Neighbours

Fortunately not- but when we lived in London and our children were small, therefore sleep was at a premium, I would dread Saturday nights especially in summer when people either down the road or in the road behind us would have parties with their windows and doors open. It is very hard to block out that level of noise so you have my sympathy. The fact that they are not good neighbours in any sense of the word makes it even harder for you as presumablt you do not have any opportunity to speak to them. Also - how much nicer if you were occasionally invited to these parties!
Could you perhaps at least ask for notice so that you could go away for the night?

Thanks for message but I always sent them a Christmas Card but we never ever received one from them.
As for an invite to party i should have said they arent family parties they have marquee outside with patio heating this was on New Years Eve son had the party as parents were away and revellers spilled outside there were at least 10 cars in road more like a rave went on until 4am I was exhausted new Years Day. However we have new neighbours who have the deeds to the road there and is going to do something about it in future fingers crossed!!

My neighbours are very pleasant and the little cul de sac where I live is quite peaceful. The family next door has just moved out and we await the arrival of the new people. However, when I lived in London, the neighbours from hell moved in at one point. They had noisy parties which seemed to involve chucking empty beer cans and the remains of joints over the back garden wall. Parties also sometimes involved the smelliest and smokiest barbecues in the world. They spilled out at the back and the front of the house. The couple who lived there invariably had a fight – physical as well as verbal – at about 5 am. On one occasion I rang the environmental police officer person to complain. When he came, I told him what had been going on including what I described as "a couple copulating enthusiastically in the back garden while providing a loud running commentary on their activities". I pointed out that my daughter, then about 11 years old, was trying to sleep in an upstairs bedroom at the back of my house and that it was a school day the next day. I then told him that I had sent the dog out to "see them off". The dear dog had no idea what he was seeing off as it was happening the other side of the wall, but his furious barking was an effective method of coitus interruptus.

I think having to live with constant noise from neighbours is extremely bad for health. My neighbours had a dog that howled incessantly when they were out of the house, it lasted for 17 years and I think it helped push my BP up. My second home also had a neighbour who was completely deaf, not his fault, but he used to take his hearing aids out and leave the TV or radio on all night. Sleep deprivation is a form of torture.

Agree harrigran totally!!

Since the house next door was sold, a few years ago, it`s been let out on a regular basis, until recently always to people from E.Europe. One set, 2 men and 2 women, looked to be in their mid 30s, were VERY noisy, loud talking and music till the early hours, one Christmas Eve the noise went on till 6.20am. We complained, to them and to the letting agency, to no avail. After them there was a couple with 3 or 4 young children, they were OK, then last May a couple moved in, English, in their 60s, retired, we thought they would be great neighbours. Were WE wrong! TV on nearly all night, banging and hammering about 50% of the time, and he`s really a nasty piece of work, as I stated a while back when he was verbally abusing us in the street. I`m desperately hoping that he`s only taken the rental for 1 year, but I don`t think we`ll be that lucky.

Don't start me about neighbours......ours is the one from hell! He is a law unto himself. Last year he decided to fell a huge cedar tree that was almost on our border. Did he get a tree surgeon or even a competent person NO he got his mate with a chainsaw to do it. Most of it came down into our garden crushing our plants and ripping our beautiful Gleditsia Sunburst tree in half. When we went out to see the damage we were threatened with the chainsaw....ended up calling the police! I could go on and on about the nuisance from noise, bonfires, mess, intimidation etc but my BP will just get higher.
On the other side we have a lovely old lady who is just wonderful.....

Like absentgrana I too live in a culde sac, 7 houses in total, of which we are the last but one. For just over a year we have had in no.7 an ideal neighbour. A lovely chap (early retired) taking a years sabbatical to attend a local year long furniture making course, going back to his wife on occasions, and she coming to stay with him. (They are not separated, he is just doing something that he has always wanted to do, re. the furniture thing!) He moves out next week and we are wondering who we will get next.

It is a family sized 3 bed semi, which adjoins us. Although the houses are very well insulated with regard to heat loss etc, the sound proofing could be better! Before our current neighbour, who is very quiet, we could hear every loudish admonishment of the children, plus any running up and down the stairs.

We have always rubbed along very well with all our surrounding neighbours except the one whose house we adjoined. She was total hell. Like Lucid's neighbour, a law unto herself. Elderly and cantankerous, we put up with all sorts of what can only be described as bullying behaviour until I was so stressed out by it that my husband threatened her with legal action. She was not well regarded in the neighbourhood and I often had people I barely knew offering sympathetic comments because I had the misfortune to live next door to her! We were thinking of extending our house but, at the end of the day, it would just have been a bigger semi with the same horrible neighbour, so we moved and are now detached and a lot happier!

number I would call the Noise Abatement Officer who will work out of your local council office they work 24hrs a day,they will come into your home if necessary and listern to the noise themselves and make a recording and test the decibel level for you they then give them a warning and if not complied with they will get fined. Good luck

Actually, glammanana, they`ve been fairly quiet over the last few days, why the change, I don`t know, just hope it continues.

