To tell my neighbour I won’t stop running on my treadmill?

[Oldhag5]

Following on from the thread about the piano teacher where the consensus seems to be she can teach and play piano in her own home…..
I am trying to lose weight and bought a new treadmill which I have put in my garage. The garage is in a block and there are two flats above the block. I was running/walking on it and the neighbour from upstairs came down and said ‘that’s a very noisy machine you’ve got there’. The neighbours have lived there about a year and we get on ok, pass the time of day etc but this has made me feel really uncomfortable. It was during the day and I’d only been on it for about 15 minutes. I wouldn’t plan to use it for more than half an hour a day. Surely if you buy a flat above garages you would realise there would be some noise? Just like I live in a terraced house, one side the neighbours have a treadmill and they use it for about 2 hours a day (couple both very into fitness) and whilst it can be annoying I accept they are entitled to use a treadmill in their home. So should I just carry on using it, should I stop or should I just face him out and say I’m not going to stop running on it? Maybe ask if there is a specific time he would like me to avoid but other than that use my own treadmill in my own garage?

Our treadmill is in our garage (detached house) with our bedroom above it. It’s on a mat on concrete garage floor. It’s loud in our bedroom when someone is on it and it’s an ongoing repetitive noise. Obviously it’s ok for us as only 2 of us in the house now and we can move to a different room. I guess your neighbour doesn’t know when the noise is going to start and when it’s going to stop which could become a bit stressful.

Just out of interest, have you checked the legal position as to whether you can use the garage as living space? I suspect if the conversation was him objecting rather than a casual remark, he will be looking it up.

How would they cope if you loved motorbikes and spent all weekend tinkering with engines, revving them as you test them etc. Half an hour is nothing. You shouldn't need to move it into the house.

I don’t think I have the right to do whatever I want. I am wondering if I am being unreasonable hence why I posted to get other people’s views on the situation. It is helpful to have people’s opinions on both sides of the argument to help me see things more clearly so thank you to all those who have commented. Mental health is a real thing, I can’t help feeling anxious about not wanting to upset people or feeling upset that I might not be able to carry on with my plan to lose weight.

That is interesting thank you and perhaps if I can generally use it at a regular time when he might not be using that particular room (I know from the previous neighbour that is is a ‘spare’ bedroom so don’t know what his use for that room will be now) that could be helpful.

I have looked through the folder of stuff we got from the solicitor when we bought the house and can’t see anything

Do you even know if the garage is leasehold? I think it must be with a flat over the top but I’m not an expert. If it is, there will be a lease somewhere that may well govern usage.

Similarly, if it is leasehold, you agreed to be governed by the requirements of the lease whether you know what they are or not.

Yes it’s leasehold

Well, there could be a law against it - the OP hasn't confirmed if they're subject to any restrictive covenants. Many new builds and/or leaseholds are.

But there doesn't need to be a law to stop you from knowingly pissing off your neighbours (just common decency), and I don't understand why the OP can't simply move the treadmill from the garage (which won't have soundproofing) to the house, which will.

The only thing you left out is: "This is such a first world problem!"

If a neighbour was annoying me I wouldn't hesitate to discuss it with them in a calm and reasonable manner. If it made them feel uncomfortable or troubled their mental health or weight loss issues that would still not override my issues.

What's wrong with that?

So are you saying the leasehold document says it’s fine or are you saying you haven’t found the leasehold document? If the property is leasehold, the lease must exist and you are legally bound by it whether you know the terms or not. My leasehold document runs to 20+ pages and covers pretty much everything about how I can use my flat, the common areas and the parking areas.

It is very very common for a garage with a flat over to have a term that it can only be used for the storage of a motor vehicle. Apart from anything else, no one wants a ‘storing Calor gas’ incident as mentioned by a PP when people are living overhead.

Yours may not mention usage of the garage but if your neighbour is going to be difficult, I’d want to be able to wave the lease at him. Are any of your neighbours using the garage for anything other than parking a vehicle? If not, they may know something you don’t.

I think that sounds a perfectly reasonable way to respond to his comments. Hopefully, he was also trying to be polite and reasonable in the way he said it was noisy, rather than going ballistic about it, and this is all sorted amicably, rather than going to the 'I can do whatever the fuck I want in my garage, you can't tell me what to do' type of response some posters feel would be the best way of approaching this.

The walls could be thin I live in a new build and the walls are thin you can hear people talking. If she could put it in the house she would there maybe no room to put it in the house. It will get cold soon so I imagine she couldn't fit it in her house.

No restrictions mentioned in the paperwork

Provided by ‘the paperwork’ you mean the original lease not just what the solicitor sent you, you are fine, then, particularly if you are going to try and minimise the noise.

Play loud music while you use your treadmill it’ll help mask the sound.

Oh yes, because if the neighbour isn’t annoyed now and was just making conversation, being even louder will help!

While it sounds like the OP can use a treadmill in the garage, I’m not sure she wants to go to ‘let’s deliberately enrage the neighbours by being as loud as possible’ at this stage.

Lots of people are blowhards

Why is the op getting such a hard time. 30 mins treadmill in a day - it could be so much worse. My family have motorbikes in garages, noise and odour worse than any treadmill.

He made one brief comment! He may be a ‘blowhard’ as you suggest but there is no evidence to support that claim and the OP has said she doesn’t want to fall out with the neighbours not that they are so awful she wants to annoy them as much as possible!

That sound isn't coming up through your floor

Why do people thing garages are only storage spaces? Garages were primarily made for noisy vehicles with combustion engines, I’m so confused with some of these responses.

Vehicles driving in and out. It doesn't take half an hour to park a car in a garage, or drive out of one.

So you can only use a Fp garage to park a vehicle?

I suppose just going out and running somewhere for half an hour would be a crazy idea?