AIBU to ask again for neighbours to move their trampoline

[Jynxed]

My well being and happiness are being severely impacted by my neighbours noisy children. They scream, argue, shout and kick footballs at the fence all day long. They only have one volume and it’s loud. The whole family just shout at each other. Last year they got an enormous trampoline and positioned it right up against (their) fence bordering our garden. We are a terrace row, but each house is staggered, so our back doors are not aligned. Our back door and patio area is about a third of the way up their lawn. We were aghast when the neighbours chose to position their trampoline right in line with our back door and patio table, where I also have lots of pots and plants. When the kids use the trampoline they stand higher than the fence and stare straight into our kitchen window, and they used to call out to us all the time until we asked them to stop. The noise and shouting makes the patio unusable, and as I write this yet another ball has come flying over. I darent go and look as I heard something smash. We can no longer eat or read at the table because of the noise and the risk of a ball hitting you on the head. We did ask them not to put the trampoline there, and brought them round to show them how much it over shadowed our patio and removed all privacy. They declined to reposition it saying that there was nowhere else in their 80ft garden they could put it. Given that there is nothing in their garden apart from lawn and garden toys this is blatantly untrue, so I have no idea why it cannot move a few feet away from our patio door. What do I do now? Ask again? Beg and cry? Puncture every ball that comes over and wrecks a plant? Write a letter? Build a cage over our table to protect ourselves? How can I make them understand what they are doing to us? For context, I do have kids myself, all teenagers now, so I do understand that children need to play. However mine were brought up not to scream and shout, and I would not have dreamt of refusing a reasonable request from neighbours such as this.

@amusedbush
Completely agree..{about kids playing quietly}..My brothers and I were shushed if we got too loud , and were told to come in.
Friend was one of six kids, and it was quiet, there, too.
Simply no need for screaming and shrieking like one is on fire, as you say.

I can say with confidence I know of not a single adult, including my DM who is a living saint where kids are concerned, that would smile sweetly whilst next doors kids bounced up and down on a trampoline next to their fence.

Kids don't come with mute buttons, this is true, but they do typically come with parents that have manners and consideration for others that should be telling them how to behave around other people.

I agree with this! Not sure how Old the teens are, but there’s nothing better than letting them sit out in your garden with some noisy wireless speaker and pointless, loud, annoying “banter”. Especially when next doors kids are going to bed. Of course lawns always need mowing at 8:30 on a Sunday morning too.

get a fire pit and burn wood in it every time they bounce

Of course lawns always need mowing at 8:30 on a Sunday morning too

to be honest, people round here do start that early or nearly. I went out for a walk the other morning and passed a house at about 8.20 - someone was mowing the lawn.

And this morning I went for a run at about 9.40 and someone was strimming - I thought it was too early for a Sunday even though I was out and about myself.

What about playing a recorder in the garden at 6am OP?

Just be aware that any dispute you raise formally with your neighbours or report to the council or police etc needs to be formally disclosed if you come to sell your house. Not sure of the exact rules though.

So we've got burn wood, throw bird seed onto the trampoline to attract birds/vermin, play loud music, get naked, swear sat outside, stink bombs, burn the trampoline down, smoke weed, hose them, get a high pitched noise device... pretty sure you'd have letter from the council for antisocial behaviour for most of these or worse if you were contemplating arson, flashing children or openly doing illegal substances. Would be much easier to move your table and chairs and put a higher fence up/privacy blinds.

Most kids are up at 6/7am, mowing your lawn at 8.30am will have no impact on a young family. If our kids heard a recorder outside at 6am they'd grab theirs for a duet over the fence 😆.

One of my happiest days was just after the first lockdown when we saw that next door were getting rid of their trampoline because their kid had finally outgrown it. Working from home with the window open all I could hear was squeak bounce squeak bounce for hours. Unless you have a huge garden just don't - your neighbours will despise you even if they're too polite to admit it. Oh and put it right by your window/door if you must have one.

I have one of these, they are fantastic for what you are dealing with.

They are on their own property and have a right to full enjoyment of it. So do you. I would go with a height increase in your fencing, spiky plants and frequent bonfires. I would also keep a diary, photographic and audio evidence of every incident and contact your local council

Get a ton of bird feeders along that part of the fence and the darlings will crap all over the trampoline in no time.

