Everybody needs good quiet neighbours

Well, I’m a drummer so you can guess what kind of experiences I’ve had with neighbours over the years! 🙂

What I’ve found is that if you give your neighbours advanced warning of when noises are going to occur, they are generally much more accepting. Also I feel that confined to certain hours of the day, noise is perfectly acceptable. I frequently hear my neighbours phone, tv, conversations, door slamming etc but I don’t care. The only time I care is when I’m trying to get to sleep, but then our flats have a rule that there is to be no loud noises between 11pm and 7am. Incidentally, I do not have my kit setup at the mo, either electric or acoustic, because I know how sound resonates through floors and irritates people. I buy my second house soon, safe in the knowledge that I WILL be able to play my acoustic drums there, happy day! 🙂

I sympathise with people that live next door to baby factories or student digs as these 2 groups of people have little or no regard for their neighbours.

One noisy neighbour I had for a few years actually had rattling old pipes that woke me up whenever they used them. Unfortunately those pipes ran right past where my head lay on the pillow, not a very nice experience at 5am! Still they moved out and the new owners actually got it sorted after a quiet word from me

I genuinely love having noisy neighbours as it means I can get away with being loud on the odd occasion. I’ve never had any problems with noise, but my neighbours have done some quite odd things which I’ve had to get sorted with them: once they ‘fixed’ the locks on the communal door because one of their keys didn’t work, and their new habit involves throwing things out of their window into my garden.

It can be so frustrating when you’re having problems with your neighbours, and it seems much harder to talk to them because you don’t want to have an argument with the people you live near. Luckily my neighbours, despite being weird and annoying, normally sort things out when I’ve had polite words.

There is a drummer living up the road from me who practices all times of year with his windows wide open: I have no objection at all and in fact I rather like it.

There are cockerels and hens in at least 3 gardens that are within 4 houses in each direction of me: I love these and have no objection at all.

However, my next door neighbour above slams everything: she slams every door hard; she slams her bin into my front fence; she slams things in the shed; she makes a huge and I’m certain unnecessary show of banging the filter out of her vacuum cleaner against the side of her bin for at least 5 minutes each time she empties the dratted thing; she tips wine bottles and glass jars into the recycling bin from a great height and then slams the bin lid. All these things are completely unnecessary noise and they annoy me greatly, BUT…..

my new(ish) neighbours below – the attached house – who are quiet in almost everything they do, do seem to do a lot of DIY that involves extended use of a hammer drill and an awful lot of dropping things that land on the floor with a sub-sonic thud which shakes my house and has recently caused china to fall off the mantlepiece.

This last type of noise is what I really can’t deal with. It is unpredictable, it is quite alarming and it’s actually causing damage to my property and possessions.

I’ve spoken to the lady once and got a very negative (though perfectly politely couched) response which made it quite clear that they have no intention of changing. There was an insincere sounding apology for the broken china, but no offer to replace or pay for it and it was accompanied by “we’ll be stopping in 10 minutes or so to put [daughter] to bed”, so she clearly doesn’t give a hoot about the effect on me.

Ironically the lady and gentleman who used to live in that house, until they both died, were hard of hearing and had the telly on loud enough for me to hear but over 25 years of living next to them that never bothered me once. Why? Because it was predictable and it didn’t have a physical effect on my belongings or home.

Many years ago I lived in a flat. The young man below was quiet six days of the week but always played loud music when he returned from the pub on a Saturday night. One afternoon I had been having an enthusiastic session with the vacuum cleaner and he commented that it sounded like a ‘herd of elephants’ when we met each other going out of the building.

The next Saturday, the loud music started as usual. I started the vacuum cleaner immediately and the music was promptly turned down. After that, my neighbour was much more considerate. In return, I always did the vacuuming when he was out.

since moving in and having 2.5 years of “f**k off, f**k you, bang slam crunch scream” i have had my flat up for sale. in the mean time i have found that giving them a dose of what they give me has had an effect. they are now much quieter and i haven’t heard more than the “expected/normal” amount of swearing, for about six months. I had tried polite notes etc but they were too ignorant to see things from any one else’s point of view. the management company that looks after the flats are as weak as can be and told me i’d have to go to the police to get something done. i didn’t as i’m sure the police have better things to do than tell scum to shut up and behave like decent human beings.

