Drilling & hammering at 11pm at night?

[MrsSpagBol]

We live: ground floor maisonette.

It's 11.11pm and upatairs neighbour is hammering and drilling?!

Earlier this evening DH had a friendly word about the general increase in noise since he/they moved in:-
Elephantine footsteps
Giggling till 3am every night
Dragging / dropping furniture etc

He agreed to be more considerate, just four hours ago.

Then decided to start his DIY project at 10pm.

Surely i am nbu to be f*ckd off?

Any suggestions of what to say when I go round tmw?

Do they rent? If so try and contact their landlord.

Do u have children? If yes maybe say that their I considerate behaviour is waking them?

Giggling? People aren't allowed to giggle after curfew?

There is always a good bot of extra noise while people move in and settle in. Moving furniture, bits of diy etc - it's hard to fit it all in, and sometimes doing it late at night or early in the morning can't be helped.

Sure, have another word with them about the timing of diy work, but giggling and footsteps? You need to relax.

i think its payback for you complaining about then giggling and walking !

No children here yet.

Did not "complain about giggling and walking"

We accept the move in period etc, 4-6 weeks is I think reasonable to get settled in a new flat?

Actual wording of complaint was more along the lines of us noticing an increase in noise that we hadn't experienced with previous owner, and offered for them to come in and hear it - which they did, he actually said, "Wow I am sorry that sounds like an elephant, I hadn't realised" which we thought was reasonable enough.

Tinbox - not really sure what your point is - I don't think I have to set bedtime for the whole road but keeping your neighbours up till 3am on a weeknight almost everyday, and later on weekends, isn't great. If you do that, all I can say is I am glad I don't live next door to you!

DIY at that hour is not allowed within adjoining premises.

Contact their letting agent. Make a complaint via email. Outline everything. If they rent, this could ultimately lead to eviction, if the problem continues and you continue to make complaints.

Call noise control. They will come out and if they can hear the noise whilst there, they will knock on their door and remonstrate/give a warning. Call noise control every time they do DIY or play loud music. Build up a history.

Totally unacceptable. Selfish little fools.

There is a law about noise after a certain time - maybe contact the council, and then their landlord or letting agent if they're renting. It will be in their lease somewhere that they need to abide by council law with regards to loud noise.

I know how frustrating it is - I once lived next door to someone for a year who liked to play "Fur Elise" repeatedly on piano at around 1am for no apparent reason 4/5 nights a week! Either that, or they did their DIY at whatever time I happened to be studying, and even if I studied at different times every day for a week, their DIY ALWAYS coincided with it!

This post is less rude than the title led me to expect.

Hammering after 11 is insensitive. Your DH probably didn't do you any favours complaining about the other stuff - which they probably can't help. Give it a few more days to let them settle in, if it doesn't improve have another word and then perhaps raise with landlord.
It sounds like you have thin floors though and there may be a limit to what can be done.

Am I the only one smirking about drilling and hammering after 11pm?

Yes I am slightly disappointed, was expecting something slightly more risqué than actual DIY.

My point is that you need to relax a bit, I think.

But if normal activities like giggling and walking are really keeping you up until 3am, then I think your problem has to be with totally inadequate housing and soundproofing, rather that your neighbours. I'd be pissed off with the landlord/developer for flogging you a flimsy house.

Lol Trapper, Cat and Amazing sorry about my lack of expectation manangement there - didn't even occur to me!! But thank you for making me smile!

Quesadilla - we needed to raise the point about the flooring because the neighbour is in breach of the terms of the lease agreement - upstairs flats need to be carpeted. We suspected that he had ripped out the carpet, but didn't want to complain if it had been a case of ripping out the old and replacing with the new or something, hence the giving it nearly 2 months before going round.

Tinbox - I really don't know what to say. I am not trying to be uptight. But we both work, like most people, and it's quite hard to sleep when someone takes it upon themselves to start drilling and banging so heavily pictures on walls shake at 11pm on a week night.

About the floors, "elephantine footsteps" is how I have expressed myself here - I am not, like any sane person I hope going to tell someone how or when to walk in their home. But if they make changes that cause disturbance that even when they listen to they agree are very noisy, then I don't think that is a case of me being uptight.

And as I said in my OP, we've lived happily here for 3 years with a neighbour above us - and never ever had cause to complain. So you can call me uptight, but I do think it can't be coincidental.

I just didn't want to go the route of "you are in breach of your lease agreement" straight off the bat when it might have been possible to ask for just a little more consideration.

I really hope you are not my neighbour Tinbox although from your posts you might be!

You mentioned "footsteps" and "giggling" in your OP, and I think complaining about them is unreasonable. You implied that the giggling is keeping you awake, which is really odd (I can't imagine giggling keeping me awake if I was tired) and indicates terrible soundproofing/quality. You didn't mention that they'd changed the flooring in your OP.

The DIY at night is a problem, and obviously you need to negotiate there. It sounds like you may have to do something about the flooring too. But posters hinting at 'eviction' as a consequence are being really OTT.

You mention an upstairs neighbour? Did they live alone? That's obviously going to be a lot quieter than what sounds like a young couple. Do your best to sort out the flooring situation (if they have changed it). Beyond that you might find that you actually just get used to the extra noise, if you had a very quiet neighbour before.

Ok Tinbox. Flogging a dead horse I think.

I complained on here about giggling and footsteps - as that is what I can hear! I can hear them laughing, talking, giggling - whatever you want to call it - [as well as shagging]- at 3am. And yes it does keep me up. I can't compete with you if you would sleep through it and I don't really think that's the point anyway. If it was music, it would still keep me up. The point is, I can hear it. Whatever "it" is. But fine.

They are a male couple upstairs at the mo. Same as previous owner (2 males, slightly older though).

The good news is, he has come round this afternoon and said he is fitting a new carpet this weekend - with a thick underlay - and we can chat next week to see if things have improved.

I guess I am a bit hurt at being called uptight. I am really not, I just would like to sleep. It's hard enough to settle at 33 weeks without listening to furniture being dragged across the floor or dropped at odd hours.

All hopes pinned on the carpet now!!!

Thanks for your responses!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH he just started hammering, sawing and drilling!!!!! Ten pm!!! I was about to go to bed. I am exhausted!