Noisy neighbours making me ill

I’m in a similar situation in my new home.

The back story, up until this year I always lived with my parents on a UK council estate. Our neighbours were stereotypical chavs, always a bit loud and annoying but was manageable. They lost a very close family member suddenly and it all went down hill from there, they weren’t working due to mental health from the bereavement, they started smoking weed all day long and having large groups of other chavy lads round all the time, they got more involved in the drug gangs and their house became a doss house. Everyday from 2pm onward loud talking, laughing and music the smell off weed took over our house. With in their small front garden they would play with a rugby ball which would often bounce off of my car at force. This went on for years during spring and summer it was at its worst.

It caused me serve trauma I would cry for hours saying I can’t do this and wanted to take my own life. My family nearly had me sectioned on occasions and I went to my GP, who completely brushed me off.

One of my life goals was to buy my own place and despite all the stress I was more determined than ever. The only place I was happy was at work.

As of this year I moved into my own house and was hoping this would be a fresh start but as the weather is warming I have noticed my neighbors play loud music. I fear I have jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire and will be reliving all this stress again. I’ve only been in my house a few months and I want to sell because I fear for my mental health.

I would like some professional help but it is extremely expensive and I fear I’m too damaged to be fixed. I fear they’re going to tell me to meditate but when I hear music I can’t relax or focus on anything else or wear headphones but that makes me cross that I have to spend my life with headphones on.

I am back to feeling how I did when at my parents and I hate it.

You definitely shouldn’t have to go but I think it would be in your interests to do so. You are fighting a losing battle where you are and he could actually get violent if he becomes more unwell.

You guessed it right, he has Bipolar. He is a nightmare. The landlord and just about everyone have said I should move, but why should I have to go? He is the one that should be evicted. People with mental illness are protected and considered vulnerable, but it's me who is vulnerable. I have made over 140 complaints since 2019 to the landlord and at least a dozen to the police. The environmental team at the council put a noise recording device in my flat, but had to send him a letter informing him what they were doing, and for the entire 3 weeks, he was as quiet as a mouse. He smokes a lot of skunk weed and I believe that makes his mood swings worse. He has actually followed me around, which they call mirroring. As this is a flat conversion, there is no insulation at all, so every movement can be heard, more so since he took the carpets up and laid coconut matting everywhere. I have recorded him following me around in my flat, I can hear his quiet footsteps above me, and then stopping where I have stood in the flat. I have made two formal complaints about the landlord not getting on top of it, as he is guilty of ASB and noise nuisance but they tell him not to do something, and he will then think of something else to do. He has had this vendetta against me since I got his music stopped. I am 70 at the end of the year, and with the lung conditions which are not helped by the ongoing stress, I shall probably decide that is enough, and I need to move, but at the moment, I am still fighting like crazy to get the landlord to do their job properly and deal with this crazy individual. it is strange, because the previous couple who lived upstairs were lovely neighbours to have, they really were the best. When they moved to Ireland, I said to my partner, I hope the next person is going to be like them only I got a feeling they wont be......How right was I

That is so horrific. I’m really noise sensitive too and I would move if I was in your shoes. You shouldnt have to but he sounds unhinged and he isn’t going to stop making your life a misery

I doubt anyone has a worse neighbour than mine. He used to play loud gangsta rap music during the early hours and not turn it off until 7 am.. As he would not turn it down i complained and got it stopped. He then became a nightmare! He would stamp several times above my head when I used the toilet, boiled a kettle and when I was talking on my mobile, this went on for 3 years, i was a nervous wreck. i eventually got it stopped, he then started dragging a chair across the floor during the early hours, so i had to keep reporting it until it was eventually stopped. He then started bouncing a ball on the floor at various times. which i got stopped. I have two incurable lung conditions, and occasionally I get a cough. He started mimicking me. I coughed; he would cough. He now comes down ot the shared wall and coughs loudly for 2-3 minutes. He comes down at 2 am and coughs loudly, clears his throat, then coughs again. it really is awful to live this way..When the landlord has spoken to his he reacts by damaging my property. he has smashed my car window, put nails in the tyres, smashed my flower pots up and my bird table. He has also put a pest control trap in the garden for my cat. The police cant do anything as there are no witnesses. A couple of weeks ago, he pulled up my daffodils and threw on the path and last week he pulled up my crocuses. it is soul-destroying

How are you now with the neighbours as I have the same problem?.

