Noisey next door neighbour

Ap62cat

Hi,

Not sure if anyone can help but here goes.

My partner and I just moved into our first home. We saved long and hard for the deposit and bought a mid terrace old house built early last century.

Next door has been converted into flats. The top flat's lounge is next to our bedroom. I believe there's a single guy living there.

We can hear absolutely everything through the walls. It's so loud and clear you can tell exactly what program the guy is watching. When he has a conversation we can hear every word. He must have had a few friends round after a night out this weekend as they were up talking until about 4am and kept us awake.

I'm at my wits end. Our dream home is turning into a nightmare! Surely there are building regs or something that should be complied with when converting a house into flat's to ensure noise doesn't travel!

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

michelle2008

Can't help on the building regs - but if all they were doing was talking then you do seem to have very thin walls - maybe just a single skin of bricks.

Can you move to a bedroom at the back of the house? And hope he is a hopeless single?!

sniggings

check to see if any formal complaints were made y the previous owner, if so you can sue and even go as far as making them buy back the house.

If not then sound proofing is your only hope or selling.

Sounds like it's not the fact they are flats that is causing the problem as the party wall would not e involved in the conversion, so doubt building regs would help.

Davesnave

sniggings wrote: »

check to see if any formal complaints were made y the previous owner, if so you can sue and even go as far as making them buy back the house.

If not then sound proofing is your only hope or selling.

I doubt if any formal complaints would have been made about someone talking and watching TV in their own home, and there's no indication of out-and-out rowdiness in the OP's post.

Certainly it's worth checking out, but answers from Environmental Health may be vague, thanks to data protection, so it's unlikely to be a one step process. Nevertheless, the expense of a solicitor could be avoided if the result is a clear, "No."

Soundproofing is a huge subject, but there is plenty of info out there on the 'net. The question is whether you can afford to lose the space in the room, as many 20th century terraced houses are not generously proportioned. If it's a goer, then it might well be much cheaper than moving.

sniggings

Davesnave wrote: »

I doubt if any formal complaints would have been made about someone talking and watching TV in their own home, and there's no indication of out-and-out rowdiness in the OP's post.

Certainly it's worth checking out, but answers from Environmental Health may be vague, thanks to data protection, so it's unlikely to be a one step process. Nevertheless, the expense of a solicitor could be avoided if the result is a clear, "No."

Soundproofing is a huge subject, but there is plenty of info out there on the 'net. The question is whether you can afford to lose the space in the room, as many 20th century terraced houses are not generously proportioned. If it's a goer, then it might well be much cheaper than moving.

giving all options...the complaint doesn't have to e about talking, any undisclosed complaint will do.

Mickygg

Unfortunately many houses are like this. I lived in a mid terrace a few years back. I loved the house, just what I wanted, but the noise made me go potty.

There you could hear conversations, the hoovering, even plugging in plugs to wall sockets!! When one of the neighbours started sanding down their banisters that was the last straw. I had no option but to move as I couldn't stand it any more.

My friends live in a semi and the other month I heard their neighbours hoovering and conversations through the wall.

It's normal, sorry I know you don't want to hear it though.

comeandgo

Imagine the noises your neighbour hears if his living room is only a few inches from your bedroom.

Davesnave

sniggings wrote: »

giving all options...the complaint doesn't have to e about talking, any undisclosed complaint will do.

Fair enough, but saying, "you can even go as far as making them buy back the house," while also technically correct, might raise unrealistic hopes in what seems, at this point, like a typical case of poor construction standards.

My point was that one cannot just go to the council and ask,"Did Mr Bloggs, who used to live in my house, raise any complaints about the neighbours on either side?" The council have a duty of confidentiality, so "Yes" is unlikely to feature as a reply.

I think they could answer "No,"in relation to a general question that didn't identify individuals, which would rule out expensive enquiries via formal legal means.

What's the cost of moving to another house? Possibly an prohibitive amount for an uncertain outcome. Equally problematic is persuading others to alter their behaviour, if it's not antisocial in the accepted sense.

So, that leaves physical measures to reduce the nuisance.

going_nowhere_fast

I live in a terrace and can also hear everything, I hate it.

I have spoken to people who spent money soundproofing and they said it wasn't worth the money. It muffles the sound but doesn't stop it.

I will never buy a terraced house again

Gordon_Hose

I can hear my neighbours alarm clock every weekday at 7am. You need to expect a certain degree of noise in Victorian terraced houses, they weren't built with parties, music and TV's in mind.

Dan-Dan

Gordon_Hose wrote: »

You need to expect a certain degree of noise in Victorian terraced houses, they weren't built with parties, music and TV's in mind.

Didnt they talk to each other in those days either?
After all , that is what the OP is complaining about , so not sure what your point is