#I was woken up at 8:30am ON A SATURDAY by people banging around on my porch | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

domesticdisturbance · 7 years

Text

Nuisance Neighbours

It all started around Christmas time. The new neighbours moved in on Christmas Eve.

Christmas day was great. Just a little time spent with my mum, opening presents and eating good food. Boxing day seemed to go ok. Had the brother and his wife come round with their little boy. They opened their presents and then we had a fantastic lunch; a plethora of buffet food with samosas, onion bhajis, cheese sticks and mini pizzas.

All was fine until the evening, when my brother and his wife went home. The new neighbours decided that it was time they introduced themselves, not through conventional means such as a friendly meet and greet on the doorstep, but through loud hammering and drilling. This lasted for at least two hours. We thought it rude, but figured it was just one day; who could it harm.

The next day we realised that we were wrong. It was the bank holiday following Boxing day. Both my mum and I were awoken at 6:30am. It seems the new neighbours had brought in builders. Not just any builders, but completely incompetent builders who didn't seem to know how the law worked. For the next two days, we listened to them knocking down interior walls. (Listen to the audio for an approximate guage of the noise)

https://domesticdisturbance.tumblr.com/private/163568117230/tumblr_otv6h35VWW1wtq2k9

We went next door on the second day of this happening. We asked them if they were turning the house into an HMO. They said that they weren't and that they were a nice family. We were also told that this was their way, as if it was something that we had to get used to. We begrudgingly accepted that excuse not realising that the following three months were going to be hell for us, as this was to set the pace of things to come.

The night we questioned them as to the nature of their work, the "lady" of the house came around to our house to speak to us in regards to the question we had raised. She also confirmed that they were a family, there was to be no HMO and that they were nice people. Seemed a little bit rehearsed for our liking. We were polite, but that was until the Friday night when she asked if the builders could work on a Sunday. We were told that it would only be for one day. Every morning, of the following week, starting at about 6:45am we were woken up by builders slamming the front door, running up and down stairs and hammering away. They carried on all the way until 7pm, showing they had little regard for the law.

None of the neighbours had been warned of the building work that was to happen and approximately how long it would last. These builders affected not just us, but everyone in a long block of terraced houses. This included them taking up parking spaces with up to four vehicles. (See below - All three are visible together in one of the photos)

We tried to speak to the builders about this, but soon realised that they couldn't speak a word of English and our attempts were futile. We didn't see the lady (I shall call her Sienna for the purpose of this blog) until the following Friday. We had a funny feeling she was going to ask for them to work on New Years Day. It was evident by the look on her face when my mum said, "I hope your builders are not working this Sunday." Her expression fell flat. Her plan to ask us that question had failed before she had even opened her mouth. My mum continued to explain that it was illegal to start building work in a residential area before 7am on weekdays and Saturdays and that they had to finish by 6pm on weekdays ad 1pm on Saturdays. It was also illegal to work on a Sunday and Bank holidays. They agreed that no work would take place on that weekend.

We then got woken up at 7am on a Saturday morning (New Years Eve). Her partner had the bright idea of reversing his big van into the driveway and loading heavy rubble into it. Wanted to get a head start was the excuse we were told. The builders turned up a little later that day, but still worked until 7pm. The only saving grace we had was that the builders didn't turn up on the Sunday (New Years Day). At least they had listened to that part or so we thought.

We had no idea that for the following two and a half months we were to be woken up every day, including a Sunday. Not forgetting to mention that the new owners of the house also have strange work schedules, which meant they came home at 12-12:30am and woke us up again, with slamming doors, heavy footsteps and loud voices. This meant that we were getting woken up twice in the course of 7 hours plus the noise of the builders all day.

The weather was absolutely freezing outside. There was no way we could take the dog out for a week for 12 hours a day. We couldn't impose ourselves or our dog on other people and we also couldn't leave the dog on her own on her own in the house with that horrendous noise.

Sienna came around the following week. We explained to her that the noise was just excruciating and asked how long it was to carry on. She just shrugged her shoulders and said it had to be done unfortunately. She also didn't know how long the work was to carry on, as it was up to the builders. We began to wonder again, who owned that house. They were being very secretive about it. We told her that the builders should give us a break at least on a Sunday. This lasted for two weeks, but by the third Sunday they were back, and working until 7pm instead of 4pm like they were on previous Sundays. At this time she also mentioned that she was having wooden flooring throughout the house. We told her that sound carries through the floors in these houses. She again shrugged her shoulders and said that's what she was having whether we like it or not. We didn't see Sienna again for approximately 8 or 9 weeks after that (When the work was almost finished)

The following week was even worse. The builders were drilling into the party wall next to my bedroom for six full days. The vibration of which damaged most of my stuff (Although I was not to find this out until later)

Here is a sample of what we had to put up with. See if you can listen to this with headphones in for more than an hour. Now imagine this for 12 times that and for six days. It will drive you crazy.

https://domesticdisturbance.tumblr.com/post/163568600960/series-1000-general-miningdrilling-101924

A list of the property they broke through the vibration of the drilling:

Guitar string snapped. PC No longer works. Turns on, but just goes blank. Server started having memory problems. Had to lay out on new memory stick. TV on the adjacent wall has started flickering every now and then. Washing machine packed up. Wasn't even near the wall. Vacuum Cleaner packed up (Stored next to the party wall downstairs)

That is a just a list of the property that we know is broken. We can't prove for definite that this was caused by the drilling, so we can't claim a thing from them. We know for sure it was caused by that.

