neighbours complaining about noise

[Catherine928]

Hi I live in a terraced house with my partner, son of 14 and a ten month old girl we have lived here for 5 and a half years and In the last month our neighbours have been in knocking our door and sending us solicitors letters complaing about banging doors pulling out chairs talking in de back garden and my baby playing with a little bouncy ball they also have a 5 month old baby which they say is very sensitive to noise Im at my wits end and fell ive to tiptoe around my own house half the times they say noise is coming from my house im not home both myself and my partner work and im also career for my terminal ill mother what can I do I could do without this stress and hassle

Tell them to knob off.. keep all letters and log all harassment and knock up your own complaint.

They won't get anywhere with normal household noise so I really wouldn't worry about any letters.

You complain about them harassing you about nothing and have them brought down a few pegs.

Is it a new build? In our new build we used to be able to hear the neighbours pee
But we just hung thin insulation on the connecting walls as we worked night shifts so our night was their day I was afraid the would hear us have sex
They are being unreasonable if it just normal day to day life style noise

Let them keep it coming, bet its costing a fortune in solicitors fees because you wont get legal aid for that. They have to call a noise person from the council who will record noise levels and decide if they are above the regulated levels etc - chairs and doors wont be.

They're knackered, you're knackered, both sides trying to keep small children happy/asleep/quiet. Just for the sake of good neighbour relations, could you ask what time the baby wakes/naps/sleeps, and try to keep quiet time them? Of course, you should similarly outline your own preference for quiet times.

It's hard being in a terrace, and while household noises are to be expected, sounds are magnified (in your head) when you're on edge.

Them involving solicitors sounds like they are prepared to escalate though, so keeping a log is a good idea, should any friendly attempt at a ceasefire fail.

Some people could argue in an empty room, seriously.

Tell them, calmly, that they are living in a terraced house NOT a detached in the middle of nowhere and if they don't want to hear normal household noises they should either move into said detached, buy a tent and live in a forest or deal with it. Get some ear plugs, insulate their walls, put some low level music on, get outside more if it really bothers them that much which I doubt. Do they have much of a life? Sounds like they're trying to create some drama to give themselves a thrill. Solicitors over neighbours pulling garden chairs out .

OP - it's normal household family noise. If they try to complain again tell them you will not be entering into any further discussions with them.

If they persist, report them for harassment. Do not apologise as this enabling them to continue their attempts to bully you.

I think "pulling out chairs" and "talking in the back garden" are two separate issues. The sound of a kitchen chair being pulled from a table across a tiled or wooden floor is enough to set your teeth on edge. Of course, that doesn't mean it's not normal "terraced" noise to be dealt with, but when you have a five month old, coping with normal noise might be an alien concept.

My partner has tried talking with them but they just keep pulling out post it notes of times we were noisy saying were been inappropriate and inconsiderate we have a small baby ourselves so I feel were noise conscious ourselves im getting paranoid about noise now and im giving out to my son and partner all the time cause I don't want our neighbours coming in after me again ive asked my neighbours on de opposite side to me they have no complaints and said they dont hear any excessive noise coming from our house

Are they complaining about noise when nobody is in?

They sound overtired and stressed. Surely the baby needs to get used to sleeping in more than total silence, surely that means when they're home they too have to tiptoe around? It all seems so OTT to involve solicitors for normal noise and rather sudden.

Have they spoken to you a lot? What did you say you'd do about it before the legal letter?

4-5 month babies have an awful sleep regression don't they? They've lost perspective imo. If it's just normal noise.

Are they new neighbours?

Sounds like they're knackered and have lost all sense of perspective.

I'd agree about keeping a log too - nothing too stressful, just make sure you hold onto their letters in a file and if they reference specific dates and times when you weren't in, note that too, as it's easy to forget a few months down the line! Have you put down carpets where possible and made what adjustments you can? If so, is there any chance you could invite one of them over while the other stays at their place so you can try out a few of the problem activities and show them how the sound is travelling. Also are they owning or renting?

We had a similar issue with 2 small DCs in a flat and people underneath who kept claiming we had hardwood floors (we didn't, as they saw when they finally deigned to come and look!), wondered why we couldn't convince our babies to stay in their cots until at least 7am, and wanted us to pay for a full reinsulation of our floor. Exhausting! It can be hard living near toddlers, but also living near students or older people with hearing loss and blaring tellies - but some people take any intrusion on their life as an insult. Hope yours resolves!

