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Noisy Neighbour Help
Forever31
Posts: 24 Forumite
I moved into a town house last year, and for the first year it was as good as it gets perfect.
Unfortunately, the quiet family next door has moved out, and a new noisy family has moved in. I can hear them stomping, slamming doors, they play their TV at a volume so I can hear it in all main rooms on all three floors of my house. If they don't have the TV on, they have a radio on. Then naturally, I can hear the kids, and general chatting, etc etc. It basically starts around 7:00am, and the noise is continous until 10:00-10:30pm. At night, I finally get some peace.
I am 50, I don't have much money. My financial situation is I have a mortgage until I retire, and I need to keep working until I retire - or maybe during retirement. I have a small sum of savings for emergencies, ie. getting made redundant etc. I don't have much of a pension, and I have a small sum in a stocks and shares ISA. I am trying to figure out the best way forward from where I am. My options are:
a) Stay put and put up with a loud family next door. They are nice enough to talk to, but it looks like they are just 'naturally' noisy. I suppose I can appreciate getting a good nights sleep even if I don't get quiet time at any other time. But it really is horrible living this way, and I also work as an IT developer so sometimes I do need 'quiet'.
I do use white noise machines, ear plugs, re-arranged furniture ie my TV is on now on the partition wall and my sofa against the opposite wall, etc. I can escape noise if I go into one of my bathrooms. But I don't really like passing a large amount of time in these rooms for obvious reasons.
b) Put sound proofing in my house/certain rooms. I've started to investigate this, and it looks like this is hit and miss as to whether this will work as you need to find the reason why the noise is coming through from the other house. It's definitely not cheap, and looks like I would need assistance from builders/sound proofing experts. I don't think there is anything I can do about vibrations resulting from stomping and slamming doors either.
c) Move by buying a new house. Ideally, it would be detached, but I can't afford it unless it's a wreck in an undesirable location.
On the other hand, I do like the look of some bungalows, and I could be careful with the arrangement of the property to avoid having all rooms with a partition wall with someone else's property. From my recent experience, I think that a large town house is a bit too big for one person to manage so I have been considering a bungalow long term anyway.
Moving would mean I would chew through my small amount of savings. But is it worth it?
d) Move to rent out elsewhere, and then rent out my house (hopefully to a similar family). The downside of this is that I have heard of lettings going horrible wrong with nightmare tenants who don't pay, or trash the house.
Any different perspectives would be welcome. I'm trying to rush a decision as I am aware that there is no stamp duty at present, and house prices don't appear to have dropped in my area at the moment (I'm in Yorkshire). If I am already in negative equity, I'll have to stay put or rent out my house anyway.
Unfortunately, the quiet family next door has moved out, and a new noisy family has moved in. I can hear them stomping, slamming doors, they play their TV at a volume so I can hear it in all main rooms on all three floors of my house. If they don't have the TV on, they have a radio on. Then naturally, I can hear the kids, and general chatting, etc etc. It basically starts around 7:00am, and the noise is continous until 10:00-10:30pm. At night, I finally get some peace.
I am 50, I don't have much money. My financial situation is I have a mortgage until I retire, and I need to keep working until I retire - or maybe during retirement. I have a small sum of savings for emergencies, ie. getting made redundant etc. I don't have much of a pension, and I have a small sum in a stocks and shares ISA. I am trying to figure out the best way forward from where I am. My options are:
a) Stay put and put up with a loud family next door. They are nice enough to talk to, but it looks like they are just 'naturally' noisy. I suppose I can appreciate getting a good nights sleep even if I don't get quiet time at any other time. But it really is horrible living this way, and I also work as an IT developer so sometimes I do need 'quiet'.
I do use white noise machines, ear plugs, re-arranged furniture ie my TV is on now on the partition wall and my sofa against the opposite wall, etc. I can escape noise if I go into one of my bathrooms. But I don't really like passing a large amount of time in these rooms for obvious reasons.
b) Put sound proofing in my house/certain rooms. I've started to investigate this, and it looks like this is hit and miss as to whether this will work as you need to find the reason why the noise is coming through from the other house. It's definitely not cheap, and looks like I would need assistance from builders/sound proofing experts. I don't think there is anything I can do about vibrations resulting from stomping and slamming doors either.
c) Move by buying a new house. Ideally, it would be detached, but I can't afford it unless it's a wreck in an undesirable location.
On the other hand, I do like the look of some bungalows, and I could be careful with the arrangement of the property to avoid having all rooms with a partition wall with someone else's property. From my recent experience, I think that a large town house is a bit too big for one person to manage so I have been considering a bungalow long term anyway.
Moving would mean I would chew through my small amount of savings. But is it worth it?
d) Move to rent out elsewhere, and then rent out my house (hopefully to a similar family). The downside of this is that I have heard of lettings going horrible wrong with nightmare tenants who don't pay, or trash the house.
Any different perspectives would be welcome. I'm trying to rush a decision as I am aware that there is no stamp duty at present, and house prices don't appear to have dropped in my area at the moment (I'm in Yorkshire). If I am already in negative equity, I'll have to stay put or rent out my house anyway.
0
Comments
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Have you tried approaching the family and having a chat with them about the noise?
Maybe invite one of them around to witness the noise for themselves. It is possible that they just don't realise how much their noise is travelling through the property.0 -
Hi there
Sounds like you are favouring a bungalow... so maybe you should look around at what is on the market in your area. I think it is worth the cost if it brings you a contented lifestyle and you can afford it.
Noisy neighbours can escalate into mental health issues for you and that's not any way to live.
I am a LL and have not experienced nightmare tenants, might just be lucky, might be one of many, not sure. You're more likely to hear from peeps with troubles than those without. Someone here may know the figures lol.
Whatever you do I wish you well 🐈Just my opinion, no offence 🐈0 -
To be honest, if you can hear them just chatting it sounds like you were lucky to get a particularly quiet family last time and this family are more 'normal'.
Some people are more tolerant than others of noise from neighbours - I'm in your boat; I can't stand any noise at all from next door so ultimately I had to move somewhere detached. I did have to 'downgrade' the location slightly to accommodate this, but the silence is bliss.
Personally, if you can't stand the 'day to day' noise of a family I'd try and do similar; find a small detached house / bungalow if you can.1
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