Neighbour complaining about cool drafts from our house?

[aus123]

Hi,
We moved into our property in August last year and have an elderly neighbour who we have introduced ourselves to and have had casual chats over the back fence. All has been fine.

On Monday, she knocked on my door and was saying that our central heating is causing cool drafts in her house at night and that she can't sleep and is having to move bedrooms. I have literally no idea what she is talking about because 1. our central heating is not on at night (turned off about 9pm) and 2. how could our central heating even cause this? Obviously our central heating is in our house only and not hers and the boiler is located in a room on the other side of the house. We are in a 1960s row of terraces with breeze block between each house. It's pretty thick so we don't even hear anything from either neighbours.
I tried to get her to explain what she was talking about but I couldn't reason with her at all. She stormed off saying if we don't stop using central heating at night she will take it to the next level whoever that may be?

To add, we have had our kitchen refitted and this is the 3rd (and last) week of these works. Builders have arrived after 8:30am every morning and leave before 3:30pm so no noise outside of working hours. She has also complained to them twice about cool drafts. They are obviously not here at night time.

I want to help her if there's a problem but literally no idea how our central heating could cause any cool drafts in her house.

What can I do if anything? Do I just let her 'escalate' to the next level and then try and talk properly with whoever that is?

Is English her first language? As all I can think of is that what she is trying to explain is being lost in translation.
does she perhaps think you are running an air conditioning unit?

How elderly is she? MIL gets confused and will obsess about things like this. Do you know any of her family? If not, then I’d let her take it to what ever she feels the next level is as it may result in getting some help for her. I’m sure you have done nothing to worry about!

Ask her if she can show you what she means in her house
Does she say she had this problem with the last people to own your house?
It might be just a case of smiling and nodding and telling her you will sort it
Let her escalate it to the next level, whatever that maybe!

Impossible to know what she means, so I would just remain friendly and polite and reassure her that the central heating is switched off at night, and leave her to get on with whatever she thinks she is going to do next.

It does sound as if she may need some help, but if you don't know her family unfortunately you can't let them know what is happening.

There is no next level. Ignore.

extractor fan noise?
Something is clearly bothering her & seems lost in translation.
Ask her to show you

Is there an extractor fan anywhere on your property which is close to her house?

X post!

Reminds me of this: vm.tiktok.com/ZGeSYsLwV/

Boilers do have pumps and fans, and if they are mounted on a party wall sometimes they can rattle and the vibrations cause noise next door.

Still, this is not consistent with the report of "cool draughts".

It may be that the building disruption is unsettling her and she wants to complain about something but doesn't really know what. It also may be that she is having some comprehension difficulties.

I guess two strategies. One is to ignore. If she does "elevate" it then at least she will have to get someone in to confirm that there is a real issue and that it is caused by you, so you will be able to speak to a professional about what the actual problem is and how to deal with it.

The other is to maybe tell her that you would like to help if possible but you don't really understand what she means, and if she could describe the problem better then maybe you could do something about it. The problem with this approach is that you may be trying to engage with someone that isn't really capable of having a rational discussion on it.

Not helpful but this reminds me of a conversation I once had with then 5 year old DSD who was very upset that her water 'tastes too liquidy' and got very frustrated and shouty that I didn't understand what she meant! Good luck OP!

Neighbour's house should be completely isolated from yours. Nothing you do should cause any drafts.

Option 1 - ask for more information / talk to another member of neighbour's family.

Option 2 - ignore.

She may stop complaining when the builders go. Our next door neighbour found loads to complain about when we had our (excellent, professional, quiet) builders in and the builder said they often encountered this and thought it was jealousy. So it may be a kind of envy that comes out through making complaints. I would keep telling her you don’t have heating on at night.

I think she's got an idea in her head...one that doesn't correlate with what's actually happening.
I would just tell her that the heating is off at night. Leave her to 'escalate' if she wants to. It all sounds a bit mad.

Thanks everyone. Your responses of just leave her to carry on and reassure her heating is off at night is what my partner and builders said. I just hate confrontation and would genuinely want to fix if we were in the wrong. But seems like no one knows what she's talking about!

I don't know any of her family unfortunately but have seen a few regular visitors with whom I might try and speak to next time I see them.

You really don't have to assist her in this. You're not being rude. Don't worry.

Likely she has slightly drafty window that she's noticed more than other years and has put it together with you being new and decided they must be related. When our elderly relatives neighbour had a new bathroom fitted she became convinced that the neighbours refit was making smells come up through her upstairs bathroom sink.

Yes,window draft - we have a large window next to my chair in the lounge and my shoulder gets cold due to cold air. Even though it’s double glazed.
So has the weather been colder? Wind from a direction it is blowing on the window.
only other thing could be she still has a fireplace in the room which is drafty.

Any possiblity that she has dementia?

Write her a short letter, explaining how this is physically impossible, that there is no 'next level' as you own your home (she may assume you rent? Some Landlords do building works with tenants in situ) and if she continues to harass you, you'll speak with police about taking steps yourself.

How the flippity flip would or could OP know that?

Tell her you have emailed God to not blow wind on her house..
Smile and ignore op.

Remember if there had been may real issues with her and previous owner of your home(and you home really was blowing cold air her way) you would have been notified before the purchase...

Because this is Mumsnet where anybody over the age of 50 who does anything, or says anything, not immediately comprehensible to the other person is thought to have dementia.

Similarly, any neighbour making any request whatsoever that seems odd- instead of a simple y'know, asking them to explain better - you get "send them a letter" (wtaf?) "Tell them to fuck off" etc.

OP- just ask her to show you what she means. Then you'll undoubtedly be able to show her that it's not you.

Don't do this 🙄

Just assure her you'll do as she asks and turn your heating off at night (even though you do already).

If she tries to escalate it, other people will start to notice her problem.

Ask her if she will agree to call you when they happen and you can pop over to see what she is talking about