YA(Probably)NBU.

normal house noise is just that and people have to put up with it. However, living beneath chair across floor scrappers, jumpers off stairs and door slammers, some noises resonate much worse in neighboouring properties and can really wear you down. I'd say this goes beyond normal household noise because clearly people can't help walking around but no-one needs to bang a door or scrape a chair to enjoy living in their own property. If you are banging doors or scraping chairs when you pull them out, it would be really thoughtful of you to stop. (I think you can buy door mufflers - but not sure).

Weve lived beside them since we moved here he called into me on a Thursday evening complaining I got upset over it all my partner spoke to him the next day so on the Saturday evening he called in and apologised to me I thought that was the end of it then I came home from work on fri to find a solicitors letter to which I replied onthe Thursday when I had a chance and fri I received a second letter cause I hadnt replied to the first letter quick enough I called into there solicitor with a copy of my letter as they wouldn't recieve it till the tues been a bank holiday we headed off for de long weekend and as soon as we pulled up outside our house they were out with a list of things they want us to do eg putting felt on chairs puttin foam around our door frames, hinges for slow releasing closing etc and instructed us the propper way to close doors is by keeping your hand on de handle at all times doin it slowly

I'd ignore them completely, especially as they're accusing you of noise when you're not even there.

OMG they sound horrendous.

Its a terraced house, there will always be noise. But telling you how to close doors etc WTAF!

They are being vvvvvvvvv unreasonable.

Good grief. Are they prepared to fund these? This is ridiculous. I can agree with doing some of them in good neighbourliness but I think some of this is going too far. Do you ever hear them out of a matter of interest?

If you are not in some of the times and they are upsetting you I would strongly consider reporting them for harassment.

One of you and one of them needs to be in their house as listeners and the other of you and the other of them need to be in your house as noise makers. Then swap, then do the same thing where they make the noises in theirs and the listeners are in yours.

Surely that would illustrate once and for all to all of you what is and isn't acceptable from both sides and both neighbours could tone down something that was actually loud and intrusive but not worry about things that were normal day to day family sounds.

Weve lived beside them since we moved here he called into me on a Thursday evening complaining I got upset over it all my partner spoke to him the next day so on the Saturday evening he called in and apologised to me I thought that was the end of it then I came home from work on fri to find a solicitors letter to which I replied onthe Thursday when I had a chance and fri I received a second letter cause I hadnt replied to the first letter quick enough I called into there solicitor with a copy of my letter as they wouldn't recieve it till the tues been a bank holiday we headed off for de long weekend and as soon as we pulled up outside our house they were out with a list of things they want us to do eg putting felt on chairs puttin foam around our door frames, hinges for slow releasing closing etc and instructed us the propper way to close doors is by keeping your hand on de handle at all times doin it slowly

What do the solicitors letters actually say??

And also, do you hear them? Do you hear their baby cry/doors closing etc?

And if they are hearing noise when you 'aren't in'.... Is it possible your ds has been truanting school or something, and coming home?

You had no obligation to reply to a solicitor's letter. What did you say? I hope it was just a bland statement that you feel any noise you make is normal daily living and not excessive. Having said that it's very easy to put felt on the bottom of chairs so it would be a nice gesture if you did. The rest of the list is a bit barking, nobody can insist on proper door shutting procedure.

I don't think you've done anything wrong at all! Might be worth calling the council and speaking to them about the problem?

They have there house in complete silence cause they said there baby is sensitive to noise which I imagine she surly would be not having any noises around her the mother never leaves the house her husband works and told us they go to bed at nine, all our doors downstairs are propped open as our baby has started walking the only door not propped open is our toilet door which isnt used every min of every hour when theysay the doors are been slammed I find Iim stayin out of my home more because I cant cope with them coming I complaining all the time

I basically said i didnt want to be a nuisance to any body as they said we are been and I wanted to live in harmony and as we are a family with a ten month old baby were noise conscious ourselves and that also living in a terraced house that there is noise from daily living I have put the felt on our kitchen chairs anythin for an easy life but will it be enough for the we have an appointment with citizens advice today as we haven't the money to go down the solicitors route

Next time they knock take a moment to fix your face into a blank expression. Inform them that unless they stop harassing you you will have to put a complaint in to make them and then close the door. Log EVERYTHING. Don't get into a back and forth, they don't have a leg to stand out. Imagine them sitting in mediation saying all of that about keeping the house silent and going to bed early? They'll sound like knobs.