Noisey neighbours, friendly advice on what to do.

Aranyani

Norman_Castle said:

Scotbot said:

Zoe1345 said:

knightstyle said:

No advice on what to put, we just filled them in truthfully with as little information as possible. Fortunately, knowing we would move, we hadn't reported the noise issues to any authorities.  We had reported untaxed cars and dumped furniture on the estate but the forms do not ask for that to be declared.

We haven't declared anything either or are we going to. As people have noted it's "living noise" it's subjective. But we were warned that people might try to argue we should declare as a "may cause dispute". 
Your estate sounds wonderful. I bet you're glad to be out! 

I remember an episodd of Location Location Location where Phil told a buyer that they had to expect some noise from a party wall. Anyone buying a terrace should expect to hear movements from next door especially if there are young kids.

 Anyone buying or renting any attached property should also expect to modify their behaviour if necessary to avoid their noise becoming an unwelcome burden on their neighbours. From experience people who excuse their excessive noise as acceptable change their mind when it is matched and they are expected to live with it.

Yeah there's a limit, you've got people on here saying they are disturbed by people going up and down stairs!

Gio22

knightstyle said:

Hi Z, we are in a very similar position and after years of interrupted sleep and other anti-social behaviour we are at last selling.  On the forms we have filled in truthfully we did not have to say anything about noise from next door.
So move away ASAP, all this is ruining your health and can have lasting effects.
You say you cannot afford to loose money but you may have to do just that.  We bought in 2006 for £142k and are now selling for £125k  due to this lovely new build estate being dragged down by renters like our neighbours.
Put your house on the market now and accept any reasonable offer. 

Have you ever officially reported any anti-social behaviour? I did couple of months ago and I know that I will have to declare...I am concern I will have difficulties in selling the property. You are right saying that such miserable conditions can have lasting effects...but my partner is less bothered than me by the noise and wants to wait in order to rent it or sell it. Apparently money is everything in life...

Norman_Castle

freesha said:

I'm always amazed at the number of people on these threads that tell the OP to suck it up. Why should they have to?

I find it annoying when noise complaints are automatically dismissed as the person complaining is incapable of judging what’s reasonable and what’s not.  Very few people complain about simply hearing their neighbours, they are complaining about excessive and unecessary noise which is impossible to ignore. Unless you have had genuinely noisy neighbours you won't understand.

Scotbot

Norman_Castle said:

Scotbot said:

Zoe1345 said:

knightstyle said:

No advice on what to put, we just filled them in truthfully with as little information as possible. Fortunately, knowing we would move, we hadn't reported the noise issues to any authorities.  We had reported untaxed cars and dumped furniture on the estate but the forms do not ask for that to be declared.

We haven't declared anything either or are we going to. As people have noted it's "living noise" it's subjective. But we were warned that people might try to argue we should declare as a "may cause dispute". 
Your estate sounds wonderful. I bet you're glad to be out! 

I remember an episodd of Location Location Location where Phil told a buyer that they had to expect some noise from a party wall. Anyone buying a terrace should expect to hear movements from next door especially if there are young kids.

 Anyone buying or renting any attached property should also expect to modify their behaviour if necessary to avoid their noise becoming an unwelcome burden on their neighbours. From experience people who excuse their excessive noise as acceptable change their mind when it is matched and they are expected to live with it.

So the 2 year old  little boy next to me who was having night terrors at 2 am should have contained his screaming? Not realistic is it.   The same neighbour came round when I was doing some DIY not to complain as it was the middle of the day  but to offer to help, he was a nice guy.  I  was not talking about antisocial behaviour but making the point if you have party walls you are going to hear the neighbours occasionally and expecting otherwise is unrealistic.

Norman_Castle

Aranyani said:

Norman_Castle said:

Scotbot said:

Zoe1345 said:

knightstyle said:

No advice on what to put, we just filled them in truthfully with as little information as possible. Fortunately, knowing we would move, we hadn't reported the noise issues to any authorities.  We had reported untaxed cars and dumped furniture on the estate but the forms do not ask for that to be declared.

We haven't declared anything either or are we going to. As people have noted it's "living noise" it's subjective. But we were warned that people might try to argue we should declare as a "may cause dispute". 
Your estate sounds wonderful. I bet you're glad to be out! 

I remember an episodd of Location Location Location where Phil told a buyer that they had to expect some noise from a party wall. Anyone buying a terrace should expect to hear movements from next door especially if there are young kids.

