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Original poster

Would you move for these reasons or am I being silly?

33 replies

Yesthatscorrect · 25/12/2021 08:25

We live in a nice ex council house. Quiet cul de sac, 2 minutes walk to youngest child's school, 5 minutes walk to shops, restaurants, leisure centre etc and my work. We only need one car as I can walk everywhere.

Three bedrooms which is enough for a family of four, eldest son's bedroom is small but not tiny and he says he loves his room. Large wrap around garden, double drive. Our mortgage is just over 100k so very affordable on our income and I only need to work part time.

Now the cons. New neighbours moved in next door over the summer so we've gone from having a lovely older couple who were quiet and considerate to having a family with three young kids, the youngest being one who just seem to make noise all the time. They seem to have no bedtime routine for them so they can all be still up at 1am shouting and screaming. It's a link villa so only the living room is joined on to them. We have a large kitchen diner but we like to watch TV on an evening in the living room, there's no TV in the kitchen extension. Our living room is cosy and a nice place to relax on an evening, well it used to be. Our kids are either up in their bedrooms or quietly relaxing upstairs by 8pm so I used to see that as our time to relax. H also wfh a lot of the time and can hear them screaming during the day but to be fair he can move into another room at that time.

I don't want to have a word with them as it would just bring bad feeling and realistically it's not going to change until their kids are much older. It's obviously just in their nature whereas my kids are much quieter.

That's the main reason but I would also love oldest child to have a bigger bedroom as who knows how long he'll be at home before he moves out as an adult and I would also love a view from the garden. At the moment we look out onto our garden which is lovely but you can see the roofs of the bungalows behind at the end of the garden. I'd love to look onto open fields.

You'd probably be looking at a mortgage of another 100 a month to get our wish list above which wouldn't make a huge difference but would mean we'd have a mortgage for another 5 to 6 years.

Would you move under those circumstances?

OP posts:

Original poster

Yesthatscorrect · 25/12/2021 08:30

Also I know it's a strange day to be considering this but I'm the only one up, kids and H are still asleep!

OP posts:

Seeline · 25/12/2021 08:43

I would think very hard. Your set up seems ideal, leaving aside the neighbours. Being in a location where your DC's can have some indepence as they get older is great. They will be able to get to activities/friends without having to rely on lifts all the time.

My DS has the box room - he is 20 now, and at uni most of the time. If your DS isn't bothered, I wouldn't make a move based on that.

Will a bigger mortgage mean you have to work full time? Have you really thought about all the implications that might have on your life - time with/for the kids, school holidays etc?

Last point - I'd be very wary of views of fields. Far too many end up as housing estates these days. You have all the construction issues, extra traffic and lose the view you paid for, but have no right too.

Snog · 25/12/2021 08:47

Having noisy neighbours really sucks OP. How would you know it would be different in your next house though?

mumofEandE · 25/12/2021 09:00

What is the saying 'You can only enjoy a view if you own it!'
Maybe the new neighbours have moved from a flat and it's a novelty so will become quieter?!
Your house / location sounds ideal!

Tittyfilarious81 · 25/12/2021 09:03

I wouldn't move op you could move into a new home and the neighbors he the same or worse and your current house sounds great .

Original poster

Yesthatscorrect · 25/12/2021 10:19

Yes that's true about the view. The three streets nearby which have a lovely view look onto a park then the wider valley and a golf course. My dad has a house overlooking the park and I do love sitting at his house looking out. You're right that the view is never guaranteed though.

The third bedroom being small I suppose doesn't really matter. Getting him fitted wardrobes might help and would be an easy fix.

I would have to increase the days I work if we moved as we are in the lowest council tax band and I would imagine the other bills would go up too. Our house is all decorated the way we like it and we have new kitchen and bathrooms so we'd have to spend a lot of money upgrading any house we moved to.

Thanks for the input.

OP posts:

ICouldHaveCheckedFirst · 25/12/2021 10:34

I think you might find it very difficult to improve on what you already have, though I understand that it's not currently perfect (I'm talking about the house itself).

Why work more and pay more if you don't need to? You're just adding stress to your life.

Have you checked to see what you'd really need to pay to get your ideal property, including all the convenience? Remember 'location, location, location' - all those things within walking distance are really valuable.

Comedycook · 25/12/2021 10:34

No I probably wouldn't move for tha reason. Noisy neighbours are annoying but noise from young kids is vastly different to noise from loud music, parties or anti social behaviour. Their kids will grow up!

woodlandarchitect · 25/12/2021 10:38

We had this issue. Next door were horrendous and the children were encouraged to play football indoors against the party wall….

We moved and it’s been bliss since.

Our new neighbour is a lady in her early 70s with a very loud TV which I can cope with but I’m dreading her leaving one day and a noisy family moving in!

DrNo007 · 25/12/2021 10:38

I would not move unless they are keeping you awake and sounds as if that is not a problem. Views of fields are overrated— I know a family that has such a view and they have all got sick from the spraying of pesticides which happens often.

