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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

in thinking that my neighbour has some cheek giving us a curfew for our heating!

91 replies

timesarehard · 19/02/2014 23:33

Been a funny old week.

We live out in the sticks. There are three houses in our little hamlet. We're attached to next door. I caught our neighbour in the garden today to tell her that my stepfather died on Monday. She was very nice but then hit me with.... Apparently, our heating is too loud. It is driving her husband insane. He can't sleep and he's threatening to rip "the bloody thing out" if it carries on. She said he is really very angry about it and doesn't want him calling here all guns blazing so if we could just never put our heating on past 9pm or before 6pm, she would appreciate it!

I must add, our heating is oil fired and costs a bloody fortune so we're quite frugal with it. It's not on a timer, we just flick it on when cold. If it's a particularly cold night or we're up late, we might put it on for an hour at about ten. We NEVER leave it on over night and it's extremely rare it's ever on past eleven.

My husband went round after work to listen to it. He said you can just about hear a slight humming through the wall (but only when they had turned off everything in their house)

Do they have a point? I do get that noises can be irritating but I'm not sure what I can do. It's a two hundred year old cottage; it's got an old heating system.

What would you do?

OP posts:
MrsBryan · 19/02/2014 23:35

I would continue to use my heating as normal but perhaps flick it on for an hour at 9pm rather than 10.

mummyto2boysandagirl3 · 19/02/2014 23:36

I'd tell them to do one! If ur house is cold put ur heating on!!! If u live in a semi u have to put up with the odd bit of noise I can hear next doors washing machine she does odd shifts and sometimes has to do her washing at2/3am she needs clean clothes u need a warm house

expatinscotland · 19/02/2014 23:36

No, they don't have a point.

I would ignore them completely.

wheretoyougonow · 19/02/2014 23:37

I wouldn't have told you if I was your neighbour. Very insensitive timing. Just carry on as normal. Sorry for your loss Thanks

Wantsunshine · 19/02/2014 23:38

I say too damn bad for your neighbours. How ridiculous, this would ensure I had mine on 24/7. Your DH has even been decent enough to go round an listen and it can barely be heard. So ignore.

Bogeyface · 19/02/2014 23:38

Suggest that if they think it is a real problem that they contact Environmental health who will do a noise level check.

Sounds like he heard it once and is now obsessed with it. How old is he?

NadiaWadia · 19/02/2014 23:39

Buy your neighbour a nice set of ear plugs - about £3 or £4 from Boots. He is being a bit daft. Are you supposed to freeze, then?

leezl · 19/02/2014 23:40

Sorry to hear about your stepfather

LucyLasticBand · 19/02/2014 23:41

does it make a noise when it starts? just try putting it on earlier to stay on as long as you like.
no way can they dictate.
nevermind, spring will soon be here Grin

Wantsunshine · 19/02/2014 23:41

This would be a nice waste of time for environmental health. At least they can reassure them that they are crazy and nothing can be done. Hoping your heating is on now so you are not cold on MN.

AnyFuckerHQ · 19/02/2014 23:42

I would recommend some hobbies to your neighbors and use my heating whenever I felt like it

BabyDubsEverywhere · 19/02/2014 23:43

I would allow them to pay for a new heating system for my house. Until then I would carry on as normal :)

Supercosy · 19/02/2014 23:44

My Dd is very sensitive to sounds...she is so dramatic about it, the poor dog who very quiet ly whines for a moment, the person cutting their hedge 10 doors down. I'm not unsympathetic but I do tell her she'll just have to get used to it really! Same for your neighbour....what else does he expect you to do?

Capitola · 19/02/2014 23:46

Ignore them - they are being ridiculous, I wouldn't give them the time of day over this.

NinjaBunny · 19/02/2014 23:47

Ooo, a friend of DP's got like this about the next door neighbour snoring.

Was never a problem. Then suddenly became the BIGGEST problem in the world.

Confused

Turned out it was the start of a breakdown.

:(

Leave your heating as it is. If he 'rips the bloody thing out' you can sue him for trespassing and damages and possibly get a better boiler out of it.

MissHobart · 19/02/2014 23:48

How long has he lived next door? Surely this is not a new thing? I'd tell him to fuck off mentally

I work shifts so our heating, washing machine, telly are on at lots of different times and our neighbours can probably hear them just add we can hear them singing karaoke Hmm , it's part of living in a non detached house!

If he's ancient just tell him he should be happy he's got such good hearing! Grin

Littledidsheknow · 19/02/2014 23:48

I am the sort of person who is easily disturbed by even gentle noises, and have been kept awake by heating systems, but your heating usage - as you describe it - should bother no one: it is minimal and well within waking hours. If it's cold you need to heat your house, especially if you have children (I'm presuming you do as you're here!). YANBU, your neighbours are. Ignore them.

BumPotato · 19/02/2014 23:49

If they have a problem they can

A) put up with it
B) move
C) get soundproofing installed
D) pay for you to have a quieter system installed

It is their problem, not yours, you needn't do anything. This can no way be described as nuisance noise.

squoosh · 19/02/2014 23:50

Bloody cheek. If they can't handle sounds of other human life they should buy a detached property on their own five acres.

Poor Mrs Next Door though, she's probably getting it in the neck. Being told by Mr Nest Door to raise it with you and then getting an earful when you (quite rightly) ignore the ridiculous request. Can you imagine being lumbered with such an unreasonable git?

Original poster
timesarehard · 19/02/2014 23:50

Thank you for your condolences about my step father. He was a true gentleman and he has left a huge hole in our lives. Yes, my neighbour needs to learn some tact. I only told her about his death because she fed the cat over the weekend whilst we were at the hospital.

Bogey face, you've got him sussed. He's an odd man. He's complained about a buzzing noise from our house before. We invited him in and after an hour of turning everything off and on again, he couldn't find it. I suggested he might have tinnitus (which didn't go down very well).

Apparently, that (imaginary) noise has now stopped and it is definitely the heating he can now hear.

Oh and yes, it is noisy when it fires up but it's not that he's complaining about. It's the low humming whilst it's on that's annoying him.

OP posts:
PoshPenny · 19/02/2014 23:50

I think you should carry on as you are. if your heating is really such a problem your neighbours should contact environmental health and then they can decide who/what is reasonable. I don't think getting you to turn your heating off at 9pm is fair, we keep ours going till about 11pm. they sound like miserable neighbours...

HighlanderMam · 19/02/2014 23:52

Sorry for your loss. Flowers

Put your heating on when you are cold/whenever you bloody well please.

They do not have a point.

BumPotato · 19/02/2014 23:52

PS I had neighbours who complained that we went to bed half hour after them and got up half hour earlier. They came to our door to ask us to adjust our routine. I know all about living next door to bampots.

Bogeyface · 19/02/2014 23:52

Does sound like tinnitus to me! I would definitely suggest the EH option, he cant argue with the facts.

Original poster
timesarehard · 19/02/2014 23:54

Squoosh, I feel sorry for her too. She's lovely and we've always got on well.

The breakdown thing is interesting. He has form.

He's early forties btw. Oh, and he has a shotgun!

OP posts: