Checking noise from neighbours before buying?

lastusername

Hi folks,


We are sale agreed on a semi-d in a recally nice location and one thing I want to check out are the neighbours and how much noise there might be in terms of TV volume, people talking / arguing, etc!


I am wondering how many of you are looking at this before buying, or did so in the past?


I've already done some research and have been in touch with someone who rented in the estate and said they could hear the neighbours fairly clearly if they were talking loudly and so on.

I know you can soundproof, and that you can expect some noise in an urban environment, but I'd rather know in advance if it's going to be very easy to hear the neighbours.


I'll be having an informal chat with some of the neighbours anyway to sound this out (ha, not intended!), but all advice and opinions welcome. I'm planning to just drop by and have a chat and ask a few questions.



Interestingly, this survey below showed that the prospect of noisy neighbours is by far the biggest reason why someone would drop out of a sale!



However, this is a UK study and I spotted when selling a house there, you have to declare any issues in a form before the sale goes through (unlike here).


https://www.sellingup.com/property-buying-dealbreakers-survey

Also, regulations around soundproofing didn't come in until 1991/92 in Ireland, and this estate was built shortly before or around this time, so the regs may not have been in place.



Thanks!

If you're concerned about noise dont buy a semi D.

TheSheriff

lastusername wrote: »

Hi folks,


We are sale agreed on a semi-d in a recally nice location and one thing I want to check out are the neighbours and how much noise there might be in terms of TV volume, people talking / arguing, etc!


I am wondering how many of you are looking at this before buying, or did so in the past?


I've already done some research and have been in touch with someone who rented in the estate and said they could hear the neighbours fairly clearly if they were talking loudly and so on.

I know you can soundproof, and that you can expect some noise in an urban environment, but I'd rather know in advance if it's going to be very easy to hear the neighbours.


I'll be having an informal chat with some of the neighbours anyway to sound this out (ha, not intended!), but all advice and opinions welcome. I'm planning to just drop by and have a chat and ask a few questions.



Interestingly, this survey below showed that the prospect of noisy neighbours is by far the biggest reason why someone would drop out of a sale!



However, this is a UK study and I spotted when selling a house there, you have to declare any issues in a form before the sale goes through (unlike here).


https://www.sellingup.com/property-buying-dealbreakers-survey

Also, regulations around soundproofing didn't come in until 1991/92 in Ireland, and this estate was built shortly before or around this time, so the regs may not have been in place.



Thanks!

Also, depending on the neighbors age etc. if some randomer came to the door looking to scope out the area they may be less than impressed due to us having an ongoing pandemic....just be appreciative of whose door you are knocking on and be ready if they simply do not want to speak with you.

guyfawkes5

Some surveyors will include this on their report, although they will say themselves their check is relatively informal and they can't exact force neighbours to be noisy to check sound proofing.

Checking with neighbours sounds reasonable if you're concerned, although as mentioned bear in mind some people mightn't be too impressed a stranger is knocking on their door during a pandemic.

nelly17

Do try and drop by if you are the type of person who is annoyed by noise - some friends bought in the same estate as us and they were constantly going on about the noise from neighbouring houses we have the same houses with the same amount of noise from neighbours and its a pshycological thing it doesnt bother us, but the friends we have ended up selling and moving because of it.

PCros

Its a total lottery as people are all different in terms of noise.

No point talking to other neighbours, you need to talk to your actual prospective neighbour or at least see who lives in there and you maybe able to make an assumption.

Also depends on your work/life situation. Typically young families can possibly be nosier during the day but quiet at night and then you may have young professionals where its quiet during the day and then possibly louder at night/weekends...

Also as the above poster mentions it becomes a psychological thing. Best thing to do is make friends or become friendly with your neighbour and its a non issue if its just mumbling's of TV or talking etc.

the_syco

Pre-COVID I'd say to call in on a weekday, but now with COVID they'll most likely be at home anyway. Also due to COVID it may be quite at the weekend.

Basically; COVID will give you a false sense of the noise levels.

lastusername wrote: »

I know you can soundproof, and that you can expect some noise in an urban environment, but I'd rather know in advance if it's going to be very easy to hear the neighbours.

You can soundproof detached houses. Noise can transfer through the building structure if you have a semi-D. For example, this house (built in the 70's) is connected at sitting room. But the sound of late night parties in their kitchen would still travel via the structure to the bedroom. Said neighbours have since moved on, but we can still hear the doors at times.

Roughly how old is the house?

