Hi all,
I’m at my wits end and am wondering if I could get advice and/or genuinely ask if I am being unreasonable?!
I live in a house in SW London. On a terraced street. The house is split into two flats. Downstairs have a two year old. We all get on fine.
The two year old often wakes up in the middle of the night. Fair enough. That’s normal. However; he uses his scooter indoors and one of those cars that kids can fit in/drive with their feet - and it sometimes starts from 6am. He goes through phases of playing with the scooter/car so I let that noise go.
The running; however; usually starts at 7am and ends at 7:30pm. He’s not at nursery at the moment (regardless - it’s like this on weekends). I’ve been WFH since the pandemic started. I only leave the house unless I have to go to my lab (I work in medical research).
Usually; people complain about their UPSTAIRS neighbours; I’m aware. I’ve asked if they can ever hear me - to which their response was: ‘You are quiet as a mouse!’ Now fair enough; my flat is bigger and occupies two floors. They have a ground floor and LG floor (which is used at storage space). Their toddler thumps/runs relentlessly. To the point the whole house shakes. I can hear him over my shower, kettle, AirPods (including work calls). I’ve asked if they can put some mats/rugs down - which I offered to pay for. Their response to that was: ‘I mean, the house wasn’t really built to be two flats so maybe that’s why the sound travels!’ I’ve moved my workspace to the very top floor, but the house still shakes. I don’t play any music/instruments - and I have an elderly couple next door as well as a young family on the other side of me - so I’m very paranoid about disturbing people.
However; the people downstairs don’t seem to share that view. They once texted me saying they were about to be playing games indoors and it would be loud. Followed by another text saying: “LOL!” As the child is becoming more and more mobile; the running/sound just intensifies. This has been going on for far too long now and my work/sleep is suffering as the vibration can be ‘felt’ over headphones. I think they think they don’t need to worry as no one is below them - since they have the ground floor. I’ve asked them to come up whilst he is running - to which they claim they only saw my text a few hours later. When I’ve gone downstairs; they don’t answer the door. I’m on the verge of tears - and I’m the most stoic person on the planet!
I get that they are WFH too and it’s hard with a toddler, but the noise is all day/every day. I’m permanently living with my headphones in and it still doesn’t help!