Hmm
I see both sides of the problem – I have 3 large dogs – that bark at the dratted free roaming cats that defecate in my garden – and often wail to cap it all. I have had the odd complaint that my dogs bark at their cat in MY garden. I freely admit my dogs bark at night but only at their cats in my garden

I am an avid DIYer so occasionally make noise during the day – whereas my neighbours DIY at night when I’m trying to watch TV! Once or twice is understandable – but every time during a weekday evening is not.

My neighbours often use their empty garage for overnight ‘guests’ that seem to be chronically deaf – or for parties – These parties are so loud even during the day that even with double glazing I have difficulty listening to the radio. Once they complained of my TV/Radio noise which was set so I could hear it clearly 5 feet away but not hear outside the room with the door closed – Their landlord came round – fortuitously my radio was on and he had to admit the ‘noise’ was low. I had to move bedrooms as the night noises next door disturbed my sleep.

Finally the parties next door used to be far too loud until say 4 o’clock in the morning. One day I became infuriated and went next door to complain – the noise level was so high they could not hear me knocking – ‘Luckily’ the door was open – So I went in – theatrically switched the player OFF – shouted at them to shut up and go to bed – they were astonished into silence! The party noise level has never been loud since.

Guess what – these people are students!!.

We had the most horrendous neighbour who became infatuated with me,he was
Jealous of my sons even drove towards my son when we were out in town,he
Made a pass at me, when I told his wife she said I wore provocative clothing.
We were unable to sit out in the garden without him making remarks and revving
His cars.The stress was making me ill, our youngest son was too stressed to stay
Alone in the house,our neighbour had banged on the door and threatened him when
We were out.Our only solution was to move,I loved that house,it was where my
Youngest was born,we cried when we left.It as left me unable to trust people the same.

I have enjoyed peace and quiet for most of the 30 years I have lived in my present house, which is in a quiet cul-de-dac. I’m planning to move and I had not even thought about the possibility of noisy neighbours. This article and the postings have provided a useful reminder of the noise problem, though a lot is down to luck unless you can afford to live in a detached house well away from others.

I’m another drummer, with a huge kit in the garage, and practice every day. Nobody has ever complained. Not even the night worker accross the street. The reason – I try to keep it down, concentrating on technique rather than volume, and don’t play late at night. The kit cost thousands, but I spent around 5 times that on soundproofing. When I’m with my kit, the only sound I hear from outside is when a deep-throated V8 engined car goes past. My neighbours can just about hear me, if they are in their adjoining garage. There are considerate drummers.
On my fairly dense estate, you’re going to get noise. Live with it.
Children playing, strimmers, teenagers swearing, ice cream vans, idiots with motorscooters, the main road. I can’t afford silence. I had extra thick window glass installed, which makes a real difference.
The worst noise I ever suffered was at university, where a really selfish bloke played his hifi full blast. It was unpleasant down the corridor well away from his closed door. He was quite deaf, surprisingly.

heres 1 for u i have been consistentaly getting harassed by a neighbour who uses the local authority against us complaining of loud noise. Our grandchild was crying because she was ill 1 night and she got the police to our door.she said the child had been crying for 8 hours non stop also the tv on 24/7.All allegations where checked out by police and social work and no further action taken.She had noise monitors installed for 2 weeks which came up with nothing,and she constantly gets noise police round every week even when there is no noise. Im sick of hearing about noisy neighbours and how there are plenty of laws to protect peopleagainst it but who protects the innocent when they are victamised by maliscous neighbours using the legal system. The system encourages a stasi type policy of neighbour reporting neighbour but these systems can be used to bully people,so they move away

After i split with ex-wife i moved back to my Home Village and since not getting any younger took a ground floor flat little did i know what i was in for next door neighbors Upstairs OMG it was like the YMCA one did not know who actually lived there.Later i was to find out the Tenant well known to the Law and was Visited by them in numbers of 3+ officers he was so dangerous then the local Council moved Drug takers in above me no proper nights sleep for 6months.Then the Dangerous 1 bought a dog and let it Poo in front of my front door.I protested and was threatened with a Samari Sword he said i will F–king Kill you.I was advised by the Police to move for my own safety well away i moved over 100 miles away he got off i could not identify him at the ID PARADE.It was Quite a new modern estate not the sort of place you would expect bad neighbors.Later i heard the Drug users were evicted that lived above me.The bad guy his girlfriend left him but she no loss could not cook and would not clean.Been over6years now settled and its not grim UP NORTH!.

