Building work & Builders!

[Pinkprincess21]

Builders are doing a rip-out and re-fit in the adjoining property, the hours they keep are 8am - 6pm it has been going on for a month now! No probs they have a job to do.
'History' The previous tenant was a nightmare growing drugs in the loft! He was attacked and stabbed for venturing into another drug lords patch... Culminating in them setting fire to the property at 11:30pm one Saturday night. He left leaving everything behind. He took the clothes on his back and his dog, the rest was burned in the fire!
My husband is 76 and I'm 60 this is affecting us badly!
Now we are glad he's gone but.. This building work is taking its toll. One guy turned up at 8am Saturday morning sanding! And told my elderly husband, I'll be back to do the same on Sunday morning.. I told him! No your not! Sunday's you can't make any noise with power tools, sure paint and do things that don't cause disturbance,like drilling, sanding etc but Sunday's is a no, no
He was an absolute arrogant @ss😬

He spoke really rudely and abrupt, disrespectful to my husband... I'm fuming!
So the lady attached to the other side of the property is 90!! She's sick to death of it all and locks herself in her bedroom to escape the noise as she cannot watch her TV in the living room due to the noise!! When it's sunny then they do a bit of work then there sitting on chairs at the front of the house sunning themselves!
They are dragging this work out excessively, albeit the interior looks amazing.
Are we being unreasonable requesting, they don't do building work at week-ends, the firm of builders is part of a social housing group whom we know Don't work at weekends!! This lone Saturday, Sunday guy is doing a foreigner he told us so, and other things, now he's taking advantage of our good nature and is bullying my husband I te him stop knocking, but it's driving him nuts... There's no respite!! 🤬

Are you in the UK? Noise Act states that you shouldn’t make excessive noise between 11pm and 7am so they are well within that. I don’t think the rules are different on Sundays.
How is he bullying your husband? I get that he was rude to DH but you are basically telling him he can’t do his work as it doesn’t suit you. Builder’s noise is very annoying - two houses in our street are having work done at the moment and the noise and dust etc is awful but the longer hours they do the quicker they will finish.

Edit to add - some websites do seem to suggest you can’t make noise on a Sunday. You wouldn’t know that if you lived here!

If they are not working as professional builders, I don't think the Sunday rules apply .so if they are mates, which it sounds like they may be ( if they stop and sunbathe) then I think they may be exempt

Neighbours had an issue when we got our house, we were ripping the whole house out, literally back to brick and starting again
Kitchen, Bathroom, Floors, everything…
But i made sure any loud works didnt start till 10am and were done by 4/5pm and no ongoing loud noises on the weekends but they still had complaints

It took 13 weeks

I understand the annoyance to the neighbours but what did they want us to do?
Not renovate?

Now the neighbours barely know we live here, we are so quiet

Thanks, to everyone, who replied. We where working under the assumption that, general construction work should be restricted to the following hours: Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm. Saturdays 8am to 1pm. Noisy work is prohibited on Sundays and bank holidays!

I had some work done when I moved into my new house and the professionals I hired for various jobs (rewiring, plastering, plumbing) only worked weekdays between 8.30am and 4pm.

One of the neighbours opposite is having is roof done at the moment and again the roofers only work during the week and are done by 4pm.

This does not sound like professional builders...

Honestly every Sunday they don't work is a Monday that they do. Sounds like the house really needs a lot of attention so I'd just grit your teeth and let them get it out of the way as quickly as possible.

Sorry OP but it really depends if they have planning permission in place which is 8-6 in the week and 8-12 Saturday

If no planning permission was requested as part of it then it's a bit of a free for all and you are relying on good will.

Thanks everyone who replied to my original post. To be honest, the builders didn't bother myself, they have a job to do so 'crack-on' as far as I'm concerned, get it done quick and they are gone,. But I find it difficult explaining to my 76 year old husband how building regs work, yes it's noisy, yes there is dust, rubbish etc, the hubby is an old ex-builder and it's ticking him off as they don't work like they used to years back! He seems to think anything goes it's a free for all!
Then I have a 90 year old on the other side who is telling me she hides all day in her bedroom as she can't comfortably sit and watch her TV in the living room. And emerges when they have gone!
I'm between a rock and a hard place, seeing the builders side, yet seeing two elderly people, affected by the noise and duration of the work, it's upsetting.
I reached-out to my Local Council & the EH and found-out I was correct about times of work permitted, Mon - Fri 8 - 6, Sat 8:30 - 2 Sundays No noisy work is permitted. The builders here have been accommodating and that's good. And I don't mind as long as they keep to the rules of the game, we've never experienced this before, it's all new.
I wanted to put some feelers out, gauge people's reaction, points and it seems to be across the board that sadly building work and 'getting the job done is paramount over Elderly people's sanity and understanding, it's very distressing to them, even though today you see houses being ripped-out and re-fitted all the time, but to Elderly people it affects them considerably.
We knew the house next door Had to be renovated, that's a given, but gone are the days of posting to your neighbourhood or those tenants that will be directly affected by building work any form of 'Notice of intent.' which warn of excessive noise & building works and the planned time frame from start to completion, with a bit of allowances with the start and finish date, so as to give people fair notice, warning.... We never had that!
The other law regards' The quiet piece & enjoyment of your home, ' I'm hearing this a lot! I'm trying to reason with my husband & neighbour whilst making sure the builders adhere to the given laws that are in place to protect people's, quiet enjoyment of their homes and their sanity. Whilst trying to reason between both party's.
Maybe you guys have higher noise tolerance levels, I don't know tbh..
At this moment I've suggested we pack-up and take ourselves out of the situation for two weeks! My other elderly neighbour should do the same, holiday with relatives. Then these builders can 'crack on to their hearts content.'
I can hear the hubby ranting... 'Its lawless these days! Anything goes.'. I'm going for a long bike-ride....

If they are working on any walls that are adjacent to yours then there should be a Party Wall agreement. This is a legal document. It can set out the times of work, how and whom to raise complaints too etc.

Ohh, I wasn't aware of that! Thanks, I'll check it out. Thanks everyone, sincerely, appreciated