Tell me about your nightmare detached neighbours

[AmpleTealWasp]

Hi
I live in a semi detached and neighbours are annoying noisy and i see on here people say they stretch themselves to afford a detached

is detached worth it or does anyone have nightmare neighbours whilst living in a detached id like to hear your nightmare detached house neighbour stories!

Yes it is, it just shows that unless you don't have neighbours, you can be plagued with bad ones, no matter what kind of house you live in.

Sometimes it’s not the neighbours directly next door that’s the nightmare, it can be the ones who live right across the street from you.

Yes, you could, but they are further away!

I know that feeling. Good luck going forward.

I think with a semi detached, sharing the party wall is the main problem if neighbours are noisy when you’re trying to sleep.

But there’s bastards everywhere so…..

@Judiezones much like my experience, minus the puppy. I won't live on a new build estate ever again.

I'm very rural now, and have 1.5 steep acres to maintain, but my god it's worth it to have a peaceful summer.

That’s my idea of heaven.

There are detached houses right on top of each other surrounded by other houses all around and then there are other ones, usually older, with a good gap between them and maybe bigger gardens too.
we compromised on our last house purchase to get something within our budget with just neighbours on each side, a road in front with a big house's garden the other side of the road and fields behind us. But you have to careful with fields as there's always a risk they'll get built on one day.

our DD had to share a bedroom but they had a big garden to play in and make us much noise as they wanted. House buying is always about having to compromise somewhere in my experience.

One of the first things my nightmare neighbours told me was that they'd had to move because they had horrible neighbours. No doubt they're telling their new neighbours how awful we were and that's why they had to move.

People like this don't see that they are the problem, not everyone else.

My house is line attached - there’s a garage linking us. It means we get the benefit of not hearing the neighbours through the walls with a reduced price compared to fully detached. Previously we had a terraced townhouse and the build quality was good so we didn’t hear neighbours through the walls - I imagine they heard us with 3 dc aged 3 and under.

where we are now, quiet small cul de sac, we have an issue with neighbours. They’re all quite polite but a landlord is renting one as an hmo - illegally. It means one house has 5 cars with parking for one! And they chat outside at 1am when they get home from work. They good part is our garden is completely private but that’s not always true of detached houses.

@AmpleTealWasp so I’m a single female who previously lived in a semi and it ruined my life! The original neighbours were fine, lots of noise from their young children but that’s okay as it’s natural and to be expected. Also there were occasions where they’d blast out retro pop music lol and I put up with it as it was occasional after all. But then they sold it to a couple with an older child so you’d assume noise would if anything be negligible. But omg, my first experience was being woken up early hours of the morning when they were hoovering their bedroom adjoining mine before zooming off in their car! Odd times to prepare the house but okay. When they actually properly moved in, I had to put up with loud music with a thumping vibrating bass from 10-3pm several nights per week even though the guy seemed to have a job and the woman PT. They’re frequently argued and I could hear bodies being slammed against the wall one time and the girl screaming to them to stop. Police were called also one time. It was impossible to sleep and I used to sleep in my old tiny box room at my my parents around the corner luckily so it was walking distance.

After that I vowed I’d never ever have a semi again. I had sever PTSD from it! Several years later, still single but I now live in a more affluent area with a link detached and have to say that yes a few times during the summer I can hear my neighbours but usually it’s family noise maybe some radio. And that’s usually only when it’s very warm and windows are open and days are long. But the vast majority of the time I hear nothing. It’s so amazing to wake up in silence and be able to go to bed in silence. Even at my parents semi, I could hear neighbours really loud tv when I was trying to sleep. (I wake at 4.50 so would try to sleep 10pm). Also it’s so amazing to be able to watch films full blast anytime of the day or night. Similarly just amazing to be able to wake up peacefully and crank up your music and just be free to dance and sing loudly in your own home at all times of the day with no fear of bothering anyone. NB I’m caveating this with UK weather usually being so that windows and neighbours are generally closed! Also when you’re reading or wfh or studying you hear nothing and can just lose yourself in your own tranquility. See for me as a single person with an exteremely keen sense of hearing, I would always pay extra for a detached. However if I was part of a noisy family myself then exhausted by my family regular semi noise probably wouldn’t bother me and if it did I would have a partner to confront said neighbour with. Also with a noisy family of your own yiu likely would be able to appreciate the quietness anyway. So I think there are differences in how it elevates your quality of life based on your circumstances.