DoctorDonna20 · 25/12/2021 10:39

If it's just the lounge could you sound proof the shared wall?

user1471538283 · 25/12/2021 10:51

I would either soundproof the wall or move! I know people say you could have worse neighbors when you move but honestly we now live in an apartment building surrounded by other apartments and it is much quieter because our neighbors have respect.

Maybe try soundproofing first?

Original poster

Yesthatscorrect · 25/12/2021 10:58

@ICouldHaveCheckedFirst

I think you might find it very difficult to improve on what you already have, though I understand that it's not currently perfect (I'm talking about the house itself).

Why work more and pay more if you don't need to? You're just adding stress to your life.

I've had a look on Right Move and to get all those things we are probably looking at a house for around 230k. You could get one cheaper if you wanted to do a load of building work but builders are so hard to find at the moment. We've been waiting since April for a porch to be built. We probably have around 60k of equity so I think our mortgage would go up quite a bit.

I know that noise from kids is not as bad as having loud parties or drug dealers next door. I think we will focus on trying to improve the house by having a look at sound proofing the living room, getting fitted wardrobes in the smaller bedroom and making the garden as nice as possible so it's nice to look out on.

With the increased mortgage, council tax, bills and the cost of buying and running a second car you'd probably be looking at an extra 600 a month at least. I do very much value my two week days off work which we can easily afford at the minute plus it makes the school holidays more manageable for childcare.

There is nothing we can do about the view but we do love having a big garden and both kids are really into football so it's nice to have so much space to run around in as well as the trampoline etc.

I think I'm leaning more towards staying now. I just get jealous when I visit friends and family with views!

OP posts:

Original poster

Yesthatscorrect · 25/12/2021 11:01

This is just what I mean! If the kids were put to bed around 8pm I wouldn't mind at all. The eldest is about 5 so I just don't understand how they can get up for school when they've gone to bed so late.

Our bedroom backs onto theirs too but we don't hear anything through that, probably because we have fitted wardrobes on that wall.

OP posts:

dibly · 25/12/2021 11:05

Our neighbours are similar and as soon as I’ve completed my probation in work we’ll be moving. The house is great but ideally we’d like another room both upstairs and down, but the neighbour issue after 8 years has irritated me to the point that I don’t like being in the garden in the summer listening to them all. Sounds like you might have other solutions though.

rainrainraincamedowndowndown · 25/12/2021 11:16

The truth maybe the older quiet ex neighbour may have been feeling the same as how you are feeling now for having young children as a neighbour, while your children were smaller.

Original poster

Yesthatscorrect · 25/12/2021 11:23

@rainrainraincamedowndowndown

The truth maybe the older quiet ex neighbour may have been feeling the same as how you are feeling now for having young children as a neighbour, while your children were smaller.

Maybe but our house is a different set up to theirs and we mostly live in the other side of it which isn't attached to anyone and we have no neighbours on the other side of the garden, only garages.

We have only ever used the living room which is attached for evening TV time. We have the big kitchen extension and a playroom so that's where the kids have always spent time during the day.

The funny thing is the elderly neighbours are the parents of the new neighbours and they've never been back to visit since!

OP posts:

bedtimestories · 25/12/2021 11:26

Could you sound proof the adjoining wall?

alongwayhome · 25/12/2021 11:52

I wouldn't move I don't think - I would perhaps look into soundproofing your living room wall if that's the only adjoining one.

You could move, but tbh you never know what sort of neighbours you'll end up with, so unless you're planning to move to a house surrounded by a considerable amount of land nothing is guaranteed.

errorcode010010010100010 · 25/12/2021 12:03

Can you extend the property or is the loft big enough to turn into another bedroom? I
I definitely wouldn't move because it sounds as if the location is perfect. I would extend.

Oblomov21 · 25/12/2021 15:52

I'd move. Having quiet neighbours makes a huge difference. Only those that have had noisy neighbours could understand how bad it is.

ChoccySprinkles · 25/12/2021 16:11

Moving might fix the view but it won’t fix the noisy neighbours. You never know who will move in next door.

Having the luxury of only needing to work part time is lovely. I probably wouldn’t move.

Roaringlogfire · 25/12/2021 18:55

Can you spend some money sound proofing the joining wall in the living room? I would also ask them if they could try to keep the noise down. They might not realise you can hear it do much in the adjoining room.

JinglyJingles · 25/12/2021 18:58

That doesn't mean they dont have a bedtime routine. Not all kids are goody two shoes

Original poster

Yesthatscorrect · 25/12/2021 20:01

I understand that not all kids go to bed on time like mine do but we can all hear the parents arguing about the kids still being up so it clearly isn't working for them as a family. I don't particularly care what their routine is unless it impacts us which this definitely is.

I think we will look into soundproofing. Someone told me today about how putting bookshelves in the alcoves might help so I think we'll try that first.

The loft is too low to do a loft extension sadly. We've already extended out the back so we have plenty of living space, it's just one of the bedrooms is a bit small for my liking.

OP posts:

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