 Anyone buying or renting any attached property should also expect to modify their behaviour if necessary to avoid their noise becoming an unwelcome burden on their neighbours. From experience people who excuse their excessive noise as acceptable change their mind when it is matched and they are expected to live with it.

Yeah there's a limit, you've got people on here saying they are disturbed by people going up and down stairs!

They are disturbed by the excessive noise being made while using the stairs.

Norman_Castle

Scotbot said:

Norman_Castle said:

Scotbot said:

Zoe1345 said:

knightstyle said:

No advice on what to put, we just filled them in truthfully with as little information as possible. Fortunately, knowing we would move, we hadn't reported the noise issues to any authorities.  We had reported untaxed cars and dumped furniture on the estate but the forms do not ask for that to be declared.

We haven't declared anything either or are we going to. As people have noted it's "living noise" it's subjective. But we were warned that people might try to argue we should declare as a "may cause dispute". 
Your estate sounds wonderful. I bet you're glad to be out! 

I remember an episodd of Location Location Location where Phil told a buyer that they had to expect some noise from a party wall. Anyone buying a terrace should expect to hear movements from next door especially if there are young kids.

 Anyone buying or renting any attached property should also expect to modify their behaviour if necessary to avoid their noise becoming an unwelcome burden on their neighbours. From experience people who excuse their excessive noise as acceptable change their mind when it is matched and they are expected to live with it.

So the 2 year old  little boy next to me who was having night terrors at 2 am should have contained his screaming? Not realistic is it. 

Its you thats introduced the temporary problems of a 2 year old into a thread about noise problems. It would be absurd to consider that as something to complain about. You judged it as unavoidable and acceptable, why can't people accept others judgement about what is unacceptable?

Zoe1345

Aranyani said:

Zoe1345 said:

Aranyani said:

Zoe1345 said:

MovingForwards said:

I feel for you. My last rental was a living hell between the screaming banshee next door and the banging / crashing party animals above and below, made worse by lockdown when they were either on furlough or lost their jobs. I was working from home, neighbours carried on only with longer hours. My average sleep was 30 - 90 minutes generally from 5 or 6am, before trying to do a full day again.

My out was knowing I had my purchase going through, which kept me going until everything went on hold for a bit and losing that bit of hope broke me, my body gave up.

The neighbours always denied everything and said it wasn't them.

Can you bring your plans forward and move sooner? Or focus on knowing you've an out.

Thanks. That sounds horrendous. I think I'm averaging about 90-120 mins. By the time I get to sleep following the noise stopping at 3am, its generally about 4:30 (I'm so over tired by then that it takes a while) and then I'm up at 6 for work. My migraines (which it thought I'd kicked) have returned, I'm dependant on caffeine which has a huge effect on my gut, 

Kick the caffeine immediately, that will just be exacerbating your problems sleeping. 

Tanks for the "kick the caffeine" comments all. I'm aware of the negative effects of it for gut health and sleep (although there are studies that question just how much it keeps you up...). I'm slowly transitioning to decaf anyway, but I'll go mad giving it up all together. There's a psychological factor at play with the ritualistic behaviour of coffee drinkers generally which is more valuable than the caffeine hit. 

Decaf gives you the ritual, routine and the  comfort too.  You’re best going cold turkey, you’ll feel horrible for about 48 hours but then it’ll be done. 

That's why I said I'm going decaf... I'm happy with my transition methods, so ill stick with what I'm doing thanks. 

Zoe1345

theoretica said:

Zoe1345 said:

Aranyani said:

Zoe1345 said:

Aranyani said:

Perhaps you should start sleeping in a room that doesn’t connect to their bathroom? 

Yes, I would, if there were one big enough for our bed. Alas we dont have the luxury of 2+ double bedrooms. Pretty certain for most people this would be the first thing they'd consider! Even so, the sound reverberates through that entire side of the house, so unless I wanted to sleep on our staircase or in our bathroom then it would be difficult...

I'm sorry to have upset you so much with my suggestion! 

In my experience terraced houses generally have good room sizes, 2 big square rooms downstairs and 2 big square rooms upstairs, with one slightly smaller due to an added bathroom.  Is yours not of this design?  Even if the smaller bedroom isn't really a proper double if it just fits the bed you could still sleep in it and have your wardrobes and so on still in the big room.  Even if the sound carries there too it wouldn't be as bad?

