Neighbour ‘punishing’ us for toddler playing/walking

[Questionmark111]

My one year old has began walking and we all know at this stage they are clomping around, heavy footed and clumsy.
We tend to spend our days in the play room or dining room when we are home. They are the other side of the house and we can be noisy without anyone hearing.
NDN (childless couple) have complained that one year is old disturbing them. Baring in mind he goes to bed at 7pm and his ‘stomping around’ is just prior to that while we get him ready for bed where he likes to look around each room upstairs.
We do have laminate throughout but we also have rugs in the main rooms and there is never any noise after 7pm.
NDN house is open planned with bare wood floor boards and we hear EVERYTHING. Including their violent fights and racist comments about us.
We explained toddlers can be noisy and we aren’t willing to keep him from developing normally because they don’t like 5 minutes of walking around but that we are mindful in general. they claim to want silence from us but that it’s ok for them to make noise and live how they please because they moved there first and shouldn’t have to hear children !
Since this they have been banging on the shared wall which is my one year olds bedroom, obviously with the intention of waking him. We were woken to drilling at 6am on Sunday. The wife (who never ever leaves the house) has began slamming a door against our shared wall over and over throughout the day and what sounds like hammering on the kitchen wall for hours.
it’s driving me crazy because I can sympathise with children being noisy, but we keep him quiet at unreasonable times and let him play and explore through the day as all toddlers should yet we are being treated like rubbish for normal family life. It’s upsetting me that we’re being ‘punished’ and that they are trying to intimidate us into silence when we aren’t doing anything anti social.
this evening the man has clearly tried to ‘recreate’ our son walking around as we could hear him running and stomping around the house very loudly, he’s only just stopped. They don’t have carpet on their stairs and he was running up and down them for 30 minutes.
can anyone advise what we should do? Are we wrong for letting one year old walk around (he wears socks and slippers most of the time)? Do we just ignore?
I go back to work in 2 months and it annoys me that I’ll be coming home to their childish crap after a difficult day.

Your neighbours sound childish. I am sorry they are racist too. Have you talked to them about the situation?

You are not doing anything wrong. Of course your one-month old should be able to walk around in his own house at reasonable times of day. Is your DC going to be looked after at home when you go back to work,or at a nursery/childminder? If he/she isn't at home, your neighbours will have less to complain about!

As your neighbours are creating a noise nuisance (ironic!) in ways that go beyond just living in their home, I think you need to start a noise diary, noting the date, what the noise is, and when it starts and ends. That way, you have evidence if you decide in the future to report your neighbours to the local authority for causing a noise nuisance. Do you own your home, or rent it? If you own it, be careful about reporting because you will have to report it when you sell as a dispute with a neighbour.

You have mental neighbours like me. Mine used to bang on the wall when my child had a meltdown.
Basically, it's them. Not you.

You are not doing anything wrong, your neighbours sound awful. We sometimes hear our neighbours and they must obviously hear us, that’s normality. If they’re triggered so easily they need to soundproof their home.
I hope things settle down for you soon.

This sounds really hard.
We used to have neighbours who harassed us (it went way beyond this) they didn't like children and part of what they'd do is stomp on the stairs to intimidate us. (Bearing in mind my child was a small 7 year old not stomping on stairs on purpose but he was a big built man using all his force). Used to bang on our walls too on purpose. All to intimidate us. They were already intimidating in other ways as well.

It's really hard but my advice would still be to ignore and go try go about your day as normal

Your neighbours sound unhinged. Imagine being so sad and petty that this is how they react to a toddler!!

How noisy can your toddler really be? The neighbours are selfish cunts.

You could try saying that you hear so their arguments and racist comments. But that might depend on whether you own or rent... I'm sorry. You should be able to live peacefully in your own home.

Can you call the police next time you hear them fighting?

They are being completely unreasonable. Can you record the slamming, hammering, drilling, etc? Is there anywhere you could report them?

Don't try explaining anything to them, and dont apologise to them. They're clearly deeply unhappy people who are taking out their anger on you.

Keep any communication they send you on this matter. It will be useful if you decide to report them for harassment.

Report every remark to the police.

This definitely unhappy, angry people. How loud are their arguments op? Report anonymously to police and deny all knowledge. Will embarrass them enough to stop hopefully!

Also, if she never leaves the house and he is so angry and petty... is there something more coersove going on? You might do her a favour if so.

Win win.

You could also say you hear banging and slamming doors and worry the violence is escalating!

At least you don't have to feel guilty about the (perfectly normal) toddler noise now you know that they're dicks anyway. Stop being considerate. They'll get nowhere complaining about a little one making noise in the daytime.

Honestly? They sound mental. And nasty. I'd move. Really, I would.

How long have they been doing this for? Hopefully they will soon get bored. Running up and down the stairs for 30mins is unhinged! I think best to completely ignore them and carry on as normal as they will want to get some sort of reaction from you.

Suspect this has far more to do with them being racists than the fact you have a toddler. It would be worth keeping a log of everything in case it reaches a point where you need to involve police. It sounds awful.

They do don't they?? Who has the time to be so petty?

OP I sympathise with you. Our neighbour doesn’t like it if we so much as breathe in our garden. She really needs to go and live on a desert island , but as this is very unlikely it really is her problem. I would send them details of detached houses in the area in the hope they get the hint.
Please just keep on living your life. They are not the council/police or the owners of you. Other people don’t get the right to tell you how to live.

Just shut them down. Tell them that you'll treat any further communication with you or banging on your house wall as harassment and report to the police. If they have an issue, they can make a noise complaint to the council.

Your neighbours sound like psycho’s. You haven’t done anything wrong.

To add to this

(I commented earlier in thread)

The neighbours did get a noise recorder from council for the apparent noise we (my child) made. The results came back as normal household noise. So that's probably what they're hearing, normal household noise every so often

Don't waste your time 'telling' them anything.

just ignore them, that will infuriate them far more that all their energy they're expanding to try to get to you isn't having any effect!!

Next time you hear them having an argument, ring the police and tell them how worried you are that this is a common occurrence and she never leaves the house so you're concerned about domestic violence.

You could also report the racist comments if you wanted to.

Go about your life as you wish. Don't restrict your tiny toddler living his life!! Enjoy the stage of his growth it's a lovely age and stage whatever you do don't let your neighbours spoil it xx

Ignore them and let the little one run around as and when.

Sorry if I've missed it op, do they rent/ social housing or own? If rent or social housing I'd complain as they're breaching their contract by harassing you. I'd ring the police every time they have a fight and I'd shut them down completely- no more conversations or engaging with them on anything I'd grey rock them. And to be honest I'd also look to move because they know your child is not the issue- they want to be antisocial and harass you and I don't think there's any reasonable dealing with people like that.

This

They're being twats.
We had carpets when kids were little, but wehad an early riser and a tantrummer. Our neighbours always pretended they couldn't hear anything.

I'd say If they complain again, I can hear your violent fights and your racist comments about us, but we don't complain to anyone, but next time if you like when I hear the violence I will call the police.
That will shut them up

Do you own your house? I ask, because you could report what they're doing. I would say it is borderline abusive. Particularly the racist elements. However, if you own rather than rent, any reporting/complaints would have to be declared when you sell.

I would keep a log of everything they do. Times. Dates. If they are making racist comments that you can hear, keep a record them. And actually, if there is REALLY loud stuff going on that could be recorded on your phone, literally make an audio recording.

If you ever have to make a complaint, you'll have evidence.