Charles Babbage

This is undoubtedly the biggest issue about buying a house. You can address deficiencies of insulation etc to a large extent yourselves, but delinquent neighbours with poor sound insulation will beat you.
There are two issues here, the degree of noise transmission and the conduct of your neighbours.
The first is hard to assess, the second might be open to generalisation but warning signs would be a rental, young kids etc. But other lifestyle issues could be a problem, one friend of mine had a neighbour who got up at 6am!!
Houses should require a sound "BER".

El Weirdo

Charles Babbage wrote: »

But other lifestyle issues could be a problem, one friend of mine had a neighbour who got up at 6am!!

Not sure why this would be a shock? I'd have thought it would be fairly common.

Nijmegen

How old is the house? Newer houses do have better insulation - but not perfect. Anything built 1960s-celtic tiger, you will have a major chance of wondering who is running up and down your stairs for a few months before your brain adjusts to the idea that it's next door. I've lived in a few of those.

Some people do go and put in sound insulation themselves at sacrifice of a few inches of room space, but that's a big job.

Realistically living in any semi-d is gonna involve knowing when your neighbors are having a row.

lastusername

Nijmegen wrote: »

How old is the house? Newer houses do have better insulation - but not perfect. Anything built 1960s-celtic tiger, you will have a major chance of wondering who is running up and down your stairs for a few months before your brain adjusts to the idea that it's next door. I've lived in a few of those.

Some people do go and put in sound insulation themselves at sacrifice of a few inches of room space, but that's a big job.

Realistically living in any semi-d is gonna involve knowing when your neighbors are having a row.

Estate agent said it was built in 1992 and it seems the estate was started in 1985.


I actually don't mind noise and it's nice to hear activity around the place, as long as it's not shouting, etc. In fact, our current neighbours have a baby who cries a LOT but it doesn't bother us at all - we just turn the telly up a bit on occasion!


I guess it is just different when you are buying a place, will have a not insignificant mortgage, and have no idea who your neighbours are or if you'll hear them only here and there or if you'll almost feel like you're living together. The latter I obviously don't want.



That said, if they are nice people then you don't mind as much...hence my idea re paying a socially-distanced visit!


I also grew up in a house where I could rarely hear the (very nice) neighbours, and so I guess I want the same for myself now.

Nijmegen

lastusername wrote: »

Estate agent said it was built in 1992 and it seems the estate was started in 1985.


I actually don't mind noise and it's nice to hear activity around the place, as long as it's not shouting, etc. In fact, our current neighbours have a baby who cries a LOT but it doesn't bother us at all - we just turn the telly up a bit on occasion!


I guess it is just different when you are buying a place, will have a not insignificant mortgage, and have no idea who your neighbours are or if you'll hear them only here and there or if you'll almost feel like you're living together. The latter I obviously don't want.

That said, if they are nice people then you don't mind as much...hence my idea re paying a socially-distanced visit!


I also grew up in a house where I could rarely hear the (very nice) neighbours, and so I guess I want the same for myself now.

Really I guess your question is less about noise insulation than what type of neighbor you're gonna get. Do you know any people who live in the area? I remember by coincidence having a friend of a sibling who used to live in a house I ended up renting, sent up a big warning signal about the local alcoholic loudmouth. Didn't listen and spent the next few years suffering for it.

Doubt you'll get told that just from a walk up and knock...

Another common house type is the "Has teenagers, goes away"... read: House parties.

One thing I quite like about living in a new build estate is all the FTBs with young kids. Bliss and peace. More settled estates are a major mixed bag.

JimmyVik

nelly17 wrote: »

Do try and drop by if you are the type of person who is annoyed by noise - some friends bought in the same estate as us and they were constantly going on about the noise from neighbouring houses we have the same houses with the same amount of noise from neighbours and its a pshycological thing it doesnt bother us, but the friends we have ended up selling and moving because of it.

Ive seen that too.
Some people want to be bothered by the least bit of noise.
And then they become hyper sensitive to it.
Normal people dont hear noise after a week or two.
I lived 20 feet away from train tracks once.
The train would wake me up the first week. Then after that I only noticed it if I actually saw it passing.
The sound didnt register in my brain at all.

Cash_Q

lastusername wrote:

We are sale agreed on a semi-d in a recally nice location and one thing I want to check out are the neighbours and how much noise there might be in terms of TV volume, people talking / arguing, etc!

lastusername wrote:

I am wondering how many of you are looking at this before buying, or did so in the past?

