Is everyone else’s neighbour totally normal or am I just unlucky?

[NaciGeorgopoulos]

I was talking to a friend who said her neighbour is so considerate that they text before using the drill. Meanwhile my neighbour thinks 7am on a Saturday is the perfect time to start “light renovations”.
It made me wonder whether I’m just cursed with loud neighbours or whether most people secretly deal with this but don’t say anything. I’ve had early morning DIY, random shouting phone calls in the garden and one guy who thinks revving his motorbike counts as a personality.
Part of me wants to believe there are still calm, quiet, reasonable neighbours out there. The other part thinks I should just invest in industrial earplugs and accept my fate.

I absolutely love your phrase “who thinks revving his motorbike counts as a personality”. I’m stealing that one.

My ex woke me up ((and close neighbours as well), by revving his new and extremely powerful motorbike at 3am in the fucking morning, to show off to the drunks he had bought back from the pub.

my current neighbours - one side, lovely, the other side - odd and unfriendly with yapping dogs.

I have lovely neighbours now. We did have one family previously who were awful. The husband left because of her behaviour. She was a drunk and then invited very unsavoury people to her house. She had four boys who were feral and terrorised the street. You never knew what they would be up to. It made life uneasy as I was constantly on alert at every noise. She eventually had social work involved because she got extremely drunk early in the day and created a commotion. Her boys witnessed all of the chaos and the police were called. The best thing that happened was the house being sold and the new neighbours arriving. They are nice people

Lovely neighbours in both sides. We’ve been here longer than all of them so it is entirely luck of the draw.

You soon find people out and their true colours...that's awful and you are right to stand by your principles.

We also do not talk to our next door neighbours due to a long running noise nuisance issue. They have been approached by us three times in the past and asked politely to keep late night parties noise to a minimum (goes on til 2am each time) and they have just ignored us. They have children too themselves but think it's acceptable to make a rammy into the wee small hours. So we continue to complain to the local authority and we do not talk to them. We don't take parcels in for them either. I cannot stand them. But get on great with everyone else in my street.

My neighbours have 4 children and about 15 grandchildren. They are all always at their house. Their speaking is my shouting. Everything they do is at x10 the volume of normal people. They've just bought the grandchildren a karaoke machine so now we are treated to their loudness magnified.

We have lovely neighbours one side, but the side we are attached to scream like banshees at each other and their DC many times every day, its very wearing and horrible to listen to. Makes me sad for their children, what kind of childhood is that. Insta photos one second, screaming matches the next. I assume the kids will start screaming back soon.

One side just awful, the other side bonkers. The rest of the cul-de-sac is ok though!!

One of our neighbours swapped over one of our unbroken recycling bins with the lid still attached when they must have taken in the emptied bins the other day and left their broken bin as one of mine. The cheek.

Mine is a nut case. I can't explain it all as it's outing.

She has upset the other side too. And everyone opposite. And every builder she's had. At one point she had a fixation with the boundary being wrong and accused both sides stealing her land.

Next door but one is the mildest, kindest person you could hope to meet and what she's done to her is awful.

Super lucky now, in a close of 16 every single one is lovely! We have lots of get together too even a Christmas meal out! Previous house NDN was awful. Ended up in court as he punched DH one day for no reason, we moved very soon after that.

I've been lucky with my neighbours but I think that comes from being courteous myself. When I move in I visit direct neighbours and introduce myself and dogs. Let them know if there's any issues to let me know.

I live in a unit complex now and I had renovations done last year. I printed out the schedule of works so my direct neighbours knew what was happening and when. Told them to call me if there were any issues with trades - noise, blocking access etc. Bought them all a thankyou gift at the end to say thanks for their patience. Did I have to do any of that? No. I did it because it's the neighbourly thing to do. I've been here 14 years now, so it's a good investment for a peaceful life.

The only bad ones I had had mongrel barking dogs that they did nothing to stop. I hated those dogs. As soon as I commented to them about the mutts (very politely) they started to torment my staffy. Fortunately I could keep him away from their fenceline, as he was getting older and had arthritis so didn't need as much running space, and the other neighbours adored him.

I am so bloody lucky.

I live on a street of old terraced workers cottages and every single one of my neighbours is amazing. We all know each other and all get along and we regularly socialise.

