Neighbours and noise during building work

[lilcreed]

Myself and partner bought a house 2 months ago that needs renovation. We both work full time so choose to do the quiet jobs in the evening (out of respect for our neighbours) and do the noisy jobs at the weekend as that is the only option we have.

Our neighbours are an older couple who were really friendly and supportive when we moved in, but have been a bit off with us lately. I keep catching them climbing the fence to look over into our garden and they have been really quiet.

Today we were doing noisy work and our front door was open. The neighbour marched in and said that enough was enough. Where do we stand on this?

We never work past 6pm and weekends are the only time when we can do things. We are a young couple and need to move on quite soon as my partners mum is downsizing. Thanks.

My nearest neighbours are having work done at the moment. I’m working nights so sleeping during the day.
I can hear every word the labourers say but wouldn’t dream of saying anything. It will be over soon and that’s good enough for me.
I would knock on the door with a bunch of flowers and a bottle of wine and explain.
You will be living next door to these people. Be the better person.

They sound a bit odd to think it's ok just to walk in repeatedly. I'd want to say you won't be doing the tree as it would be far too noisy. And £5000?
You haven't even moved in yet...God knows what they'll be like when you do!

In all seriousness I've just looked at a few tree surgeon sites and I reckon that's about £3500 more than the maximum it should cost! I was on the fence about who was unreasonable here, leaning towards them, but based on your updates I'd be very wary of them OP.

Thank you Nautiloid. Will be more considerate about them going forward, but if they march through again I will remind them if boundaries.

And based on what you’ve just said about a tree surgeon we will definitely look around for more quotes when the time comes. Thank you for your time.

Good grief. This is a thread about one couple doing up their house and whether or not their neighbours are entitled to be pissed odd that they're being noisy all weekend.

And somehow Jabbercocky has managed to drone on and on about his own successful house flipping business which is of limited relevance and even less interest.

Bore off

FWIW OP I had 2 trees trimmed last year. Cost £130

I would let them know how long you plan to do the bulk of the work and clarify what days you work - as you aren't using contractors presumably there is no works going on when you are at work. Other than that I wouldn't be too conciliatory because from what you have said you haven't got the flexibility to offer anything else. You do need to clarify the local rules and abide by them and ensure that they know what they are and that you are going to abide by them. At least then they can moderate their expectations. Presumably the climbing the fence and walking in is based on them not knowing what is going on or when it is going to start or stop. Noise is nuisance but it is a lot more manageable if you know when and for how long. You can then either decide to be noisy yourself, go out or put headphones on.

The noise restrictions continually being quoted apply to professionals builders only they do not apply to DIY like OP
That depends @TeacupDrama. The Op isn't living in the house during the diy, so I'm guessing it's more than a bit of decorating.
They haven't said exactly what they've been doing though, so none of us know.
Part of our house renovations including knocking down walls which was loud and not what I'd class as normal diy. We also removed a concrete base from a old garage in the garden.

Bored retired people where little things like this become massive issues because they haven’t got enough going on .... I see it all the time.

You beat me to it, PeachBeach. This doesn't sound like basic DIY and it's been going on for six weeks, plus the OP isn't living there during the works, so to the neighbour it probably does feel more like construction work.

But the neighbour absolutely shouldn't be strolling in when they feel like it. Keep the front door closed in future! The fact it's wide open is probably also winding them up - noise travels.

lilcreed They want you to remove a conifer at the end of your garden and their son who conveniently happens to be a tree surgeon want £5K?

Who's the CF now?

I would keep your door closed in future but try to limit drilling and banging where possible - at least you must be quite near the end if you have plasterers coming in!

Yep, that update about the tree surgeon shows who the unreasonable ones are.

£5000 seems extortionate!

They have not helped themselves here at all.. Reasonableness is the way forward.

As I said earlier I've been in the OP's position. The fact that we had no comments from one neighbour means I have equally kept my mouth shut about their fox deterrents (ultrasonic - which they can't hear as they're older, but we certainly can!).

It's give and take..

£5000? I assume that's an exaggeration?
No wonder they're being arsey, you've refused to bend over to their demands re the tree (and trying to rip you off in the process)...in that case I'd say ignore them and crack on doing what you need to do (within reason obviously!).

I agree with the tree cost.
I had 2 massive holly trees cut down at £200.
£5K is taking the fucking piss.

As others have said you just need to keep them informed on what is happening and why.

