Teenagers next door

[purplephazersettostun]

My neighbour has two teenage children. One sitting A-level and one GCSE's which means they're on study leave apart from exams.

They have a kind of teenage snug at the end of their garden - glorified shed really with lights and speakers etc. This means that from 11am every day they are blasting (bad) dance music till 11pm at night. The night time I can cope with, but I work from home, and the only place I can work is the dining room - which is their side of the house. I am really struggling with working and having meetings with incessant music and screeching of teens. I mentioned it to neighbour who rolled her eyes and said to just ignore it.

I've got 3 months of this ahead of me! I don't have an office I can work from to escape it. And soon I will want the window open too. How can I explain that this is an issue and that EVERY SINGLE DAY and constant music isn't really acceptable?

[Howeverdoyouneedme]

They do sound pretty scummy to be fair, thinking that blasting loud music all day is pretty low brow behaviour.

Also in no way equivalent to No now May.

[itsgettingweird]

@Edinvillian

Off topic, but why don't you mow your lawn in May?

It was something like dry January that was encouraged for wildlife and bees etc.

[purplephazersettostun]

@PizzaPizza56

Why can't you work from the office? I went back in as soon as we could because the logistics of wfh weren't practical.

Because I work for a company based over seas and the commute would be approx 14 hours

[purplephazersettostun]

@Edinvillian

Off topic, but why don't you mow your lawn in May?

No Mow May is a thing. It helps massively with insect life, especially bees. We also leave a patch at the back of the garden to grow wild.

[Basilbrushgotfat]

Neighbour did suggest I use one of those we-work offices where you can rent a desk for the day

F*cking cheek!!

My parents would have killed me as a teenager or a young adult if they so much as thought my music might have disturbed neighbours!

If they need music to study, fair enough, but its them who should be using headphones not you!

Not mowing your lawn for 4 weeks is in no way comparable. Neighbours are way of out line and if you cannot resolve it with them directly I'd start raising formal noise complaints.

[TheWayoftheLeaf]

@Alliumpoppyrose

Download or look up "15000 Hz 15 kHz Sine Wave" on you tube or internet.
Play this on an outdoor speaker or portable blue tooth speaker placed as close to their shed as possible on your side of fence and hide it with plastic sheet or cammo net. Generally older people will not hear it and its difficult to record to report.

Play it when they go out, no one will hear it apart from them. leave it going on full volume on repeat. As its high pitch its poor at penetrating solid walls so no one should hear it in side the house. If they complain just claim you have a cat scarer and you cannot turn it off 😄

This won't work because lots of adults like me can very definitely still hear it (at 27 years old)

[junglejane66]

@user1471538283

You have to tell your neighbor straight that it stops right now.

There is nothing worse than loud music and you have to work!

Unless you're a DJ

[Hafera]

You have to tell your neighbor straight that it stops right now.

There is nothing worse than loud music and you have to work!

I assume you're joking!
Homes are for living in, not working in, at least mine is.
I had no choice but to play my music in the garden last summer as all my wfh neighbours seemed to think I wanted to listen to their loud speakerphone work calls all day long on my day off from working long hours out of the home.

Music all day would be annoying but that's teenagers. I have to listen to younger kids squealing and bored retired neighbours wielding power tools, such is life 🤷‍♀️.

[skybluee]

I can't believe 20% of people think this is OK.

[Basilbrushgotfat]

Homes are for living in, not working in, at least mine is

What an utterly ridiculous statement.

[TarpaulinEyes]

Ah yes the teenage 'snugs'. Where I used to live the people diagonally opposite our house had a large shed at the end of their garden that was commandeered by their teenagers. They started a band and practiced in there. Fine if it had been a couple of hours a day but nope, all day, drums and whooping. I went and leaned over the fence to ask them to be quieter as a near neighbour was terminally ill. Got a fuck off for my pains. Reported to the council with their comment quoted. Noise stopped within days. I doubt I was the only one who complained

[skybluee]

It doesn't matter about the work and I wouldn't even mention that. The issue is that you can't sit in your home without being disturbed by it. And it's 12 hours a day and it's being blasted.

