'My neighbours' kids scream all night - it wakes up my baby and I've had enough'
Noisy neighbours are never fun to deal with, whether they're the type to blast music far too loudly or have children who like to scream and shout all day long which disrupts your otherwise peaceful weekend. And while it can be annoying to have your own sleep ruined by noise, it's even worse if the racket wakes up your baby.
That's exactly the situation one dad is facing with his neighbours, as he explained they have young children who love to play in their garden late at night and keep "screaming" and "yelling" when they do - which wakes up his seven-month-old baby. He said his neighbours also often use his garden to cut through onto their own property, and although he plans on solving that problem with a fence, he isn't sure how to get around the noise issue.
In a post on Reddit, he said: "My wife and I recently purchased our first home in an affluent neighbourhood. When we first moved in, we noticed the neighbours' kids (10 years old, parents are in their mid-40s) would be in our yard, cutting through [to their property]. We assumed this was due to us not moving in right away as we had work done, and figured once they realised we were here they'd stop. They did not.
"We have a seven-month-old child who was awoken last night (9 pm) by the neighbours' kids and their friends screaming in our yard with flashlights. I'm sure they were just cutting through, but still. This is not the first time. They were out recently until 10:30 pm on a school night yelling on their trampoline.
"The neighbours seemingly hate us, despite us being the ones with a bone to pick with them. My wife will say hi to the mother when walking our son, and she will ignore her. Yesterday, my wife was walking by and this mother was having a conversation with another neighbour in her car and randomly gave my wife a death stare for 20 seconds.
Mum's touching gesture to young son who died leaves Morrisons shopper in tears"We're planning on fencing in the corner for the cut-through, but how do I deal with the noise? I cannot imagine the parents can be reasoned with, as there is already clearly some type of tension between us for no reason."
Commenters on the post were quick to tell the man that although the noise might be annoying, there isn't much he can do unless his neighbours start making noise during quiet hours, which in the UK is usually between 11 pm and 7 am. This means that if the kids make noise in their garden at 9 pm, they're entitled to do so even if it wakes up the man's baby.
One person wrote: "I completely understand that they're noisy. They absolutely are. But I wouldn't call it unreasonable and I wouldn't complain about it at that point. If it goes beyond whatever hour your noise ordinance states is quiet time, then yes, I would speak up at that point," while another added: "Check and see if where you live has a set noise ordinance in place for certain hours of the night. If the kids are out there screaming and jumping on the trampoline, or doing anything else noisily past the cut-off time, call the cops."