neighbour noise increase due to their conversion

Scott016973

Hi everyone,

I have a neighbour noise level increase due to a conversion in their house.

I have lived in my housing association converted ground floor flat for around 10 years. I have one upstairs neighbour who I do hear, but it doesn't affect me too much. My next door neighbour owns their house which is identical, as are all the houses in street. The houses are all terraced. In 2017 next door neighbours got planning permission to convert their home on the ground floor.

Previously, their ground floor consisted of a front living room with a dividing wall to my front living room. A dining room with a dividing wall to my bedroom. The rest, kitchen and whatever else they had was on the other side of their house. I did complain a few times when their children played the piano in the dining room at 7am and very late at night, as it was incredibly loud up against my bedroom wall. They were aware my bedroom backed on to their dining room.

The work began mid year 2017 and was completed after a very long five/six months of intense daily noise. I had to complain several times with noise creeping in to early evening, out of hours on Saturdays and Sundays.

Their ground floor now consists of their living room still in same place, but they now have a complete open plan kitchen, dining room, utility room, downstairs toilet and an extension outside into their garden which is a bigger living room, slide doors into garden.


Their kitchen and new dining room now backs on to my bedroom.

They have a speaker mounted on a wall which is in the corner of their new kitchen which backs on to the corner of my bedroom/living room dividing wall. When they put their music/radio on, it vibrates through the walls and I can hear exactly what music they have on. I can only escape the noise if I go to my kitchen or bathroom.

I can hear their cooking sounds, pans, chopping, cutlery, dishes, plates, mugs etc being put away or taken out of their cupboards/drawers. I can hear them talking to each other. I can hear their cooker extractor fan. All of these are other side/attached to my bedroom wall. When their dog barks it might as well be in my flat.

I have complained about the speaker and they 'sometimes' turn that one off, not always though, and I have had to bang on wall. I can't go to bed early 10-11pm for example as they are tidying kitchen. Yes, I have used earplugs/white noise but can still hear noise. They are usually up at 7am when their radio goes on in kitchen and speaker noise starts.

Interestingly, I can't hear their television within their extension despite the fact it's all open plan. I also rarely hear their Tv in their old living room which is used, unless there is a football match on and cheering, fair enough!



When there is a party.....or even if there are people around for dinner/drinks, it's unbearable. I have left my home and sat in the car before or gone to friends. My upstairs neighbour is also affected, but not as badly as me. I look forward to them going on holiday, it's bliss and I dread weekends when the noise often increases.

I don't know what the regulations are for sound proofing in this case. The houses are circa 1850. This is impacting on my health. I don't understand how anyone can knowingly build a kitchen the other side of someone's bedroom without considering sound proofing. They don't appear to hear me which the upstairs neighbour has said too. I am a quiet and considerate person.

Any advice or empathy greatly received. Thank you for reading.

RelievedSheff

There is very little that can be done in older properties to provide suitable sound proofing. Noise travels in lots of different ways unfortunately.

You will either have to find a way to live with the noise or ultimately move on.

We know from first hand experience that neighbour noise can be extremely annoying. We endured it for 12 years. It was only in April this year when we moved that we realised just what an adverse effect it was having on all of us including the dog!

Scott016973

surely this is something that should have been considered though? I am sitting here typing this listening to him whisking something by hand. Are there not regulations about building kitchens the other side of someone's bedroom

Cakeguts

Is your flat still owned by the housing association? If so I think they need to know that their flat's living accommodation has been damaged by the owners next door doing an extension. The point is if you can't live in the flat because of the lack of noise insulation from next door no one else will be able to either.

KatrinaWaves

Scott016973 wrote: »

surely this is something that should have been considered though? I am sitting here typing this listening to him whisking something by hand. Are there not regulations about building kitchens the other side of someone's bedroom

I don't believe there are any regs about having bedrooms next to kitchens.

csgohan4

Did you object to their planning permission?

You could consider reporting it

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/noise-nuisances-how-councils-deal-with-complaints

RelievedSheff

Scott016973 wrote: »

surely this is something that should have been considered though? I am sitting here typing this listening to him whisking something by hand. Are there not regulations about building kitchens the other side of someone's bedroom

Not really no.

If you wanted to object to the changes your chance to do so was at the planning stage.

You can try sound proofing from your side of the party wall but you will be throwing money away to achieve very little.

Scott016973

I didn't see any planning stuff!
yes, my flat and the one above is owned by housing association.

RelievedSheff

There will have been planning notices displayed in the locality and posted to all neighbours prior to the works being started.

You could try getting your house association to carry out some sound proofing works but they are unlikely to agree to this.

Can you move furniture around in your bedroom to get where you sleep away from the party wall or even swap living and bedroom space to move away from the sound source?

We found moving our bed off the party wall and across the room helped a bit with the noise. Didn't solve the problem but helped a little.

Socajam

If you can hear them, obviously they would be able to hear you too, so I would leave my music on loud and go away for a day or two.
On your return when they complain, just say: welcome to my world, this is what I have to live with daily since your renovation.

rach_k

So your flat used to be a house like theirs but has been split into two flats?

It sounds to me like the problem is actually your flat. If next door's ground floor has contained the living areas since the 1850s, it was a bad idea for whoever converted your flat to put a bedroom there. You can't expect a house to suddenly stop using their living areas for living because next door decides to put a bedroom on the ground floor. I understand that they have recently increased the noise level, but if it's just fairly normal family living you are maybe just lucky they were quieter before.

Can you raise this with your housing association?