DIY does not refer to the complexity of the work when regarding noise but who is doing it, so it is still DIY even if some people could retile their own roof or build their own consveratory, others idea of DIY is just about being able to hang a picture
if you are doing the work yourself it is DIY if a professional builder is even just putting up a shelf it is still not DIY

that is why lots of tool hire companies have special weekend rates so people doing DIY can use equipment when the professionals are at home; you can as a lay person hire a microdigger to dig your own patio foundations you can hire cement mixers and all sorts for the weekend legally; you would not be able to hire them if it was illegal to use these noisy machines at weekends

also if OP is doing the work at weekends there are another 5 days when the neighbours have quiet all day as she said they don't do noisy work in the evenings, but even there a few minutes drilling to attach something to a wall at 7.30pm is reasonable and it is not a statutory nuisance; at 9.30 it would be grossly inconsiderate; at 11 it would be a statutory nuisance

if they want the conifer down you could suggest that you will allow their son access to remove it free of charge

If I had a neighbour who was renovating a house and they worked full time so could only do noisy work at weekends, that would be fine.

I would sooner renovation work be done rather than have some run-down house next door. It's just hard lines that it's noisy while the work is done.

As long as you aren't starting at 7 a.m. it should be fine. I can't see that you'd be making really loud noise consistently all day on both days of the weekend.

Just carry on and be as quiet as you can but your NDN need to accept that if you are, say, stripping out and replacing all your skirting, architrave, flooring etc, that it isn't going to be quiet work. If it needs to be done, it needs to be done.

Perhaps keep the doors and windows closed to minimise nuicance to neighbours.

To all those posting about hours construction noise is allowed, I'm 99% sure this only applies to professional construction sites. There are different rules for domestic noise control

Which basically involve discussing and resolving issues with neighbours in the first instance. Council will only become involved and judge on a case by case basis if a formal complaint is made. I doubt temporary diy works for a limited period (again within reason) would cause much concern.

"The noise restrictions continually being quoted apply to professionals builders only they do not apply to DIY like OP"
I've been amazed too at the number of posters quoting rubbish about times residents are 'allowed' to do DIY/renovations. Councils do not have rules on this.

As for going around and apologising with flowers or inviting ndn to a house-warming party, why the heck would you?

"I keep catching them climbing the fence to look over into our garden"
These ndn are not normal - what kind of behaviour is that? If they want to know something they should behave like normal people and knock on the front door and ask.

Also, just because the front door was open, they shouldn't just march in, whatever their reasons.

I know which of the people I would prefer to live next to and it's the perfectly reasonable couple renovating their home over a 6 week period. I wouldn't want the weirdos climbing up my fence and nosing over. Assuming they don't live in a bungalow, can't they at least have the decency to nose from their upstairs windows like normal neighbours do.

I am wondering if they are feeling resentful because your tree is limiting their natural light and you say you don’t have the money to cut it down (although I agree that £5k to do so is absolute madness- I’m sure you could do it cheaply) but then you are spending every weekend doing - what they probably perceive - as expensive DIY works.

I would make it a priority to cut the tree down- £250 ish should do it I reckon.

As long as it's not at 7am on a Sunday or after 9pm then I'm afraid it's tough . It's a short term thing .
I remember when I had my extension built the roofer came at 7.30 am and he was banging away like you'd expect but it was a weekday . I'm sure my neighbours hated me and my NDN did grumble a bit but it was soon over and tbh the stress involved in building work my neighbours were my last thought.

OP, don't be worried about drilling for 1/2 hour. That is perfectly normal and acceptable, even on Bank Holidays. DIY superstores often have sales on Bank Holiday weekends because that is when many do DIY projects.

On the subject of the tree, make sure you only cut it down if you want to and definitely don't let their son near it at that ridiculous price. My NDN has a conifer hedge that was about 25 feet high and 80 feet long and only paid £600 to have it cut down to around 7 feet high. They put everything through a shredder and took it away too. I was amazed at how cheap it was. £5k is absurd - it doesn't need a tree surgeon if it is being cut down to the ground.

The tree is this size. Thanks for all your responses. X

Ok so if they're your adjacent ndn then the tree doesn't block any more sunlight than it does in your own garden...which is long so probably isn't much in summer, and in winter who cares?!
The more you post OP the less unreasonable i think you are. They sound like they're old, stuck in their ways with nothing to occupy them than to complain about inconsequential nonsense.
I'd probably still go round and apologise in the sense of 'I'm sorry you're upset by this, but...' Nobody wants to live next to nightmare neighbours so if you can do that small thing to try and appease them (even though they're being unreasonable) then I'd do it. If they still cause trouble then that's on them.

Tough the work needs doing, we had our next-door neighbour complain to the council. They sent us a letter saying we could not work after 8 pm. I was working and renovating the house in 6 weeks before our first child. She was on the dole with some feigned illness council doing her garden. I worked exactly up to 8 then stopped the noisy work and concentrated on painting etc after that.