New neighbour from hell

[Aliceinunderland]

We have had a new next door neighbour since January. He hasn't actually moved in yet and is currently doing a complete renovation on the house itself. We are a row of 1950's terraces but he is the end house, we live next door.
He introduced himself to us and brought a bottle of wine and some fudge round to apologise in advance for the work. I said that was really thoughtful and that he shouldn't worry as we are out working during the week. So far so good.
After this it turned into a living hell.
At first it was the drilling and banging until around 8pm at night. We said nothing because he's young and clearly excited about having his first home and as anyone would, wants to get it done quickly. This then escalated to all day Saturday and sometimes Sundays. I had a quick word and asked for him to let us know when he planned to work outside reasonable hours.
Then came the third party wall agreement that he tried to make us sign with 3 days notice until the work started. Unfortunately for him we rent so once he found this out, things escalated even more.
I had to go round again on a Sunday when there was continued banging to have him smirking in my face. He agreed to let us know when work was taking place in unreasonable hours and so I left hoping that my strong words had finally sunk in.
Well no. In short this Easter weekend was beyond anything I have ever experienced. Good Friday we were woken up by a company using a pneumatic drill to dig up his front path. I believe they were replacing the water pipe but it wasn't an emergency as when I asked the workmen why they were working on a bank holiday, they said the job had been booked in for weeks!? This went on until late afternoon. Easter Sunday we had banging as the neighbour was obviously (from the sounds) trying to board the walls. I went round at 3.30pm as we had family round and asked him to stop which to be fair, he did. Bak holiday Monday comes and yet again I am woken up at 9am by drilling, banging and general noise from the house. He had booked plasterers to come. I thought it would be one of the quieter jobs but no! I lost my shit. I couldn't even go round to say anything as I knew I would not be polite so my partner went and said any more noise in unreasonable hours would be reported. His reply, I'll let you know when work is being done on a bank holiday.
But we have two more bank holidays next month. The house looks nowhere near complete (I'm assuming he's planning to extend as he has boarded up the kitchen door) and I physically and mentally can't take any more noise. I have a stressful job and like to relax at home but that's impossible now.
Do I just go ahead and report him to the council? How are the companies allowed to do work on a bank holiday and who do I complain to about them? Am I just being upright and need to relax? I just can't take much more.

Have a look at your local councils guidelines.
Then report him for what happened over the weekend and every time after that.
Our council are really really good and take this seriously so hopefully you will get somewhere if you complain enough.

Seriously if that's all you have to worry about with your neighbours then you're doing really well.

Try getting your SLEEP disturbed through the night on a Friday and Saturday nights by loud neighbours....

I’m not sure he’s doing that much wrong. DIY is noisy, but needs doing.

What an inconsiderate dick. I'd look up your council rules on building work. Wouldn't hesitate to report him.

You can report it to you council as a noise nuisance, the time doesn't matter. I would mention it to landlord to take action as they won't want you to report it as they would need to declare it in the future if they were to sell. You have nothing to lose in reporting it.

What hours does the party walk notice say? There should be an appointed surveyor you can report too and I’d also say email the noise nuisance team also.

Council and landlord...

If he’s planning an extension/if there’s work being done to the exterior of the house he might have planning permission in place (if it doesn’t fall within permitted development). Try searching his address on your local planning portal and see. If there is a planning permission there might be conditions attached regarding the hours that construction can take place. If so you can report him to the planning enforcement team and they can serve a breach of condition notice.

I recently did some renovations. Knowing how frustrating never ending noise is for neighbours, I saw them beforehand and gave them a printed schedule of works so they knew when and how long the noisy work would be going on as well as when trades would be in. Everyone was really happy to know what was planned. I checked in regularly to make sure there were no issues. I got lovely feedback on the tradies and how respectful and polite they were (passed on to their employer). I also gave the neighbours a gift afterwards and thanked them for their patience.

That's what good, considerate neighbours do. I've lived next to selfish arseholes who have no consideration for anyone. You want to ram their circular saw so far up their backside every time it kicks off. I'd be reporting work done out of hours. To be fair though, 9 am is a reasonable start time.

Thanks to all the helpful posts, I think I will speak to the landlord and log it with the council. I'm still baffled how people are classing the work he is having done as DIY as it absolutely isn't that. DIY noise I can cope with, absolute deafening noise that vibrates throughout the house I can't.

Thanks to all the posts that agree with me, I think I will speak to the landlord and log it with the council.

Fixed your post for you

I wish you could teach our neighbour how to do it properly. It goes a long way when you have consideration for others.
I agree 9am is a reasonable start time Monday to Saturday. Not so much on good Friday or bank holiday Monday when there shouldn't technically be any noisy works happening.