I'd be curious to know what you moving around and your activities of living sound like to them.  With such poor soundproofing they must hear you too sometimes.  Have you ever invited one of them to come over and listen to what the running shower sounds like from your side of the wall?  What sort of hours do they work?

Not at all upset. Just baffled that you'd assume I may not have thought of this as an option, if it was. Terrace houses vary wildly in design and size - ever been in a 6 bed townhouse in bath, or a back to back up north? Wildly different doesn't even begin to cut it. We have 3 rooms. 1 room, is only just big enough for a small single. This is the only room on the other side of the house. I don't think myself and my 6ft husband will be fitting in there. The biggest room is the one we sleep in, the other is my husband's office, he runs a business from home. Both of these room side onto the vampire - elephant neighbours.

If I had your situation I would try camping out in the small single (or even living room floor or wherever in the house is quietest)  to see if it works to get some better sleep now and then even if you and your husband have to alternate nights. 

Sounds like a good plan... well, actually it doesn't, it really won't solve much! I noted before that the living room isnt very much better at all (same side of house). The small bedroom is SMALL and currently being used as a workshop for husband's work. So I'd have to sleep under the table. With the boxes of "stuff" I'd probably have about a meter square space to use. Maybe ok for 5ft me. Certainly not my husband. 

Zoe1345

Scotbot said:

Zoe1345 said:

knightstyle said:

No advice on what to put, we just filled them in truthfully with as little information as possible. Fortunately, knowing we would move, we hadn't reported the noise issues to any authorities.  We had reported untaxed cars and dumped furniture on the estate but the forms do not ask for that to be declared.

We haven't declared anything either or are we going to. As people have noted it's "living noise" it's subjective. But we were warned that people might try to argue we should declare as a "may cause dispute". 
Your estate sounds wonderful. I bet you're glad to be out! 

I remember an episodd of Location Location Location where Phil told a buyer that they had to expect some noise from a party wall. Anyone buying a terrace should expect to hear movements from next door especially if there are young kids. I lived in a terrace and was woken by the neighbours 2 year old when he had night terrors at 2am, fortunately it was just a phase. It's not like your naighbours are having loud parties or blasting the stereo at 3am. They are having showers and moving round the house, albeit heavily.
I am very fond of Mozart's Requiem, I consider it ethereal rather than menacing 😊

I would be willing to forgive a crying child more, as equally frustrating as it may be. As I said before, ironically as we expected to have a baby, we chose to soundproof the wall the best we could before we moved in so that we didn't disturb in the future. We are fully aware and conscious of whatnot means to live in a terrace. A crying child is far less controllable. These are all conscious people, adults and teenagers that can control their behaviour. So I do think it's a bit different. Equally if we had the same issues the other side then I'd say it can't be helped, bit the rest of us manage to not shake our neighbours properties by slamming doors. I see what you're saying though, I think - it's living noise, not music and parties, so any buyer should anticipate noise? (We certainly should have been a little more anticipatory of other peoples noise rather than our own!) 

Oh it's such a beautiful piece of music! 

Zoe1345

**dancingbutterfly** said:

Ah I've been there OP. Not fun at all.
My first property purchase, whenever I had a viewing (3 in total over the whole process) the 60 odd year old vendors would have tv turned up loud, thought it was their age...I asked about the neighbours and they quickly brushed it off saying they've got kids, you can hear them very occasionally. Completion day, got the keys, sat on the floor in living room and cried. The noise from next door was unbelievable. Every word said,shouted, screamed, every footstep from a running child, tv, everything. The mum of the 3 little ones would scream from 6am-10pm and the kids would scream back. I was gutted. The worst childs room was next to ours and she would sleep with a film on all night. I know every word to bleeping frozen...

Spoke to her a few times, she apologised profusely, I felt sorry for her, she had no control over her own kids! The one day she asked me to tell her kids off for constantly screaming as they may listen to me! I bought all kinds of ear plugs, didn't do much good, looked into expensive soundproofing, couldn't afford it. 10 months of hell went by and I decided enough was enough and put the house on market. That day neighbour said they were moving out!!

We had already put an offer in for a detached so went for it. The new neighbours next door were much much quieter! There is no way I would ever live in an attached home again. 

Best of luck!

TLDR: Been there, only real solution in my experience is they move or you do.

How typical that they decided to move too! Glad you're out of it, sounds like it was no fun at all. Did you have any trouble selling with the noise from next door or had they already gone by then?