Quiet neighbours now making noise.

You are a nightmare neighbour. I feel for all of your neighbours.

I think that there are certain activities that are just not appropriate to be done frequently in domestic spaces.....playing drums, or many other musical instruments, basketball, noisy parties, football up the fence and so on. Very occasionally fine.

Hope the chat goes well OP, sounds like a good plan

A temporary rubber mat could muffle it a bit, doesn't have to be a permanent thing

Also ask council about the possibility of a hoop being included in a local play space. they do update them occasionally so worth a go. (& you might save the sanity of neighbours all over town!)

Hahha yes. You’re being unreasonable.
It’s SO loud.

Live and let live.

They've obviously accepted your son playing basketball so I'm afraid you need to accept their occasional music.

You will both have the benefit of returning to near silence when the miserable weather returns in September/October.

I was going to offer to buy the neighbours a drum kit, but it sounds like the OP is starting to take on board that they have been unreasonable, so hopefully that won't be necessary.

You are just unbelievable. What a selfish, inconsiderate, ignorant and entitled family you have been. You should be totally ashamed but instead I feel that you are feeling slighted by your poor neighbours who have finally had enough of your son and his annoying bouncy ball. Shameful.

I have voted YABU OP for getting annoyed with music in the garden. I also think they are being unreasonable because to me it is just the normal noise of kids playing in the garden. To me, both seem normal noises to hear in a neighbourhood, you should be able to enjoy the radio in the garden anf we can’t always send kids to a park/sports centre. But you really should find somewhere else to put the net, right next to their property is making the problem worse.

OP life is too short-> just get noise cancelling headset for when you WFH, and leave son to play basketball and neighbours to play music.
https://www.johnlewis.com/browse/electricals/headphones/headphones/microphone/noise-cancelling/_/N-al9ZluijZlukf

When we lived in a flat, our new downstairs neighbour played Queens of the Stoneage, "Noone Knows" as loud as they could, on repeat. I still hate that song because of it. I have nothing against music in your own home, providing it's at a considerate volume. Same with any noise TBH, it's just life.

One day I started "dancing" to it, by jumping up and down like I was in a moshpit. He came up and lost his mind at me for making too much noise. I promptly lost mine back.

Unfortunately he was also a drug dealer and generally just antisocial and horrible. We were renting til we could buy so we just moved.

OPs neighbours have been saints so far. I can imagine they've gotten fed up of having to listen to their music through headphones in their own home when there's incessant thumping from next door.

2 whole hours of music 😮😂😂😂😂

Versus '3-4 times a day/ only about half an hour at a time' of bloody BOUNCING!

THAT'S 2 HOURS AS WELL!! 😬

I'm amazed they haven't invested in a pneumatic drill!

You can't have it both ways, OP.

It sounds like they've previously not done things they want to do (eg the music in the garden) to be considerate of neighbours, but why should they stay quiet for you when they have to put up with your noise?

The daily bouncing would have me blasting Drum & Bass at ear splitting volumes, just to be able to retain my sanity!

Afraid you lost me when you said it was a basketball, that is right up there with a football repeatedly hitting a fence.
You also did come across as your sons "hobby" trumping all other considerations although hopefully you have now seen how against the general mood you were?

OMG this drives me CRAZY! Why are people such selfish ignorant thoughtless arseholes?! Every home DH and I have ever lived in (6 in total in 30+years together,) has had a driveway. We have always ALWAYS ALWAYS parked on our driveway. We have had 1 car driveways and 4 cars driveways during our time together - and have never had more than 1 car. And we have never EVER parked on the road. We have always parked our car on the driveway. That's what it's for FFS!

Yet every single property we have lived in, we have ALWAYS had neighbours who park opposite our fucking driveway. Directly opposite (or still opposite, but just to the left or right of their driveway,) making it difficult, and sometimes nigh on impossible to get out. Whether we drive in and reverse out - or reverse in and drive out, it still makes it hard for us, and very awkward, to get in and out of our driveway. And these people have ALWAYS had their own driveway.

What kind of selfish, thoughtless, self-serving fucking arsehole parks on the road, when they have an EMPTY DRIVEWAY?! I remember on a thread about this some time back, someone made an excuse for doing this, by saying 'I find my driveway hard to get onto and off, and I go in and out 3-5 times a day, so parking on the road makes life easier for me.' Yeah great, so to hell with everyone else then, and the problems you're causing for them. Selfish arsehole! Learn to park on your driveway then, instead of making life awkward and miserable for everyone else!

A friend of mine is having a problem at the moment with a family who live opposite.. (A couple with 3 kids.) Got 3 vehicles - 2 cars and a van, and a SIX CAR driveway. (3 across/2 deep.) All 3 vehicles are on the road nearly all the time, because they have closed the gate, and made their big driveway into a little play area for their 3 kids (aged 4 to 8.)

So my friend struggles to get in and out of her driveway most of the time! She has even tried parking on the road herself to try to force them to go onto their driveway, but they still park on the road, (with her car opposite,) almost completely blocking the road. Nothing bigger than a Vauxhall Astra is able to get through, and it's risking my friend's car getting clipped/banged into. Also, emergency vehicles and larger delivery vehicles can't get through!

She said she it will very likely be her door someone that will knock to move HER CAR, as they shut themselves in, close the blinds and refuse to answer the door! So the 2 times she has tried this, she's begrudgingly puts her car back on her driveway.

All this, because this couple can't be fucked to play with and entertain their children or take them to the park etc. They just prefer to turn their driveway into a play area and leave the kids there whilst they fuck off into the house and watch TV with the doors and the blinds closed!

I agree.

This! ^

Yep this. ^ You have been asked loads on here @OpalBird why is your son not doing this in a designated space? Why do you think it's OK to do it on your property, with neighbours directly next to you?

You really need to find a park with a hoop.

No, but hopefully you're beginning to understand how considerate your neighbours were, now they are following your example and enjoying some music in the back garden etc.

“I am thinking about how to address it with the neighbours. I have a feeling they've not said anything for months, so we thought all was well“

I’m the equivalent of your neighbours in this situation OP, this is what I would have totally wished for and welcomed as an approach - and one that you could make:

Invite them in for coffee / invite yourself to theirs (if that would work), be conciliatory and say that you would love to listen and work things out with them.

Then I would let them talk, just listen to everything they say, don’t interject at all until they finish. Be interested.

Then you can say that since you became aware of the nuisance you had modified the number of times etc and want to work with them so you are all happy again. (e.g if they know it’s only going to be 30 mins at fixed times, say lunchtime and at teatime or whatever, that might be manageable).

Based on experience they will be living in stress much of the time, because they don’t know 1. when the noise will restart, and 2. how long it will continue for, they have no control over it, but are just passively subjected to it.

I think in these circumstances people just want to be heard. Just listening might alleviate things.

😂 you're on the wind up with this one. No way can you think this is ok.

So your neighbours have been considerate in the past, you haven't and now you're annoyed that they are also taking that stance. Righto ...

3 or 4 times a day, are you nuts? I’d want to murder the lot of you. Take the little shit to a park.

There's no comparison to someone having a radio or a speaker in their garden and the slam of a basketball on concrete for more than 30 minutes at a time.

I really think the OP fucked up when they tried to draw an equivalence.

I get that but if the music isn't too loud, it should be OK surely?