Are annoying neighbours on the increase?

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liaconn

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From reading posts on here and listening to friends I am getting the impression that inconsiderate neighbours seem to be on the increase. Am I just looking back on my childhood through rose coloured glasses or was there really much less of a problem with noise, rudeness, badly behaved kids etc in the 70s and 80s?

Or were people just more tolerant of things back in the days of big families and less expensive property and cars for kids to damage?
 
liaconn said:
Or were people just more tolerant of things back in the days of big families and less expensive property and cars for kids to damage?
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I'd say poor planning in housing estates and thin cheap walls have contributed greatly. I also think nowadays there are a lot of couples who both work, so essentially nothing happens all day long, dogs left outside barking away and then they are home in the evening and everything has to be done ie. washing machines on, radios, tv, kids stuff etc. Just a different time, I also remember my neighbourhood being particularly friendly, fights with neighbours didn't happen, there again the mothers were all at home during the day shopping together, talking together and minding the kids so knew each other very well. Nowadays I don't think you know your neighbours at all!
 
When I was a kid there was NEVER any hassle with noisy neighbours!! Then again when I was a kid hardly anyone rented in normal 2/3/4 bed semi-d housing estates, people saved for years and bought their own house and it was seen as a big achievement. These days there seems to be a lot more renting in all shapes and sizes of property with the result that people come and go, dont get to know the neighbours, care less about the neighbours anyway, and have no pride in the property or the area because they are only renting and intend to move on at some point.

Its not just the prevalence of renting though, its bad planning as said above, rubbish soundproofing, people not knowing ther neighbours and people generally just not caring.

Ive been home studying today, and from 10am this morning there is an alarm going off in the building. Its been driving me mad. I dont even know which apartment its going off in. Ive stayed home before for various reasons and I dont think Ive ever had a day where there hasnt been an alarm going off at some point.

If my neighbours fight I can practically join in it comes through the walls so clearly.

Ive had issues with parties that go on til the next morning - although Im tolerant of that so long as its not every weekend.

Life is definitely louder, and people are definitely less considerate.
 
My mother had a strict policy with the neighbours. Hello and goodbye. I always thought she was somewhat rude about it, but I learned to heed her advice. As other posters have said, thin walls are a nightmare. I lived in bedsit yrs ago and you could hear everything, I mean everything thro the walls. On a funny note, a friend grew up in a terraced house in East Wall. Strangely there were no walls between the houses in the attics, and the kids regularly ran the length of the terrace going in one house, and emerging at the end of the road or wherever they fancied. Strangely enough, the adults seemed to like all the hustle and bustle of various kids emerging from the loft!
 
truthseeker said:
. These days there seems to be a lot more renting in all shapes and sizes of property with the result that people come and go, dont get to know the neighbours, care less about the neighbours anyway, and have no pride in the property or the area because they are only renting and intend to move on at some point.

.
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Well not all renters are bad you know.;) I am a long term renter - over 10 years in this house and I would be delighted to live next door to me. We keep the house, garden and surrounding areas clean and tidy. I am not overly friendly with my neighbours but I do keep an eye on the man next door as he is unwell, I sweep the footpath outside and pull out weeds from the pavement cracks. I don't play loud music and don't allow my teenage son to either, if he wants it loud he uses the headphones.

My other immediate neighbour own their house and we have had years of never ending problems as she runs a montessori school from home. After her extension was built to accomodate the children it took them another 2 years to put up a solid high wall as specified in the planning approval ( for security, privacy and noise reduction) We also have parents of the children parking across or on our driveway, blocking us in or out or just driving too fast into the street, then the all night weekend garden booze-ups they have all summer (they are childless) They seem to think as we are "only" renting we have no rights!

I do take what you are saying that for some renters there is a couldn't care less attitude but similarly for some homeowners there is this "it's my home so I can do what the hell I like no matter how it impacts on others" attitude.

As a child I remember running in and out of our neighbours gardens (and houses) I think the difference was they knew us and we knew what was acceptable.
 
Neighbours

I consider myself very tolerant but the neighbor behind my house makes me crazy ... So much so I've raised our fence to 9 feet to stop him spying on us ... The creep goes through the hedge behind our fence and peers into our garden, several times a day ... Good fences make good neighbors! I'd take noise over the likes of him any day!
 
