Realistically what can our lawyer WFH neighbours do to stop our (noisy) building work

[SpotOnMyBot]

We are undergoing a massive renovation project on the house. This was 100% necessary - there were 2 extensions at the back of the house that were falling down (attached to their side) that were always going to need to be rebuilt.

We have been going for only 4 weeks and we've already had 2 letters from the one set of neighbours complaining about absolutely everything from mess to noise based on the reasoning that they WFH permanently and find it 'unfair' that we have noisy works going on.

They've now escalated their letter and told us that they will 'take action' if we don't take action immediately (not sure what action we can take - what it seems they would like is for us to stop work every day so they can have some peace and quiet).

We've made sure the builders only operate in the considerate constructor hours, the builders have said they will clean their roof (this is one of their issues about the mess) but that their roof is covered in moss so they are only willing to clean the dust off it. The neighbours are claiming they are working outside hours and making more 'mess than is necessary' and not cleaning it up. They may arrive before 8am but they don't start work till after 8am - they claim this is not good enough as they sleep till after 8am and workmen arriving before 8am is too early for them.

They want to take legal action but I'm not sure what they can do - does anyone know? Given they are both lawyers, they will have the means and the ability to do this so we want to be careful! It is noisy now as they are having to demolish things but it will get less noisy as time goes on - we have told them this but they are not interested.

There's very little you they can do as formal complaints go but I do think you are skirting the edge of what's acceptable:

Builders arriving before 8 - we have had this happen with neighbours and it is INFURIATING because they are NOT quiet. There's banging of car and van doors, there's chatter, there's clumping around. One neighbour's builders liked to drop off bricks at 6:30 am. And it's great that you don't think before 8 is early but for a lot of people, that is. I would tell your builders they need to not arrive before 8.

Similarly, mess should be cleaned up daily. If I'm understanding correctly it's a sort of conservatory or glass roof? I can't blame them for being furious if it's permanently dirty. The overall roof seems a bit odd - why would they even care? Is it visible? I would be livid if any builders for any of our neighbours left any mess. When we did our loft we made it clear to our builders that if mess dropped into NDN's garden they were expected to sort it out immediately.

It does sound a bit like you think this is a community project. it's not. They absolutely can't complain about noise during normal day time hours but all those little things you think aren't a big deal... absolutely are to them.

We are 4 months into building work (big extension) and not one neighbour has complained. We chat to them all and all knew it was happening and keep on good terms. One of my neighbours was a builder so jokingly said he cant complain as he caused noise and dust for others! :) I would say to them you’re sorry for the noise (your work sounds alot quicker than ours) but as already said, thats exactly why we have specific work spaces (offices). If you’re working from home, you have to accept the noises that come with that. Surely as lawyers they would have an office base to go to, even if it was just temporarily?

Also, who sleeps past 8am in the week?!! I’d love that once a week on a Sunday…

Firstly, unless everybody in their street is WFH there will be car doors slamming, kids shouting, traffic, bin lorires etc at 8 am. As for dust on their roof, we have a thing in Britain called rain. Who has ever looked at their roof and thought 'Oh dear it looks a bit dusty'. I have been WFH during neighbours' building work and endless gas/water pipe council repair. I lived.

But there are co-working hubs everywhere. The OP has not said that she lives in a very rural location, so it's unlikely that these lawyers would have to go far to get to one, even if they can't go into their office anymore/at all/every day.

They are being unreasonable IMO. You are not doing anything that anyone else would do when doing building work in close quarters. They don't have a leg to stand on.

All you can do is ensure your builders aren't working outside of the permitted times and clear up their mess if anything goes into their garden. You could offer to cover their roof to protect it. I would respond to all of this in writing so you have evidence of what you have said/offered.

If they still persist with their claims that they will 'take action' (which are threatening and ludicrous) I suggest you instruct a solicitor and ask them to correspond through them, that will shut them up. They are harassing you, so fight fire with fire.

I lived next to a building site for 12 months. They were not allowed to start work before 7.00am in the week and 8.00am on a Saturday. That was laid down by our Planning Authority due to it being a residential area. I expect this is fairly standard. So much as your ndn's might like to lie in bed until after 8.00am they cannot expect everyone to keep quiet. I wouldn't mind betting that pre Covid they worked in an office elsewhere and had to leave the house by 8.00 to commute to work. Their lifestyle change isn't your problem and their demands re time the noise starts is unreasonable.

Re dust - the builders did a weekly clean of the road in front of our house to try and keep the dust/muck down but we didn't get our windows cleaned - even though they were filthy.

The cheeky fuckers just need to move back to working in an office if they can’t cope with working in an area where people actually live.

I honestly can’t believe the audacity of people that expect others to limit themselves to suit their WFH.

Loads of people sleep past 8am, please don't pretend you don't know this or its OUTRAGEOUS, decadent or slovenly just because you don't.

I don't sleep well, I am rarely out of bed before 10am, sometimes later, I am disabled, but I also WFH and work shifts finishing sometimes 8pm, 9pm, occasionally finishing 2am. It is not outrageous that I am still in bed at past 8am!

I also don't complain about building work and general outside noise in normal daytime hours, these things have to be done, the world cannot continue in silence because some folk are disabled, work odd hours, whatever.

@SpotOnMyBot I'd see if the builders can rig up some sort of sheet/netting to stop debris getting on the neighbours roof in the first place. Cleaning it daily is risky, and impractical, cleaning it at all is likely to be risky and I suspect they're right, that the neighbours are hoping at the very least for a free full roof clean or more... to be able to claim damage to the roof and have it repaired at your cost.

