To hate my neighbours and their million pound basement??

[Amimissingsomethinghere]

Okay so yes IABU but lord help me guys I don't know what to do.

Background - we live in central London on a quiet street in the ground floor flat of a converted terrace house. Next door they are returning the whole house (basically ripping everything out top to toe) and then adding in a very elaborate huge cinema basement room. There currently is no basement so there will be a LOT of drilling.

Basement works haven't even started. They are currently only ripping out the existing kitchen but this is ALREADY causing my walls to vibrate and the banging noise is unbearable. It's so loud in my sons nursery. His bedroom wall is on their side (we are in a small flat) and there's no way he will be able to nap in there.

I am already feeling extremely anxious and every band makes me jump. I am a SAHM and so will be around the flat a lot with my little boy. (1.5)

What do I do? There's nothing I can do is there? It's awful. I feel like sobbing.

The party wall surveyor said the basement would probably take a YEAR to build.

I feel trapped.

Some areas of London are now not allowing these sort of large basement extensions. A lot of London terraces are over 100 years old and not very well built in the first place. Some are also on clay which can cause subsidence . Never mind the noise if you are owner - look out for cracks - take pics of walls.

Our (lovely) neighbours have just refurbished their house - we're a joint semi and they moved out for the duration. The builders were considerate and worked (mostly) to normal hours, they were apologetic, BUT it was still a bloody nightmare for me, as I work from home.

I did talk to the builders each week about what they were planning to do and if there were some very noisy days (the worst days were when they were breaking up the concrete floor) I had advance notice and would go and work somewhere else.

I really feel for you OP, if you are renting I would definitely move out if it's going to take a year.

great advice from tara there.

one little crack and you might be able to halt proceedings especially with the might of mumsnet....

I would speak to the builder/developer. They should make efforts to be considerate. With any luck,, they'll be signed up to this:

www.ccscheme.org.uk/

A note of support here. Our cf neighbours have been doing a ground floor extension and loft and the noise has at times been unbearable. Drilling a concrete pad for weeks and weeks on end, no communication whatsoever. The builders have been absolute arseholes as well such as walking on our roof, covering it withortar and then just leaving it to dry. Have you confirmed what times they are allowed to work? You can report all violations to the council it's quite a big deal.

As a fellow SAHM I’ve lived through so many neighbours’ building works.

It’s absolutely soul-destroying. You have my full sympathy. I’m afraid they don’t give a shit how much this affects your life, so long as they get what they want.

It's not ideal, and expensive but when I was SAHM, years ago, with builders in I had following schedule mon to fri.
8am builders arrived
Me and DC to school run
Back from school run with pre schooler.
20 mins at home. Wash load in. Breakfast things away. Etc.
Out to playgroups/ baby toddler activity - 10am to 11.45ish
Straight to play centre for lunch and play. With other mum friends. Or meet new ones there. DC nap in pram at playcentre.
Straight to school run. Arrived early and waited in car.
Home for 4.

Builders worked 8am to 4pm. For 6 months.

I know they're not your builders but above schedule might help a bit. At least you won't have dust and cardboard on floors. Xx
And no school age children.
They'll be something every weekday to go to. And plenty of cafés / soft play for 12 to 3pm slot. Drink tea, eat and socialise. Lots of mums do this to go along with.

I really feel for you. We lived in a 2 up 2 down Victorian terraced house when I was pregnant and just after our daughter was born. Some dickhead builder bought the house next door just before I gave birth and decided to make the tiny house into a 5 bed HMO. He ripped everything out, broke the firewall in the attic, and the small extension that was attached to ours.

It was horrendous, the worst was when he decided to start ripping some walls out at 1am next to the room where our DD was sleeping and frankly my husband had to stop me going round with a hammer and smashing him and his van.

The council couldn’t have cared less about enforcing the Party Wall Act. In the end after 8 months we moved. But it completely ruined our first few months at home with our daughter, as the noise, dust and dirt was just so stressful.

If they are doing all that plus putting in a non existent basement. Seriously get out now, and move somewhere else. for you.

Has there been a survey saying how it will effect you. How are they making sure it is effecting your foundations. There was a programme on this last year, pictures of houses falling down, walls with cracks ect because people digging down with out making sure the structure is supported or making sure neighbours aren,t effected.

I totally sympathise.

With no warning our next door flat neighbours had 5 months worth of renovation done (the entire flat basically, from floor to ceiling). I got to know the builders quite well but my god the noise! Their drilling knocked pictures off our wall on the party wall.

They finished and literally 2 weeks later the flat below us started a 4 month-long renovation. They promised they would only work during the week but one Saturday the drilling was so loud we could not hear ourselves speak. They got a lot of complaints from all the neighbours for that!