[skybluee]

@itsgettingweird

It was something like dry January that was encouraged for wildlife and bees etc.

I'm surprised bees like alcohol, I would've thought they were teatotal tbh.

[HarrietSchulenberg]

Whilst that level of noise isn't acceptable until 11pm, your daytime working arrangements aren't your neighbours' problem.

[ILoveAllRainbowsx]

If the council won't do anything then I would remove a wardrobe and work in one of the bedrooms.

I don't see what else you can do.

[SchoolThing]

@Kris02
It might sound odd class system is partly to blame. When I was a child (late '70s to early '80s), people were more class conscious. They didn't want their neighbours to consider them (or their children) 'common' or 'low class'. Children were taught to be polite. They were also taught to defer to the older generation. That has all gone. Whereas fifty years ago people aspired to be eloquent, tasteful, well-mannered, etc (classy, in other words), all that matters today is money. Some people seem almost proud of their ignorance, vulgarity and commonness. They flaunt it

It doesn’t sound off so much as classist.

Being eloquent has nothing to do with class and everything to do with being eloquent. Same with being well-mannered.

As for tasteful, that is highly subjective.

As someone living in a country that does not subscribe to the madness that is the British class system, I find your comments extraordinary.

Being inconsiderate is part of the painful process that is being a teenager. The parents’ role is to guide them through that.

That the parents in question are unwilling or unable to guide their children appropriately is at odds with life in a civilised society but again, nothing to do with class and everything to do with inadequate parenting.

[lljkk]

I'm gonna suggest something super radical.
Which is that OP TALK to the teenagers.
Lean over the fence & explain the situation and ask them to be quieter. Spell out times you're working & where you would be sitting, what you can hear, & why it matters and try to bend over backwards about things like noise 6-11pm on Friday & Saturday.

Teens are used to adults setting boundaries. They are idealistic about being responsible citizens. They hate idea of adults spying on them & knowing their business. Which could be their own fault for being so oblivious and that's embarrassing to them, to boot. Even more so if mum is a partying chum: they may rebel by wanting to be hyper considerate & responsible. So be positive in a "of course you're nearly adults & I know you want to be good neighbours' tone of voice when you talk to them.

Give them a chance to rise to being their best selves.

[StoneofDestiny]

As someone living in a country that does not subscribe to the madness that is the British class system, I find your comments extraordinary

The comments are extraordinary, and I was born and brought up in the UK.

[StoneofDestiny]

Go back to the neighbour and tell them the incessant noise is not acceptable. The teens can still hear their music if they wear headphones - it just doesn't have to be inflicted on you too! WFH is irrelevant - no sane person would put up with that.

[SchoolThing]

@StoneofDestiny

As someone living in a country that does not subscribe to the madness that is the British class system, I find your comments extraordinary

The comments are extraordinary, and I was born and brought up in the UK.

That’s good to know! Blows me away that people can be so rigidly attached to their sense of superiority.

[FloweryCurtainTwitcher]

Does it have planning?

[StoneofDestiny]

Blows me away that people can be so rigidly attached to their sense of superiority

likewise - but there are many attached to their sense of inferiority. No idea how that type of 'class' nonsense is taught or inherited (but it explains why we still have a Monarchy based on mere accident of birth or marriage and some people are willing to bow and curtsy in deference to them -but that's another thread 😂)

[MistyGreenAndBlue]

I'd be contemplating a bit of arson. But that's just me

[LovelyLovelyWarmCoffee]

@skybluee

I can't believe 20% of people think this is OK.

I voted YABU because:

• she could take turns with her DH to work from the quieter room so she wouldn’t have noise every day.
• she could wear headphones.
• as much as this is annoying (I would hate it!) there is no law preventing people from playing music and talking/laughing/shrieking in their garden.
• from OP’s other comments it sounds like she already dislikes the neighbors which usually doesn’t help with being objective.