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?

I really don't think the council will intervene for people watching tv and playing computer games and slamming doors. People have enough trouble getting help from the council when their neighbours are having parties to 6am during the week. I am not saying it isn't annoying, but having lived next door to a student house with all night house parties multiple times a week, I know how hard it is for anyone to care and help.

Sorry you are going through this. Have had similar experiences. They are always polite at first. Subsequently they always rude, insisting the noise was coming from some imaginary place and did I not understand acoustics? Really frustrating when you know it is them.

In one case I just lost it one wee hour and turned into a screaming demon (surprised myself, honestly) and it did shut them up.

In the first case I eventually I moved and in the second, they did.

Good luck.

@nicky7654 I'm so, so angry for you. There should be a place we can all go and throw things to let off steam.

Call your local council environmental health noise department. Keep a record of all times and details. The council will put in noise monitoring equipment and warn the jeigbours to be quiet or take action to quieten them. At least that's normal here. You can call the nouse team out every night the neighbours are e excessively noisy and they will knock on their door.neighbours will get the message. It's the best plan to call when it's happening. The noise line will be in your councils website.

The root cause of this is shite poor acoustic insualtion standards in UK houseing. Not a lot can be done as an after fix but you might consider it it won't be cheap but it may make it bearable.

Course of the wallies next door might undertsnad that which they don't be a differnt matter!.

We had nightmare neighbours once who went away and left their alarm to come on at 6am every day, getting louder and louder, including the weekend. It is no understatement to say we could cheerfully have murdered them had they been there 🔪☣️💣

I suppose we could water the garden with a hose and occasionally catch their windows...

I don’t think a bit of water on the windows is going to make much difference to people like this. They probably wouldn’t even notice it. Blasting Slipknot all day on full volume on the other hand...

Don’t retaliate because they sound like arseholes. Who knows where the hostilities will end and if they’re in all day and you’re out all day they have more opportunities than you do for doing nasty things. The council will measure their noise levels and send them a letter. That might help.

Do not retaliate in terms of noise in case they instantly whip their phones out to record the noise and make a complaint against you. They're already painting you as the unreasonable ones.

Honestly, it might be best to direct your efforts towards moving.

Slightly ashamed to admit I have done similar in the past

Do it. I had a neighbour I had to call the environmental health on. In retaliation he’d give me a “punishment“ hour between 10pm and 11pm. I could deal with that but eventually he started with the 24/7 music again. I borrowed a sound system and turned the speaker’s towards the party walls. Whenever he’d turn his music on I’d blast mine at him. They don’t like it when you do it to them. He eventually moved.

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

I would sweep them up and put them on her garden - or through her letterbox.

Dirty cow, she is!

Could you try white noise in the girls room. Or could you afford to sound proof the adjoining walls?

m.youtube.com/watch?v=5kRXjTEojck

my neighbours like to slam doors, argue to all hours, have parties during the week etc. we are up at 6am (3 days a week) but i have realised i now need to shout up the stairs to wake my child up and dry my hair next to their bedroom wall and slam my door when i leave in the morning. i also sometimes like to play loud music too when drying my hair. i did at one point report my neighbours to the noise team for the puppy barking from 8am until 5-6pm when they got home. i have spoken to them and got nowhere if it continues i will buy a drum kit and lessons start at 6am-6.30am

You shold keep a record date time everytime it happens phone the council they will want a couple of months worth before they install anything

or just play slipknot very loudly

If you retaliate do it only when you’re home. What if they called the police while you were out?

At worst, when not home I would id turn on a radio,

I'd leave a constant alarm at full volume going that way it's an "accident"... If you have an Alexa you can control it from work to do all sorts at full volume @Pricklemyfancy

The trouble with turning this into a noise fight is that you have much more to lose than them.

It doesn’t sound like sleepless nights/days will be too much bother for them whereas if they decide to up the ante and play music throughout the entire night then you’re going to work on no sleep.

Don't play rock music... they'd probably like it! If they're late teens, early 20's, then definitely go down the opera or classical music route.

Or some sort of sonic device that only children and teenagers can hear - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mosquito

Oops hit send too soon.

I’d turn on a radio that’s all talk and face it on a table toward the wall.

If you go down the legal route keep a log first.

If you can, try a video diary on your phone. If your phone can pick it up it's way too loud. Might be difficult to hear doors slamming but try leaving your phone on the voice recorder.

I wonder if a decibel app on your phone would help? If you can, try to record a piece of video of the reading on the phone you're keeping evidence on. It all helps.

Otherwise, if you decide on the retaliate route be prepared for some nastiness on their side. Inconsiderate pricks are frequently bullying pricks.

There's nothing worse than unwanted noise. There's a reason the military use it as a form of torture. It can seriously affect your mental health. I know as I've been there. My ex-neighbour was like yours (there's definitely a type!). We got the council involved and they got told to keep it down. They resorted by keeping a cockerel in a pen under our bedroom window. That was more horrendous than their base-heavy music.

They thought they'd get away with it saying they were entitled to keep cockerels and that there was nothing we could do about "nature" noises but the guy from the council put them straight and cockerel disappeared. I also suspect it was too much like hard work for them to keep it as they were a bunch of grubby bastards (putting it politely).

Good luck OP.

I took a hammer to bed and would bang on the wall when I had a similar problem. It was so stressful I feel your pain. Nothing like a bit of DIY at 6am believe me they will eventually get it.

Definitely contact your local council. You will probably have to keep hassling them. Keep a written record, with any evidence you can include. And keep on the case until you get a council officer round at 2am.

Or some sort of sonic device that only children and teenagers can hear

See, that's clever thinking. Me, I'd go for leaving a smoke alarm with a very dying battery when you go out each morning; so that there's this annoying repetitive loud beep that they can do nothing about. [Or fake said beep with a recording device.]

Next time it happens no matter the hour go round and ask them round to yours to experience what you are having to put up with
Yes if you report to the council I believe you will need to be honest when completing the sellers paperwork from your solicitor. They ask if there's a dispute between you and neighbours