to have expected a warning from neighbour?

[wednesdaynovember2020]

We live in a terrace house, our neighbours have seemingly embarked on a complete refurb of their entire house

They didn't feel the need to warn us that we would be living next door to 6 weeks (and counting) of constant hammering and drilling. No signs of stopping any time soon, each time we think they might have finished another pile of junk appears outside and the banging starts again.

AIBU to have expected a quick knock to let us know, even just a note through the door?

I know these threads have been done to death but I'm just venting - I need something to take my mind off the constant banging!!

You should have been, unfortunately should have doesn’t always translate to have.
Our neighbours are similar, banging and crashing although goodness knows what they are finding to do in a house that is less than 8 years old.

Are you my neighbour two down? The exact same thing happened to me today too.

I know how you feel, i'm in a semi, next door has been gutted right back to the brick work, walls knocked down, external bricks removed to put a patio door, no one told us a damned thing despite a lot of work on the party wall (which they are supposed to inform you about) plus on some days have started up power tools at 6am, some days using them until 8:30pm, not fun when my 4 year old needs to get to sleep.
Had dust blown all over the gardens when they've been cutting bricks so for ages my windows were filthy, patio furniture dusty despite having a cover on, windows had to stay closed, no laundry out as they never told us when they were cutting and would have been just my luck for them to do it when laundry was out, happened to our non attached neighbour.
Been like it for i think around 5 months, is just starting to get to decorating stage thank god!
Sorry your suffering this OP

What would it have changed for you though, if they had given you notice? Would you have moved out for the duration of their refurb?

I feel your pain !
My neighbours have done exactly the same .
No warning, no apology for the constant noise which goes on 7 days a week some times and has been for the last 9 weeks at least so far.

Our walls are very thin so they may as well be doing it in our house .
My husband has already tried to have a friendly word which we got a lot of garbled excuses and no change .
The bozo they got in to do the work which is just one guy who looks like a really old ex roadie who can’t let go of his past or have his own tools (they buy them for him as they go , real professional like..) cut through a water pipe that is the other side of our front room wall .. it’s like a frigging comedy show !

What would it have changed for you though, if they had given you notice? Would you have moved out for the duration of their refurb?

I can’t speak for the OP but I certainly would have booked to work from the office this week rather than risk an important work meeting sounding like it was taking place in the middle of a building site. I also would have asked that several pallets of bricks weren’t blocking my car in.

@uhohbrusselsprouts

What would it have changed for you though, if they had given you notice? Would you have moved out for the duration of their refurb?

A discussion about start/stop times; times/places for the dusty outside work; not being able to access her garden; promise of regular cleaning of her garden, windows and doors and a last clean at the end. Mainly knowing that her neighbour wasn't a totally selfish twat!

And party wall laws

Yanbu

My neighbours did this (pre Covid) when I was heavily pregnant and then with a newborn. It was sporadic though as the house was unoccupied so they would turn up on random evenings/weekends/bank hols and work from 7am to midnight. It’s just inconsiderate! To answer the previous poster, not sure about OP but if I’d known when MH neighbours were going to be working on their house I would’ve gone out all day/stayed out overnight. I was sleep deprived enough as it was without their added contribution.

Yanbu, especially the extent of the rebuild. But, as a pp says, what would you have done differently if you had notice?

Also, if it's a big job, did they not need planning permission?

We're just back in to our home after back-to-bricks renovations and TBH I think you've likely got a case to ask neighbours for compensation?

We visited both neighbours with plans and party wall agreements months before starting. We negotiated working hours with them (one side works Sunday night shifts so we did late starts on Mondays, etc). Certainly no noise after 6pm, none before 8:30am, none at weekends.

We also had their windows washed by professionals after each dusty phase. Certainly if there'd been any damage we would have reimbursed their costs.

The party wall agreement is where I think you've got them - it could legitimately cause structural issues for you if your houses join and they are doing structural works. You have a right to see their building regs sign-off documents, to check foundations and RSJs are structurally sound. You want copies of those docs for your file in case you come to sell and buyers want to see, and also potentially for your buildings insurance.

If I were you I'd stop being polite now :) and go with a list of what you need and a deadline for when you need to see it.

Here's a slightly random guide from gov.uk:
www.gov.uk/party-walls-building-works/work-tell-your-neighbour-about

Good luck!

Oh god I feel your pain, we had about 6 weeks straight of banging, drilling, sawing and clattering as the neighbours behind us were building a summer house (completed just in time for winter ). We had a blissful week of quiet but now they seem to be doing a kitchen extension or similar and have ripped the bottom half of the back of the house out - it’ll never end 🙈

You have my sympathy. My parents have neighbours like this who have seemingly been doing work on their house for the past fifteen years. I would have thought they would have reached Australia by now... It irritates my dad no end, to the extent they’ve now put the house on the market.

