Noisy neighbour WWYD

[Newhousecrying]

Noise from our attached neighbours are awful. We can hear their tv and music word for word. I downloaded a decibel meter and it’s reaching 73, averaging 58. This happens almost daily (at least 5x a week) from about 16:00 to 1am. We approached them and they were very defensive and said they’re within their rights and if we didn’t like it we should get a detached house. I understand there would be some noise but surely there’s a limit?!?

DP wants to chat with them again and work out some kind of schedule but from their tone when we spoke to them I’m a bit afraid to speak to them again. The noise is worse in the main bedroom (so the 1am tv is terrible) but I was in the box room at the other side of the house and heard/ felt it (super loud bass) during my work call!

what's the best thing to do here? We want to be good neighbours but They obviously give no sh*ts about us.

@Ibizamumof4 what did the council do? We’ve been going out more this week so we miss it in the evenings, and then tell ourselves that it’s not too bad because it’s only a couple of hours at night!

Watching TV and playing music seem very important to them so i feel bad about reporting them. We just want it to be quieter/ stop the bass late at night.

I wonder if they'd measured your renovations with a decibel meter how loud they would have been! Living next door to building work for months on end seriously gets you down, I've been there. Trying to work from home and in tears sometimes out of sheer frustration. But I never complained because it was during legal hours and it was happening, what would be the point. I think you've got a bit of a nerve complaining to them so soon really.

Basically you have to fill in a diary then they will send a letter around that’s the first stage anyway. But before that they had a good chat with us and offered advice. So we send letters around to next door and had evidence we are tried to reason with them, it’s not just about the level of noise the time of day after 11 is crucial too

It sounds like they are just people living their lives normally, in a house with terrible sound insulation. It sounds like your renovations should have included sound insulation. Is this an option? As you’re the ones bothered by the noise (which doesn’t sound excessive, just amplified by poor construction) it’s really up to you to fix.

Sorry to say if I was the neighbour here I would be pretty cheesed off at your complaint having endured the noise and disruption of your building works. I would have thought a thank you to your neighbours for putting up with the disruption would have been a better start to your neighbourly relations than your complaint.

I also agree with a pp that the high tv volume suggests one of the neighbours might have hearing problems. Could you invest in some earplugs or noise cancelling headphones? Or alternatively prioritise better sound proofing along with your other building works?

They sound rough and antisocial. Nasty. Your renovation work is a red herring. It would be annoying yes but it was finite and it is over. A decent normal person wouldn't start a noise war until the early hours as a response. I suspect they are just dreadful people OP. Sadly, I would move as I can't cope with noise pollution or antisocial neighbours.

@BringMeTea except it’s not over. OP said they’ve moved in but the renovation isn’t finished.

It might be worth trying to smooth the path of neighbourly harmony, before going to the council. You’re only 2 weeks in so there’s time to build a better relationship.
Do apologise for the renovation noise, and acknowledge complaining about their noise so soon might have seemed unfair. If you accept the impact you’ve had on their quality of life, they’ll be much more receptive to thinking about their impact on yours. Good neighbours are worth investing in.

If they then turn out to be knobs, by all means record and report.

They sound rough and antisocial. Nasty.

In what way?

They have had renovations happening next door for months, including noise at illegal times by the OPs trades.

Then the OP moves in TWO WEEKS ago, the renovations continue.

Then the OP's husband goes round to the neighbours house and complains that they are making too much noise!! The neighbour is 'defensive'.

And you think that makes the neighbours "rough, antisocial and nasty? Oh and dreadful.

So the OP is allowed months long cacophonies of noise but she isn't rough, antisocial, nasty or dreadful.

Thanks. This is what we’re going to do. We want to be and to have good neighbours. We’re going to send a small gift and a card with an apology and say we hope we can start afresh.

Sounds like a good idea OP.

The bass is soul destroying, i sympathise. I can take a lot but not bass sound coming through the walls. They must have a sound woofer or other bass heavy speakers attached to their tv. We have this type of speaker too but i asked my husband to take the bass off in the settings- because i am a considerate neighbour. You can do that in most modern speakers by changing the settings- could you ask them again (being super polite- i find this works much better than being confrontational) to at least take the bass off.

This is a good plan, OP. Cordial relations will be very valuable when you resume the renovations. Good luck!

They might do, but in reality they’re probably just twats.
They could be considerate and use headphones or hearing aids if this was the case, rather than making the neighbours life a misery!

To the OP, I’d honestly just consider moving.
I know it’ll cost a fortune but you’ll just be stressed about it all the time - I lived in a block of flats and had similar from a drug-addled alcoholic upstairs who made everyone’s life a misery.
One night to get some peace of the other neighbours took his fuses out and hid - I only knew because the junkie then took mine!

Bad neighbours make everyone’s life a misery.
If like me you’re sensitive to noise, you’d be better looking for something detached (even if you have to downsize)

this is what we’d like to do but not possible with the loss we’d make. We’re in a small 3 bed currently, there are so few detached houses here. We’d have to move areas rather than downsizing.

Our neighbours could hear a child crying on our side and bang on the walls to tell em shut up! I was very uncomfortable trying to comfort a crying child and an annoyed neighbour. We used to hear their tv in the stairs. So we got a plasterer to put 5 mm aero board on the wall and got sound proofing plasterboard from wickes. Thankfully they sold up and the new couple next door hear say they hear nothing . It was less than 2000 all in.. if you’re doing work anyway..

Oh and I got soundproof extra thick underlay for hall stairs

Thanks. Unfortunately we’ve already done most of the work (plaster paint Rewire). The wardrobes along the shared wall in the bedroom are ikea Pax so possible to take those down and add the areo wall.

Are they old and deaf? My mum is both and has the tv on loudly .