We've had a noise pollution letter from the council!!!

[Stillmonday]

We aren't big DIYers but February my husband fitted us a new kitchen, it took a whole month inbetween work and he always stopped any noise at 6pm.
Now we are doing some decking in the garden whilst on lockdown. Some sawing, sanding & banging again stops at 6pm.
A letter has just arrived warning us of noise pollution and excessive hammering, banging & use of power tools.

Our neighbour was really annoyed when we had our kitchen, they even recorded the noise it made one day but I tried to explain it was a one off and that's what happens when a new kitchen is being fitted.

Now we are quite shocked to receive the letter but don't know where we stand. Are we allowed to finish the decking or shall we not bother?!

Your neighbours are being unreasonable and have too much time on their hands if they’re filled out a 2 week noise diary to submit to the council...

the other way to look at it is that their life has been made hell to such an extend they had to waste time recording it to make the official complaint they needed to do, as the OP dismissed their concernes in the first place.

Surely it just takes a couple of days to decking?

Can you be certain that the letter has come via a complaint from those particular neighbours?

You sound very angry with them. I understand you wanting to do up your house, but you seem focused on them and their shortcomings which seems odd and has doubtless contributed to some harsh replies on here.

Couldn’t you go round and talk to them - ask them about the letter even? Maybe agree to put off the decking until after lockdown?

If they then behave unreasonably towards you, you know where you are. If not, you’ve saved yourself a nightmare - falling out with neighbours isn’t to be taken lightly.

Actually laughing at the people slagging off decking purely to have a go at OP, how pathetic!

I'm loving the exaggeration from people too, even 2 hours a day fitting a kitchen isn't going to be constant hammering and banging, sounds to me like you've just got petty neighbours.

Have you read the thread(s) about the batshit neighbours complaining about rainwater going into their garden despite their garden being higher up.

Some people just like to complain

Maybe your neighbours are trying to work from home. You sound quite unaware and inconsiderate.

well, I guess none of us can possibly know whether what you are doing is particularly excessive or if your neighbour is being a twat.

I agree you should be allowed to undertake work on your property, but equally, they are allowed quiet enjoyment of their own. Even if you think it's a shit tip.

Your options here are to carry on, piss them off further but then you'll be finished before any enforcement person comes, stop work completely, or actually engage with your neighbours and see if a compromise can be reached. The last is obviously better done face to face, but I think you'll either have to have a distant chat over the fence or do it by note.

i have to keep repeating myself

Yes, I noticed you told us three times they were retired. More MN stealth ageism.

Op you are incredibly selfish , self absorbed and you comments about your neighbours are just plain nasty.

Blimey, going by some of these comments, I'm glad I live in an end of terrace well outside our village with only a handful of neighbours! The noise complaints would probably have been endless.

I read through the comments! Your reply perfectly illustrates your attitude.

They are probably already stressed and frustrated because of lockdown. Maybe they want to relax in the garden for a couple of hours but can't because of all the banging? The stay indoors rules means that they can't escape the noise by going out.

OneandTwenty
I don't understand noise wars either, but my point was that some people will complain about anything.

There's so many threads where people are told DIY is wrong during the day, wrong on a morning, wrong at a weekend etc and where people are complaining of people mowing the lawn, or doing gardening etc.

Just ignore them OP. You are not being unreasonable. Just crack on and get it done and ignore the silly bastards.

Gosh, I’ve been in my house 10yrs and never had the windows cleaned.
I hope my neighbours aren’t keeping watch 👀

"Even if we stopped until after lockdown, they are retired anyway so don't go out to work"

But during lockdown they CAN'T go out to escape it. Whether they usually go out when you're not making noise is utterly irrelevant.

I came on here for advice regarding a letter we've had not to be personally attacked.

What advice can we possibly give you though? You still haven't actually said exactly what the letter says anyway, Surely the letter spells out the next steps for you, whether it's getting in touch to talk to the council or just trying to be a little more courteous with your noise levels. It's not rocket science.

And unless you live in a remote area with literally only that one neighbor for miles, or unless there's information in the letter (again hard to know from the little detail you've posted), it's also rather unreasonable to jump to conclusions about your next door neighbours (along with the bitchy, passive aggressive comments you're making about them here).

My local council make you download an app to record noise to go along with a complaint. I would imagine your local council - even if they don't use this kind of technology - don't send out letters without some kind of proof.

It's annoying that they have complained about your decking, but people's nerves are frayed at the moment, and not being able to go anywhere means that people are spending more time at home/in their gardens so want some peace and quiet while they are there. A few people on my street (including us!) are taking this opportunity to redecorate, but I haven't heard anyone doing any loud DIY, so maybe there is some kind of unspoken rule that you are breaking!

You sound selfish and judgemental. And a bit thick, tbh. I’m very glad you’re not my neighbour.

I think this thread is MN being contrary, there was a thread last year about a poster and her family suffering hours and hours of noise into antisocial hours from a church next door, sounded genuinely awful, and half the posters on that were telling her she should suck it up. It doesn’t really sound like this level of noise is terrible.

Is what you are doing legal - yes
Is what you are doing considerate - yes (you are stopping early)

crack on

if a neighbour doesn't want any noise around them then they are at liberty to find a house with no neighbours

there is no legal right to silence / expectation of silence - the only legislation / rules is around not having excessive noise - DIY where you stop at an early hour will never be seen as excessive noise - that might be where you are up at 6 doing it, or still going at midnight... good advice is to generally try to restrict it to one day at the weekend where possible, but even then it is not illegal to run a lawnmower / drill / use a hammer on a Sunday etc.

@Likethebattle
Property information form (TA6)

The property information form is hefty to complete, but is a document required to sell your property. The detailed form covers everything from any current tenants to boundaries and even the ongoing complaints anddisputes with neighbours. So be sure to set aside the necessary time to compile this form. If your paperwork isn’t organised, then your home may not sell in accordance with theaverage selling timein the UK.

AravisTarkheena
I remember that thread. The OP moved next to a chuiand had no issues for years until another denomination started hiring the hall. People were horrible to the OP saying she should have expected anti social noise and really stuck the boot in.

Meanwhile on other threads people are ready to tell people to log it with 101 that their neighbours have mowed their lawn at 11am on a Saturday.

In the interest of neighbourly relations I'd drop a note in apologising that the noise has disturbed them, explaining what you're doing, roughly how long it should take and asking if there is a time they'd prefer for you to be out there working.

They do sound intolerant (and violent?! wtf about punching your husband) so I'd just take the nicely nicely approach.

Also, we had proper kitchen fitters in to do our kitchen a few years ago and they took three weeks, so I don't think a month for non-professionals is particularly long.

I would just carry on doing your house and garden jobs. There are always some people in a neighbourhood, who will always complain about lots of things, as they are born complainers!

If you have started with your decking,it needs to be finished, because we may have some heavy rain ,that could impact on the job in hand.

Actually laughing at the people slagging off decking purely to have a go at OP, how pathetic!

why do you think people can't have an honest negative views of decking UnfinishedSymphon? Have you got some and you are miffed that people don't view it as the heigh of sophistication or something? Decking = rats, it's just a fact 🤷