Neighbour's noise complaint - what to do?

[Frankola]

I'll try to keep this simple. A bit of backstop first.

A month ago an elderly lady moved into the house next door. This house is a 3 story 4 bedroom property attached to mine.

I have a 4 year old daughter and a husband.

Here's the aibu -
Today I answered the door to my elderly next door neighbour who told me that the noise from my house "everyday from 6pm to 10pm is unacceptable".

When I asked her to elaborate she told me that my 4 year old daughter "bangs and shouts".

I really can't get my head around this. From 6pm we are eating tea and getting a bath! My dd isn't banging a drum kit or learning the bagpipes!

I'm shocked that this woman thinks its acceptable to complain about general family living noises at teatime?! Worse still, when I explained that I was quite confused as I'd never had any issues with neighbours over the previous 4 years we've lived there she told me "well you do have a problem now"!

I'm now driving myself mad with the idea shes going to report us to the police or social services or continue to cause us issues with her complaints.

So - aibu to post dog shit through her letterbox?
Seriously though - what would you do?

Ignore her

She may escalate it with the council and they may give her a listening device to which they will then laugh her off with.

It’s reasonable to be making noise between those hours as long as it isn’t constant banging and screaming

😂 @ the dogshit ldea.

I'd not care, let her report you and carry on enjoying your life.

Oh dear. She obviously isn't used to families living in family homes.

I would carry on as usual as long as you aren't allowing an unreasonable level of noise. You are entitled to live in your own home.

Maybe listen to what she’s saying, you’re obviously making noise or she wouldn’t have come round. Show some consideration and ensure your child isn’t banging, shouting etc.

Don't do or say anything. Don't change your behaviour. Just carry on with your life and let her crack on. If you're just making normal household noise she won't get anywhere with the council either. Fuck her.

If you're making normal, everyday noise, carry on. It's up to your neighbour to keep a diary and prove unreasonable noise if she wants to take it further.

She sounds unreasonable if that's all the noise you make. Is DD even up until 10pm?

If that fails take up a liking for thrash metal and actually give her something to moan about

Yes, I'm sure that in the middle of a pandemic the police and SS are going to give her all their attention

Just ignore her, but expect her to grump a bit more. As a PP said, even if she calls the council and they give her a machine, there won't be a problem for you.

She would love my family, four kids under 10 constantly fighting

Surely your 4 year old isn't going to bed at 10pm?

Founds like she's nothing else going on than to be listening to people living their lives. Could it be she is anxious and the new house coupled with darker nights are making her nervy
Who lived there before ? Did they ever mention noise or did you hear them ?

I notice my neighbours 4/5 yr old quite frequently because he's like a small elephant going up the stairs but thankfully he's usually asleep early and apart from occasional bath time melt down I barely hear him

Another vote to ignore

Surely your DD goes to be 7 or 8pm or so?? Is she talking about TV noise or what? How annoying for you if the noise is just normal.

bed*

Wow. Are the walls very thin?!

Unless your DD is putting in serious effort to generate a lot more noise than one 4yo normally makes, I would say your neighbour has an unnecessarily combative attitude.

I’d be unsettled by it too, assuming you are being averagely considerate — you shouldn’t have to walk on eggshells in your own home.

She obviously has never had or lived near a family. God help her if ever she ends up next door to us

Also — surely that’s a bit unusual, for a single elderly person to buy a three-storey 4-bed house, in the middle of a pandemic when nobody is allowed to visit. Why would she want all those rooms and so much square footage to maintain? (Genuine question, I’m not hinting at anything specific)

What’s the story there?

I would suggest recording the noise you make for a typical evening and playing it back - then judge if it's reasonable. To come and knock on your door takes a bit of effort so I'm sure you are making a fair amount of noise, whether it's reasonable is another matter.

Think honestly, are you shouting at your dd to come downstairs, get ready for bed etc? Many a household is pretty stressed around that time and I'm sure voices get raised. They were specific hours so rather than dismiss it out of hand, make sure you are being reasonable!

Tell her to fuck off.

My friend complained about neighbour making noise on her shared bedroom wall. Council put in device to check volume and found nothing. Turns out she had tinnitus. Oops

Tinnitus is a real possibility here.

Ignore.

Ignore. Let her report, if it’s normal family noise she won’t get anywhere

I love in a mid terrace Victorian house. They're little not these massive ones. We could hear some diy this morning and both me and my partner weren't sure which side it was coming from so is she sure it's you?