We have always lived in fairly isolated places and as I get older I'm starting to wish I actually had neighbours!

Thanks for all of messages its made me feel better for sharing this problem.
One of my sons patients told him he goes out all day as he lives in a flat and noisy drug dealing record playing lout makes a noise all day and most of night he is frightened to confront him as he is in his late 60's and this thug is in his 20's and a bully both he and his wife just put up with it.
I know in the 1960's if there was a party and lots of noise police would knock on your door and tell you you were causing a disturbance!!

I live in a block of 12 flats and I am the only permanent resident apart from the 'guardien' (caretaker). There are three other similar blocks. The other flats are either holiday rentals or second homes. Most of the year there are only two or three cars in the car park, but at the moment there are about 15 because of the skiiing. The flats are about 2 kms outside the tiny village and my address is actually a mountain pass. It is very, very, peaceful. The isolation would not suit everybody, I know, but I love it. You can see the flats on my profile photos.
The flats were built for the Alpine weather, and as mine is in the middle of the second of four floors, I have flats on every side and only one outside wall, which has triple glazed French windows, heavy shutters, and there is wood cladding over the brickwork. Even when it is -10C outside, the temperature inside never drops below 15C and I hardly ever need to use my electric radiators.
On my French ex-pat forum, there are horrendous tales of neighbours having a dozen hunting dogs penned up outside who howl all day, others who cut off joint water supplies, or who are just plain malicious, and usually are related to the Mayor! Some of it is caused by resentment of 'comers in' (we found this in North Wales) but often they have been horrible to the other French people in the village. The big problem is that when you come to sell the house you have to declare if you have had any disputes with neighbours - otherwise the buyer can sue you for non-disclosure of a 'vice cache', or hidden defect.
I don't think some dog owners actually realise that most dogs hate to be left alone all day. I once lived in a tiny starter home in Maidstone, and the couple next door left their puppy from 8 am to 6 pm and it howled the whole time they were away. It also came through the fence to defecate on my patio. When I asked them to put up a dog-proof fence, I was verbally abused. I took to using a spade to throw the faeces back over the fence. I had to move because of my work and I am afraid I left the problem to the girl who bought the house, but she was also out at work all day so perhaps it was not such a problem.

Hello I am new to Gransnet and realy did not want to start off with a moan but had to get this off my chest.
My Daughter has a two year old with cerebal palsey, he has always been a good baby and slept well. Since just before Christmas he has been crying when put to bed and waking in the night crying.
My Daughter has asked for help with this problem and my grandson is being checked out to see if there is any reason for the crying or if he is just a stroppy two year old
Her Neighbours, who they have always got on with, wrote to the landlady complaining!! They did not bother to ask my daughter if there was a problem or if she could move the baby to another room, just wrote complaining that my grandson was left to cry for too long.
Yes I know as harrigran says, sleep deprevation is a form of torture but it is far worse for my daughter and son in law as they sit holding a sceaming baby in the early hours of the morning unable to help him.
It must be hard for the neighbours but what a way to go about things.
(no response from landlady yet)

Welcome suzeeq. Not very understanding of the neighbours. Why not call to say they heard the baby crying and wonder if there's anything they can do to help, which would have got the message across about them being disturbed but show they understand why. I hope the landlady has a bit more compassion

Thank you Carol. The thing is my daughter is going to have to move soon any way, they are waiting for a council house as it will have to be adapted for my grandson as he gets bigger, so the neighbours will be able to catch up on sleep then

Are you able to have your little grandson to stay over with you to give daughter a break? (smile)

Swansong, if only but they are up near Newcastle and we are on Wirral so can't have him as often as we would like

Oh, suseeq, how lacking in feeling these people must be. Do they know that the little boy has cerebral palsy? Perhaps if they walked a few days in your daughter's shoes, they would understand a bit better.
I wonder if the landlady is reluctant to respond because she does understand the situation?

We are actually having him for a couple of nights next week I hope

Yes they do know, I was up there when he was born and it was a very traumatic time, the neibourgh was lovely and asked about him every day, that is why this was such a shock

Oops sorry about the spelling of neighbour I blame my typing

These neighbours are actually 'discriminating' against your grandson. I wonder if they realise this?