Noisy neighbours

[chickencuddles]

We've lived in our house for about 5 years, it's a detached Victorian house. The house next to us is a similar size, and when we bought our house, was divided into flats. No problems from any of the neighbours there.
However, last year the entire building was sold, and it has been converted into a residential home for adults with additional needs.
The noise levels coming from the house now have increased dramatically. There is loud screaming and roaring for much of the day (sporadically). If we sit out in the garden for any period of time, we have to listen to the noises occurring every 10 minutes or so. I wouldn't want to have people over for a BBQ or whatever because honestly it's not something I want to have to sit through. We have now stopped leaving our back doors open onto the garden.
As far as I know there was no consultation on this change of use for the property, and equally I don't mind what the house is being used for, but I do mind the level of disruption the noise is causing us.
If I complain to the council, I assume this is recorded and we have to declare it on paperwork when we sell, therefore reducing our chances of selling in the future. I feel a bit trapped by this. Does anybody have advice on how to deal with a situation like this? Thanks! To reiterate, I don't mind who lives there... but I really do mind listening to the screaming and shouting that goes on.

When we had ndn with very screamy dsc we took a radio out into the garden. Does actually disguise the sounds... Or headphones.
Likely you will be told to be more tolerant but I would also lose my mind in your shoes op.

Go speak with the management at the facility. Explain what you have explained here in a non-confrontational tone, and ask what may be done to help you regain the use of your home and yard.

And then, if you feel that nothing can be done, or they are unwilling, you may want to consider moving. I know that seems to be a drastic response, but if you feel that you cannot force change as it will get recorded and affect your property values, then you may want to stay ahead of that. If you are having issues, it is likely that others are as well.

Gosh this sounds like it shouldn’t be legal! They’ve thwarted your enjoyment of your home without consultation. It outdoor be awful to sell to anyone knowing what you are letting them in for. I’d sell, move away, try to sell to a developer or something.

Unfortunately, I don't know that much can be done to minimise the noise. Soundproofing only goes so far, and if they need the windows open or to use their outdoor space, all the soundproofing in the world won't help.

You can of course ask if there's anything they can do, and you can try to mask the noise with music and ambient sound played at a low volume, but ultimately, I'd expect this to be a part of life for the foreseeable future. I'm afraid that would drive me up the wall, so I'd seriously consider moving, if you can. And as PP said, I'd try to do it sooner rather than later.

Oh god I wasn't expecting people to suggest moving! We've just spent quite a bit of money from an inheritance I received adding our dream kitchen extension to the back (started before the neighbours arrived!) and I think it would be a hard time to sell as the house is in a highish price bracket, and in our area those sorts of houses don't seem to be selling particularly well at the moment. So I feel like we're trapped here for the foreseeable. And I love everything about our house... except the noise 😓

I think you will have to get headphones, your house won't be easy to sell either due to the noise and screaming.

Make more noise than your neighbours, then see how they like it!

Look at sound insulation panels for the adjoining walls?

If selling isn't an option right now, maybe you'll be able to get used to the noise, with the assistance of headphones and music. If the noise is ever a problem inside, I'd try to soundproof, but if it's more of an outdoor issue, that at least seems more manageable. You can either warn guests ahead of time about the sounds they'll likely hear (and mask it with music) or just not entertain outdoors.

You could bang on the walls to see how they like it, or speak to them. Why spend money on people's ignorance?

We're detached, luckily, but the sound seems to travel right into our garden and into our windows. We have big single glazed sash windows, annoyingly! I hate all forms of confrontation so I might send my husband round to speak to the manager. The owners of the home have their own son there being cared for, so we might ask to speak to them as well. It's only been especially bad in the last few weeks, so I wonder if some new residents have arrived that have been making extra noise...

Definitely second the ‘non-confrontational’ chat approach. They may have no idea the noise carries and is affecting you and certainly won’t change anything if they are unaware. But they may be open to change once they do know.

You understand that they aren't doing this on purpose and likely have little control over it, right?

The council turned the terraced family home next door to mine into a care home. They had to have a change of use planning permission. The noise level raised and I complained about all the screaming, so they increased the soundproofing and then it wasn't so bad. I would contact the council to mske sure that it was all done legally.

I think we will suggest additional soundproofing on their side rather than ours. And perhaps they are leaving doors/windows open so the sound is travelling into the garden, so we will mention this as well. Their residents also use their garden, which is obviously fine but perhaps we can agree certain times for this, or we can let them know if we have visitors round and hopefully they can work around it.

If the previous use of the property was a house, this falls under C3 under planning. There is not permitted change to residential institutions which fall under class C2. Check Council records if there is planning permission for this or ask the Council's planning team to investigate. If it is found that there is no planning permission, the council would either invite an application or request the use to stop. Your details would be confidential.

The people making noises have additional needs they are not being deliberately noisy or antisocial. To call them ignorant or to say suggest banging on the wall just shows a complete lack of understanding.

The fact that the houses are detached takes away from the knocking/banging on the walls....but as usual no-one reads the OP