Good God I wish we had...we are in a terrace with an elderly widow on one side, we can't hear a sound from her...the other side is a whole other story. We can hear low level music/TV through the wall when in bed. Can hear feet on their stairs, doors closing, curtains closing, sneezing, even the kettle in the small hours. That's all irritating, but they happen to be noisy inconsiderate people too, who slam doors at all hours, scream and shout at each other, and are generally on a totally different timetable to us in that they're up until all hours, quiet during the day unless they're fighting. We hate them and would love to move but as second time buyers we need 20% deposit...while paying the mortgage here it's hard to save! And really we need to move further away to afford anything else which we dont want to do. It sickens me to have to move over people like that but we will have to.

lastusername

JimmyVik wrote: »

Ive seen that too.
Some people want to be bothered by the least bit of noise.
And then they become hyper sensitive to it.
Normal people dont hear noise after a week or two.
I lived 20 feet away from train tracks once.
The train would wake me up the first week. Then after that I only noticed it if I actually saw it passing.
The sound didnt register in my brain at all.

Yes, that's looking to be annoyed by something!!

3DataModem

Nijmegen wrote: »

One thing I quite like about living in a new build estate is all the FTBs with young kids. Bliss and peace. More settled estates are a major mixed bag.

This is huge. I did not appreciate this factor till I moved into a new estate 1.5 years ago. Everyone has kids, everyone is on the same page (more or less).

3DataModem

3DataModem wrote: »

This is huge. I did not appreciate this factor till I moved into a new estate 1.5 years ago. Everyone has kids, everyone is on the same page (more or less).

Huge consideration. We live in a small, mature estate of just 10 houses that has undergone a lot of change recently. Four of the houses now have young children but we have three sets of recently retired couples who have never had children and it's not a good mix. We are just on a totally different page to them, and they tend to try and rule the roost. It makes it so much easier when everyone is at the same stage in life - if at all possible.

JustAThought

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Huge consideration. We live in a small, mature estate of just 10 houses that has undergone a lot of change recently. Four of the houses now have young children but we have three sets of recently retired couples who have never had children and it's not a good mix. We are just on a totally different page to them, and they tend to try and rule the roost. It makes it so much easier when everyone is at the same stage in life - if at all possible.

It makes it easier when people control their screaming children and do not discard them onto the roads on into the gardens to roar and scream for hours uncorrected and with zero consideration for their neighbours.

OP if you have been warned by your friend and know the houses have poor insulation why are you buying there? There is nothing worse than bad /noisy/ inconsiderate neighbours. It all ends in the district court/PTRB and is an ongoing stress and nightmare to have to put up with.

d00mk1n

When viewing a house, see if you can see your new neighbour’s back garden via the upstairs back bedroom.

Can say a lot about who might be living next door.

brisan

Cash_Q wrote: »

Good God I wish we had...we are in a terrace with an elderly widow on one side, we can't hear a sound from her...the other side is a whole other story. We can hear low level music/TV through the wall when in bed. Can hear feet on their stairs, doors closing, curtains closing, sneezing, even the kettle in the small hours. That's all irritating, but they happen to be noisy inconsiderate people too, who slam doors at all hours, scream and shout at each other, and are generally on a totally different timetable to us in that they're up until all hours, quiet during the day unless they're fighting. We hate them and would love to move but as second time buyers we need 20% deposit...while paying the mortgage here it's hard to save! And really we need to move further away to afford anything else which we dont want to do. It sickens me to have to move over people like that but we will have to.

Back when I was buying property for myself to live in I would always check out the neighbours and the neighbourhood.
Pay visits to the area at different times of the day and night and at weekends
Neighbours with teenagers will be noisy
Old widows living next door will be quiet ,but they will die and you have no control over who will move in .
You could have the best neighbours in the world and they sell up and move on.
like in rented accomodation ,neighbours are a factor you have little or no control over .
All you can do is check out the here and now.
My parents moved into a house in Donaghmede in 1971
To this day the 3 families on one side and 4 on the other side are the same
That is a rarity nowadays
If noise is a big factor for you then save more and buy a detached house
Noise insulation can only go so far

brisan

JustAThought wrote: »

It makes it easier when people control their screaming children and do not discard them onto the roads on into the gardens to roar and scream for hours uncorrected and with zero consideration for their neighbours.

OP if you have been warned by your friend and know the houses have poor insulation why are you buying there? There is nothing worse than bad /noisy/ inconsiderate neighbours. It all ends in the district court/PTRB and is an ongoing stress and nightmare to have to put up with.

