Noisy kids next door.

RelievedSheff

You have my sympathy. We lived next door to incredibly noisy neighbours in our last house. We ended up stuck there for 12 years due to negative equity. We tried all sorts of solutions to block out the noise but nothing was very effective. In the end we just did what we had to do to survive there and spent a lot of time away from home until finally last year we were in a position to move. And like you we decided that we were not willing to live in a terraced or semi detached house again. We had to move to a different town to be able to afford a detached house but it has been the best decision we could have made.

I certainly couldn't have managed lock down living in our old house so well done to you for managing to hold your tongue through those challenging times. At least you have a  timescale at the end of which you know you can move. We felt we would be stuck in our hell forever the way things were panning out.

We took on a rescue dog while living at the old house and he never really settled in the 12 months he was with us at the old house. He was always on edge due to the neighbour noise. As soon as we moved to this house he settled straight away. He is a different dog now.

Hold on in there and try not to let the situation get you down, which I know is easier said than done. There will be a light at the end of the tunnel but don't waste your time and energy trying to get the neighbours to change. They won't. 

whirlyhead

I think it depends on the house - I live in a terrace and never hear my neighbours, and one of them has a young child.

knightstyle

Best thing you can do is move, maybe not now but save and plan to move when you can.
We, in the past, have had a dog start barking at 4AM every day and 4 preschool kids plus friends playing in a 3 story townhouse all day every day till late at night in the next door house.  Fortunately the landlord got them out eventually as she didn't pay her rent.

Marvel1

You have done music in the background, but what about headphones/earphones instead?

GixerKate

I feel your pain, I work from home and have a pretty busy house next door.  My suggestions are:

- get some noise-cancelling headphones.  I didn't really rate them until I borrowed my brothers (just to shut him up lol) and they really did work, I guess you'll need to get some good quality ones to be truly effective.
- what side of the house are you trying to work in?  Do you have the option to move to the furthest away side from the noisy kids?
- for a break find other places to work such as libraries, coffee shops, outside somewhere away from people

Good luck with your studies.

wilfred30

Is this the same neighbour you were complaining about in February last year?  If not, you seem to be particularly unlucky with noisy neighbours!

orangecrush

If you're only in year 2 of your degree, honestly I would move.  Otherwise this is going to bug you for a long time! 

There are a lot of "shoulds" but you have zero control over other people (sadly!) and kids are just noisy.  My kid is noisy, he's tiny but he walks like an elephant.  Try a top floor apartment maybe?  At least then you've only got noise from one direction!

Scotbot

Sophie_10 said:

After the lockdown, can I just ask if it would be entirely unreasonable to ask the neighbour to keep the noise down if it is unbearably loud (clearly subjective, of course)? I personally think if you live in a terrace where other people are around, you should do your best to be respectful and keep noise levels reasonable rather than at an unbearably loud level. We all have our different circumstances after all. 

The problem is noise is subjective, like you I am not that bothered by dogs as I am by screaming kids. I notice when I go to friends houses with young kids the parents are oblivious to the racket, I guess they just get used to it. So your neighbour may think the noise you find unreasonable  is reasonable . Young children do not have a volume control I am afraid, an evolutionary flaw that we have to live with.

[Deleted User]

I'm kind of in the same boat so know how you feel. I'm in a semi-detached but get noise not only from the neighbours we're attached to but also the brats next door who not only scream and shout in the garden but also stand on the trampoline, which is conveniently placed as far down the garden as possible and stare into our property and at us. Not to mention the expletives the 9 year old shouts at his mother and grandmother on a daily basis. 

Needless to say we're currently looking into moving! 

Sophie_10

Scotbot said:

Sophie_10 said:

After the lockdown, can I just ask if it would be entirely unreasonable to ask the neighbour to keep the noise down if it is unbearably loud (clearly subjective, of course)? I personally think if you live in a terrace where other people are around, you should do your best to be respectful and keep noise levels reasonable rather than at an unbearably loud level. We all have our different circumstances after all. 

The problem is noise is subjective, like you I am not that bothered by dogs as I am by screaming kids. I notice when I go to friends houses with young kids the parents are oblivious to the racket, I guess they just get used to it. So your neighbour may think the noise you find unreasonable  is reasonable . Young children do not have a volume control I am afraid, an evolutionary flaw that we have to live with.

Yes, I do take your point. I think I am very sensitive to noise particularly. When I told him to keep the noise down when I was concentrating, the kids did quiet down though (there seemed to be a volume control when they were told haha). My housemate used to go his nan's terrace when he was young and always made sure he was quiet because he would get told off if he wasn't because there were neighbours next door. I think the way children are brought up and disciplined does play a part! They do seem quite poorly disciplined (I don't mean that to sound nasty ). I've seen them grab herbs from our garden before and eat them and other 'bad' behaviour. Not sure how to word this properly really. 
I can definitely agree that the neighbours probably does think the noise is actually reasonable, perhaps due to poor conscientiousness!