A neighbour one!

[WorrierorWarrior]

I find my next door neighbours to be very strange. They are extremely nosey. We are semi detached. The only time they ever talk is when they want something like access through the garden. They might be very private as they have huge trees all round their house. I really don't know the whys and wherefores.
For many reasons I had decided that it was time for me to leave that house. I started packing up some time ago but them lockdown came. We decided that we would both live in my partner's house during lockdown. I had a medical appointment which I had to attend and as I passing very near the house I went in for a look around and to do a bit more packing.
In the kitchen one wall is completely covered in kitchen units both floor stand and wall hung. This is the wall that divides our kitchen from next door's kitchen. There were some things on top of these cupboards so I got out the ladders and went up to be able to reach these things. While I was up the ladder I noticed that there was a square (about 2.5 inches square) which was cut into the plasterboard very neatly. I know I did not do that and the previously occupant was not physically capable of getting up there. I have noticed for about 2 years that I can hear their conversations next door quite clearly.
I have no idea what could have caused the very neat cuts to the plasterboard. I think there should be a fire wall between the two houses.
AIBU to think that just possibly they have cut through the plasterboard and possibly the fire wall just to be nosey. I cant think why the cut is so exactly square and regular in its cut unless it is man made.

The walls dividing your 2 houses is plasterboard? Not breeze block or brick or stone? Are you sure? And you think your neighbour has cut a square hole to spy on you? Can you see into their house through the hole?

Could it be where a plug was going to be, or used to be, but for whatever reason they didnt use it or have moved the plug? Our fridge is plugged in on top of the cupboards

I can’t imagine they’ve cut through brick or breeze block? If they had surely the hole created would needed to be plastered or something in order to stop your house continually being filled with dust.

How odd! Do you own or rent? Is it mentioned anywhere on documents or can you ask the landlord?

I am not sure what the house is made of. I know it was built just after WWII and I believe that there was an urgency to get houses built as fast as possible at that time so it may not be as soundly built.
I don't think it could have been meant to be a plug socket as it is at the top of the wall about 8 feet from the floor.
I am amazed at some of the things my neighbours do. This is one of the reasons a move is planned.
Both houses are owned. I have seen the deeds for the house and I don't remember anything about what the building is made of.
Next time I visit the house I will take higher ladders and I will try to put a knitting needle through the line of the cut and try to feel if there are bricks or something behind the plasterboard walls.
I think I am just creeped out by all that has gone on in that house and locality.

We have a plug socket above the kitchen cupboards for our extractor fan. Could it have been planned for something like that?

How very strange , I would take a torch so you can have a proper look to see what the wall is made of .
I would also be temped to buy a flag with BOO ! on it like this ;
www.google.com/search?sxsrf=ALeKk03yqZ-bm5IIMDqSI_FjIBGdsLkraA:1590653627067&source=univ&tbm=isch&q=Boo+flag&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwicrZvDjtbpAhWiolwKH

And stick it through the hole on the last day you know you are going to be there ( it may be a bit big though )

or start having conversations reviling juicy bits of info about you and DP , going to swingers party in the next road , stashed the zillon pounds under the floor boards , ect

On the basis that there's usually an innocent explanation for things I would guess it's where an isolator switch was possibly going to go once - but then the previous occupants changed their mind about the kitchen layout? Presumably you can't see right through to the other house??

Ps isolator switches are meant to be out of the way - we have a couple in our new extension, we were told they had to be up there out of the way.

The cooker is on the opposite side of the kitchen and there has never been an extractor fan in that house. That side of the kitchen is all floor and wall cupboards. In the room above the kitchen there are no plug sockets on that wall or near that wall.
Love the idea of having juicy conversations to wind the neighbours up. I might start trying that.
I am keeping quiet about everything as far as the neighbours are concerned because I still have lots of things in that house.

We have a plug socket above the kitchen cupboards for our extractor fan. Could it have been planned for something like that?

Same, it’s in the ceiling actually.

I can’t believe a dividing wall between 2 properties is only plasterboard! That would surely come up on a survey and need rectifying?