My elderly neighbours have at least 8 feeders… my garden is covered… We get along fine thankfully but it is a bit excessive.

I would position a garden sprinkler so that it swept over the trampoline while it was watering my garden. They might enjoy it initially but they would soon get fed up and move the beastly thing.
I used to have a neighbour that let his wretched dog bark at me whenever I was sitting in my garden, for hours. Apparently 'he was just being friendly'. I got a trigger attachment for my hose and squirted the dog every time he started with his yapping. He soon learned to shut up.

I am so sorry you are experiencing this.
They have shown that they don't care about your well-being. I have cats and a veg patch, and kids and needed a solution to keep cats off the veg patch.
I would suggest cat scarers, they are unpleasant and my son says painful for young ears (completely harmless) and not really heard by adults. Set them at the pitch you can just hear it then turn it down slightly. They have motion sensors, a pack of three on sticks pointing towards the fence at an angle to catch kids jumping up should sort it out. If the sensor doesn't work you may have to walk past to set them off.
Pestbye® Battery Operated Motion Activated Waterproof Cat Repellent Quick Fix Ultrasonic Cat Scarer with Ground Stake - Set of 3 smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01ID8T3IK/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_3WC3N2FBWBK7YY5J7EW0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
There are also motion sensor cat scarers that shoot out water. Very effective.
Pestbye® Jet Spray Battery Operated Motion Activated Cat Scarer & Repellent - Animal Repeller smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004YCUT4W/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_1Y96VRTYCE8NZCE0C6KY?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Your neighbours are exceptionally unreasonable. Kids don't have to scream, fight, stare into neighbours houses or kick balls over fences. The fact their kids are spoiling your use of your garden won't mean anything to them - they are of the 'kids will be kids' brigade.
Most of us have managed to bring up children that know that playing in a back garden is different to playing in the wide open space of a park.
Mine were given footballs attached to elastic, football training posts I think they were called, while in the garden. I never thought I had the right to inconvenience my neighbours by expecting them to retrieve balls that shouldn't be in their garden!
Your neighbours are never going to move the trampoline - I'd sell up and move.

Ah @LightEveningsAreBack you've overplayed the goady hand. It's a fact universally acknowledged that no parent, however indulgent of their little poppets, can tolerate the recorder at anytime of the live long day.

Could you perhaps use a shade sail like this? Angle it down on the neighbour/trampoline side and up higher the other side so you create a kind of screen? Can attach two corners to the house and one to the fence. They aren't too expensive on Amazon. We have one to keep the sun off the back door and patio.
It's not permanent then and not too expensive.

This is a great idea. When you're dealing with totally selfish neighbours, sometimes you have to fight fire with fire. Buy a BBQ. Every time they are out there screaming and shouting like banshees with no direction from the parents, to be a little more considerate. Start a BBQ. Always have some sausages on standby. I wonder how long it will take for them to knock on your door. If they ask you to move the BBQ you can say you can't, as it's the only place in your garden with a patio. Sometimes you just have to do what you can to make people think differently.

Both being unreasonable

oh dear

Nude sun bathing and rampant, noisy sex in the privacy of your own patio may get them to move it.

It's because "kids don't come with a mute button" that parents need to teach them to behave with consideration towards others.

Some parents simply can't be arsed.

I honestly don't know what the answer is. We ended up moving, partly to get away from a noisy trampoline, screaming (screeching) kids, and a noisy hot tub right against our fence by our back doors! Obviously, not everyone can, or wants to, move, but I wouldn't have been responsible for my actions if we'd stayed there! The dad couldn't care less, and thought their behaviour was perfectly normal! I really hope you manage to get this sorted out.

outdoor speakers... play pulp fiction soundtrack..
"any of you fucking pricks move and I'll execute every mother fucking last one of you"

If they complain, say Sorry you know how teens are.

They will relocate the trampoline.

I had a problem with spying children, I loudly pulled them up on it every time...they don't spy on my anymore.

Positioning a trampoline in a way that people using it can see into neighbours' gardens is an invasion of privacy and your neighbours are breaking the law. You could go down the route of reporting them - it might lead to a complete disintegration of any friendliness between you but - they don't seem to care about that do they? in the meantime, get one of those anti-social devices that emit a noise only children can hear.

Maybe it’s the only flat area.
their garden, their choice. Kids are noisy.
move your table?