Noisy neighbour, is there anything I can do about it?

[Rowingdowntheriver]

I live next to a private golf course that mows it's lawn every day starting at around 5.30am, even on Sundays. They use a loud drive on lawnmower which wakes me every day.

Is there anything I can do?

I have spoken to the council and they said firstly to speak directly to the club who basically said not their problem :( and as the lawnmower is no louder than 93 decibels the council won't do anything either. Oh, they also suggested I grow some 30 foot cedars in my garden to block the noise?! They also told me I should have expected this when I bought a house near a golf course (not being a golfer I had no idea).

The council also asked me to keep a log which I have done. I am wary of sending it in though but think I will probably have to, as I don't want to start a battle with such a close neighbour if I have no case, especially as I had been hoping to join the club at some point to make use of the non-golfing facilities.

Can anyone offer advice? Thankyou

To clarify, it was the golf club that said it is not their problem and not the council!

it is not reasonable to be mowing a lawn every day at 5:30am, even for a golf club. End of.

get back to the council, tell them that the golf club are refusing to listen and see what they say. Also who did you speak to at the club - go right to the top.

Thanks special. I met with the General Manager and the head groundsman so I think that probably is the top managemnt of the club. They concluded the conversation by saying that the club had been there for some 150 years whereas I just moved here so really, it is my problem and, just as someone who chooses to live by heathrow would expect aircraft noise, I should expect lawnmower noise very early every day!

I'm glad you agree it is not reasonable, I will get back in touch with the council tomorrow and see what they say.

Before escalating with the council (and I'm not sure there's anything they can do) could you try negotiating with the club some more? If their greens need mown every day, they need mown, but perhaps they could start further away from you, so it's a more reasonable time by the time they're working near your house?

The fact that you moved there after the golf club was established doesn't mean very much. The 93db thing is also a red herring. That's not how noise nuisance legislation works.

Trees won't help but there may be things that the club can do to minimise the noise. The mower might be able to be modified or replaced with a quieter one.

You do need to keep and submit the noise logs and it would be great if you could get other nieghbours on board.

Is there any way that they can start mowing further away from your house?

Or are you able to change your bedroom?

How long have you lived there? If it's a recent move you may find that you get used to the noise surprisingly quickly.

We used to live on a golf course (overseas) and our bedroom was about 100 ft to the practice putting green. Our house was on lower ground so the putting ground was almost on a level with our bedroom. It was a council run green and they used to mow at the crack of dawn. I got them to mow the putting green at night rather than first thing in the morning. They did it in the dark. It was still noisy but it didn't annoy me half as much as being woken at dawn.

Thankyou oldlady and ladyof. When I first spoke to them they did say they could try starting mowing further away from the edges of the course but as we are by the first hole this would not often be possible as the first hole would need to be ready for the first golfer first. So in effect nothing really changed.

I asked about quieter mowers and they said yes, they do exist but they are not prepared to spend money renewing their fleet.

I asked about them doing it the night before but apparently leaves may fall on the green over night and the golfers would not like that (seriously!)

They asked if I could swap bedrooms but if I do that I'd have to put one of my kids in our room and I think that would disturb him as my other child who is in the other back room gets woken by the noise too :(

I did wonder if I'd get used to the noise but I've not yet. It improved a bit over winter but only because they started mowing about an hour later because of it being darker in the morning. Somehow being woken at 6.30 rather than 5.30 seems almost acceptable!

I know it bothers neighbours on one side but I'm not sure if they would complain as they are members of the club and I don't think they would want the tension that comes of complaining. The other side are lovely but v old and I don't think they would hear it without their hearing aids in!

I could try further up and down the street and, if after speaking to the council again they think that may help my case, that could be worth trying.

Dirty I'm not sure what you have posted is quite right. There are lots of things to consider when assessing whether something is a noise nuisance or not. I have not heard of a 'standard' 10db over ambient noise level for general noise either as there are so many other factors to consider.

Thank you dirty so much for your advice!

I'm awake now as, almost forgot the noise actually starts at 4.50 on the button with a loud engine noise for a five minutes (imagine a motorbike with no silencer revving the engine in the back garden for 5 minutes) then it goes quiet before the lawnmower starts at around 5.30. Not sure what this initial noise is, maybe them turning on the lawnmowers to do a different bit of lawn before coming back over my way. When I mentioned this to them they said it wasn't them but I'm now almost certain that it is but didn't push it as it's not my main issue.

