What are my rights noisy neighbour

[1ronspaa]

Neighbour plays drums in the garage next to our garden that isn’t soundproof for half an hour everyday in the evening for a few months now. The noise can be heard clearly in every room in our house. It’s very disruptive to listen to half hour of someone else’s drumming every single day in our own property. I’ve only spoken to them once (they used to play at any old hour and I asked them not to play during the day at least because my partner works nights), I haven’t spoke to them since and don’t intend to because last time I spoke to them they kept going on about their right to play this and that without really listening to my concerns much other than the fact that my partner works nights. So they play half an hour every evening and I’m forced to listen to it. I was wondering if I had the right to make complaint to council about it and if the council would do anything based on the noise being clearly audible in every single room of our property and their garage being barely soundproof? If anyone knows anything about noise laws could you give advice?

Your neighbour has compromised on the time. I think 30 minutes is acceptable and it's now time for you to compromise.

The headphones although a good idea in theory aren't really practical. The walking sounds like a good idea but I always have a lot to do every evening in terms of chores and study and homework with kids and it all piles up on me but I could give it a try. Somebody posted earlier about neighbour dispute being a problem when selling house if I contacted the council so that rules that out. I would love to help offer to soundproof neighbours garage but have no money to do that sort of thing so.. thank you to everyone who has given advice. Not interested in the whole you are being unreasonable thing though. I have the right to feel whatever way I feel about my neighbours drumming. It's uncomfortable and stressful to listen to and no one is going to change my opinion on that and I have every right to my opinion. I'm also resentful of the fact that when they first started playing they just played whenever they wanted with little concern for anyone else and it would be often more than half hour. It started during lockdown so many people working from home round then etc. Random times with no warning. Only on their current schedule because of pressure from several neighbours. It makes me wonder why they thought they could get away with that in the first place. I would say it was selfish. Again, thanks for any practical advice given. I'm wondering about soundproofing and how that could work as well.

Also, I wanted to say that I obviously don't want neighbour to stop enjoying their hobby. Just want for them to enjoy it in a way which minimizes the sound coming through to our property as much as possible. I still think they could have put more effort into soundproofing etc.

I think you’re being very unreasonable OP. They’ve compromised and it’s fair enough to want to practise an instrument for 30 minutes / day at a decent time of day. People make noise in all sorts of ways - there’s another thread at the moment about a tumble dryer. If you’re so intolerant of other people’s noise, perhaps you should live somewhere further away from other houses.

I’m very noise sensitive too. I live rurally with hardly any neighbours. There is an outward bounds centre across the field from us. Twice a year a drumming troupe hire it and they play ten hours a day for three days. It drives me crazy! But half an hour a day would be bearable. You could go out for a walk and miss it entirely.

an entire half hour everyday

I don't think thirty minutes is very disruptive, so I do think yabu.

I think YABU too. It's half an hour a day, at a time which they thought would suit you, so they're already compromising. I think you will have to put up with this or move house, they are surely allowed to learn to play an instrument?

Or just play some music in your own house for 30 mins while he’s practicing ? I never said inner city ? Built up is an area where you can hear neighbours quite easily ( you mentioned neighbours children ).
Just stick some earplugs in for 30 mins , that’s all the soundproofing you need.

It annoying to hear things like ‘perhaps you should live away from other people’s houses’ . It’s pointless impractical advice isn’t it and really useless and unhelpful to say it. All my life lived in different areas around all sorts of people and across continents and never had a neighbour actually make this much noise regularly. If you have nothing useful to actually say then perhaps you should say nothing.

Also I don’t have a choice but to put up with it, I would actually love to move house (for many reasons other than drummer) but can’t afford atm, so will have to wait for that..

Gift them some silencer pads. It doesn’t take the noise away completely but dampens it. They’re good for practice but not if you’re writing music or practicing for gigs when you need clear skins to know exactly how hard to hit the drum and what sound you expect in return.

To be honest they’ve accommodated your request, you can’t keep going back asking them to make more accommodations, that’s entirely unreasonable. 30mins isn’t a lot, maybe that’s the time you go for your daily walk?

I'm afraid I think you are being unreasonable, and I doubt there is much you will be able to do. They play an instrument, in the evening, for half an hour, and not at an unreasonable time. Given how much worse this could be, I don't think there is much point trying to complain to anyone about this.

Hi all, I’m no longer going to respond to this thread. Thank you for the advice given. I’ve reached the conclusion to my original question which is whether I had any right to complain to council to get the neighbour to reduce noise (not to stop playing) but to do more to dampen it. I’ve ruled out that it’s not a possibility for reasons stated previously in the thread (mainly having to disclose neighbourly dispute during sale of property). I like the idea of taking a walk so that may be something I’ll try more often when they drum. Also for those saying YABU, it’s not an AIBU thread and you’re in the wrong section.

Or you could maybe take up playing guitar? And get jamming with him in the garage !!!!!!!!! ROCK ON 🤘🏼🥁🎸!!!!!!!!!!

Just because you haven't posted in AIBU does not mean you aren't being unreasonable.

Putting that aside in answer to your original question you of course have the right to complain to the council but the council would find the complaint is unreasonable and would fail.

Practical solution - soundproof your house.

Would you be willing to contribuet to soundproofing of his garage? He may go for that. I'm with you that a full-on drum kit does caue a LOT more noise than kids being noisy - I would find both annoying if it's for lengthy periods but he sheer volume of drums is many times more than of any voices (well with some exceptions )!

Half an hour a day isn’t too bad. They probably have to listen to your kids for a lot longer most days.
Yabu

Op, we have neighbours who play loud music at night. I was worried about contacting the council due to having to disclose it when selling our house, but the first stages are completely confidential. You might decide to call and speak informally to them as a first step to get advice. For me 30 minutes a day every day is unreasonable, 3x a week I'd probably live with, but it does seem that I'm in the minority here.