Neighbours moaning about noise

[KarenTrex]

Hi

moved in to new house recently and I live alone. The house was empty for around 8 months before I moved in.

Its a semi detached. The soundproofing is really awful. If I sit in silence I can hear their microwave, even when they turn a tap on. I can hear all noise.

Last night I had 2 friends come round and we were having a drink but we wasnt playing music or anything like that just the 3 of us talking and having a nice drink.

at 1am they knocked the door asking if I could keep the noise down. They moaned at me again today saying they can constantly hear noise from my TV in the day and they said they like it to be quiet as they go to bed at 10pm and I said I could hear them arguing in the day and they didnt say anything.

Their sound has never bothered me I wear earplugs at night and even before I wore them the only times I have been woken up at night is by loud motorbikes going past, never from them. I feel like I cant have friends around late in the evening as they will just moan.

Am I being unreasonable to ignore them, even if it's the middle of the night?

Vote I am being unreasonable if I should be quieter
Vote I am not being unreasonable if I should not care
If youre somewhere between these two dont vote

Thank u.

It's the same here! I can hear their air fryer, microwave, washing machine jingle to say it's finished etc etc. their electric shower going on & off. It's just life.

He's quite noisy as he's heavy handed, but it's not deliberate. It's just life.

@KarenTrex

you're not doing anything wrong! when they complain, tell them it's within permitted noise levels, you're allowed to live in your house!!

you're even allowed to talk to friends at 1am
in your own home.

personally I can't wear ear plugs or headphones, so I've just learnt to live with it!! It does sometimes sound like they're in my house, that's a bit disconcerting!

@NearlyBritishSummertimeYay thank you this is how I feel

I've had similar issues when I lived in a flat. If you're just chatting at a conversational level, YANBU.
If you're talking very loudly (so easily done in a group, especially if you've had a few drinks) the you might possibly be unreasonable, but even then the sound has to constitute a nuisance for anyone to be able to do anything about it.

Ok.

Thanks everyone for voting majority voting Im not being unreasonable so I'll ignore them when making noise at 1am thanks

Well you either confront the neighbour or put up with it or move. Sound Proofing is a solution - which BTW you can do DIY

I mean, don't purposely make noise at 1am but by all means have your mates round every now and then.
They are being ridiculous.

@BIWO no, I dont need to confront my neighbour and I dont need to move. I can choose to ignore and hence why I've made this thread.

@BIWO Stupid post.

YABU you need to make some effort

If you are just making day to day noise then I really wouldn’t worry. If they knock again just tell them they are lucky you don’t have children yet, and you can hear them talking, but there is nothing that can be done.

@CatamaranViper yeh I mean in the week I dont have anyone round as I work Monday to Friday so Im quiet anyway

I think they got used to the quiet when my house was empty.

When I moved in, I played my tv too loud accidentally in the day and they came round, banged on my front window and looked straight through my living room whilst I was sat in it

My neighbour wakes me up every morning having a shower, doesn’t mean he shouldn’t shower o the morning.

Op, I think you’re fine, and please ignore the posters trying to bully you; it’s clearly very bad if you can hear a microwave, and you’ve been accommodating and don’t complain about them. If they live in a property with so little sound proofing they need to accept they will have neighbour noise and it is unreasonable to demand you go to bed at ten like them. They need to get ear plugs, move, or pay for sound proofing. You do not need to do the latter.

By all means have her mates round now and again?? She can have her mates round all day every day if she wishes, it’s her home!

I'm sure this exact thread has been posted before, YANBU your neighbours are twats.

But you are thinking about cheap wardrobes and actually, insulated acoustic plasterboard would be cheaper.

Sorry, that came out wrong, I meant cos no one can do it all day every day! Surely their social battery would be drained dry!

Now and then? She could have them around every day, she could move them in if she wanted to?

Like I said originally, sounds like a them problem

1am is kind of unreasonable. Especially when you know the place isn't sound proof

I agree with you, it's their problem. As long as you're not too noisy too often then they need to deal with it or move.

I would find this very claustrophobic and would 100% invest in soundproofing. I think it's the only solution. It's not fair on you to not be able to enjoy your house the way you want and not fair to them to be kept awake etc. Neither of you are particularly in the wrong. But I couldn't feel comfortable in my home knowing they could hear every word I say.

Under the circumstances if you disturb them till 1 am don't be surprised if they return the favour at 5 am. Swings and roundabouts.

1am is not unreasonable to be chatting with friends in your own home!

Exactly the same thread more or less word for words a few weeks ago. Weird.
Almost as if mumsnet were recycling posts.

Could you rearrange.ge your furniture so that there's more "stuff" between you/them/the shared wall? For example, we once lived in a flat with poor soundproofing so put our bed against the external wall and put wardrobes against the shared wall. It wasn't perfect but it did lessen the noise by a reasonable amount.