Bouncy Castle in Communal garden

[Londonmum20222022]

Hi all,

We live in a mews house with a small garden. We also pay a maintenance charge for use of a communal garden and other amenities each year. The communal garden backs onto row of two story flats in our development.

I am trying to keep costs down for my sons birthday and cant fit a bouncy castle in our garden and therefore was hoping to use the communal one. I have written a polite note to all neighbours to ask if this is ok and if they object. Its for two hours on a Monday morning.

Just looking for feedback thanks!

@Flickflak I lived where this happened and knew a few of the kids :( I actually had a post up here not long after it happened with the same warning.

I would have zero objections. I would object to something permanent like a trampoline though.

@Flickflak

Please make sure the castle is tethered. Get the company to confirm in writing that all safety procedures will be followed. In Australia there was the most awful tragedy in just before Christmas. Six children died and many more injured due to a bouncy castle taking flight that had not been correctly tethered. I’ll be nervous about them from now on. But yes I think your request is reasonable.

In Britain, there are already laws about this. Anyone supplying a bouncy castle has to be trained to erect it and the law says clearly how it should be tethered. So unless you are getting a castle off a dodgy mate down the pub, then it will be fine.

I live in a flat with communal gardens and would definitely not object. We have loads of children living here and we all get on really well. Any bikes, scooters, trampolines etc that get put in the garden generally become things that everyone can play with. Two hours of bouncy castle would be more than OK.

My parents live in a similar set up and hosted a bouncy castle party for my niece. They just put a note through people's doors and did it no one complained.

I’d have just done it, to be honest. Who cares if some arsehole gets the hump about it? Your son will have had a great day and that’s all I’d have cared about.

I used to live in a mansion flat with a communal garden and I would have immediately said no to this very very firmly. Most people are still working from the home and bouncy castles bring out the worst of the screechers. Monday morning is prime working time.
Having said that the garden was very narrow so a bouncy castle would have been right next to my window.
If your ma is bigger then maybe it will be okay but I note you say that there's flat overlooking too so you could be impacting hundreds of people

Will it run on electricity? Is your house close enough to power it?

You need to get permission from the management company.

Also, check your lease, it may have conditions around the use of the communal garden.

A communal garden is usually for quiet enjoyment.

I’d be fine with this. It’s one morning! I hope your son has a great day OP.

I think it's fine but I agree about checking with the management company too.

I also recommend thinking about the logistics of if people need the toilet, food etc, do you want children traipsing through your home?

Sometimes bouncy castle companies also hire out small soft play for smaller kids. I'm planning on hiring some for my DD's first birthday. I wonder if that could be a compromise as it's quiter and less in your face?

I would have zero objections and I work from home. Hope the party goes well

Hope nobody objects and you can all have fun!

I definitely wouldn't have objected, who on earth would for 2 hours? An

I think it's fine! As long as the castle goes up and is taken down within one morning, I don't see any problems.

I think anyone would be incredibly mean-spirited to object, and I doubt they will. It sounds like we live in a similar setup OP - I live in what is rather grandly called a 'court' (bit of an oversell - six self-contained units, admittedly quite nice ones and a good size, with a communal garden). I own my property but the management company own the land. I wanted to put some wood and net structure outside my window so my 2 cats could go out and get a bit of sun and grass but not roam freely (its not safe for them to). First I asked the management company. They said 'uhh...ask the other residents'. So I put a note with my phone number through everyone's door. It's been there a year now without the slightest objection from anyone, though it could be taken down. No-one really uses the gardens except to dry clothes.

Honestly it's not so bad 'sharing' with other people. We all rub along quite nicely here and put up with each other's quirks. There's a 100 year old lady (literally) who regularly sets the fire alarm off and we check there's not a real fire. The guy above me is an alcoholic - he's harmless, doesn't bother anyone, but doesn't seem to have much contact with any family or anything. When his bathroom dripped through my ceiling I had to talk to his landlord to sort it out because he forgets what happened and who is responsible for what. Other people aren't so bad. We're all just getting by the best we can!

I think one of two things will happen - either someone will be really annoyed and you'll see why hardly anyone uses the space. Or suddenly you'll see a lot more people using the garden. IME communal spaces are either incredibly well used or not used at all, it's a funny thing (and I think probably very British).

None of that means you shouldn't do it though I would be a little careful around children screaming if there are ppl working from home nearby.

I don't think other people objecting is the problem (although if someone was WFH and it was right outside their window I could understand their annoyance!), I think your main problem would be making sure you can use the communal garden for a private event and what power supply you will use for the bouncy castle.

So I'd echo those who say to speak to the management company before doing anything to make sure you're allowed and it's possible!

We have a communal garden and I would have no problem at all with this. The room where I WFH overlooks the garden so I'd be grateful for a heads up about it so that if I had any meetings booked I could go and set up on the other side of the flat for the morning - but my neighbour Motorbike Man doesn't bother to warn anyone when he's planning to spend a sunny afternoon revving his engine out there so I'd get over it if you didn't!

As it's a one off, I think someone would have to be a total arse to object to 2 hours of a bouncy castle on a Monday morning.