Most mornings we are awoken by our neighbour opening the lid of her wheelie bin and letting it slap against the side of her bin. There there is the noise of the rubbish being thrown in. This happens for green and black bin and a couple of trips are made. Yesterday it was at 6.45 a.m.
At night when they let their dog out to do it's business, it barks non stop. You can usually tell if they have stayed up to watch a late night programme by the barking.

I think that a lot of people live in their own little bubble with no self awareness. AAM and other discussion forums can be like this. All take and no give. Their problem, their holiday is all that matters. It's amazing the amount of people that log on to Tripadvisor to ask questions about their upcoming holiday. Sometimes it can be the most detailed of questions. Some don't even bother to say thank you when they get a response, never write a review, never write a trip report, never offer a tip. They just disappear until their next holiday.
 
I agree that not all renters are problems. There's two renters in the apartment beside me and you couldn't meet nicer or less troublesome. However, I do agree with Truthseeker that a lot of renters really couldn't care less because they haven't invested anything in the area, they know they'll be moving on and they couldn't care less about getting on with the neighbours. Also, a lot of them are very young and possibly living away from home for the first time and are just very immature.

JP, there's a creche beside me and I kind of know what you mean. Some of the parents think they can park anywhere, drop their kids off at 7.00am and let them shout and roar at the top of their voices out on the pavement and generally behave as if they own the place and the residents are an inconvenience.
 
liaconn said:
Some of the parents think they can park anywhere, drop their kids off at 7.00am and let them shout and roar at the top of their voices out on the pavement and generally behave as if they own the place and the residents are an inconvenience.
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I think that outside most schools at drop off and collection time some thing happens to the parent, usually the mother. Cars block footpaths, they park on double yellow lines, reversing out in to traffic, U-Turns, indicators don't work. It all gets pretty hysterical and hyper. Loud voices when talking, all very giggly and excited. It's as if some madness has entered the brain and those that are easily moidered become super moidered. I think that some people are so self conscious that they enter this hypnotic state of survival to get through these few minutes.
 
truthseeker said:
Ive been home studying today, and from 10am this morning there is an alarm going off in the building. Its been driving me mad. I dont even know which apartment its going off in. Ive stayed home before for various reasons and I dont think Ive ever had a day where there hasnt been an alarm going off at some point.
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I am wrecked today because of someone's alarm going off all night long. I thought alarms had to switch off automatically after a short time nowadays?
 
Yeah they are supposed to - but so many of them dont. Its a nightmare when youre stuck with one going off. We had one going off (internal and external alarm) in an apartment above one xmas for FIVE days in a row. There were repeated calls to the management company, the guards, etc... Eventually on the 5th day the landlord showed up, knocked off the alarm and drove away, literally 20 minutes later the thing started screaming again!!
 
Dont know about annoying neighbours but posts and threads about "neighbours from hell" have spiked here in the last three months.
 
Simple answer, manners are not what they used to be.

There is an increasing number of people now who have no respect for others, or their property.
 
Having owned my car since 2005 I have survived without dents and dinges from cars parking beside me. This year alone I have been given three nice bruisers from thoughtless people who really couldn't care less about other peoples property.
 
I hate the neighbours kids play football near my car, if it hits it leaves multi scratches, it also comes over the wall and wrecks our plants
 
The wind chimes in our neighbours back garden are pretty annoying. Like Tin cans rolling down a street. I wouldn't mind but they are never out in their garden. They don't hear them but we get to!
 
SoylentGreen said:
The wind chimes in our neighbours back garden are pretty annoying. Like Tin cans rolling down a street. I wouldn't mind but they are never out in their garden. They don't hear them but we get to!
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Oops!:eek: I have wooden windchimes in the BG, I sleep at the front so don't generally hear them. Last night was windy, and I did notice they were quite noisy... better check with de neighbours. Thanks for the heads up!
 
The Celtic Tiger turned Ireland into a hugely litigious society with people becoming obsessed with what they are legally entitled to do and say and have and to hell with whoever doesn't like it.

Our legal system has failed to keep up with a lot of the problems regarding neighbours etc, with the lack of nuisance noise legislation being the main one.
 
DB74 said:
Our legal system has failed to keep up with a lot of the problems regarding neighbours etc, with the lack of nuisance noise legislation being the main one.
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Noise legislation has been in place for years now.
 
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