Neighbours complaining about my kids running...

freeof1

Weighing in here as someone who rented a converted Victorian house in West London for a few years with upstairs neighbours and thin ceilings. The upstairs was a holiday let with different types of guests each week.

We faced it all: music, shouting, kids running at 6am, adults in stilettos, plus a washing machine that guests would put on at night and our bedroom would vibrate for 2 hours non stop!

All the noises naturally bothered us and we politely apoke to the owners/guests about many of them. For the washing machine, the owners put up a note kindly asking guests not to use the washing machine at night, which did help. We complained about the late night parties on weekdays (we called the local council in who agreed it was excessive and the owners subsequently chucked the guests out before their stay ended), and when the guests would stomp around we knocked on their door and asked them to tread more lightly at night because it kept us awake - 99% of the time they respected it and even would drop a bottle of wine or box of chocolates by our door to apologise when they left.

All this is to say - I can sympathise with your downstairs neighbours about noise travelling and we spoke to the owners/landlords whenever we felt the noises were unreasonable.

However the one type of noise we didn't ever complain about is kids. We knew the property wasn't sound proofed and to ask parents to discipline their young toddlers to walk and not run is ridiculous given the inability for kids that young to know their a*se from their elbow let alone to tip toe around the flat. We used ear plugs to soften the noise and then looked forward to renting a house in the future rather than a flat. Other than that it's just the nature of the beast.

It doesn't sound like your kids are out of control. They're just....kids, doing what kids do.

When we rented we didn't have children. Now we have a 2 year old and am proud of our younger selves for accepting the noises of kids. The loud noise caused by children was because of the property build, not because the neighbours were being inconsiderate.

Putting down carpets would be the actions of a considerate human being and would be greatly appreciated by your neighbours. But don't beat yourself up if it doesn't help and your neighbours still complain.

Hope that helps.

lookstraightahead

Kids are kids until they are adults and then all the excuses used because they were kids come back to bite them on the bum.

Even kids need to live in a society of all ages - I know this dealing with my poorly 85 year old mother in law whose welfare and rest is equally as important as the kids next door (who are lovely by the way).

Cocorita

laying wooden laminate OVER the existing carpet

!!!!!! is wrong with these people??? how even a floor specialist or even a handyman agrees to do this???

Kim_kim

RelievedSheff wrote: »

Some people can manage to live above others without disturbing them.

Some people have unrealistic expectations of neighbours.
I had a neighbour below me once claim the noise of us sitting down to eat at the dining table annoyed her as the chairs scraped the floor.........

mimi9393

I too live in a conversion. My upper neighbour has recently has her adult daughter and child (3) move in. The increased noise is ridiculous. The child is allowed to run about 10/11pm as well as the noise created by the mother! To make matters worse she has left a council hime vacant to live here as she was ‘lonely’ due it being in another town. I would be interested to hear the environmental officers view on this type of child noise nuisance? Ps it is a council rented property not owned 

MovingForwards

mimi9393 said:

I too live in a conversion. My upper neighbour has recently has her adult daughter and child (3) move in. The increased noise is ridiculous. The child is allowed to run about 10/11pm as well as the noise created by the mother! To make matters worse she has left a council hime vacant to live here as she was ‘lonely’ due it being in another town. I would be interested to hear the environmental officers view on this type of child noise nuisance? Ps it is a council rented property not owned 

Start your own thread as most people will only read the original post from nearly a year ago and respond to that.

pinkteapot

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FBaby

The problem with noise is that we except people to be tolerant of the noise that is part of our family life but then complain about noise that isn't. 

The noise of other children isn't so bad when you have children yourself. It's a nightmare for those who don't. Same as noise from pets, dogs, birds etc,  loud TV, music DIY. 

The onus to keep it down as much as possible. Stopping a child from running, not possible. Teaching them not to and as a result reducing it, perfectly reasonable when moving somewhere where running is very much a disturbance. 

newsgroupmonkey_

pinkteapot said:

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