To think they should just wrap up the bl**dy works??

[AhaHa]

We live in a terraced house and our neighbours have been doing works for the last year and a half.
They dug out a basement, big skip in front of the house, erected scaffolding at the front and the back, boarded up windows etc. 18 months later they have only just finished the digging for the basement. Realistically we’re looking at many more months of dust all over the place, garden a dump, scaffolding literally hanging over our front door, noise noise noise, male workers hanging out in front of my bedroom window etc. No amount of cleaning can keep our home free of dust.
AIBU to think such a long and drawn out project is a nuisance and should not be allowed?
I’m sure that nobody intended for it to take so long but damn, it’s making life miserable. One of us has allergies and the last 12 months have been a string of sneezing and respiratory issues and the usual antihistamines don’t seem to work.
Has anyone experienced similar? What action can you take?
I thought neighbours were nice enough before… but I’m really irked by their thoughtlessness and I’m feeling a rage start to build up...

I’m sure it’s annoying, but who knows what the reason is? Maybe they’re having major life issues or massive unexpected expenses or something. Also as far as not being allowed, I don’t know who would be in charge or allowing it or not or policing that really- it seems hard to pin down how much work someone “should” be doing on their home and how long each project “should” take.

As I said, I’m sure it’s extremely annoying though and I hope for your sake it’s wrapped up soon!

Surely the dust is a health hazard? A colleague of mine told me of a friend of hers in a similar situation successfully took neighbours to court claiming nuisance / unjustifiable interruption of the quiet enjoyment of the property and also trespass over the bit of the scaffold that hung over her property for longer than permission granted.

If it's any consolation my neighbours did a similarly long renovation and they overspent so much they ended up selling it on to what are the perfect neighbours

Luckily their builders were lovely and very considerate at stopping any noise when asked for things like online meetings I had when WFH

The neighbour on the other side to them was constantly on at the council for certain issues

I'd definitely contact the council re the dust because they should be containing that

Yes you can and should do all of this and be onto the council

Send emails instead of trying to get through by phone

I feel your pain. My next door neighbours did a massive front and back extension that went on for over a year.

I was working nights at the time (not their problem I know) and trying to sleep during the day through their work was awful. Add in the builders blocking my driveway, the road constantly being blocked with delivery lorries, the dust and the noise, I was well and truly fed up of them and their extension by the end of it.

It irrationally changed the way I feel about the neighbours...not once did they apologise or ask how inconvenience could be minimized for us

At the end of the work, they have a lovely new extension...we are left with having had over 13 months inconvenience and a crap view of their new wall instead of the nice view of fields that we had before.

YANBU.

A neighbour down the road has been doing his house up for bloody ages and it looks such a mess. If I were next door to it I'd be so fed up. It's really quite inconsiderate.

I have this going on with me at the moment. I also live in a terraced house and the neighbours have been behaving like this with their house works for over 18 months. I want to complain to the council, but they make it so difficult to complain it's absurd.

Interesting. It seems like all over the country there are families trying to peacefully enjoy life being screwed over by inconsiderate and inefficient neighbours.
I think anything beyond 18 months when it’s super noisy and dusty should be illegal, or at least, involve serious compensation to neighbours.

It becomes clearer when you look at rental properties. Lots of works going on right now in my neighbourhood and I’ve heard both landlords and renters complaining bitterly. It usually seems to end with landlords giving renters a big discount literally losing 20 percent upward of their rental income.