I wrote about my terrible neighbour 2011.Last Christmas whilst delivering a card to an ex neighbour my exit was blocked by my ex terrible neighbours car,my heart sank was it starting all over again?
He shouted across to me “can you forgive me I got it all wrong” he told me he had been told a lot of lies about me and my sons by another neighbour. How can he expect forgiveness for making our lives hell. I now feel a lot better that this whole sad episode as been closed. Moving was the best thing we did.

I am experiencing problems with a neighbour downstairs. just constant banging noises like hitting a ceiling. Very annoying and I tried knocking the door and say keep the noise down but no answer. I wouldn’t mind a tap on the door if my t.v’s a little load. It’s between the hours of one and two in the morning and it makes me so angry.

I recently moved to another suburb, a nice quiet suburb.I had enough of a nuisance neighbour. I had to get away from this old chronic, alcoholic neighbour, who constantly had a loud radio or a loud tv on from 7am every morning. It was so loud, it could be heard over and through the concrete walls of all 4 flats. He did this to get attention from other neighbours, so we, (myself and his other neighbours), would get so angry, they would go next door and tell him to “turn it down”. He would then turn off the noisy radio or tv and he would invite us into his flat, to stay for “awhile and have tea or coffee with me”, ( he would’nt share a beer, they were too precious to him). We complained to the real estate agent, the police and even to the owners of the flats. Eventually we had enough and we all left the flats, within 2 weeks of everyone else leaving.Finally, he is now the only tenant in the flats, so he is very lonely. This is ‘karma’. We did try to help him by buying him a set of headphones. This didn’t work and he called all of us “selfish, uncaring neighbours”. One neighbour even offered to buy him a hearing aid and he said “I’m not f..king deaf, just lonely”. I mean what can you do with a person like this? You can’t spend all day with him, just to keep him company and listen to his drunken b*****t and other rubbish. He was the “neighbour from hell”. He should’ve gone to the hotel instead, he would’ve had company and other drunks to socialise with, but he wouldn’t go to the hotel.

We told our neighbours about the banging water pipes we could hear to which they replayed with , we are sorry but we aren’t going to be doing anything as we are selling the house soon and we don’t want to fix it to then move out ! Which is all well and good for then but I’m left with 3 children that won’t sleep through the banging I need help what can be done (I need some sleep )

When selling a property the owner has to declare whether or not they have been in any dispute with their neighbours. You might like to advise your neighbours that the best way to make sure they can answer that question favourably would be to stop the banging. If they ignore that you could remind them formally that you are entitled under the law to “peaceable enjoyment” of your property; since they have chosen to move you would not cause any lasting upsetment [unless, of course, it stymied the sale and you were left with both the inconsiderate neighbours and the noisy nuisance]. Sneaking out in the middle of the night and turning off their water at the stopcock would probably not be a good idea but asking the water company to investigate “the strange noises caused by dodgy pipework next door” might be worth a try [the water company has a statutory duty to ensure that internal water fittings comply with regulations].

Another similar dilemma of when and how to raise a problem with a neighbour. There will almost certainly be tenancy conditions that are there for your protection and which can be invoked by the Housing Association. This will not be be the first time the Association has had to deal with this kind of problem and it should be capable and experienced enough to deal with it in a way that does not lead to any repercussions against you . . . . but, as you say, you are wary of the consequences. If only to make sure the Association is not unaware of the problem you are suffering I feel you should speak to the housing officer confidentially and discuss with him or her the best way forward. It does not mean that they have to immediately read the riot act, but failure to put it on record could prejudice your interests at a later stage should things go from bad to worse. You never know until you mention it, but the Housing Association might be able to find you a better property within its stock.

Hi All

Would just like to tell a few people of my experiences. I live in converted flats which have very thin walls. I had a neighbour who took drugs and would come in from nights out Friday Saturday, sometime mid week with loads of friends, he’d put music on, his friends would be shouting singing, it was relentless. On top of this I was very kind to this neighbour gave him access to my wifi for no charge, helped him out when he had a washing machine leak. Anyway, I started to mention the noise how it was not ok, but he’d only ever turn it down when I would ask him on the time, which meant getting out of bed at 4-5am, knocking on his door, pretty ridiculous that he had zero consideration. Obviously this was not an ideal solution as then you have had a crap nights sleep, and I generally can’t get back to sleep after waking up. This kept on like this, him making loads of noise, me having to approach him each time, a few months in of this repeating he started started to get rude and nasty, accusing me of harassing his female friends, and of being very loud myself (which was not true).

