AIBU to give neighbours a taste of what they expect me to tolerate?

[Pricklemyfancy]

DH and I work full time and are up at 6am Mon-Fri.
My DH and our 2 DDs (4 and 7) live in a semi-detached house which has been built without our stairs forming the 'barrier', iyswim. Our bedroom is next to their bathroom; my DDs' room is next to their younger child's (18) room.
Neighbours have 2 adult (18 and 20-something) children living with them.
Their "children" bang doors into the early hours, play Youtube stuff at a volume that can be heard clearly in our rooms, play some sort of Call of Duty style war game so we can hear the bangs and groans and explosions... this frequently goes on until 2am. We can fall asleep, but then are woken up repeatedly throughout the night.
I approached the neighbours some months ago and explained that we could hear their noises and were being woken up, and to ask if they could be quieter past around 10pm. They were lovely, but nothing changed.
I went around again last week to ask again if they could be quieter. This time I was received a bit differently, with the father saying he couldn't "tell people what to do". One night last week, the noises were so loud that I went around at 1am to ask them to be quiet. The 20-something adult child answered the door, said they had all been asleep (!) and told me to get away from the doorway or they would call the police.
Only one of them works; the others seem to mope around in dressing gowns all day when they eventually do get up. Would IBU to leave for work on Monday having turned my sound system on loud and directed at their walls from 6am?

Do it. They sound like selfish pigs.

Do it.

My friend in Edinburgh did exactly the same thing, but for a long weekend while he was away, and there wasn't a peep out of the inconsiderate turds next door thereafter.

Lawnmower at 7am on the weekends, the grass is beginning to grow as we head into spring.

I would.

See as tempting as it is, if it doesn’t work you’ve lost the battle. Do they own or rent? If renting consider speaking to estate agent. Record and log. I’m sorry this is happening inconsiderate neighbours are utter arseholes

Thank you, all! We have considered the lawnmower but don't want to wake up the reasonable folk around us. I suppose we could water the garden with a hose and occasionally catch their windows...

Don't forget to vacuum the carpets either. I'm sure you can start some DIY like putting shelves up on the party wall at the weekend.

if you have an alexa set it up in their direction at full blast and get alexa to play iron maiden or ac dc all day if you don't tell her to stop she will carry on going while you are at work all day I would

They own. Good point @HaddawayAndShite about losing the battle - I hadn't thought of that. They could all just go out for the day and we'd end up looking like petty fools. But then we could do it every day...

I personally wouldn't do any reprisals, incase it escalates things, but then again, I am a chicken. What I would do is go down the legal route, I am not 100% sure how it works but I believe that the council installs some kind of device in your home that measures sound coming from next door, and then they determine if it is unreasonable.
I do sympathise, OP, there is a special place in hell for inconsiderate neighbours.

I've been known to leave opera on whilst out of the house (very loudly) in similar circumstances.

Don't do it as a one off - make sure you something similar when you get up in the morning for work - loud rock music etc.

My DH took to starting his very loud motorbike at 6.45am outside our bully neighbour's bedroom, rather than wheel it down the road as he used to. One other neighbour asked why he did that, received explanation and thanked DH for it 😂

YABU. All it will do is escalate the situation.

Can you phone the police when they wake you up with their noise in the middle of the night?
After all they threatened you to do the same thing when you complained.

I think it might be a better solution for now then to do same things as they do, because ofcourse you are right but things might quickly escalate from there. Just thinking of a more long term solution though I fully understand you OP, some people are just shit.

Thank you so much for your replies - it's good to know that we're not being prudish. The council is an interesting route - I'll give them a call on Monday, and I'll start keeping a record too.

Go for it. Selfish twats.

Just be sure to stay within the law - 7am too early

@Shrekhasabogie (brilliant name) Can I ask what you would do in my situation? Like you say, I am worried about escalating things. But at 1am I'm also ready to put dog turds through their letter box.

The netatmo home weather station has a decibel meter included in the part that goes inside. I find it fascinating! You can access the recording in your phone. They cost about £120 and include an outdoor part that tells you the temperature, so they're generally interesting if you like that sort of thing. Ultimately the council will want to record the level of disturbance if you monitor it yourself you might get some action quicker.

Keep a comprehensive diary, including when you spoke to them and go to the council noise nuisance. I’m not sure how long they would expect. If you can record it, maybe furthest room from their house just to show how loud it is.

I should say it records the decibels not the actual sound!

My relatives have a difficult neighbour who has phoned the council to make malicious complaints about both his next-door neighbours, the ones across the road, and the ones behind. The noise pollution etc team have attend to every complaint, as even though they know he's a prick they attend as an attempt at mediation.

Your complaint is genuine, so the council will listen and speak to you. The one thi g to consider is that you will be obliged to declare this if you want to sell your house (my relative has been told this by the council). Good luck, it sounds awful.

Could you maybe suggest that they use headphones after 10pm? That way they get to play live like no marks layabouts and you get some sleep?

That's interesting, Curbside - my DH and I were talking about selling the house just to get away from them. So if I started proceedings with the council I would need to let potential buyers know? What a nightmare. Back to turning my speakers towards their walls from morning to night. This is horrible - go the legal, honest route, and never sell my house, go the rogue (but satisfying) route and maybe get a police visit.

Don't retaliate, you'll make it far worse. You have to live next door to these people, you can't afford to sour relations with them.

Believe me, I know what I'm talking about - I had 18 months of hell from noisy neghbours, so one time I was noisy back in retaliation, and it was horrific. I was absolutely punished for it, including my house being vandalised and me being threatened. I had to abandon the place.

Maybe that was an extreme example, but you're stuck next to these people, and souring that relationship can make things far worse than they currently are. Seek help through the Council, or mediation, or anything rather than retaliating.

The Council will not do anything apart from a quiet word. You need to make them aware of what can be heard through the walls. I have to do this with my inconsiderate neighbour (hoovers all hours smashing hoover head over and over into the adjoining wall) Plays music extremely loud, bangs doors constantly making my walls shake and even ripped out my plants while doing hers then had the audacity to say it wasnt her!!!! I have resorted to playing my music loud when i go out as some evenings i cant even hear my tv over her music. Some neighbours are just selfish twats. I even have to put up with hundreds of cigarette butts all over the front path of our adjoining house where she throws them out her kitchen window.