Neighbour mowing at 7am!

[Glittapam]

Can I complain about my neighbour mowing the grass at 7am on weekdays AND weekends!? It's a shared building and I am ground floor with bedroom at the back which is where he mows! As you can imagine it's bad enough being woken an hour before my alarm on a weekday but a nightmare when you're woken up every saturday as well! He's doesn't work so I really don't see the need for the time he chooses to do it?

[hammerman]

Tricky one. I work for a local authority parks department and i usually start mowing at 7 am during the week.

But at weekends, i think it's perfectly reasonable to start noisy work at 9am on saturday and 10am on sunday. Can't you have a quiet word with the neighbour telling him how tired it's making you feel.

[Glittapam]

Thanks for that. He's unfortunatly not the most reasonable man, he owns two flats out of 6 (rents one out) and thinks this means he has more rights than the rest of us. To be honest I think he''s probably allowed by law to mow from 7am as it's exactly 7 he starts everytime and knowing him he'll have checked so I have no comeback. It's just so irritating that he knows I sleep in the room which he starts mowing directly outside. It's worth a try I suppose. I'll maybe put a note through his door as I really don't want an argument!

[steve208]

Hi, sorry to butt in on this one but was just reading it and thought would have my say.

NO whatever you do dont put a note through his door, i know you may not like or get on with him well but please try to speak to him face to face.

Being upfront and speaking in person should help in the long run. I used to do some case work for an MP and had to deal with a situation similar to yours involving a dispute between residents.

The reason I say try to maintain face to face contact is that these people had got to not speaking to each other and was causing real difficulty.

We have a neighbour who mows his lawn when we are having tea so have to close the patio door but i mean he is just old and losing it so i dont mind but my dad does and likes to have a barney with the neighbour!

[WendyS]

I can understand parks and public gardens having grass mowed at 7 a.m. but in a residential situation with flats and houses I think it's a bit unreasonable.

I agree that it would be better to speak to your neighbour face to face and ask him if he could start after 8 a.m. Tell him you're a very bad sleeper and that especially at week-end you need to catch up on your sleep.

Perhaps he's just one of those early morning birds who doesn't realise that other peoples body clocks don't work in the same way his does.

[Glittapam]

thanks. he's actually just a general pain-in-the-whatsit to be honest. He likes to take charge of everything in the building and back garden. I have grass at the front perhaps I'll mow it at 11pm and see what he thinks of that! I'm kidding obviously! I'll try to have a word but can't see it having much effect if there's no law I can quote. Thanks everyone! x

[gerkin]

If the drought carries on there will be no grass left to mow !

[janetsflower]

If weed killer accidently got spilt on his lawn he wouldn;t be needing to mow it much longer

[YvonneM]

My husband always moans when there are pebbles on the lawn cos he has to pick them all up before he can start mowing. Just an idea!!

[Glittapam]

There's no drought here, I'm in north-east Scotland - loadsa rain!! ha ha!

[Loosehead]

You really don't want to start a war. Can you not try and reason with him? Rather than getting confrontational by quoting laws/regs etc. If that doesn't work then I guess it's escalation time but these neighbour disputes have a tendency to get out of control over the most stupid of things when early on they could have been sorted. He has no reason to mow at 7am, so do you think that he's doing it on purpose? There are lots' of things you can do if it ;s war but I would try and reach a truce first.

[Glittapam]

Oh yes I believe he does it to wind people up. It's been 3 weeks now of 2 weekday and 1 weekend day and always at 7am then he potters around the rest of the day at home and in the garden. I've already had him moaning (1st week I moved there) that I wasn't allowed my dog in the garden (it was my mums anyway) and then he remarked that I shouldn't think the small walled off part of the back garden was mine just because it's joined to the flat - it IS in fact mine and it's on the title deeds which he knows as his aunt used to own the whole building and lived in my flat!
This is the problem I think, he's sold off the flats one by one but has a sitting tenant opposite me and thinks because he still owns 2 then he is the boss!

[pedderwo]

I know someone who can make him disappear for 5K, if you know what I mean.

[ali_alic]

Why not mow that area yourself? He can hardly do it then , can he?

[Neeru247]

I thought there was a law which stipulates certain hours during the day whereby neighbours cannot make noise.
Take a look at http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/noise/suff er/pdf/noise_english.pdf
Good luck!