light of things as I would go absolutely nuts if my neighbour had works going on all that time, but a lease is necessary with properties converted into flats even if you own the Freehold or part of the Freehold. You need it set out in a legally binding way, that if something needs repairing in the common parts, roof, drains etc that every flat has to pay it's share. This would also allow covenants to be included that restrict noise. Even if you own the Freehold please double check with your conveyancing solicitor in case there is one that you don't know about. High Street lenders will not mortgage flats without leases for the above reasons, so did he buy his flat with cash?

Anyway that is not helping you. For now I would keep a very detailed diary of every time he is doing work, how long for and any conversations that you have with him. Maybe Environmental Health could help? I am sure they have a noise dept that could give some advice maybe? I think there are also phone apps that can record the decibels he is creating upstairs (may help with Environmental health take it seriously).

I think living with that noise for so long would make me ill with stress.....I get a bit enraged with just footsteps above me let alone power tools!!