Neighbour complaining about dripping sound

[Ihategroutwhatisthepoint]

Posting on behalf of friend.

Friend lives on a well to do cul de sac. The cul de sac was built in the 70s. Most residents are people who bought back in the 70s with children that have grown up and left. The houses have large front and back gardens. Friend is among one of the only new, young families to have moved on to the close.

Pre -Covid friend and her husband were well off and had a relative who helped with the garden. But Covid left them in debt as they borrowed personal loans to keep business afloat: Friends’ mental health took a deep dive but they carried on looking after their young children and their various extra curricular stuff. Relative who helped with garden moved away.

Friend does not have the capacity to deal with gardens. Which has pissed some neighbours off. The street takes a lot of pride in the front gardens as most residents are retirees - often up at 7am mowing lawns at weekends. Friend swill spend one weekend doing a massive job in the garden (poor tools) but it’s not something they mainatain so within 2 months it can look shit again.

Friend’s next door neighbour has complained to them about a dripping noise that is leaking from friends’ pipe onto friends’ garage. It is literally one drip per second. Friends cannot afford plumber and pipe is in precarious position (garage roof is not strong enough to stand on). Neighbour says it annoys him when he is in his garden. His garden is his life must be outside and 10 hours a day.

Friends’ solution is to chuck towels underneath to stop noise but this only works for a day or two.

Friends can’t move due to mortgage set up. They would never be able to afford this size of house in probably one of the best cul de sacs in this commuter town.

Who is being unreasonable?

Friend is BU.

The neighbour is just being picky. We have no control in what people do or don't do in their own gardens

Your friend is being unreasonable for not maintaining their property

Your friend is completely unreasonable. Dripping noises are used for torture for a reason.

i am not even sure how you can ask this

And if it damages your neighbours garage, they will liable for the costs to fix it

Friends wanted to put a big sponge thing on roof to at least stop noise but her husband is worried the weight of the water absorbed sponge will damage roof due to weight. Roof is cheap corrugated plastic.

Your friend needs to fix the leaky pipe. It doesn't matter if anyone thinks the neighbour is being petty or moaning unnecessarily the fact is the pipe is leaking and likely causing significant damage over time to the neighbours roof. It needs fixing asap. All that aside I must admit the constant dripping would be driving me bonkers.

They have less than no money. Bailiffs are being managed. Each month they have to prioritise which bills can be paid. It’s a nightmare scenario for them.

It is not neighbours garage being impacted. Dripping water is coming from friend’s pipe onto friend’s garage. Neighbour’s garage is on other side of house.

What is the pipe that's dripping ? Is it the guttering? Or an overflow from the house?

The source of the drip may be a very cheap fix.

oops

Explain circumstances to neighbour and ask if they can help or know someone who could.

It might be a simple fix. Where is the drip originating from?

If things are that bad then they need to prioritise moving to be honest. Although they do still need to fix the leak, have they actually looked at what is causing it to leak?

Well then they will have to sell up and move to a smaller property.

Our local kindness group have a list of people who carry out minor repairs for free for those who cannot genuinely pay, see if there is a similar scheme.

Agree with PP’s who suggested finding the source of the leak. If it’s the cistern on the loo, the innards of this can be replaced easily for under a tenner…

They need to accept they cannot afford the life they want and sell up. It sounds like a miserable and stressful way to live anyway. Who wants to live in a house they can't maintain, constantly fighting off bankruptcy?

From a wasting water perspective it’s not great, and if it’s just an overflow pipe from a toilet cistern or water tank it’s probably an easy fix that has nothing to do with standing on the roof. In the longer term it sounds like your friend can’t afford to live in this house and needs to move - either to a smaller house or less desirable area.

From an annoying the neighbour perspective I think he’s being ridiculous - I don’t understand how he even notices a very small leak in a large garden above the noise of birds, 7am lawnmowers and like. Suggest she puts up wind chimes to mask the noise, might give neighbour some perspective.

Is it the guttering that's dripping? It's often a really easy fix or even just leaves needing cleaning out of the gutter - we've got a lad who does ours for £20.

Do you know where the leak is coming from?
The sound of constant dripping water would drive me crazy, and it's only ever going to get worse, one day depending on the cause it may progress from a leak to a full blown gush.

"well do do cul de sac"
Or a nice tidy cul de sac with lovely tidy well cared for gardens?
If it's the latter I can see why some of the neighbours are a bit unhappy, the area only has lovely gardens because of the work/up keep involved.

Friend does not have the capacity to deal with gardens.
Are friend and the DH disabled in some way?
If so is there a charity in the area that helps do gardening?

It seems to me that your friends are coming up with excuses not to fix the problem. However, as it's their pipe and their roof there's not a lot the neighbour can do. The towel / sponge is a temporary solution, and as long as it's regularly changed it should avoid the drip... drip... drip noise that irritates the neighbour so much, so in the short term that's OK. But really they need to be looking at fixing the problem, to avoid damage to their property for one thing.
I agree with PP, a constant dripping sound every second, all day every day, is enough to drive the most calm person insane.

The drip will collect somewhere, either on the roof or into gutters, if its just a plastic corrugated flat roof it will just sit there

If it is the toilet overflow it might be temporarily fixable by bending the ballcock arm.

If it isn't rainwater then it will be wasting water and possibly costing them money if they are on a meter.

I don’t know what your friend’s mortgage set up is, but if they have bailiffs on their doorstep then it is only a matter of time before they lose their house anyway. while the state of their garden may be annoying the neighbours, things like dripping pipes are going to turn into bigger problems for them and affect the sale value of the house. Have they made any attempts to find out what the issue is?

Friends can’t move due to mortgage set up. They would never be able to afford this size of house in probably one of the best cul de sacs in this commuter town.

Friend absolutely can move despite mortgage set up. If they default on the mortgage they could be repossessed and will need to look for a 'lesser' house in a worse cul de sac. A dripping tap is the least of their worries if they've got bailiffs at their door!