Do you have noisy neighbours? Post Reply

[ellsbells]

I live on a road midway off Clapham Common Northside and love it for many reasons, but I'm struggling with noise especially now the weather is good. A lot of my neighbours seem to be young professionals in flat shares, so in the evenings there are lots of parties and people sitting around in their gardens talking loudly. Because of the nature of the homes - close together properties, small gardens, the sound really carries and it's a complete pain.

We are considering moving in 18 months and the choice is to stay in the area (looking at Nightingale/Clapham South) or head out to the M25 periphery to a more boring area but with more space between neighbours. Some friends have just bought a place in the Nightingale Triangle and said they have a lot of older people or families as neighbours, so I'm wondering if this might be better than the Northside area.

Do I need to suck it up with regards noise, or is there anyone out there in SW11/12 who has nice quiet neighbours? I'm only early 30s myself but want a bit of peace and quiet sometimes Also a bit more community spirit rather than neighbours who come and go all the time.

[ellsbells]

Well just to add to this, we had to knock on the door of a neighbour who was having a party of 15 people in their very small garden and rather than a simple ‘sorry, we’ll keep the noise down’ he got very defensive and insisted that because it wasn’t 4am it was fine and he couldn’t be expected not to have a social life! We’ve put up with him having gatherings past midnight on a weekly basis since the weather has been good. The expectation seems to be that this is a party area so we need to deal with it!

[Paulette]

No, but in this heat, everybody has open doors and windows and we do hear them more than usual. People eating in their garden, to people partying. This is exceptional, I would not move just for this.
I also think that when we have guests (which is not as often as my 5next-door neighbors in total) then we probably make noise too. That's the Victorian Terraces design I suppose!

[chorister]

This is really difficult when we all live cheek by jowl. We live just off Clapham Common Westside and quite often hear noise, but do try to take a view that it is one of the downsides that goes with living in a wonderful area and city, so try to put up with it.

Very occasionally though we have used the Wandsworth Noise Line

http://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/info/20051 ... f_nuisance

and have found them very good. Hope that helps.

[Jamie’s Gran]

I live on theMagdalen Estate, south of Wandsworth Common. While people do have parties and bbqs, noise is not a problem. Partly because there is more space between houses and most gardens have lots of shrubs and trees, but also because Wandsworth Council is fierce on noise pollution. There is a house share in the house behind me and a big party with amplified music was shut down a couple of years ago, when there were complaints. This is generally a quiet area.

[meeshter]

SW16 the roads around Streatham & Clapham school with Tooting Common on the doorstep. Driveways and big gardens for the same price as Nightingale Triangle, best house move we made. Lovely quiet area.

[SWLondonDad]

We're in New Malden.

Nice family area. Everyone very considerate.

20 mins into Waterloo.

[Kirstie’s Mom]

We live on Crockerton Rd Sw17 and it is really quiet

[Pixie65]

Really interested in this as when I lived in a lovely flat in Wandsworth my large French windows were opposite the garden of a posh house behind, every night in the summer the owner a man in his 50s had friends round and they drove me mad with their really loud, booming noises and screeching laughter. It really carried badly straight into my flat.
I had to shut the windows and turn up the telly to drown it out, it was miserable. I felt I couldn't complain because it was just about six people in a garden talking, but they seemed to have really loud voices.
So I moved to Bournemouth to a really lovely house with a large garden. I love the fact that my daughter etc can play out making as much noise as they like - well I did until last week I got the dreaded complaints from the neighbour next door.
I'd had a family birthday party, the kids had been noisy during the day just playing. At about 11pm a few stragglers about 8 were sat chatting on my decking and the music was on but low.
Then I heard my neighbour screaming and shouting about the noise - it was so embarrassing and I immediately apologised and made everyone leave. She was really hysterical.
I wrote a letter apologising but am now in a quandary. My house is detached but neighbours are nearby, I now worry about making any noise, feel I cannot enjoy my garden, especially in this hot weather.
Feel embarrassed when I see her, she's blanking me but was never very friendly in first place. Her children are now teenagers so imagine they used to make noise but have now grown out of it.
The neighbours on other side who are much older have been really lovely, said don't worry about it, we didn't hear anything, we all have dos as long as it's not every week, every night we don't mind.
The point I'm making is you might move and find yourself in exactly the same position, to be honest I now feel that being able to afford a detached house in plenty of grounds is only way you can 1.avoid noise, 2. Feel free to enjoy your garden and house as you want.
Also if you move to somewhere quietly anyone can move in and ruin it. I now feel like the neighbour from hell even though I'm not. Look for somewhere in the country detached and with lots of room round it to be really safe.

[ellsbells]

Thanks all, some interesting responses. I'm not adverse to a bit of noise - neighbours on one side often sit out and eat and kids further down play in the paddling pool - all quite nice summer background noise. But with the noisy lot I can hear every word, lots of shouting /singing and guffawing! I think their garden's acoustics play a part - the garden is walled and no plants and there's a glass wall so noise bounces around, so that could be something to suggest if we need to interact again

[ellsbells]

We're in New Malden.

Nice family area. Everyone very considerate.

20 mins into Waterloo.

Interesting, thanks - I'd looked online a while ago and liked the look of some properties in Coombside area - a detached house would be affordable there and it would be lovely not to have adjoining neighbours.

[SWLondonDad]

We're semi detached, but have lovely neighbours. It makes such a difference living with nice people.

Our neighbours have the occasionally party. It's not that often, we cope. We have kids running through the sprinkler and being kids. They cope. We all get along.

It's a good commuter belt location. Some good private schools in the area if thats your things. State schools vary a bit but thats everywhere.

High streets ok, but changing. Wimbledon, Wimbledon Village and Kingston are 5 mins by train either way. Richmond park is up the road. Close to the A3m to get out of town.

And lots of families with kids moving in. Worth checking out.

[parsleysong]

From viewing quite a few of those houses around Sugden/Marney/Stormont when looking to buy one I think they might have worse noise problems that other areas because the gardens are particularly small and brick walls and hard landscaping so the noise bounces around more. So if that bothers you I'd be looking further south west like some of the locations mentioned above and also Balham and around Wandsworth Common and Tooting Bec where in general the gardens are bigger, houses less squished together and more soft landscaping and timber fences to absorb the noise. Good luck!

[sloaney donkey]

Q: What is a horse’s favourite TV show?

A: Neeeeighhhboooors !