To not expect neighbour to use washing machine overnight

[BornInTheWrongCentury]

Just that really. Over the last couple of months our neighbours started using their washing machine/tumble dryer overnight, it was going on on at about midnight and stays on till around 3am.

My husband asked a them politely a few weeks ago when he saw them outside if they’d mind changing the time they have it on as it really disturbs us. We’re in a mid terraced house and they are the end of the terrace. Their kitchen is below our bedroom. The previous occupants took out a wall in their kitchen that separated the kitchen from their hallway so it’s open planned now so all sound from their house is amplified now anyway and noise seems to travel up the wall into our bedroom.

After my husband mentioned it to them they stopped for a couple of weeks but now the noise has started again as they are putting a wash on at about 10pm and it finishes at 1am.

It’s really upsetting me that I can’t go to bed and read/fall asleep in peace until at least 1am now.

If it’s relevant we own our house and their house is social housing. They are the end of the terrace so if I complain to the council or their housing association they will know it’s me. They are the kind of couple who seem ok as long as you’re on the right side of them but they are rather loud and look very intimidating and to be honest I don’t want to make things worse or get into an argument with them.

They are pretty good neighbours apart from this issue as in the only other noise we hear is their children (they have very screechy, door slamming children but I can cope with that during the day!) They don’t have parties or play thumping music - it’s just the issue with not being able to go to sleep when I want to. I don’t know if I’m just being over sensitive where I so tired.

What would you do?

YABU - just be grateful it’s nothing worse than a washing machine and try to ignore it/go to bed later when you know you’ll fall straight to sleep

YANBU - be brave and speak to them again asking them to not use after 11pm and complain to the council if they refuse?

YANBU.

I rented a flat where the upstairs neighbours ran their washing machine overnight and the noise was horrendous. They did it because they were on the Economy 7 tariff, so saved them money. They also had a toddler and a baby, so lots of laundry - it was on most nights.

I asked them twice to do it earlier, and each time they did for a while, but then slipped back to putting it on around 11-12 pm. When they started doing it again for the third time, I went and knocked on their door, and made the husband come downstairs to hear what it sounded like in my bedroom. He was horrified and very apologetic. It sounded much worse in my flat than in theirs, apparently, and once he'd heard it for himself they stopped doing it.

The council here take the view that, while doing laundry isn't a noise nuisance in itself, it is if it's done late at night or early in the morning. They will send letters out to tenants about it and giving hours when it's considered acceptable. The EHO who deals with noise nuisance takes the same line.

HA's are something of a lottery when it comes to noise nuisance, and ime the HA's give their housing/ASB officers a lot more autonomy about what they do and don't take action about.

I'd report in a heartbeat I'm afraid, but then lack of sleep turns me into a deranged monster, so my responses may not reasonable or moderate. Or I'd move, no matter how skint it left me.

I think your neighbours do seem quite reasonable

I disagree. They stopped for two weeks then put it on to finish at 1am.

I would have thought it's unusual for people to regard 1am as bedtime.

The reason you can expect this sort of thing in a terraced house or flat is because of the attitude on this thread.

It would never even occur to me that keeping someone else up at night could be ok other than for genuinely unavoidable reasons like babies crying.

People can't live easily together if everyone does just what they like. I always thought l and take means you have to put up with reasonable noise and you can make it yourself, but it also means not being excessive and minimising noise as much as possible. Turns out that for others it means not inconveniencing yourself at all and presumably not expecting any favours from neighbours either.

These views are clearly incompatible.

I wonder if this is the same in Germany, where a PP mentioned neighbours can generally resolve things themselves. My experience of living in a different European country was that there was more sense of community and consensus on how to behave than there is here in the UK.

@user1467048527

The reason you can expect this sort of thing in a terraced house or flat is because of the attitude on this thread.

It would never even occur to me that keeping someone else up at night could be ok other than for genuinely unavoidable reasons like babies crying.