On the flip side however, we have been decorating DS’ bedroom this week, so has involved some use of a sander to sand down the walls and yesterday a drill to put the curtain rail back up. This happened at 3:30 PM and the neighbours had the audacity to bang on the wall. These are neighbours who have blazing rows at all hours of the day and night, and who bought a piano four years ago which they play, badly, from as early as 7 AM until 10 at night. So they can get stuffed as far as I’m concerned.

I think it would have been polite yes. We were in the same situation. I don't know why people don't think of popping round with a bottle of wine or whatever . Guaranteed to improve neighbourly relations immensely.

It would have been polite, but I wouldn’t have expected one.

As annoying as it is, they do not need to tell you unless it's structurally affecting your property. Whilst it is polite to as a courtesy inform neighbours, many solicitors would advise against it because they could attempt to hold up work and generally be unreasonable beyond what they legally can do (happened to friends).

I don't think they need to tell you but you'd think they would out of consideration. I do feel your pain, my neighbours have had building works going on for over a year now and for six months of those they have removed part of the guttering which joins both our houses which has now caused damp to our house. The drilling and builders loud radio also couldn't have come at a worst time - during the first lockdown when we were all working/schooling from home.

@timeforawine

I know how you feel, i'm in a semi, next door has been gutted right back to the brick work, walls knocked down, external bricks removed to put a patio door, no one told us a damned thing despite a lot of work on the party wall (which they are supposed to inform you about) plus on some days have started up power tools at 6am, some days using them until 8:30pm, not fun when my 4 year old needs to get to sleep. Had dust blown all over the gardens when they've been cutting bricks so for ages my windows were filthy, patio furniture dusty despite having a cover on, windows had to stay closed, no laundry out as they never told us when they were cutting and would have been just my luck for them to do it when laundry was out, happened to our non attached neighbour. Been like it for i think around 5 months, is just starting to get to decorating stage thank god! Sorry your suffering this OP

Not being funny, but surely you went round and said

1. start times and finish times
2. notice of dust in our back garden
3. They pay for some window washing etc at the end?

Why woudl you not complain for 5 months?

OP - if they are working on the party wall, then you can stop them, or at least get reassurance that they aren't damaging your wall.

Go round and talk to them, ask to see builder in charge, ask them to show you the party wall agreement, which they can't as they haven't asked you

When neighbours don't have any courtesy I think it's fine to go round to ask about the disruption.
Sometimes knowing that e.g. it's going to finish next week gives you strength to cope.
I've often been round to neighbours (e.g. ones that back on to my garden office so not obvious to them to inform me) just to ask how long work might be going on. I explain I'm working from home and that if it was going to be long-term I could take myself elsewhere (pre-covid obv!).

No one's ever been unpleasant about it. I haven't complained, just asked. Fortunately my immediate neighbours are good at keeping each other informed of disruption. We are terraces on 2 sides of a square so pretty close to each other.

I feel ya
Next door is doing something involving drilling
And across the road they're doing the groundwork for a load of new houses
So much for a quiet furlough

Our new neighbours arrived, didn't introduce themselves to anyone, hardly spoke to anyone on the street, started major overhaul of next door during lockdown, when DH was on nights.

Legally of course they don't have to, but just seems, uh, neighbourly?

And yes, DH would have arranged to sleep elsewhere.

I completely understand, however please can I give you the other side of it.
We bought a complete project of a house. Had the contractors in at the start of March to begin the work, but ‘warned’ the neighbours as soon as we had booked it, so about the end of January. We weren’t going to ask for their permission, but thought it be polite to warn them, so that they could make alternative arrangements if needed. The work was expected to take a few weeks, but then of course, lockdown hit. We were staying with family at the time and I was pregnant, yet the neighbours acted like we were purposely trying to inconvenience them. Sometimes piles of rubbish in the garden took longer to move than we’d have liked, and they reported us to environmental health several times, even though we did try to explain. They would be round yelling at the contractors all the time, because it had gone in for too long, even though again we had explained to them that the lockdown meant things were taking longer. We were fed up too and just wanted to be back in, yet they acted like we were doing it to purposely annoy them.
I really do think you should’ve been warned about this, but, in buying a terraced house, or a semi detached, you must surely have to take into account that people do work to their house and that you are going to hear it.
Like I said though you’re not being unreasonable to have expected some warning.

On the flip side however, we have been decorating DS’ bedroom this week, so has involved some use of a sander to sand down the walls and yesterday a drill to put the curtain rail back up. This happened at 3:30 PM and the neighbours had the audacity to bang on the wall. These are neighbours who have blazing rows at all hours of the day and night, and who bought a piano four years ago which they play, badly, from as early as 7 AM until 10 at night. So they can get stuffed as far as I’m concerned.

Yes, lived next door to similar. All night music, house renovation, you name it. But should a pin drop our side, she would kick off. Or at least try to.

I moved out of a house once to have some major work done. Did not tell bint next door. At least the building work would have drowned out her very loud shagging (which the whole street heard) for a couple of weeks.