To confront my neighbours

[neighbourhoodhell]

So, would love opinions on how to deal with this situation.

Neighbours moved in 3 or so months ago and when they moved in, I went over to introduce myself and say hello and welcome etc etc. They seemed friendly and apologised about the upcoming work they will be having done, asked if I WFH to which I said yes, hybrid but majority at home.

For the past 3 months, every single day there has been drilling, hammering, shouting etc that has been pretty unbearable however, I have just let it slide and put my headphones in... I should also add that the work starts at around 7am and finishes about 9pm... and goes on over the weekend on both Saturday and Sunday!

Last weekend we got a card through the door apologising and saying thanks for the patience etc, and that they were nearly half way through... I thought oh god another 3 months of this hell, but again thought they are doing what they need to do, keep shtum and say thanks for the note.

Until today.... my whole house is shaking, the noise is unbearable and my colleagues and clients can no longer actually hear me on calls (with or without headphones) and no matter what room I work in, it is the same! I had a peep in and it looks like they are completely knocking down walls and building a brand new kitchen

SO WIBU to go round and ask for clarity on what work happens on what day so I can plan accordingly and let them know I can no longer WFH because of them... or should I just grin and bear and try and go into the office more (although this costs me £50 a day...!)

Not only would I go round & speak to them but I would invite them round to yours so they can actually hear what you are having to put up with & try to work though!

Check noise level laws as I believe they may not be able to start until 8am & have to abate by 6pm & have work not happen at all on a Sunday for your sanity!
If their work means you have to go into work & that costs you £50 a day they are going to need to potentially compensate you for the inconvenience as they did not mention that the work that would be going would be a full remodel of their home when they asked if it was ok & apologised initially!

You think they’ll compensate OP £50 a day….. why? What rule does that come under?

@Blowdown You completely missed POTENTIALLY & that conversation would be between OP & her neighbours.
At the end of the day the new neighbours to be are bang out of order. When they spoke to OP they asked if ‘a bit of renovation work’ would bother them, including asking if OP works from home, then proceeded with a full internal rebuild involving jack hammers etc 7days a week. These weekly work times would not acceptable on any building site!

https://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/What_hours_are_construction_sites_allowed_to_operate%3F

There is no way I'd be compensating at £50 a day. Even if I got confronted

You completely missed the POINT!! No one is POTENTIALLY going to give any compensation due words used!

What difference would it have made to OP, if they’d used different words? Would it make it better now? How would you in-force this “compensation?”

please do tell me?

The times are something else, I didn’t mention those!

Exactly!

Thinking practically, do you have a friend or family member who goes out to work that you could use their space to work?

You need to check with your local council but there are regulations around when you can undertake noisy work like this. Where I live you can only do heavy building work 8am to 6pm and 9 to 1pm on a Saturday. No work is permitted on Sundays or bank holidays as you have a right to a family life. This level of work is not acceptable. I would ask to meet with the owner and ask them to confirm the schedule. I am presuming you have no party walls involved and if you do that you have a party wall agreement in place to protect your rights.

It’s not their responsibility to provide you with office conditions in your home. You have an office , use it.

You can ask them, but in my experience the builders show up when they fancy it and often don't stick to schedules. Any schedules tend to go quickly out of the window as jobs are usually dependent upon the availability of specific materials and specific builders/tradesmen in a specific order. The tradesmen are constantly flitting between jobs. I doubt that your neighbours have very much control over the process.

Ok, I was taking it as face value! All joking aside we did have that when before old neighbours moved in as his mates who were allegedly 'in the trade' seemed to work in shifts and thought it was reasonable to do the noisy work in the evenings. Not sure what trade though as it sounds like a catalogue of disasters from what previous neighbours have said!

Ask them what's going on and ask them to pay your travel expenses. X

And maybe also compensation for her time spent travelling on an hourly rate? Also pay for having lunch out? And a Costa on route? And a takeaway because she’ll be back late from the travelling?

Lovely !

3 months of all that noise and another 3 months...?? Jeez ..they build housing estates in that time.. what the hell are they doing..?
I think they are rubbish builders.. suppose you can't say much..but it's unreasonable .
Maybe you could ask how long they plan to be doing alterations and say you can't work at home until they are finished..and you need to inform your workplace??

3 months... 7 days a week. WTF! What Shocking, selfish and inconsiderate neighbours you have. I cannot believe people on here are defending this behaviour. Everybody is so entitled these days and f#$k the rest of us. You have my utmost sympathy you poor soul.

Working outside of permitted hours, I would complain about but the fact that you WFH doesn’t have any bearing.

@Blowdown sarcasm is the lowest form of whit.
I would as them to pay my travel expenses into the office as I would not have to go otherwise.
You might not agree but that's what I would do

It’s wit not whit!

Ask all you like, but I’d laugh at you.

Ridiculous request, because you choose to work from home!

Not your neighbours problem.

Ok to ask them not to work outside of permitted hours but totally ridiculous to expect them to compensate for neighbours WFH. Where does that end? Paying for shift workers to hire hotel rooms?

8am-6am are the legal building hours and my understanding is that noisy works should be avoided on a Sunday and earliest they can start on a Saturday is 9am. I have been surrounded by developers by almost ten years and these hours are standard. I think you need to question the hours they are working and politely but firmly make it clear they need to be more considerate. I wouldn’t have put up even with a week of those hours.

I’d say check your deeds. Using houses as offices is often prohibited. It is only goodwill and the pandemic that has made this situation “acceptable”. Wfh can be a nightmare for neighbours. All last summer every time I wanted to spend time in my garden it was like stepping into next door’s office. Ha spent alot of time on very loud telephone calls while out in his garden. It was impossible to get any peace.

Whatever you decide just remember if they shorten their working day or cut weekends then the work goes on longer… also remember you could potentially be stuck living next door to them till you decide to move, so being on civil terms is always preferable.
It is inconsiderate of them but perhaps they just want it done asap! I’d be tempted to politely knock their door and ask if the work is going to remain so noisy as you can’t work and see what they say…. They might be able to reassure you that the noisiest part is done and dusted! But if they can’t reassure you then maybe you have somewhere else you can work remotely from? A friends/parents/cafe/library?
Does sound awful but not sure much you can do

The attitude of the OP on how she replies to posts says it all.
neighbours seem nice enough, they are doing construction, OP just needs to ask about extended hours and weekends if this bothers her. OP comes out from this thread as not so nice…

most big renovations have a degree of walls out floors up possibly RSJs in all super noisy
then it will be second fixed etc plastered painted tiling etc kitchen fitted , not house shaking noise , should get bit better the further in they get , apart from radio builder the noise levels should drop a bit
as far as asking your neighbours for payment for your travel , madness don’t go there

If you work from home surely this sort of thing has to be expected now and again. You can't expect them to work around you simply because you are working there.

And before you tell me I wouldn't deal with it any better, I had building work, including whole new offices being built, behind me in my actual workplace!