AIBU to report neighbours for repeated Sunday DIY and early noise?

It can be seen as a statutory nuisance if it happens on a regular basis.

OP report the DIY to the council and keep a log. Report every time. I’m not sure about the leaf blower, as annoying as they are.

We bought a renovation project when we moved to our current house. We’d have been screwed if diy noise wasn’t allowed at weekend. We’d worked all week so weekend was all we had. Likewise, weekends are week I mow the lawn. Similar to a leaf blower in noise. I’d say before 7:30 is unreasonable for machine noise but after is fine

I don't think this is a big deal tbh, mildly annoying but I'd rather have a leaf blower at 8am than parties at 11pm or screaming kids and sweary arguments or domestics. We live in the countryside and the farmers start at 5am in the summer, I don't mind it, people have lives to get on with.

I feel very fortunate that since we moved in last year we have built good NDN relationships both sides, we have a whatsapp group for each side, and always let each other know if we’re planning anything noisy, and checking in advance etc. Getting on well with neighbours is so important…

Can you take a different approach and get to know them better? People are more likely to want to avoid pissing off people they actually like, I find.

DIY is like jack hammering the driveway or taking walls out. Not a leaf blower for gods sake. What, no mowing next? Both myself and my husband work full time busy jobs, if we couldn’t do basic DIY like sanding or mowing on Sundays we wouldn’t get anywhere! You sound a joy to live next door to…

What ?

"Unidentifiable woman makes up fictional council rules about perfectly normal domestic noise."

It's hardly Woodward and Bernstein.

I think the threshold for enforcement is really high. Our council only specifies you must be “reasonable” about noise and discuss it with your neighbour, no specific times.

We’re the DIYers (bought a wreck) but our neighbour felt reasonable meant we had to get her permission to drill a hole in a wall on a weekend afternoon. After many attempts to find a solution and a lot of abusive texts from her, she said she’d report us to the council and we could expect a visit and a big fine.

I have no doubt she’s reported every single time we’ve used a hammer or drill on the weekend since but, nearly three years later, we’re yet to have any contact from the council. We never start super early or go late and very rarely do DIY both weekend days so I guess the council have bigger fish to fry.

would leaf blowing be considered home maintenance and not diy?
part of routine yard work and 8am is not that early?

I had this for 3 years every weekend and had to stop going in my garden. They moved in the end and I have my weekends back but I complained to the council on multiple occasions and was extremely stressed. They took it seriously and wrote letters to the neighbours. I had various discussions (resulting in almost a complete fall out) with the neighbour and in the end they just moved.
it was a miserable time though so you have my total sympathy
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Op isn't being unreasonable at all. Also, what kind of asshole uses a leaf blower? Just sweep them up.

Recommended DIY Hours in most borough's is
Weekdays: 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM (though up to 8:00 PM is often accepted)
Saturdays: 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM
Sundays and Bank Holidays: It is generally recommended to avoid noisy work entirely, or reserve it for quiet emergencies

So you're only allowed to do DIY on Saturday mornings? That seems excessively restrictive. Aren't Bank Holiday weekends when everyone does DIY?

Sunday might be the only day they can do the work. Id have thought it's a busy day generally for DIY and surprised your council say it should be avoided.
You can report it if you want but I don't know what they can do about it unless it's a council owned house.

Hardly - I live on the other side of the world 😅

8am is actually fine for jobs and DIY… some people like to be productive at the weekend … just because it’s Sunday doesn’t mean they can’t do DIY ?

I’d rather live next to people who take care of their home. 8am is a little early but it’s unreasonable to say no DIY and I’m not even sure gardening is classed as DIY.

They are new. They will lose the energy in time. Just keep a record but do not report.

We have a 'near' neighbour who could do their garden at least ½the week but chooses
EVERY bank holiday Sunday and Monday they have a Strimmer or lawn mowing going at 9am, literally on the dot.
Other Sundays its 8am.
They are horrible spiteful neighbour who have been the reason the house near door has been sold 6 times since we moved here, and one of them was a rental for 6yrs (4 families).

Contractors need to abide by certain rules but for diy the only requirement is to be reasonable. For my council they suggest no power tools before 10am or after 5pm on Sundays. Leaf blowing comes under gardening anyway but again fair use in my council area is 10am-5pm

Our council is power tools 8am-6pm Mon-Fri. 8-12pm Sat and nothing on a Sunday unless emergencies. I don’t mind the odd thing, but not every Sunday.

Honestly this is bonkers! You asked him not to do work on a Sunday so he obliges and works on a Saturday instead and you’re still not happy?? 8am is not the middle of the night! I’d maybe wait until 9am but I have a feeling you’d not be happy with that either?? If you’re on mumsnet do you not have children you have to get up for anyway?
I can’t see the problem, some people have parties next door through the night and I’d feel sorry for them but not a leaf blower at 8am!

I suppose you aren’t interested in having a good relationship with your neighbours. They work they literally have one day a week to do what they need to in their home and you’re only prolonging your hearing DIY. They are going to commence making you miserable. So I suppose it doesn’t matter if you report them or not.

Where in the stepford wives do you live with council "rules" on when people can renovate and work on their own property

You are being completely unreasonable op if the neighbours work this may be their only time to do home improvement work

8am is reasonable from a council perspective. If he was firing up the lawnmower at 2am, you'd have a case.

I don't think 8 am on a Sat for a left blower is a problem, I much prefer doing jobs early on and the having the rest of the day to do other things.
If the dew was off the grass at 8am on a Sat I for sure would have no issue about cutting my lawns then - far nicer than doing it later on when it hotter.

"the pdf linked to on this page states that, for DIY carried on outside of the specified hours, the council can issue an enforcement notice. If it's not complied with, they can impose a fine."

That's a selective summary. It also states that this would depend on the type of DIY, whether heavy machinery is being used and whether the activity could be considered construction in which case time restrictions apply.

Use of a leaf blower, power tools like a circular saw drills etc is hardly going to qualify...