I can see this is an old thread but I'm hoping someone sees or replies. I am struggling in the same situation- bought our first home and neighbours kids are loud. It's as of they play football in the home, there's constant banging sounds which can go on till half 11. The mum plays music loudly too. The walls are thin plasterboard between us. Any advice? I'm struggling so badly with my mental health because of it I'm writing this whilst crying. I'm noise sensitive too but this is just too much. I keep having panic attacks I can't deal with it. Any advice/support is welcome. I wish I knew trustworthy builders I'd happily pay if it meant not having to feel like this anymore.

I've noisy neighbours they made the living room a bedroom sit there 24/7 with a tv never sleep,they got a humidifier months ago noisy and loud on through the early hours,council was out yesterday,its started up again,council advised them to keep it low,lm so annoyed by these two women.

Hi I've just read the post about noise from your neighbour it was back in 2021 what was your outcome as I am now experiencing the same !

@terracebangerz this thread is 10 months old. Why are you resurrecting zombie threads for no reason?

We did the same as SuperSleepyBaby re the wall panelling etc.

What a difference it made, really cut the noise down to nothing and my neighbour was stone deaf with a blaring tv. There was no fireplace and was a bungalow.

I have same problem with neighbours, i have to wear earphones moat evening's as have both sides of neighbour general house hold noise and nuisance noise. Not much else you can do but save up for semi or detached.

@Keeley87 I was a bit glib, but it wasn't that far off it. It comes in panels so I put up some simple wooden batons on the wall then slotted the panels in. They're very light and easy to manoeuvre so the hardest bit was screwing the plaster board onto the wooden batons. Didn't fancy attempting plastering so put wallpaper on it. It won't hold anything heavy and it's definitely taken space off the room but on the other hand I heard NOTHING from the England match on Sunday and only hear noise now when I open my window. Acoustic soundproofing is the way to go.

I had the walls soundproofed when noisy neighbours moved in. It slightly muffled the noise but it just diverted it through the fireplace and floorboards.

I used sm20 panels for a wall and if worked really well. We got them from soundstop uk who were excellent on the phone- incredibly helpful at talking through options.

Also get flares ear plugs

Not quite the same but I have misophonia, so just can't cope with certain noises that other people barely notice. I've found over the years that the more I focus on the noises the worse it gets, in a horrible downward spiral. It really is on me to use distraction techniques to try and redirect my focus from those noises.

There are also special ear plugs you can buy, think they're called Flare Audio by Calmer and they're supposed to be great at reducing noise.

We got sound proofing downstairs - we did lose a small bit of space but it was worth it. My FIL is a builder so luckily he helped us put it up. Firstly they put a wodden frame along the wall and then filled that with rockwool. Then the cover that with panels and then plastered over that. They sealed all the edges with some acoustic gel thing.

We can’t hear any noise downstairs now - we used to hear the neighbours TV and them talking.

I feel as though I've written this post myself. Full sympathy OP x

Sound insulation plaster board. Best £200 I've spent. Lost an inch of room, gained virtually total silence.

I wear ear defenders when the neighbours are being loud. I don't have noisy neighbours but even the sound of the radio winds me up. It's not their fault so I won't say anything. I've found that the ear defenders are a total game changer. They are a bit uncomfortable at first but you get used to them.

I would definitely invest in a pair of noise cancelling headphones. It will change your life

Hi @Keeley87, I’m another noise-sensitive person with incredibly loud neighbours so I utterly empathise!
I’ve built bookshelves in the alcoves either side of the fireplace on our shared wall as I love books and they have a bonus effect of providing a little bit of noise dampening. Upstairs I’ve put my wardrobes on that wall for the same reason, and I bought myself some heavy duty ear defenders so that I can still sit out in my garden. None of these things block it completely, so you also probably need some relaxation techniques so you can control your response to it. I use the Headspace app, and one called RelaxMelodies.