We live in the UK, in our own home, though we’re still paying off the mortgage. I’m a software developer working in a hybrid arrangement (part office, part home), and I live here with my partner and our daughter.
A few years ago, the family next door were evicted with just a few weeks’ notice after the landlord sold the property to an "investor"—it was his second house on our street. The investor spent 10 months renovating the house himself and turned it into a short-term rental. For us, those 10 months were a nightmare: drilling, hammering, and building noise from early mornings to midnight, seven days a week. Despite this, we didn’t complain, as we wanted to establish a good relationship with the new owner. He reassured us that the property would only be rented out to families.
But then the first guests arrived—on the night before New Year’s Eve. It was a group of people ready to party. That first night, they partied until 4am. We thought, “Alright, they’ll have their New Year’s Eve celebration and move on.” But no, the parties continued on New Year’s Eve and beyond. From then on, it’s been one group after another—loud, late-night parties and noisy families. We’ve lost countless nights of sleep. My partner, my daughter, and I were all constantly exhausted.
For eight months, we tried dealing with this directly with the owner. We asked him to soundproof the walls, even offering to soundproof ours to help. I spent my own money soundproofing one room in our house. But after I told him what we’d done, he refused to do anything on his side, saying that my soundproofing solved the issue—when it clearly hadn’t. We could still hear everything, especially as there’s a hot tub in the garden, which guests often use late into the night.
When it became clear that the owner wasn’t going to help, I filed a complaint with the council. I explained that the property was being run without proper planning permission and causing significant disruption to us and other neighbours. Unfortunately, the owner found out about the complaint and started sending us offensive messages, targeting both us and other neighbours.
Despite reporting this to the council, nothing has changed. Two years ago, we bought a campervan, and now, whenever we see a large group of people arriving next door, we leave and sleep in the campervan. Imagine that—being forced out of your own home just to get a proper night’s sleep. Even now, the council says they’ll “look into it,” but we’re still waiting for action.
We even left our house over Christmas this year just to get some peace and quiet.
This is what life is like living next to an unregulated short-term rental. For us, it’s not just about the noise—it’s about the mental and emotional toll it’s taken on our family. It’s hard to explain this to people who’ve never experienced it themselves, but I hope this sheds some light on the reality of these situations.
Investors and short-term lets are about more than money—they can have a devastating impact on the lives of the people around them.
That's awful! That landlord sounds like a total see you next Tuesday. I hate how little responsibility landlords have for tenants in England. I totally sympathise
Some ideas:
- Call the police if the noise is after 11 or before 7. At least so it logged so you can tell the council
- Talk to a solicitor
- watch out for drug deliveries. Report to the police
Try to generate bad reviews:
- Get friends to book and stay on the cheapest nights and leave bad reviews
- Play loud music at 7am when they're hungover in bed. The bassy kind against the wall
- Obstruct their parking
- Put up flyers about the damage they're doing to the community. Act like a crazy person if you can "welcome" them when they arrive
- Knock on their door at 7am
You have the upper hand that their retaliation will be temporary as they don't live there
If the landlord continues to harass you that's a separate charge for the police to deal with
I do remember these days. I was part of C64/Amiga demoscene.
I saw intros before cracked games on C64 and I wanted to build my own. That was the whole reason I got in to programming... And now, 28 years later...
I can still write simple assembly code on C64:)
When Western countries got money via the Marshal Plan:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Plan
Poland had... "friendly" Soviets "supporting" their country for almost 44 years...