Anyways I reported to landlord, environmental health, who sent him letters. The noise stopped for a bit, but then he started to be spiteful, shouting through the walls at 6am etc. I called the police one night they said they don’t deal with it anymore (Hertfordshire). Anyway this continued on for months! One night I came in from a night out and was in my flat awake, when the neighbour comes in shouting through the corridor that he is going to kill me, he probably assumed I was asleep and that he’d cause me another miserable night. I saw red! I went out and dealt with the situation, and he spent the night in hospital.

Unfortunately for him he was not aware that I had spent time in an elite part of the armed forces, and I used to box. For me this incident proved that there are people in this world who take kindness for weakness, and only understand one thing. As sad as it is, if you are in a desperate situation like I was, I suggest you consider all options and contacting people who be willing to offer alternative solutions, as from my experience the council, landlords and law, don’t care. My quality of life was terrible, but now the neighbour has moved out.

I have upstairs built in cupboards for the two upstairs bedrooms.
Still the noise next door at all odd hours in the ight is deafening and annoying ad my child cant sleep at night.
Does acoustic sheets(soundproof) help and what is the cost approximately..Is it worth the investment.

Hi to all, I have been looking through these online “conversations” & felt I should share with you our experiences of noisy neighbours.
First of all we are a very quiet couple & to be honest people are extremely lucky to have us living next door to them.
That said there are those out there that take advantage of this !
We moved 11 years ago from a 3 bed/2 bath detached family home to get away from very, very loud music, kids playing in the cul-de-sac & kicking footballs against our house, garage & cars, dogs barking & general very late night partying by various neighbours in the area.
The last straw was an extension being built next door that took 2 years & when completed the related party ended up with the neighbours sat on their new roof, drunk & very loud at 0400 ?
I wish I could say it was only the once.
Time to move so we did.
We moved to an even bigger detached family home in a area where the gardens are bigger, through roads so no football in the street, bigger gaps between the properties & a much older community.
We knew this area very well & had tried moving here for 3 years which included going for 11 properties & in the end we got one & moved so very happy & all was good…………… for about 6 months.
It became very apparent that the upwind, retired neighbour was a DIY nut & not a very good one.
It didn’t matter what time of day or day of week or season of the year he will spend loads of time dreaming up a new project then start it, he’s not good enough to complete the projects so always ends up having to get a contractor in to finish the job off or completely redo what he has done wrong.
The latest thing was this past Monday when he had an electrical emergency !
His “extension” which is a serious eyesore & no one can work out why he had it built on & how he came up with the plans ? Anyway, this extension was rewired by him off a separate fuse panel with substandard wiring, surprise surprise !
The mains actually burnt out & the electricity board were called out, they parked on my front lawn, not his but mine & punched trough our water mains via the water meter & mains cut off valve up by the road ???
So after about 2 hours our neighbour is back on his mains electricity & we are still on reduced pressure mains water which isn’t enough to keep our combi boiler working ?
The water board are now sorting this out but what the heck !
This is on top of his big drive renewal project which is unbelievably noisy & dirty to US & has been going on for 2 months now ?
He has cut through his phone line too which is being dug up & of course this is in front of our house too & all I have mentioned here is just the tip of the iceberg.
Door slamming that can be FELT through our house, (even this far apart) constant BBQ’s for the same retired couple a lot of the year, constant car maintenance & his motorbike, always drilling & banging things inside & outside the house, always finding new lights to wire in outside & now one in particular shines right up past our curtains & reflects off the ceiling & of course the 2 grown up kids who both have very noisy little yappy dogs that don’t sleep & both these kids visit ALOT & as they don’t have kids of their own these dogs are of course the grandchildren & cant put a foot wrong !
Various people have complained politely including us but this 73 year old believes he owns the road & just doesn’t stop.
He did admit once that where they used to live the neighbours had complained too so ???
He has become a danger to himself & to those of us around him yet the authorities do nothing ?
So do we stay & hope he gets to old to keep doing this, which I doubt OR move again ?
I have found out recently that our house is the property that has been sold the most by along way on this whole estate, I wonder why !
The worst thing tho is the dogs, they look after them for their grown up children when they are away on holiday, the neighbours are to old to be able to deal with these dogs & they basically go mad, escape & attack anything & everything they find.
The other neighbour called the Police the last time this happened but the dogs weren’t removed so again the authorities do nothing ?