I imagine its a flat roof on an extension, covered in moss so already under excess strain from the weight of wet moss, potential damage from wet moss sitting there - there are no easy ways to clean that as it will grab dust and just get heavier and heavier. All the ways one could clean that off risk further roof damage, with no way of actually seeing the state of the roof under the moss prior to starting!

Would not touch with someone elses barge pole!

In terms of the action they could take - I would think nuisance (a tortious claim) would be what they are considering. So make a note of any conversations, start times, mitigation etc that you've taken. Also take videos of the working.

Two doors down from us are having a massive extension and the most annoying parts have been the really early starts, and blocking our drive with their vans and scaffolding. Also very noisy, and the skips and portaloo sucker arriving before 7am. I don't care about their radios, the chat (it's not too loud), or the dust, so it is a personal thing. You sound very reasonable in comparison! Have a chat with then about what are the bits that really bother them, and see what you can do about it, and if you can't or they are unreasonable just stand your ground firmly.

I would also say that as an ex lawyer I have had lawyers as clients and they were pretty aggressive in their position (during litigation). So if you can calm it all down, it's worth doing for a quieter life!

You aren’t there every day though? The 2 complaints seem to be working outside hours and not clearing mess.
Even if builders aren’t working if they are turning up at 7.30 banging doors, eating McDonald’s and having loud chat outside their window daily I can understand neighbours annoyance. Mess - it the street fully swept, no building supplies dumped in pavement for hours.
Ultimately I suppose they can complain to council - could make life tricky if they have photos of workmen there outside hours.
Intrigued how you know they are lawyers - I can’t imagine writing a me and mr x are lawyers therefore you must stop type letter or did they sign it name (solicitor)

Makes absolutely no difference anyway.

A lawyer will always make sure everyone else knows they are one! 😉

I’ve never found that! (I am one) hate getting tapped for free advice especially in areas know nothing about. My neighbours wouldn’t know what I do.

We have neighbours ( not yet moved on ) who sound like they are having the same extension as yourself . Other than the initial prep so far not much has happened.
However seeing the workmen piss up against my wall in full view ( short wall ) can see me also complaining .

I once had a series of work late nighters (3-4am) whilst my upstairs neighbour (flats within a house) had builders in for a loft conversion.

It's obvious that builders can't run their schedule to a neighbour's work patterns. I simply asked my neighbour for no noise before 8am and the builders complied. My neighbour also checked in with me regularly, bought me flowers and paid for a deep clean of my flat afterwards. All of which I greatly appreciated.

I would forward any thratening letters to the Law Society, they are using their jobs to try and scare you. Maybe ask them for the address of the Complaints Department of the Law Society, or the Ombudsman if there is one, they may back off.

I would ask the builders not to arrive until 8am. I lived next to a building site for two years and was woken up 20 mins before work started for months by noisy car radios and exhausts pulling up, doors slamming and chatty workmen shooting the breeze outside my window.

if they are turning up at 7.30 banging doors, eating McDonald’s and having loud chat outside their window daily I can understand neighbours annoyance

But isn't that just general street noise? Lots of people live and work and sleep with that sort of noise all the time (I know I do, living in the centre of town).

I had a big renovation, and every few weeks, the builders would need a skip. Because of local traffic & access etc, if t was a "Skip Day" the skip would arrive at 7am because the skip hirers were not allowed to be on the street after 7:30am. The builders arrived at 7:30, instead of 8am. But they finished at 3:30pm instead of 4pm. Swings & roundabouts.

I miss my builders - they were lovely chaps, and the last 15 minutes of every working day was devoted to cleaning up the job. The master builder said he couldn't bear an untidy job; it meant bad work.

Absolutely turn the radios off.

And offer to pay for cleaning- inside and out- dust gets inside too.

if they are turning up at 7.30 banging doors, eating McDonald’s and having loud chat outside their window daily I can understand neighbours annoyance

But isn't that just general street noise? Lots of people live and work and sleep with that sort of noise all the time (I know I do, living in the centre of town).

Depends where you live. I live in the centre of a small city and none of what you describe is remotely "general street noise". My street is actually very quiet.

I'm not a lawyer so have no idea where they stand but I think it unreasonable in general for people who WFH to complain about building works to a domestic property - the house is a home not a workplace.

I live in a flat - the flat above and the one next to me have had work done over the years, as has mine. That's how it goes if you have neighbours!

The level of noise probably is not enough to be an actionable nuisance. However I am sorry for your neighbours. People 2 doors up from us have moved out of the house for months (the only blessing there is their children who kick footballs for hours are gone as the adults are not chatting in the garden and have no guests parking in the road) leaving the rest of us to tolerate all their noise on what has been some of the loveliest days of summer which we will never get back again. They will swan back in to a lovely new house and we will have endured a lot to give them a house that is bigger because unlike the rest of us they chose to buy one that was too small for them.

No radios. Builders to use headphones at all times if they want to listen to things.
No smoking.
Clean litter every day.
On our road where no one is ever allowed to park parking issues can become an issue and we have grass verges which can cost a lot of churned up.

People saying the lawyers can go to a hub - not all of them can and some would have to pay £50 a day for a shared room.

One of my neighbours moaned to me recently me about their next door neighbours building works. I could sympathise since their own work was a nightmare during lockdown 🙄

Re roof cleaning - you mentioned your lead builder isn't keen to clean their mossy roof because he thinks they're after having their roof replaced (?) -

Would it be a solution then to ask your neighbour to get a quote for their own contractor to clean their roof, you agree the quote and pay the money direct to the neighbour? This way it's the neighbour's responsibility for their own contractor on their roof, and if it turns out any more costly works are needed, they can fund it themselves/not.