To think if normal, everyday neighbourly noise annoys you....

[ManicUnicorn]

Then you should go and live in a field in the middle of nowhere?

We have a family who live directly over the back of us, mother father and two kids. The parents literally whinge and complain about everything. They've fallen out with both sets of next door neighbours, not sure what for but they don't speak and haven't done for some time.

Not content with that they also seem intent on pissing everyone who doesn't even live on their street, namely us and out nearby neighbours. Just off the top of my head they've complained about numerous barking dogs, despite having dogs that bark themselves, demanded that two large conifer trees were cut down because the birds that nested in it were waking them up, DIY work done at during the day, lawnmowers etc.

The latest is a whinges are about my next door neighbour security light shining on their windows and my other next door neighbours making the most of the evening by sitting out chatting quietly. The husband stuck his head out the window and yelled at them to shut up! They weren't even being noisy!

I just think if everyday, normal stuff annoys you so much then maybe living in such close proximity to others isn't for you? Either that or their just sad fucks with nothing else going on in their little lives.The complaing about the singing birds was especially stupid. I mean how can you stop sodding birds tweeting for god's sake?

This is a nice area, everyone looks out for each other and they really are bloody spoiling it!

I hate the noise my neighbour makes but then it’s because I hate them and the noise they make just reminds me they even exist. My other neighbours I don’t mind.

I do agree, but as somebody who is particularly intolerant to other people’s noise, I kind of sympathise with them too.

Honestly, I would fucking love to live in a house with no nearby neighbours. Sadly, I will never be able to afford it.

Me and DP used to be quietly pissed off with loads of our neighbours when we lived on a new build estate where we were packed like sardines. We never once actually voiced our annoyances though, we know that kids cry, dogs bark etc. But if you really hate noise, living in close proximity to lots of other people can be hellish

We live in inner London in a flat and get lots of neighbour noise. Most of the time it’s perfectly reasonable - kids playing outside, footsteps from upstairs, diy on a Saturday afternoon. My upstairs neighbours sometimes have parties into the small hours and some of our mutual neighbours have complained in the past, but I’d rather have the goodwill with a toddler and a baby!

I hate hearing noise from the neighbours - believe me if I could live surrounded by acres of empty countryside then I would.

I think we all get pissed off with our neighbours from time to time, it's normal but you just to have to rub along together and get on with it. My neighbours would have to do something pretty abhorrent for me to complain about something, like I couldn't complain about these neighbours kids bouncing on their trampoline and them looking into my garden, but wouldn't because it would make me into a dick.

And actually when you've lived next door to genuinely noisy/problem people you realise how petty it is.

I agree with you OP. People can’t expect to live in silence, unless they buy a house in the middle of nowhere!
Every sunny day people are on here complaining about children playing in gardens, people having bbq’s, people daring to mow their lawn at 4pm on a Sunday... all normal, day to day noises.
Sometimes the neighbours who back on to me irritate me as they have friends round and play music and talk loudly after my DC are in bed. However the DC are in bed at 7pm so it would be pretty ridiculous of me to complain about making noise at that time.

Sometimes the neighbours who back on to me irritate me as they have friends round and play music and talk loudly after my DC are in bed. However the DC are in bed at 7pm so it would be pretty ridiculous of me to complain about making noise at that time

Not sure it's that ridiculous. Why can't people talk quietly? There seems to be a need to make sure the whole neighbourhood knows they have friends over. Just chat. Normally. The whole street doesn't need to hear, whatever time it is. Or hear your music.

Like people who move next to a school and complain about the noise from the choral society that has rehearsed there for over 20 years when no one had ever complained before. And rather than stand up to the new neighbours, the school asked the choral society to leave.

Biggest mistake ever. Because once people like that get their way, they won't ever stop.

Next up, they complained about how in the summer, the noise of kids landing on crash mats from the after school kung fu club was keeping their 5 year old daughter awake. The club had to have the windows open because of the heat. So the club was stopped and went elsewhere.

Then they complained about the noise of deliveries to the school in the morning and insisted they were made at the other entrance.

Now they are trying to get the bells of the nearby church silenced too.

Personally, I think people like that should be shot.