I agree with PPs:

• move if you're renting
• if you own, take photos of any joining walls to prove that any subsequent damage comes from the building work
• be out as much as possible
• talk nicely to the builders and see if they can not make noise at set nap times. The builders next to us offered to slightly alter their lunch hour when I asked them how much longer they would be

The last place we rented we had this next door. A large detached property undergoing a full refurb, top to bottom. The owners never once came to explain it to us, they literally disappeared one day in a removal van. I saw them a handful of times at the property and eventually approached them myself to ask about the job and to express my surprise that we had returned from a family holiday to find scaffolding had gone up and we were living next door to a building site. It was such an eyesore and the noise, traffic and loss of privacy was so upsetting. There were a dozen men at least working on the house at any one time, taking breaks in rotation so the garden always had at least two people smoking and chatting (their garden was raised so their heads looked directly into my garden), it was the summer of the heatwave and I felt I constantly had eyes on me in my own garden. Three large vans were permanently parked outside slowing the traffic and making reversing out of my driveway difficult.

They worked very hard - no doubt about it - 7:55am every day they were at it and worked until 5. Even on Saturday.

Banging, never ending banging...

No courtesy from the owners, not a word to anyone, they were living safely away from it all. We had to endure.

As soon as our lease was up, we moved out. That was 18 months ago and the job is still ongoing!!!!

Never believe them when they tell you how long the job is. It’s always much longer.

I notice several posters saying the same thing - the neighbours not bothering to knock on your door and explain what’s going to happen. No courtesy or concern whatsoever. Total selfishness.

If you're renting I would definitely leave, sounds dreadful ☹️

I'd ask the local Council about noise levels and safety.

You poor things you have my absolute sympathy. We have had building works going on around us for years and it’s been so unsettling. Never mind next door in the same terrace!

4 months into my Mat leave the house behind us was totally renovated. It’s on a tiny private lane and because the house had a small frontage and small garden they basically set up shop outside ours propping stuff up against and on our wall and, and cutting bricks on our grass verge less then 2 metres from my living room window. We got them to stop in the end and keep to the land owned by that property but the noise was incredibly unsettling still and probably more so because we were at home, so you have my absolute sympathy.

Broadly speaking the they’ve (hopefully) been given planning consent and can do what they like within the very loose rules. And although planning apps don’t take into consideration the impact on neighbours quality of life - which they flaming well should. There are rights around quiet enjoyment of your property and there levels of noise and disruption which contravene environmental health legislation.

Do a bit of reading up and arm yourself with the facts on the legislation and then speak to your borough council’s Environmental health team. They’re the people you need to get in with. Keep pressuring and keep on at them.

It’s such a shame for you because if you were out all day it wouldn’t be a problem, but that’s not your fault!!!

YANBU, I'd be really anxious with a baby in the house and would feel the same wat, God, I used to hate a Wednesday when my DS was a baby as the bin and recycling collection used to happen at some point in the day and invariably woke him from a nap meaning he was grumpy the rest of the day. I'm not sure what to suggest but I feel for you

I would log any illegal things (like loud noises at silly o'clock) and tell the council asap.

Do they have planning permission? Is there any structural impact on your home?

People who can afford to build a million-pound basement might be very litigious though if you start complaining?

YANBU - i moved in to my house just before baby was born and neighbours on 2 sides were doing full house projects.

I had my whole maternity leave of drilling and noise from morning until 6pm.

it was relentless. but they had every right to do what they needed to do too.

I do sympathise OP, the house next door was done up bodged to death by a couple who did most of the work themselves at weekends, went on for about 2 years. But it is the way of things, and at the moment in certain areas of London basement conversion stuff is highly fashionable. You say you live in a converted flat, I expect the neighbours who lived next door to your house felt the same when the builders moved in and did the conversion and they realised there were going to be loads more people coming and going, opening the front door, clattering up the stairs ........

Our situation isn’t so bad but the houses on two sides of us were demolished and 2 blocks of flats are being put up. The developers aren’t rushing themselves, so far we have lived next to first a demolition site and now a building site for 2 years. We were quite secluded before so at first the noise and the sight of labourers and surveyors 6 ft from my window made me jump. Now I just tune it out and am surprised when visitors comment on it.

It’s a bummer but I’m sure you and your son will adapt over the next few weeks OP.

I'm not sure what the price of the work they're having done has to do with the noise though?

It has a lot to do with the noise. If the work was £10,000 worth they wouldn't be ripping out a whole house and digging out a basement.

It seems crazy that these developments are allowed. How many of these buildings will be dangerous in years to come?

You have my sympathy OP. I hope you can come to terms with it and arrange your day to avoid the worst of it.

So sorry OP - I really feel for you. These houses were not built with basements and were never intended to have them. I think they should be banned personally.

Thanks everyone. It’s so nice to have some support.
I’m currently sitting in his nursery and the banging is pretty awful... what the hell are they even doing?! Gah
We own the flat! Bummer I know... we are looking to move but we don’t know if we will. We just aren’t sure what to do....
I’m going to try and take all the advice especially for now just zoning out. I’m going to see how the naps go. He has white noise so maybe it will be okay? If it becomes a problem then I will speak to them.
I wasn’t sure who to speak to about working hours.. is it the owner, builder or someone else? X

Also I’m going to try and move his cot from the wall , but not sure that’ll make a lot of difference. All our walls are agains the party wall if you see what I mean. There is literally no escape!