I'm feeling a little more optimistic that something may be done about it now as they were so confident when they told me about the 93 decibel thing that I started to doubt anything could be done even though when I googled that noise level all I could find out were that lawnmowers noisier than that were generally illegal in the EU. Whereas they said so long as their lawnmower was 93 db they could do what they like when they like.

Even airports don't allow take offs before certain times, Heathrow at 6 and gatwick at 7.

That's true funky, I hadn't thought about that!

The lawnmower has started, it's so predictable that I know the time from the noise! At least that will help the council come out to measure it if they agree to do so!

Gah, the general manager's comments keep coming back to me and bugging me, especially when he said all charming and polite with a smile on his face, well I'd never buy a house near a golf club for this reason.

The general manager will have a boss. Go higher.

Right, I've sent a note and the noise log to the council so shall wait and see what happens. If I have no success there I will try speaking the the boss of the general manager if I can find out who they are!

Thanks for everyone's replies!

take no prisoners, OP.

yes, they have to mow the lawn. No, they do not have to start right next to your house before 5am every single day. They can change that.

it would be news to me that golf clubs do this as well.

Thought I'd update on my progress here incase any of those who commented are interested!

My determination to resolve this issue strengthened after reading the responses to my post here so I contacted environmental health sending them a noise log and details of my contact with the groundsman and general manager.

They have been out to the golf club and met the groundsman (the general manager has now left) and been shown the machinary and the location of the first hole relative to my house. The council officer agrees that he expects the noise would be loud in my house.

As the golf club will not agree to any changes in their practices the next step is for the council to fit sound recording equipment in our house. That is happening next week.

In the meantime I've downloaded an app which measures sound and can see that it is regularly between 55 and 60 db. I found some WHO guidance that says noise should be lower than 30db to enable good sleep and anything over 40db at night can have adverse effect on health.

Well done rowing for not just accepting the slick managers word! We live near a busy road and we have got used to the noise entirely but a couple of years ago a neighbours son was given a quad bike for his birthday and the constant revving up and shutting off of the engine for hours on end in a nearby field, drove DH and me to tears. This went on for five days straight. We complained to the lads DF and you can imagine the response! The cheeky little fella (!) started at 6.30 and drove up and down all day until gone 9 in the evening, just moronically up and down for hours on end. A neighbour offered some petrol for it that had more than petrol in it and......silence. I feel your pain.

Hi there. This is an old thread but can I ask what happened? I'm in a very similar situation at the moment and some info from you would really help.

Hello all. First post here so be friendly!

I am coming from a different tact. I am a golf course manager who has these exact issues dealing with neighbors complaints fairly regularly. It is very easy (and often true) that the golf course probably was there prior to you moving in. It's the easiest response to a complaint but not always the most helpful. There are things that the course can do to help deescalate situations like this.

Firstly, I am assuming it is greens they are mowing and not fairways. Technology has moved on considerably with regards to mowers available for golf courses to purchase. It sounds like they are using a hybrid mower if it is less than 100Db which means they have already taken the first step to try and appease their neighbors. You can now buy electric mowers but they retail for around (hold your breath!) £80,000. Yep. That is the correct amount of 0's. So for them to warrant spending that kind of money on 1 mower, they have to REALLY want to stop you from complaining.

They can also cut different routes. Do you now what hole number it is you live next to? We are surrounded by houses so cant cut our putting green, 1st tee, 8th green and 9th tee until after 7am. Don't get me wrong, it is a massive pain and actually costs us quite a lot in fuel driving back from the other side of the course to cut it and also in machinery wear and tear. As mentioned before, these mowers are not cheap, driving a £70k machine that is set up to cut to the nearest 10th of a millimeter. (Again, I'm not joking. We currently cut our greens at 3.25mm and will gradually increase cutting height to 4mm for the winter). If you drive over a slightly bigger bump or tree root than expected, bam, you face another extortionate bill to try and put it back.

I would say the best tact is to have a chat with the head greenkeeper. You may find he is tired of conversations like this. Be prepared with all the information. Be friendly. Try to see it from their side and come to a mutual agreement, especially if you are considering joining there and expect to be welcomed into the club.

Good luck!!

This post is from 2014, I should hope the poor lady has either moved or the golf club was forced to be considerate neighbours!