Some new people moved into a house next to the rugby club and then complained about the noise on Saturday mornings. The club was issued with a noise abatement (or something) notice and told to stop making noise until the paper got hold of the story and the council back tracked. Some people are just bonkers.

Gosh what wankers they sound ShatnersWig. Wow, a choral society singing! That must be so hideous!....

@ManicUnicorn Yep. You could only hear the singing in the summer, twice a week, if it was really hot and they opened the windows slightly. Other neighbours actually really liked the sound. It never went on beyond 9.45 pm and the house wasn't right next to the school so it wasn't loud, you were just aware of it a bit. Why move next to a school and church and then complain about the noise? Arseholes. And of course, the school lost around £300 per week from hiring out the hall to these groups. Like schools can afford to lose that money. Governors should have stood firm because any noise was way, way, way below any volume that could have resulted in any noise abatement issue.

Definitely - I grew up in the country and then had to move into the city (because i could no longer cope with living with my parents!) and i HATE living here, every day "Normal" noise bothers me, people coming and going and slamming their car doors, neighbours outside saying goodbye to family in the street loudly annoys me, next doors dog barking when someone knocks their door annoys me, people mowing their lawns or people having extensions built where the noise continues all week long annoys me.

People a few doors up spending all evening and night drinking in their hot tub with friends over - annoys me...

I know this is me BU and i know that the only way to deal with it is to move back to the countryside but thats a long way off. I made the decision to move there so i have to put up with every day normal noise and certainly wouldn't complain about it in RL.

but the country is not quiet either
Just think about the heavy machinery used on farms - no quiet horse-drawn haywains.
I live surrounded by fields and at the moment I can hear tractor 1 cutting the grass for hay, tractor 2 turning the hay already cut (tomorrow will be tractors 3 and 4 baling and hauling the bales), and finally tractor 5 muckspreading on fields already cleared.
Not to mention - neighbour (some distance away is into DIY and is hammering and drilling.
Oh - and two fighter jets just made sorties at low level over my house.
Unless you live in the wilds of Scotland - there is always noise - depends what you tolerate
I prefer these country noises to shrieking, partying and drunk neighbours

YANBU about the trees/birds issue - that's completely outrageous. I agree that some people think the rest of the world should operate on mute! I also agree with ManicUnicorn that some people are just plain petty and would not cope at all with a genuine noise or problem people issue.

The rest of it, I think it depends on what your definition of acceptable level of noise is and to remember that there are 2 sides to every story. Unless you have sat with all parties concerned in these noise disputes you cannot be certain that the ones you think are being unreasonable actually are.

I'll give you an example: Our neighbours had building work done which they told us would last 4 weeks. Fair enough, not a problem but I work from home and my studio is the closest part of our house to the site of their building work so I knew that my working life was going to be disrupted by noise. In reality, it lasted 5 months & went from 7.30am until 6pm every day and the noise level was something else. Not just the usual banging & crashing but the maximum decibel conversations between workmen and their sodding radio. Not once did they come and explain that the work was in fact going to take significantly longer, that they needed scaffolding (oh hello 4 builders leering into my bedroom at 7.30am )etc. From our NDN POV: They were totally oblivious to & couldn't see any disruption because it was all happening whilst they were out of the house. Therefore from their perspective it was a non-issue and I should "get a grip" when I tried to discuss with them towards the end of the third month of work.

I also think there is an acceptable time to start mowing lawns, DIY, noisy work projects on the weekend. It is really frustrating to settle down to enjoy your first cuppa of the day & have your peace shattered by NDNs mowing their lawn at 9am on a Sunday. I can't decide what time what time would be acceptable though!!

Neighbour's kid shouts and screeches at his dog around 7am every morning including weekends. It's been my alarm clock for the past year, even moved bedrooms to get further away from the racket but we can still hear it. There was a couple of weeks of early morning recorder practise thrown into the mix which was especially delightful. Otherwise they're decent enough neighbours, but I still plan on eventually living in the middle of nowhere.

I love hearing our neighbours. But they're a quiet young family and an elderly lady. I always know when EastEnders is on as I hear it from the elderly lady, plus her front door bell that goes off multiple times a day as she's always so busy. I love hearing that's she's busy and I always keep an ear out to check she's alright. The other side are a lovely young family. They work hard in the day and hearing the dad and the daughter playing and laughing in the evening is really sweet.