I don't know what an isolator switch is. I know that the house was rewired in the 1980s so I don't know what the regulations were at that time. There is no extension to my house.
Rewiring is probably going to be done as I want the house done up before making a final decision on whether to keep the house or sell it.

I am not sure what the house is made of.

What do you tell the insurance companies when getting quotes?

There isn't a proper fire wall between mine and my neighbours house. When they moved in they told me they could hear me clearly when I was in my kitchen and that cooking smells were seeping into their house. When we investigated, there was a hole where the wall should be,. They're old houses.

Weirdly, the previous neighbours never said anything.

Any chance we could see a photo of the cut plasterboard.

It sounds very strange.

Is it cut all the way through to their house? It seems to be the same size as a single plug socket.

I doubt very much the hole goes all the way through to next door. Id be surprised if there isn't brick separating the two properties.

I tell insurance companies what the outside walls and roof are made of as far as I can see. I have never been asked about a fire wall.
I can hear the neighbours talking. I cant say that I smell any cooking smells but maybe they have an extractor fan or use a slow cooker.
I don't remember the house ever being surveyed as there has never been a mortgage on it.

Have you considered knocking on the wall to see if it’s brick or plasterboard?

I am not at the house just now but I think it would be a good idea for me to take a photo of it

If the NDN had cut through from their house to yours (and there absolutely must be some kind of brick wall between the two, and usually insulation, not just plasterboard) then they would have had to have had access to your property at some point in order to clear up the mess they would have made cutting through, and to insert the little square of plasterboard as an exact fit. I think you're letting your imagination run away with you on this one. As PP have said, it was probably the location of a switch, or maybe some damage was done to the wall in years gone by and they had to replace a small amount of plasterboard.

It is definitely plasterboard as wallpaper has been scraped off for redecoration at times. I have knocked on the walls of the house and all walls are plasterboard. The walls are not thick between the various rooms in the house, the external walls are much thicker but I don't know how thick the dividing wall is

Sounds like my house - thrown up after the war and not actually meant to last as long as they have. Timber framed with brick outer - a lot of insurance companies need you to specify this type of build as it isn't 'standard' and could void your insurance if not declared.

There's zero sound insulation and I can hear everything my noisy as fuck neighbour does. A hole in the plasterboard would definitely mean I could hear their conversations. Very suspicious to have a hole there - could well have been done to allow them to pry into your business. More likely that a previous occupant did it years ago though.

Nosey people are invariably fiercely protective of their own privacy. If they had installed a nosey-parker conduit to get the scoop on your everyday conversations, surely they would realise that you'd also be able to hear them muttering and sharing their gossip - you might even steal their thunder if you overhear a particularly top-drawer newsflash about 'her at number 61 and her new fancy man' and run off to spill the beans before they can!

I very much doubt it was done for NP purposes. A jagged irregular hole would be much easier for them to deny knowledge of and blame on a mouse or something. The size and shape do suggest a removed or intended electrical installation. It could even have been a re-used piece of plasterboard that had previously been cut for a socket and used/intended for elsewhere.

Can you get a blanking plate put over it, or even just a tile or something? Or deploy a super-soaker through it (or even the aforementioned mouse) and see if they scream

If they're such NPs, I'd be sorely tempted to make a recording with some juicy nuggets randomly thrown in and then prop it atop the cupboard, next to the hole before playing it loudly at regular intervals.

"I went to Tesco today as the queues outside Aldi were really long. Glad I did, really, as they had a really good offer on that wine we like. Wow, the hedge has grown massively overnight! I'll get the trimmers out and neaten it up later. Do you remember that time when Great Uncle Geoffrey criticised my baking and said my scones tasted like street cobbles? I'm so glad I had that old cast-iron skillet in my hand - he won't be doing that again! They said they wouldn't ask for a post-mortem as he was already 93, so assumed natural causes. Oh, the car will need petrol next time one of us goes out. It's been a little while since we checked the oil and tyres too, so that might be worth doing."

So is there still an actual hole there, or has it been patched in with a square of plasterboard?