Different times but when when I was a kid the neighbours had no issue with roaring at us when we stepped out of line
I remember once getting a light clip on the head from a neighbour for kicking a ball into his flower bed ( granted it was not the first or 10th time it happened ).told my mam ,and she said I must have deserved it and I got a whack of a wet tea cloth

JustAThought

JustAThought wrote: »

It makes it easier when people control their screaming children and do not discard them onto the roads on into the gardens to roar and scream for hours uncorrected and with zero consideration for their neighbours.

OP if you have been warned by your friend and know the houses have poor insulation why are you buying there? There is nothing worse than bad /noisy/ inconsiderate neighbours. It all ends in the district court/PTRB and is an ongoing stress and nightmare to have to put up with.

LOL. Fair play to you. Imagine children playing in gardens and making noise!

My kids are both under 1.5 so don't go near the road or the front garden. The major hassle we have is cars parked on footpaths so we have to walk buggies on the road, dogs barking at all times and neighbours out in their front gardens having drinks and barbecues until midnight during the lockdown with no consideration for sleeping children or those of us who are up at 6am every morning.

I'm sure I do things they think are inconsiderate but to be honest I am constantly walking on eggshells and pre-empting the next thing they will take issue with. I am not sure they give us or our needs a second thought.

My younger neighbours don't let their kids out on the road for fear of upsetting one of the neighbours and when they use the green, one of the neighbours patrols it after to make sure no damage has been done to the trees or shrubs.

My point is that it's a lot easier when everyone in an area such as in a new estate is at the same stage in life.

Fred Cryton

Find out if there's a social housing component in the estate. I don't actually know how you do this but there must be a way. They can stick their "integration" up their backsides. Complete segregation is what i'd be looking for.

ELM327

Fred Cryton wrote: »

Find out if there's a social housing component in the estate. I don't actually know how you do this but there must be a way. They can stick their "integration" up their backsides. Complete segregation is what i'd be looking for.

I think that you are joking but I tell you what, if I'm spending the next 25 years paying for my house, I'm not doing it beside social housing.

brisan

ELM327 wrote: »

I think that you are joking but I tell you what, if I'm spending the next 25 years paying for my house, I'm not doing it beside social housing.

You may not have a choice
Todays neighbours could move out tomorrow and who knows who will move in
Landlord buys it and takes HAP
Council buys it
You can never tell


https://www.google.com/search?q=council+buys+apartments+in+Dundrum&rlz=1C1GCEB_enGB889GB889&oq=council+buys+apartments+in+Dundrum&aqs=chrome..69i57j33.14502j1j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

ELM327

I won't be buying a semi d in an estate, I'm looking at houses out the country on some land. So it's a moot point for me.

But still, it's pretty crap to have social housing moved in beside you after the fact.

Mousewar

I've had a semi-d soundproofed. Massive job, expensive, and you lose a few inches of space. It helped a bit with air borne noise (voices, music) but was useless in terms of impact noise (doors banging, feet on stairs, and heavy bass music which is essentially an impact noise).
It wasn't really worth it but then I got better neighbours - that made a massive difference and it cost me nothing!

brisan

Mousewar wrote: »

I've had a semi-d soundproofed. Massive job, expensive, and you lose a few inches of space. It helped a bit with air borne noise (voices, music) but was useless in terms of impact noise (doors banging, feet on stairs, and heavy bass music which is essentially an impact noise).
It wasn't really worth it but then I got better neighbours - that made a massive difference and it cost me nothing!

Neighbours are a moveable feast and who lives beside you is totally out of your control

awec

Anyone who lives in a housing development that has young families in it and expects not to hear children screaming and playing outside is living with their head up their arse.

But I think every development has that person.

awec

awec wrote: »

Anyone who lives in a housing development that has young families in it and expects not to hear children screaming and playing outside is living with their head up their arse.

But I think every development has that person.

I have three! All God fearing and in their own eyes the best neighbours you could ask for. In reality, selfish curtain twitchers who take issue with anything that doesn't suit their own needs.

0xzmro3n4y7lb5

Some people are sensitive to noise, just because you aren't, don't dismiss people who live with a whole range of medical conditions which noise can exacerbate.

One thing I'd check is if the houses are rented, I think you can check this online. It will just give you an idea of potential turnover of neighbours, because every two years you could have a new set of neighbours to get used to.

Another thing to note, is if the hallway/stairs adjoin or it's sitting room wall to sitting room wall. We had a neighbour years ago whose telly was right against our sitting room wall. It was unbearable.

You can't hide from noise in Urban areas but you can seek out considerate neighbours.