Noisy Neighbours Creative Thinking Needed

[Chesterfield12]

I live in a small semi detached house and there’s a young family moved in next door. My goodness, the noise the kids make in the mornings when they get into bed with their parents is ridiculous! They are loud all the time but it’s the early mornings that are the hardest to deal with. I’ve spoken to them time and again but nothing changes.

I can’t swap rooms as I currently have a lodger. The layout of the room means I can’t move my bed. I’m worried about not waking up to my alarm if I use ear plugs.

Can anyone suggest anything blindingly obvious that I’ve missed? Or something creative? I’m starting to get desperate.

Are able to rearrange your other bedroom furniture and put it up against the shared wall? I did this in a flat once and you'd be surprised how much noise a wide wardrobe and a bookcase can block.

If you did decide to use earplug you can get vibrating alarm clocks for around £20-£25, they have a little pad that goes either under your pillow or under your mattress (depending on model) and it vibrates you awake so you don't miss your alarm.

I use ear plugs at night sometimes (they're a sanity saver) & can hear my alarm with them in

Have you considered returning the favour? Playing porn-type video noises and leaving them against the walls about half an hour earlier than the kids would normally be climbing into bed with the parents? That might discourage the habit…

White noise in your bedroom

Pls ignore advice to make ‘revenge’ noise yourself. It can escalate noise from neighbours who have any degree of bad attitude and adds to the chaos in your environment which is bad for your mental health. But worst of all it can lead to noise complaints against you, which you would then have to defend yourself against.
I think you have two choices. One, to move. Two, to complain to environmental health at the council, keep a noise diary and do sound recording. If the council is crap then take your complaint to a firm called Sanctum Consultants, which we used in a similar situation with good effect. They are inexpensive.

@DrNo007 what did the consultants actually do to quieten your neighbours?

@LynetteScavo they are a firm of former enviro health experts who used to work for councils. We used them twice. Once to tackle a community noise problem and once to tackle a really nasty set of neighbours who were aggressive and deliberate in their noise making. In latter case the council was being crap and denied there was a problem even though there very clearly was. Sanctum advised me to take legal action against the chief exec of the council, guiding me on the correct laws to cite. One letter (written by me not a solicitor) resulted in council taking action against their noisy tenants and tenants being moved on.
However the noise makers don’t have to be council tenants, legal measures are available and need not be expensive or long drawn out. Much of the solution lies in knowing the relevant law and using it strategically.

They are children and not doing anything wrong.

[quote DrNo007]@LynetteScavo they are a firm of former enviro health experts who used to work for councils. We used them twice. Once to tackle a community noise problem and once to tackle a really nasty set of neighbours who were aggressive and deliberate in their noise making. In latter case the council was being crap and denied there was a problem even though there very clearly was. Sanctum advised me to take legal action against the chief exec of the council, guiding me on the correct laws to cite. One letter (written by me not a solicitor) resulted in council taking action against their noisy tenants and tenants being moved on.
However the noise makers don’t have to be council tenants, legal measures are available and need not be expensive or long drawn out. Much of the solution lies in knowing the relevant law and using it strategically.[/quote]
Well children climbing into their parents bed is not a noise issue. Seriously stop giving out silly advice, the Council will do nothing about this, this is not even Anti Social at all.

Can you look into sound proofing the joining wall. Like they have in a music studios . I'm not sure of expense or practicalities. Or consult an acoustics consultant. They may have some suggestions. I think with noisy children, just being children it's very hard, as they are effectively not doing anything wrong, you have an noise insulation problem. Good luck

@IAmDaveTheSerialShagger. I disagree, this is very clearly a noise issue. The key is that this can be viewed as unreasonable noise and a complaint about it could be viewed as reasonable, because there is something that can be done to prevent the noise. The law looks as what a reasonable person would find reasonable or unreasonable.

As an example, complaining about the noise of a neighbour’s toilet being flushed is unreasonable. Complaining about kids running up and down stairs non stop for an hour for fun is reasonable. Complaining about kids running upstairs just in the way of normal living is unreasonable. Complaining about kids screaming for an hour when jumping into bed with parents could be seen as reasonable.

On another note, just because you disagree with a post is no reason to be rude.

@IAmDaveTheSerialShagger. The other point is that antisocial behaviour law is not the same as noise law and there are different noise laws that you can invoke in different circumstances.
And most cases in which noise law is invoked do not go to court as they are resolved prior to that stage, as in our case.

What time are they climbing into bed and making all the noise?

Have you tried talking to the neighbours? They might not realise how loud the kids are being. It's easy to become desensitised to the volume if it's a constant thing

It sounds as though you've already spoken to the neighbours with no success so I second the ear plugs and vibrating alarm combo. You presumably don't want a cymbals-clashing, all-singing-all-dancing one out of respect for your lodger but there should be one that's ideal out there. If you can endure it, they will eventually grow out of wanting to jump in to mum and dad's bed and will be under their own covers with ipads. Good luck.

I would make as much noise as possible when they need quiet. In my experience the council do not care. Sending a letter out does not work if the neighbours are not bothered.

You can soundproof your wall. We did it with a stud wall and acoustic rockwool. It cost £1400.

We can now hear absolutely nothing, unless it is a really loud noise in which case it is very muffled. You don't lose very much space - a couple of inches - and it was simple to do. I was shocked at how well it worked.

I also use earplugs and my alarm still wakes me up. Worth trying for £3?!

I second sound proofing. What time are kids going into their room? I am afraid that what they are doing sounds like living - if you start retaliating you could be accused of being abusive. How old are kids? It does reduce as they get older.

I have the same problem. The layout of my bedroom which I can't change backs onto my neighbours with kids who I find really noisy however I get that it's just family noise and kids being kids. Plus it's a downside of living in flats that I have to accept. I feel your pain though. I rely on earplugs and hope they'll move as their family grows.

I don't however feel bad watching tv past 10am as I have a right to my life as they have to theirs.

*10pm!

Get a smart watch that vibrates for an alarm and use head phones.

Councils vary hugely in attitude to noise complaints— some are crap but others proactive. And in my case sending a letter did work — the appalling neighbours would have ignored a letter but their landlord (council) did not want to be sued so moved fast to sort the problem. It’s surprising how effective a small but strategic action can be.