Many of them are now close friends. My direct neighbour and I take it in turns to take each others bins out and yes, we would text each other if either of us would be making an unexpected noise at an unexpected time. Mine even text me to apologise if she woke me up by coming back late from a night out (she didn't)

During covid we all looked out for one another and checked in on each other and had socially distanced chats outside.

Mine are lovely but I’ve had some shockers

There is a SF film called The Purge where on one night a year you are allowed to go out and kill your neighbours. I would gladly have gone after some of mine with an AK47.

Ive had horrendous neighbours in the past. One (care in the community chap) cut off my door knocker with a bolt cutter and cut my phone wires. This was back in the early 1990s when I got a mobile. He was arrested for assaulting a man in the city and sent back to a secure hostel. Then I moved and had an underneath neighbour who played BOOM BOOM music most of the day and night. The housing association would not evict him so I had to move into a private rental which I later bought.

I now have only one neighbour as I live on the end. They were thieves and criminals who stole my mail, fly tipped, sent workmen to trespass and tried to bully me. I wont tell you what I did in revenge. (No not an AK47) He died of a heart attack about 3 years ago and she has gone to live with her relatives. The house stands empty. That suits me fine.

Our neighbours are awful
10 years of loud music, sometimes until 4am, dog barking.
Then in September he was in court for sexually abusing 16 year old girl, narrowly missed going to prison, on sex offenders register. Now never leaves the house and all is very quiet. Dog died. Wife out at work
I'm hoping they will move as no one wants them here but after 10 years I'm enjoying the peace and quiet

I used to have awful neighbours - very noisy, all times of the day and night, drug use as well. However, now, it's wonderful! Both sides tell us if there will be any noise, one side does have parties but they say in advance and always stop by midnight. We take in parcels for each other, will put bins out if someone is away, just helpful stuff. So much better! Good luck on getting better luck in the neighbour draw!

We are detached one side and semi-attached on the other. Neighbours are all pretty quiet (whole street really). On the one side they have a dog that barks quite a bit and the child sometimes screams/tantrums. We have thick walls though so while you can hear it it's not intrusive.
My sister on the other hand has a family - well dad next door who is horrible. He is super loud all the time. Has vacuumed after 1 in the morning. Just loud at everything, full phone calls can be heard. Can also be heard screaming at his you g kids and is an absolutely hideous man.

Had awful neighbours and had to move twice. In a really grotty house now with the best neighbours, one of them has just told us he is ill and I’m devastated. It’s been so lovely being surrounded by kindness.

I could write a book on my past neighbours, from drug dealing to rave like parties, leaving dog outside all night to bark, one who punched walls, one who screamed during sex (he couldn't of been that good) there's more but too much to list.
I can kind of laugh about it now but it did a number on my mental health and this was two house moves so not even the same ones...
Im in a detached house now, (moved area to afford one as too pricey where I'm originally from) that's how bad It got for us and I couldn't risk it again.
It doesn't solve hearing neighbours outside. It's mostly quiet apart from the odd yappy dog but tbh it's nothing in comparison I feel for anyone with bad neighbours I still get flashbacks now.

Our NDN is an absolute dream. She has recently had her kitchen ripped out and re-fitted which meant lots of noise as she was taking a wall down. We got given plenty of notice, no work was done during the week DP was on nights and when it was all over she gave us a lovely hamper and a voucher for a meal out.
The neighbours whose house backs on to mine are a totally different kettle of cod. Always complaining about something and expecting us all to obey their every command...they even went to great lengths to draw up a rota of what day and time we should all mow our lawns in the summer so as not to disturb them too much. Just 1 of their many acts of complete fuckery.

Neighbours pretty good in general dogs opposite bark to bloody much , and they do nothing about it.

I've had to move in the past due to dreadful neighbours when living in semi. We moved to a detached in a cheaper area to save our sanity.
Since then I've only lived in a detached property which goes a long way to shielding you from bad neighbours though, of course, the way they act outside can be almost as bad. We've chosen to live in a road mainly made up of bungalows and, though in our late 60s, we're some of the youngest people at this end of the road. It's usually extremely quiet and I keep everything crossed that it stays that way. My neighbour calls it Mortuary Corner 😆