Very therapeutic, no doubt, but you run the risk of having a noise complaint made against you, and then you can't take any official action.

Rarely works, and only in some situations. As soon as the male next door to my Mum went out, the wife encouraged the kids to throw things against the wall, scream, scrape furniture across the floor, bang doors etc. Mum kept thumping on their wall, turning her tv on full belt, the noise next door just went on longer, and started earlier in the morning. As soon as the husband came home, the noise stopped. My Mum's in her 80s, been in her house for more than 60 years, never had troublesome neighbours before - the noise was turning her into a nervous wreck, which is terrible for everyone, downright dangerous for someone of her age. It wasn't until she managed to talk to the husband that the noise calmed down. As I said previously, doing this leaves you on extremely dodgy ground legally.

Please be careful because there is another side to this story.

I, with my three teenaged children have the misfortune to live next door to the most unpleasant couple it is possible to meet; a couple who themselves had teenagers many years ago. I have to put up with endless banging and scraping of wallpaper at all hours as they continue to improve their "castle." Over the years I have crept around my house for fear of upsetting this woman and her extremely weak husband. I have spent thousands of pounds putting in a dividing wall so that my piano (which has an additional soft pedal) is not on a party wall. I have had my car scratched and I have had my name and phone number scrawled over a pub wall with an invitation for whoever reads it to do whatever he likes to me because I am a "scouse slag." (This resulted in several phone calls which my child who was five years old at the time answered!)

What did I do wrong? I had the audacity to give birth to triplets!

But I also have rights. So do my children!

My children have the right to jump on their trampoline with their friends and they have the right to have the occasional teenage squabble, particularly if my daughter is slightly hormonal. My son has the right to practise his saxophone without having to go around to his grandma's every night. My other son has the right to play tennis against our side wall as long as he isn't doing it at 8 o'clock in the morning. My sons have the right to learn to play the piano; our piano has an additional soft pedal and both boys regularly receive distinctions in their exams. ( She is extremely privileged to be listening to them.)

My children also have the right to play in their garden without a disgusting man screaming at them over the six foot fence, shouting and using foul language. (They put up the fence because they couldn't stand the sight of my children when they were three years old.) My parents, who are in their seventies have the right to walk down our road without being accosted by this couple, again using foul language. For some reason they seem to be a bit wary of talking to me!

And finally, I have the right to bring into my house a twenty week old puppy, whom has been rescued from an appauling house on a sink estate, where every time she went out she was attacked by status dogs.
Yes, she might be so terrified of every sound she hears, that she barks several times before I can get to her, but she is attending dog training classes. And, I don't deserve to be screamed at over the fence, no more than my children do.

What will happen?

I will cowtow to the disgusting woman and her weak, foul mouthed husband.  I'll ban the trampoline, make my kids play cricket and football in the nearest field and hope a paedophile doesn't get them, make my son play his saxophone at his grandparents', ban the piano after 8 o'clock and make the boys use the additional soft pedal (even if it ruins their touch and they only scrape a pass.) (( Sorry, can't do anything about the hormonal daughter!)) ((( She even gets on my nerves!)))

Why? Because I know they're probably keeping a diary to use against me when they go to the local authority.

But I'm keeping a diary too!

When you complain about your noisy neighbours, just have a little look at yourself first.
Have you forgotten what it was like to have children?
Have you forgotten what it was like to be a child?

P.S. Matthew wants an electric guitar for Christmas. I wonder what I'll do!

And do not expect your neighbour to train a rescued puppy to stop barking in three weeks!

Hello Wendy – I understand that there are always two sides to every story, but I would say that I truly don't believe there are any members on this forum who are making complaints against there neighbours without any justification or just out of spite.

My advice when it comes to the musical instruments would be to talk to your neighbour and see if you can arrange a time that you can both agree on (e.g. something like 6pm to 8pm) where your children can practice. I can see from reading your post that it is likely that too much water has gone under the bridge for you to be able to sit and talk about this – so perhaps let the council liaise between you to find something that can suit both of you.

You said that your neighbour should be extremely privileged to be listening to your children practising – I am sorry Wendy but I have to disagree. It is not a privilege to listen to unwanted noise – whether that be musical instruments, loud music, loud talking/shouting or even the thud of a ball regularly hitting a wall. I do understand that you are not doing these things with the deliberate intention to upset your neighbours and are in a sense just living your life. However, musical instruments do tend to be loud and unlike stereos there is usually no volume control. The fact that you said that your neighbours should consider themselves privileged to be listening to your children practising – shows that you are already aware that the musical instruments are more then loud enough for your neighbours to clearly hear.

Having your car scratched, your name and number written on toilet walls and being screamed and swore at – is absolutely disgusting and completely unacceptable and you have my full sympathy. It does not matter what the provocation or situation is – there is no excuse for this, it is no way to solve a problem and I don't believe any members of this forum would feel it was okay to behave like this.

Hi Wendy
I am not maternal and I don,t have a lot of patience having to endure the noise of children doing what they do best make noise.  Mothers will tell you, they put up with their own children's noise but can,t stand other people's children.  I had a child with a trampoline i was stuck in an office all day come home for a bit of peace in the garden and had to listen to a child bawling and screaming at the top of her voice bouncing balls against a wall and fence which is very irritating.  I addressed the problem to be told she can do what she likes in her own home and that included running up and down a wooden floor every evening and weekend for hours and it was like listening to a herd of elephants in your living room.  This noise is irritating and eventually takes away your quality of live in your home never knowing when you are going to get peace.  Because you are stressed you are more sensitive to noise and noise takes over your life and you become very unhappy that people don,t care that you do have a right to peace in your own home because their lifestyle is revolving around noisy teenagers, you are used to living in this noise and probably hate having a quiet home but the rest of us like that lifestyle so why do you want to enforce your lifestyle on your neighbours, you wouldn,t like it if they had a noisy lifestyle and enforcing it on.  I played my neighbours at their own game which I am not proud about.  When their 5year old went to bed I started my housework and put my tv on in the bedroom she slept in.   A month later she came in and complained about noise.  I told her for 5yrs I have put up with noise and put up with it until the trampoline and wooden floor incidents which were the last straw and when I complained I got told they can what they like in their own home and garden and I said so can I and it has only taken you a month of noise and I have put up with it for 5yrs.   They moved!!!   People don,t want to be kill joys but whether we like it or not we have to respect people's right to enjoy their home.