I lived in a very peaceful terrace but our neighbours behind were all detached and nightmares. One was breeding dogs in their garage, another ran "an eBay shop" and kept all the stock in the garden where was wet, smelted and attracted rats. Another lived with all their windows open all year and were a very shouty family.
For peace you want be detached and on a 1 acre plot...

Thanks
was wondering if a detached is worth the extra money instead of soundproofing a semi detached house but looks like it isnt

Yes. Because even if detached you share a garden boundary.
There was a dilapidated brick wall which got that red tick on the survey. It was unclear from the deeds who owned it. So I wrote a letter, introducing myself, saying we were a young family and excited about moving to the area. Then I mention the wall need fixing it replacing, but I was not sure who owned it. I had an estimate and said I was happy to go halves, and I would pop around in a couple days to discuss it.
So me and my 8 year old DD and my builder (a diminutive guy- I’m taller than him - and totally non threatening looking, went around and knocked on the door. Man answered and I introduced myself and asked if he had read my letter. He looked me up and down and said ‘I’ve given it to my lawyer, that’s what you get for bringing pushy’ and slammed the door in our faces. To say I was gobsmacked is an understatement! He got his own guy out to look at the wall who apparently confirmed that it was dangerous. Next day he came around and banged on the door of my builder’s van and rudely said ‘tell her it’s her fence’. So I ended up paying for it but made sure the nice part was facing me (and think it was a shared fence but didn’t want to go back and forth about it.
Years later he complained about rats in his garden. I never saw rats in mine but my dog did kill one so I got the exterminator around and he said there was a nest near the fence and a run underneath between our gardens. So I paid for it to be dealt with - not even a thank you.
He never said a nice word in the eight years we lived there.
I live in a terraced house now and neighbours both sides are lovely.

People can be dicks

They seem to have multiplied during the past few years, it feels like I’m living in a parallel universe.

They constantly put garden waste in our recycling bin. No idea why they think it’s OK - and I can’t confront as I’ve never caught them in the act. But every couple of weeks the recycling bin is full of garden clippings that I then have to deal with.

My best friend has a lovely big detached house and garden and her neighbours all do too.

One neighbour is a nightmare. He yells at them when they put bird seed out in the feeder because he thinks the birds will poo on his roof. he peers through the hedge to tell her gardeners what bushes and trees he wants them to take out.... in her own garden...... they have to move their son from his bedroom into a smaller room in the summer because he has bbqs at all hours gets drunk and shouts really loudly with his friends and the window opens up facing that part of his decking..... He once left a message on her machine complaining that she was sitting in her own garden reading a magazine because it spoiled the look of the neighbourhood because she was in a tank top and shorts.

He;s fucking nuts tbh. But they have just had a stream of issues from him for 20 years.

We should be allowed guns in the UK.

We have lived in flats previously and a terraced house for the last 13 years. Never had issues with noise or neighbours, everyone has been absolutely lovely. I grew up in a detached house though and we had noisy neighbours not just next to us but a few houses down either side. We have also lived rurally when growing up and my parents constantly complained about animal and farm noises. There is no guarantee what will end up bothering you (or not). Unless you have truly nightmare neighbours (think drugs, fights, etc.), I would just relax about the whole obsession with detached.

I am in a big semi detached built in the 1920’s. We were the new neighbours 26 years ago and the couple were in their late fifties. They are very quiet people it’s like living in a detached, a regular family will make noise, when they have visitors round you can only hear loud laughter so the walls are solid but I dread the day they leave

We did attempt to move a few years ago and wanted a detached house on one of 4 roads in my town but houses rarely come up for sale. I made a point of knocking on the next door neighbours houses to ask a question about the road to scope them out. One lot were so nice they invited us in to show us their garden. We did try and buy the house next door but the survey was shocking.

We have been exceptionally lucky, we do want to move in a couple of years and are very wary. Will be going for an established road, look at crime reports will visit at all times of day and knock on neighbours doors. Will also look at the pattern of houses for sale. Any two houses for sale with a house in the middle not for sale is an immediate flag as is any house sold very quickly or if the house next door has sold recently.

And we should be allowed the laugh emoji on MN! 😅

Hah! Yes. In case I get arrested!

Currently live in a detached and whilst we don't have to put up with noise from neighbours directly through the walls, they still do disturb us. Children screaming, loud music, loud hot tub, dog barking, slamming car doors in the early hours, mowing the lawn at 7am on a Sunday etc. The house we've just bought is also detached but is rural. The only way not to be affected by neighbours is not to have them!