Gosh we're all such lovely people!

He's doing up a house not running a fucking crack den

Jesus

Well in all honesty the ones that said I should expect noise living in a terrace house seems to think he's just doing DIY. And he absolutely isn't. He isn't living in the house and is never there when the workers are making the noise so not sure he could even offer an opinion about how we are being affected.
I very much doubt the people who are saying I should expect DIY noise would say the same after 3 months of this and no end in sight.

Tbf, have you, you know, asked when the end might be in sight?

Oh I hadn't thought of that. He actually stipulated in the agreement that no work would be carried out at the weekend but then promptly broke the agreement on a Saturday morning knocking down the adjoining chimney breast causing loads of noise and dust in our house. I left the landlord to deal with that one. Doesn't it just apply to the job in question though or does it apply to the whole renovation?

God, this reminds me of when our (detached) neighbours moved out for their renovations. The builders and contractors therefore thought an empty house meant they could come in at whatever hour they liked. The worst of all was at 5 to 6 in the morning on a hot bank holiday when all our windows were open overnight.
I MAY have lost my shit and yelled at the guy on a ladder 5 feet from my bedroom window hammering some roofing felt to their flat roof.
But I also discovered that phoning the council complaints number is not an option at that hour too.

I'm starting to think you might be my neighbour judging by the tone but yes actually we have asked him and he just says he doesn't know. All with a smirk on his face. Other gems I can think of include him saying he didn't realise we could hear him hammering despite the fact all his windows were open and he's in a practically derelict, empty house banging on the shared wall. or when he told me partner to sign the party wall agreement anyway despite knowing we are not able to legally do so as he had googled it and it was fine. The man is a quantity surveyor fgs he knows full well what he is doing

I agree with this.

I would ask him to wait until at least noon on a Sunday or BH Monday, it is irritating but also part if living in 50 year old terraced housing.

I'm in similar housing, someone's always renovating, including weekends, most of tne old neighbour are dead, houses are bought and upgraded.

I do actually empathise believe it or not.

But what you've described is far from a neighbour from hell. I unfortunately know.

What you've described is a man who obviously takes a pride in where he lives, is considerate (chocolate and wine upfront is more than I've ever had with reno neighbours!) And so far, smirks aside heaven forfend, polite.

You're the one who's talking about getting councils involved and scuppering plans and complaining to bodies.

Would you rather someone who moved in, run the house into the ground, play music at all hours and tell you to fuck off? Because believe me in a terraced street there but for the Grace of God!

Pick your poison and all that!

No I think YABU. You have someone that has moved into a neighbouring house and who is taking pride in their property.

I don't think the hours of work are that anti-social either, and I say that as an ex nightworker (maybe that has made me more tolerant?).

It isn't going to last forever, so I think you should grin and bear it, and I don't think you can actually do anything about anyone working on their own homes during those hours or on weekends and bank holidays.

I have thought about this which is why I haven't said anything when it's at night or even during a Saturday. I did think it was reasonable to ask him just to let us know if work was going to take place outside of reasonable hours because at least then we can make plans to go out/not have family round etc. He agrees but then doesn't do it.
I don't want a war with him at all as I like a peaceful life. I get to the point where I think just let him crack on but then I think why should I roll over when he hasn't shown is one inch of consideration and we don't get any benefit of the house being renovated. I should probably try and let it go though because it's having an impact on my health.

When are they supposed to do it? I assume they work too, so weekends and bank holidays are maybe the only option they have to carry out work and supervise contractors. It won't be forever.

I have lived in many places like the ones you described and experienced horrible neighbours so I have great sympathy for anyone experiencing that sort of harassment. But generally there is support (not enough granted) to deal with antisocial behaviour which is a criminal offence.
It's all relative. This is a quiet street and that's why I choose to leave council housing to privately rent here. The last two years have been devastating for me both physically and mentally and I want to be able to relax in my safe place. For the past three months and for the foreseeable future I have not been able to.
Believe me I want him to get his house done as quickly as possible but I also think there's compromise to be had. As other posters have commented, other people seem able to manage renovations without causing this much distress so why can't he?
The only reason I will log it with the council is to make him see that he can't continue like this. Chances are they won't do anything anyway and even if they do, it won't make a difference to him getting the work done, it might just give us one day of peace at the weekend which is ultimately all I want.

Genuinely curious question because it helps me to see where he might be coming from...why do you think there are times set by the council for noisy works to be done then? If you were doing the work would you not want to stick to the times set by the local council? If you needed to do the work on a bank holiday for example, would you not at least speak to your neighbour to let them know?