People can't live easily together if everyone does just what they like. I always thought l and take means you have to put up with reasonable noise and you can make it yourself, but it also means not being excessive and minimising noise as much as possible. Turns out that for others it means not inconveniencing yourself at all and presumably not expecting any favours from neighbours either.

These views are clearly incompatible.

I wonder if this is the same in Germany, where a PP mentioned neighbours can generally resolve things themselves. My experience of living in a different European country was that there was more sense of community and consensus on how to behave than there is here in the UK.

I’m also shocked at the selfish ‘ it’s my place So I’ll do what I want and sod the rest’ attitude . I’m really surprised , I thought there was a bit humanity and kindness out there !

It's a while since I spent time in Germany and Switzerland, but they had strict rules about what was and wasn't acceptable.

If you grow up with these rules, which are ultimately for the benefit of all, you probably behave in a more community-minded way.

@user1467048527 I used to live in Germany and it wouldn’t be acceptable there. Germans are very particular about noise disturbance, even during the daytime on Sundays!

@user1467048527

The reason you can expect this sort of thing in a terraced house or flat is because of the attitude on this thread.

It would never even occur to me that keeping someone else up at night could be ok other than for genuinely unavoidable reasons like babies crying.

People can't live easily together if everyone does just what they like. I always thought l and take means you have to put up with reasonable noise and you can make it yourself, but it also means not being excessive and minimising noise as much as possible. Turns out that for others it means not inconveniencing yourself at all and presumably not expecting any favours from neighbours either.

These views are clearly incompatible.

I wonder if this is the same in Germany, where a PP mentioned neighbours can generally resolve things themselves. My experience of living in a different European country was that there was more sense of community and consensus on how to behave than there is here in the UK.

100% agree with this! It drives me absolutely INSANE when people come on here and say 'what do you expect when you live in a terrace house'

'my neighbour is banging the drums right next to my bedroom wall at 3am'
'what do you expect? you live in a terrace house'
'my neighbour's music is so loud it is vibrating my walls'
'that's what you get when you live in a terrace house!'

I expect to hear some noise but more so I expect to live next door to people who, like me, understand that you can't shout/holler/make excess noise 24/7 because... you live in a terrace house!

[quote PattyPan]@user1467048527 I used to live in Germany and it wouldn’t be acceptable there. Germans are very particular about noise disturbance, even during the daytime on Sundays![/quote]
Sounds a good policy. why have people become so selfish in the Uk?

I would say you're probably being a tad unreasonable. I don't think a washing machine is loud enough to be classed as a nucesnce. Mine runs during the night on economy 7 and it's never bothered me, and my terraced neighbours have never complained. Mine is in the conservatory too, so not exactly sound proofed but I've never considered not running it at night time.

They’re probably using cheaper electric at night YABU

I'd buy them the antivibration mats for the machine(s) and give them to them, rather than make a further request just yet - I wonder if someone is working from home (or doing home school) in the kitchen during the day at the moment so they're waiting and running it after they've gone to bed?

The stats on Economy 7 are interesting though - huge claims and tiny annual savings. Like Smart Meters, the only people that benefit are the utility companies.

@Saxineno

I would say you're probably being a tad unreasonable. I don't think a washing machine is loud enough to be classed as a nucesnce. Mine runs during the night on economy 7 and it's never bothered me, and my terraced neighbours have never complained. Mine is in the conservatory too, so not exactly sound proofed but I've never considered not running it at night time.

I live in a link detached house, our first neighbours used economy 7 and had washing machine against the link wall in the garage and it was loud enough to keep us awake. We told them that it was keeping us awake. They moved it to the other wall,no problem. Its not acceptable to keep neighbors awake, it really isnt.

I now run my washing machine late in the day because as a teacher I am teaching video lessons all day and then have meetings or am making phone calls to parents until about half five. I then cook and eat dinner with my family and then catch up on my two kids homeschool work with them before putting the washing on at about ten o clock. Could it be that theya re in a similar position of working in the day where the noise would be unacceptable?

