Neighbours’ endless building work

[TraceyM15]

Just after some sympathy really. My neighbours have been renovating their two bedroom terraced house (adjoining mine) for almost three years. They started work on Boxing Day 2021 and have been knocking the hell out of the place all day every day, weekends and evenings, ever since. They’ve mostly been doing it themselves - the FIL is a builder - but there have been long periods, such the whole of this summer, when they have had a group of really rude jobbing builders in, who sit on the roof, flicking fag ends into my garden. I have tried being patient- it’s part of London life - but I think I’m finally at the end of my extremely long tether.

Yesterday, standing in my back yard, which has been overshadowed by their scaffolding for two and a half years, I had to have a little cry. Half of my plants have died for lack of sunlight. The rest are covered in brick dust. My car is always covered in dust too, since the FIL likes to set up his slab cutting machine right outside our adjoining front gates.

i feel like my home has been ruined. I can’t relax here. I WFH and find it impossible to concentrate when they’re working (yes, before you ask, I have tried wearing headphones and even industrial ear defenders). It’s not just the noise. Our houses are old and really small and the building works has shaken pictures off the wall.

i have lived on my street for nearly thirty years and have lovely neighbours on the whole but I can no longer bring myself to speak to the people next door because the cheery banter every time I encounter them - ‘Have we scared you out of your house again’ - is no longer a joke after two years and ten months.

Would it be unreasonable to have a curse put on their house? 😄 Please help me rediscover my sense of humour!

I feel your pain. Have you got a PW Award in place?

I think you do need to have a friendly chat with your neighbours. You need at least some indication of when the work is going to be finished and there is nothing wrong in asking.
We had new neighbours who decided to dig up their concrete patio in the middle of summer when the entire street had to keep their windows closed due to the noise and dust. It was going on for weeks and I was trying to work from home. I did eventually have to pay them a visit and ask when they expect the work to complete and would they be so kind to inform the street in the future by putting a note through the mail box. They were very nice about it and just hadn't realised how much disturbance it was causing as they were at work all day.

This is a very long time to be renovating what you describe as a small 2 bed house. I suppose it’s dragging on because they are doing a lot of it themselves, but all the same! Do you know what they are exactly doing? Is it a case of removing or moving Wales, that sort of thing? They sound very inconsiderate especially with the way their building work has affected your garden. I am very sympathetic x

Wales should have been ‘walls’, haha

As a fellow sufferer of interminable building works, YANBU.

Are the neighbours living there while the works are going on? I don't think people realise how intrusive noise and dust can be, especially if you have no idea when it's going to start up and how long it will go on for. It seems fine when you're the one weilding the hammer / drill / power saw or whatever, but when you're on the receiving end it can be like torture.

Have you had an honest conversation with them about the impact it's having, and to get an idea of how long it's going to go on for?

Getting on for three years is terrible. How much can there be left to do in a small house?

It really might be worth talking to them to see 1) how much longer they anticipate these works taking and 2) whether they could agree to some compromise where you get guaranteed quiet hours each week. At least that way you’d know when you were getting some respite.

Thank you, all. I have asked them how long they expect to be and it’s always ‘just another couple of weeks’. It feels pointless to try to have an honest conversation with them when the goal posts are always moving. Every time I see them it’s ‘we’ll be done soon’. The scaffolding was meant to be up for six weeks!

they have taken out walls and put in a loft extension. A lot of the work downstairs had to be redone because the wife decided that she wanted underfloor heating after everything was ‘finished’.

Honestly, I have tried to be a good neighbour. I even let them use my bathroom while they didn’t have one!

I was this neighbour while doing an extension. It seemed to take ages as one thing had to be done before the next. Coupled with often two vans and extra cars on the street. Luckily my neighbour bore it well as they too were interested in extending their properties. In fact my builder and trades ended up doing most of the estate.

@TraceyM15 complain to the council there's laws about when building work can be done and evenings and weekends are a big no no.
Normal rules are no noisy building work outside 8am - 6pm Monday-Friday and 8am-1pm Saturday no work is permitted on Sunday or bank holidays

Huge sympathy.

I would tell them everything you told us. Lay it on very thick, especially about the dust and your garden being overshadowed for 2.5 years.

Ask them for a specific date the scaffolding is going away.

Tell them that when this phase is ended, you are begging them for a six month break because the noise and disruption and uncertainty is making you unwell.

Anyone with any shred of sympathy would try to comply.

Wow that's awful, they sound very selfish.

Google your local council name and "building work hours" and it should tell you when they should be able to carry out loud work.

Our local council is Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm, Saturday 8am to 1pm and Sunday no work at all. You should be entitled to peaceful use of your house.

I would be more blunt with them, through a note if you feel it is better:

"Dear NDN,

You have been carrying out disruptive building works for at least X years now. This has been very disruptive to me, both in terms of noise levels and in terms of the scaffolding impeding the light in my garden and the dust levels over my property and car. I have been very patient, but I need to know when this work is going to come to an end. I have regularly been told "just a couple more weeks" but it seems never ending.

This is all really affecting my quality of life, so I would urge you to either confirm when the work is going to be completed, or perhaps take a break from the work to give me a break from the noise also.

For your information, X Council also states that you should not make any construction noise other than between 8am and 6pm Monday to Friday and 8am and 1pm on Saturdays. There should be no work that is audible to me on Sundays, public or bank holidays.

I can't stress to you enough how upsetting this now is for me. I have tried to be a good neighbour, but this is all just too much and I need to know when it will all be over."

If they don't respond, you can always make a complaint to the council for any work that is being done outside of the allowed hours.

Three years! Wtf call in the council