8 or 9 weeks passed with more drilling, hamering and sawing. They even had an electric tile cutter that they were using on the upstairs floor (Listen to audio below)

https://domesticdisturbance.tumblr.com/post/163569484305/the-library

It echoed though to our house and actually sounded more like drilling. A guy turned up during this time, to do the windows. They started drilling out the bricks around the old ones out at about 4pm, even though they were screwed in, and by this time I had had enough. I admit this was not my finest moment, but I went next door and banged as loud as I could. Sienna's partner opened the door. He took one look at me with a disgusted look on his face and said, "what?". I basically told him to have some f'ing respect for his neighbours and that we had had enough of their nonsense. Sienna came round after that and I apologised for my behaviour. She then had the cheek to tell us that the noise was also doing her head in. We said, try putting up with it for 13 weeks. She shrugged her shoulders and repeated a phrase we had heard before. Has to be done unfortunately.

The next time she came round was to collect a parcel we had taken in for her. I even watched as the delivery girl put a note in the door. It took her five days to do this and it was only after we had knocked twice and stuck a note in her door.

The next and final time she came around she wanted to ask us a favour. She wanted us to look after her house while she went to Bulgaria to visit her family. We asked her if the other three tenants were going with her. "No", she said. She was going on her own. Why were we looking after the house for them when three of them were still going to be there. It didn't make a lot of sense to us. She basicly thrust her phone number towards me and said, do you want my number or what?

By this time we were well and truly annoyed, but reluctantly agreed to it on the premise of being good neighbours. She went off for two weeks.. baring in mind that she had apparently been booked off work for two months due to being sick. She was now taking holiday on top of that.

Her lodgers played up hell while she was gone. Parking mostly in the driveway, they carried on the usual routine of slamming doors, stomping around on the floor and talking at the tops of their voices. This was taken to a new level though, as they were sitting in the company van smoking and talking to someone on the mobile through the bluetooth speaker and even playing loud music. This could be heard all the way down the road.

By the time Sienna got back, she was no longer talking to us. Never said one word. We found out that she was pregnant with another kid, and had brought her first kid home with her from Bulgaria. After all they put us through with no warnings whatsoever, there was never a word of apology from any of them for what they had done.

They continue to be a nuisance to this day. They have strange people coming round all the time who talk and laugh at the tops of their voices and even though they are in the back garden, we can hear them at the front of our house. Other people come for about 5 minutes at a time, collect parcels and packets from them and then leave again.

Unfortunately we have to have the windows and doors open, because it is so hot. We use to look forward to summer but.... roll on winter, where they have to stay inside with the door shut.

Doesn't really help with the noise though, as they still carry on like they always have (more on this later). We suffer the most through them.... but with them moving in, they have managed to alienate most of the road and continue to do so through taking up more than their fair share of parking. The driveway only supports two vehicles. Only one is parked in the driveway while three others hog parking spaces (See picture)

That gold car has been sitting in that same spot for over a month and has just been clamped due to no insurance and no tax. The other two vehicles are company vans, while the fourth car (in the driveway) belongs to Sienna. Bare in mind that they get upset if someone parks in front of their house, but it's perfectly fine for them to do the exact same thing to someone else.

So in conclusion to the first portion of this blog.... When people ask why we hate the neighbours, we can just point them in this direction and everything will be explained. If you have trouble with neighbours yourself, it would be worth writing a blog like this to help process things and make other people aware of what you have been through.

We often wonder what we have done to deserve such inconsiderate, selfish neighbours, but unfortunately that is an unanswerable question.

(Cont)

We caught their young lodgers looking in car windows and houses as they went past. Not quick glances, but staring into them. When they happened to be doing it to our house, we stood up to make them aware of what they were doing. Most people would look away at that point, but all they did was stare at us as they went past.

It’s not just the lodgers though. Sienna now has her grandmother staying with them and she also does the same thing. Often her and Sienna has been out in the front garden as visitors of ours have come over. They both stare with their mouths open. It also happened a lot in the back garden. All day, every day they are outside. There is no peace to enjoy the garden.

My mum caught the grandmother one day and said, if she keeps this up, we will have no choice but to have them up for harassment. She made out that she couldn’t understand, but then spoke to my mum in almost perfect English a couple of minutes later. Apparently she is looking after the baby and four year old boy. We often speculate as to what the actual mother (Sienna) of those children is doing.

Often on a Sunday, all of them seem to be home. They sit outside yelling at the tops of their voices. My mum and I were out there and couldn’t even hear each other speak, it was so loud. Our neighbour on the other side of us had to put her music on louder to drown out their speech. I yelled over the fence that they were being anti-social. They then preceded to get louder still (Didn’t think it was possible)

Over a couple of weeks we have witnessed them selling off cigarettes at the door (The people buying these cigarettes just took it upon themselves to park in the next door neighbour’s driveway)

We’ve also witnessed them having a very large quantity of nappies delivered from two different supermarkets over a period of two weeks. About 70 crates of nappies were delivered in that time. We have also seen about six car loads full. Both times the nappies have been at their house for a few days and then their van is loaded up and off they go somewhere. Can’t be far, because they are back within a certain amount of time.

All this strange behaviour has led us to be very suspicious of their activities. Even guests of theirs don’t seem to be able to behave themselves. Their parking skills certainly leave a lot to be desired.

The latest thing to happen, however, is the so called gas engineer, that came to fiddle around with their boiler. The flue for this was placed approximately two foot from the boundary line by the previous neighbour. This ‘engineer’ has now placed it a foot closer meaning that the poisonous gases from the flue are now only a foot away from our fence. There is a window in our hallway that we often open for air. I dread to think what we are breathing in now.

Apart from that, it’s the usual banging and slamming around at night without a thought for others, because ‘they’re used to it’ and the car alarm that goes unchecked and eventually stops by itself after a few times.

(Watch this space)

#nuisance neighbours

0 notes