Hi I have this same issue. My neighbour started his around 3am guessing so it's done when he gets up for work. I think he doesn't sleep much anyway as he's always walking about and the floors all creeks etc. Anyway when I got new washer that had a timer on it I did the same. Guess what it stop him doing his as I don't think he realised how disturbing it probably was for us until he heard ours. Bush bash nosh problem solved.

My wash cycle must end before 21:00 or I worry about disturbing the neighbours and I have a well insulated appartement. They are being anti social and rubbish neighbours.

I think YANBU but they're unlikely to change so I'd look at adding soundproofing on your side of the wall to minimise noise, investing in ear plugs or a white noise machine or something similar. It's unfair and they're inconsiderate but you're probably not going to win this one.

If they are leaving it on and going to bed I’d be advising them that if their appliance catches fire they’ll be toast

If that's all you have to out up with then I would. Go buy ear plugs for night time. Maybe they are struggling financially and need to do their washing at a cheaper rate. I'm pretty sure if you can hear it, they can too... And hopefully it's not every night. But at least they don't have parties etc

YANBU ask them again to finish by 10pm tell them you cannot sleep and you’re getting really tired . Also as mentioned above dryers and washing machines are a common cause of house fires but perhaps stick to the noise disturbs at the moment . Keep reminding them.

I mean maybe remind them again and just ask if they can make sure it stops before midnight? But honestly just be grateful it’s a washing machine. I have two lots of neighbours below me in an apartment block, one is a couple of heavy heroine users that leave needles about and have door slamming and blazing arguments from 11pm-5am every night including picking fights with anyone that tells them to be quiet and have smashed people’s windscreens for complaining about the noise. After months of police, landlord and environmental health involvement they have been served notice but notice period during covid is a minimum of 6 months. The other lot have just moved in one month ago and every single day between 3 and 4pm they put on drum and bass music for an hour so loud that it shakes the building can be clearly heard in not just all the flats but the houses next door. I could probably live with that if I had to since it’s daytime, if it wasn’t also accompanied by them smoking weed and stinking up the entire communal hallway with it. I have had to start using a draft excluder to keep the smell out of my home but me and the kids have to smell it whenever we open our front door. Even the postman commented on it. It’s vile.

There's never going to be a general consensus on 'how to behave' in the UK unless it goes back to being a 9-5 working society. One where people also have respect and consideration for the sick or disabled.

If people generally aren't sleeping during the day, don't have weird routines, if there's an acknowledgement that sick or disabled people might be asleep/awake when others aren't for no fault of their own. So everyone needs to be fairly quiet most of the time, because you can't always see who is sick or disabled. Then perhaps everyone would be in agreement.

But when all the 9-5 working, standard-routine types think that because it's 'daytime hours' they can make as much noise as they want without considering theirs neighbours at all, then those on the receiving end of that feel less inclined to worry what their neighbours think about ordinary life noise during the night.

Loud music, drums etc as someone said is ridiculous. People don't need to do that. But laundry, bathing, house chores, those things are necessary parts of life. Living your own life with a routine to suit yourself isn't selfish. It's the same thing as all the 9-5 standard-routine types are doing. It's just that because of UK history, which used to be a 9-5 society, their lifestyle is sometimes seen as more socially acceptable.

YA totally NBU!!!

As others have said if you live in close proximity to others, you need to be respectful. Living in a flat, the very latest I would use washing machine/hoover would be 9pm and wouldn’t use before 8am (weekdays) 9am (weekends).

Don't think you are being unreasonable tbh, I was mine at night and hoover because I have spoke to my neighbour who is fine with it, the most recent worry I had was a carpet cleaner which was horrendously loud so I asked him and no he's fine with it, he can hear it but not so much it bothers him or would keep him awake. They may have just forgot so maybe just a friendly reminder ;)

People live outside your hours. Get some ear plugs or move.
Trust me your neighbors could be a lot worse. I’d trade anyway.

Why would it be relevant that they are in social housing? It is cheaper to run at night so YABU.