The bathroom has terrible insulation and I often have a bath at the same time as their daughter. I hear all about how much she hates hair washes! It's ever so cute and funny. We just pretend not to hear each other seeing, farting and blowing our noses though!

I've had nightmare neighbours and it was awful, but normal neighbour noise is something I love. Though our road is like something from the 1950s with everyone chatting over waist high fences and feeding each others chickens when we go away. Much easier to be tolerant when you know them.

My dad has new ‘neighbours’ - in the middle of nowhere so down the lane. They’ve complained to a local farmer about the noise her sheep make! There are a limited supply of neighbours in the village, so why you’d want to immediately piss people off I don’t know!

I think you are being a little bit unreasonable. Ds has severe sensory problems and finds a lot of ordinary neighbour noise distressing but we can't afford a house in the middle of nowhere. We live in a village but even then he has to come inside because of child or lawnmower noise etc. We don't though go around knocking on doors complaining about it.

YANBU I live on a terrace which directly backs onto another terrace... a lot of the gardens are shared, are own garden has unclear boundaries and no fencing between the neighbours, some of them wrap round each other... everyone just hangs their washing out/has their kids playing in a free for all down the lane in between the terraces

My nightmare is a neighbour like yours... Luckily no one has ever complained about anything as far as im aware on these terraces.... I do get a bit irritated by stuff sometimes but I know that probably someone else is irritated by something we might do unwittingly... just terrace life!! Its true that its so odd that sometimes extremely uptight people come and live in housing situations like that... I mean ffs can you not see that these issues might occur before you move in? And can you not understand that to live in a community like that there has to be compromise.... you arent going to get silence exactly when you want it all the time

There is noise wherever you live but most is normal, kids going and coming home from school, people chatting in gardens, all fine. I had some Pratt knock on my front door on his way home from the pub last night at 11.30pm. He and his mates thought it was hilarious trying to run away and falling over and so will I if they do it again as I will throw my coffee dregs out of my bedroom window at them.

I don’t think it is unreasonable to ask for security lights to be aimed in another direction however. There is no need for someone to have to tolerate searchlights shining through their windows unnecessarily.

YANBU they sound utterly hideous. How could you complain about birds tweeting?!?!

I’ll happily put up with a reasonable amount of neighbour noise. Our NDN’s are an older couple and they’re a little hard of hearing so the tellys on pretty loud but they’re sweet kind people.

As a PP said through the countryside is not quiet at all! I grew up rurally and my parents still live there. When they have guests quite often the noise of the dawn chorus wakes them up . There’s tractors thumping around, livestock, bird scares. I used to get woken up frequently to the sound of foxes shagging.

And actually when you've lived next door to genuinely noisy/problem people you realise how petty it is.

Exactly. I once had an upstairs neighbour put on THUMPING music at about 3am. I don't even mean a noisy party; I mean shaking the building, massive club sound system noise levels.

I leapt out of bed and stormed up there, dressing gown flapping, thumped on the door and told them to turn it off NOW. They did the wide-eyed 'Oh, I didn't realise it was that loud' thing. Bullshit.

Compared to that, the odd party/footsteps thudding up and down the shared stairs/DIY/kids playing is totally fine. And yes, if you live in a street or on an estate with other people there, you've got to suck up a certain amount of normal noise.

PLEASE tell me, OP, the trees didn't get cut down?!?

I used to get woken up frequently to the sound of foxes shagging.

I live in London and this happens to me

CuppaSarah love the sound of your bathroom arrangements.

Well, I have lived in flats in London and lived in houses, and it's very possible to be surrounded by polite and considerate neighbours. Things like toilets being flushed, or a shower running are normal everyday noise, and acceptable. Loud music, loud tv or loud conversation that can be heard by neighbours are not.

Some people might be happy to put up with rude and noisy neighbours, thinking it could be worst, but some of us are not. It's a good thing that not everybody tolerates what is unacceptable and try to keep things civilised.

I live in an area full of families, and everyone manages to have kids playing without disturbing the neighbourhood and keep noise to the strict minimum at reasonable hours. It's not that hard and it makes life easier for everybody