Moving out from an apartment into a house is a dream that many people have. A house is often more spacious, you can have your own personal garage and a garden that you can get creative with or use for growing vegetables. It feels like you have more privacy and you may think that it’s a calmer environment.
That is not necessarily the case and it all depends on the neighborhood and especially the people who live right next to you as it can become a painful experience, like it did for Jynxed, a user of the online forum mumsnet.
Their neighbors have very noisy kids and have put a trampoline right next to their back door, which makes Jynxed hear the racket even more and they are afraid of all the flying items that could damage their patio. However, the parents of the kids don’t really care and the homeowner can’t do much about it.
More info: mumsnet
Homeowner is really fed up with neighbor's kids screaming practically at their doorstep and their parents refuse to do anything about it
Image credits: Rick McCharles (not the actual photo)
The Original Poster (OP) lives in a house with a pretty big garden which is 80 feet (24 meters) long. Their neighbors have the same size garden and they could have put their children’s trampoline anywhere, but decided to place it right up against the fence and very close to the OP’s back door and patio.
The OP can’t move their back door, but they don’t want to move their patio either, especially because they installed a pergola as well. They have a vegetable garden and a greenhouse at the other end of the garden, so these would have to be relocated to a different spot in order to move the patio further from the neighbor.
The neighbors put up a trampoline in their garden, which wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't so close to the OP's back door and patio
Image credits: Jynxed
The neighbor, on the other hand, doesn’t have much in their garden and according to Jynxed, even though they said that there is no other place to put the trampoline, they can clearly see that there is plenty of room.
While the OP understands that children need to play and they can be noisy, they would prefer if the parents moved the trampoline further from their fence as not only do balls keep flying into their garden with the risk of knocking over pots and plants or hitting them in the head, but it also makes them feel uncomfortable as the kids can look into their kitchen when they are using the trampoline.
The OP asked the neighbors to move it slightly so the balls the kids use when they play wouldn't hit their pots and heads when they sit there
Image credits: Jynxed
This situation has affected both the OP’s well-being and happiness and they are at a loss because asking the neighbors nicely didn’t help, and they don’t think they can complain to anyone as the trampoline is on the neighbor’s property.
People in the comments were understanding and thought that the OP’s request of moving the trampoline wasn’t that outrageous. They suggested all sorts of things the OP can do as revenge and in an update, Jynxed said that they will document all the damage that is being done to their property and if the parents refuse to move the trampoline, they “will destroy every ball or frisbee which comes over the fence” as well as allow their teenage kids to blast music on full volume.
What also bothers the OP is that the kids can see inside their kitchen using the trampoline to look over the fence
Image credits: Jynxed
Many people who’ve read the story related to the OP because they went through the same thing and had to endure children screaming in the neighboring garden or looking into their houses while standing on the trampoline.
As Lombardo Homes found out while surveying people, the most annoying thing neighbors do is being noisy. It’s more annoying than them not cleaning up after their pets, being nosy and having parking issues.
The most annoying ways that neighbors create noise, according to the same survey, are loud music, loud talking or shouting, loud pets and loud children.
But the neighbors refused to do so even though they have plenty of space to put the trampoline in a different place
Image credits: Jynxed
The loud noises aren’t only annoying and inconsiderate. Constantly being exposed to noise is a stressor and according to a study by Heidi A. R. Jensen, Birgit Rasmussen and Ola Ekholm, it “may potentially exert negative health effects among the exposed individuals.”
It is because “the most prevalent and immediate response to noise is annoyance, which is an individually experienced phenomenon that may activate physiological stress responses and result in both physical and mental symptoms.”
The study showed that people felt more bothered by fatigue, they had a higher chance of increased pain in various parts of their body, they got headaches and it sharpened their depression as well as anxiety.
This situation caused the OP stress and they are now at a loss about what can be done at this point
Image credits: Jynxed
Image credits: popofatticus (not the actual photo)
It’s impossible to have peace and quiet all the time when you are living with other people and we understand that. However, we also expect our neighbors to be more considerate and react when we tell them that their activities are bothering us.
Do you think the OP was asking for too much? Would you be bothered by the trampoline being too close and having to hear children screaming every day? How would you handle this situation? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
People in the comments had plenty of petty suggestions as they felt the OP's pain and irritation
