Can I ask advice of those that rent out but have close neighbours?
How do you 'manage' your neighbours regarding the influx of tourists that have to put up with?
We have a villa that is on a quiet lane but only a minute from the village (so its essentially urban rather than country). Our neighbours on either side rent out their houses or use them as holiday houses (they don't live in Ibiza) so no problem there.
However - the house across the road is also a holiday house, but spanish owned. The man & his wife (retired) live in majorca and stay at the house end June - Sept.
The house is detatched with the garden at the back.
Our villa is opposite, but our garden is on the front of the house, including the pool.
The problem is - he expects our guests to make NO noise. He has complained today about the guests playing ball in the pool at 2pm. He also complained that they talk!? So they must not chat & can't be noisy in the pool.
We explained that all the guests are told to be quiet outside after midnight (the law here) and not to play music loud at anytime. We are considerate neighbours.
He confirms he doesn't hear loud music or that its noisy late at night.
We pointed out that his TV is blaring out all evening down the street - but he says thats different (how, he couldn't explain!!)
So - what can I do? I suggested that if he sat in his garden at the back of his house he wouldn't hear our guests at all. But no - he prefers to sit at the front door and watch over our garden!
Any views on this problem would be helpful
Mouse
(who is counting the days down to september when he goes!)
Neighbours
Mouse
It's very hard for you, but I think the things he seems to be complaining about are the normal noises you get from a family living in a house with a pool during the summer.
Our situation with regard to neighbours is similar to yours, a quiet valley 2km outside a village. We have neighbours opposite
and next door on one side. I can hear our guests outside now in our pool playing ball, but they are no noisier than we are when we are doing the same thing when there are no guests and no noisier than our French neighbours when they play in their pool.
It sounds more like a lifestyle clash to me than a particular problem with the fact that the house is rented out and it seems that you have done everything that you can. Your neighbour sounds unreasonable, he perhaps has little else to think about and it has become an issue with him. To complain about people playing in a pool at 2pm is ridiculous. I do sympathise as falling out with neighbours is horrible, particularly when they are being unreasonable.
It's very hard for you, but I think the things he seems to be complaining about are the normal noises you get from a family living in a house with a pool during the summer.
Our situation with regard to neighbours is similar to yours, a quiet valley 2km outside a village. We have neighbours opposite
and next door on one side. I can hear our guests outside now in our pool playing ball, but they are no noisier than we are when we are doing the same thing when there are no guests and no noisier than our French neighbours when they play in their pool.
It sounds more like a lifestyle clash to me than a particular problem with the fact that the house is rented out and it seems that you have done everything that you can. Your neighbour sounds unreasonable, he perhaps has little else to think about and it has become an issue with him. To complain about people playing in a pool at 2pm is ridiculous. I do sympathise as falling out with neighbours is horrible, particularly when they are being unreasonable.
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Normandy Cow
- Posts: 2687
- Joined: Sun Nov 28, 2004 7:14 am
- Location: Normandy
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Mouse,
He sounds very unreasonable. If he wants total quiet then he should move somewhere that has no neighbours.
We have a slightly similar issue here in England - we live on a new development where every house bar one has young children, and the elderly couple who bought that (4 bedroomed, 2 bathroom!!!!) house are constantly complaining about the children - too much noise, playing football in the street, riding their bikes etc. On the whole I am a considerate neighbour, but my attitude is that if those things upset them then they shouldn't have bought a house in a development which is so obviously geared up for families.
Anyway, back to your neighbours. I suggest that you tell your guests to enjoy their holidays and just do as they please (within reason of course!). Then hopefully, he won't come back next year...
Problem solved!!!
He sounds very unreasonable. If he wants total quiet then he should move somewhere that has no neighbours.
We have a slightly similar issue here in England - we live on a new development where every house bar one has young children, and the elderly couple who bought that (4 bedroomed, 2 bathroom!!!!) house are constantly complaining about the children - too much noise, playing football in the street, riding their bikes etc. On the whole I am a considerate neighbour, but my attitude is that if those things upset them then they shouldn't have bought a house in a development which is so obviously geared up for families.
Anyway, back to your neighbours. I suggest that you tell your guests to enjoy their holidays and just do as they please (within reason of course!). Then hopefully, he won't come back next year...
Problem solved!!!
Mouse, I really do sympathise with your problem as we have "neighbours from hell" living next to our villa!! They too are a retired couple but from England that have been living next to our villa for about 10 years. We bought the villa 5 years ago, lived in it for 2 years before renting it out and whenever we had guests or family on holiday Mr B would come out and tell us to keep our voices down...and believe me our voices were never raised..we would just be having a chat!
They now constantly moan about our guests talking outside in the pool bar in the evening, they've been rude enough to tell our guests to go inside, shut the windows and put the A/C on if they want to chat, yet they have doubleglazed windows and A/C but deliberately leave their windows open. We have told them that we have a notice inside our villa about 'no noise after midnight' rule and our guests do comply (except for one group in our first year of renting..
but that's another story!), however we cannot tell our guests to be quiet during the day or early evening. The majority of our guests are families with children...and you cannot tell families to be quiet when they're using the pool!
We moved to Spain and love the alfresco way of life..it's the way the Spanish live...but our neighbours still carry on as though they are living in England. They rarely sit outside, they are always couped up inside their villa...only coming out to do a bit of gardening, shopping or complaining! I could write a book about their antics! I personally think they lead a very boring life and our guests provide them with 'entertainment'. We have other villas closely surrounding ours and all the other neighbours are fine. After speaking with them apparently Mr & Mrs B are notorious for complaining about anything and everything. We now warn our guests about Mr & Mrs B and tell them to enjoy their holiday and not take any notice of the retired couple next door.
Unfortunately our neighbours are there 365 days, so there's no respite for us or our guests...unless they decide to sell and go back to the UK (I wish!):roll:
They now constantly moan about our guests talking outside in the pool bar in the evening, they've been rude enough to tell our guests to go inside, shut the windows and put the A/C on if they want to chat, yet they have doubleglazed windows and A/C but deliberately leave their windows open. We have told them that we have a notice inside our villa about 'no noise after midnight' rule and our guests do comply (except for one group in our first year of renting..
but that's another story!), however we cannot tell our guests to be quiet during the day or early evening. The majority of our guests are families with children...and you cannot tell families to be quiet when they're using the pool!We moved to Spain and love the alfresco way of life..it's the way the Spanish live...but our neighbours still carry on as though they are living in England. They rarely sit outside, they are always couped up inside their villa...only coming out to do a bit of gardening, shopping or complaining! I could write a book about their antics! I personally think they lead a very boring life and our guests provide them with 'entertainment'. We have other villas closely surrounding ours and all the other neighbours are fine. After speaking with them apparently Mr & Mrs B are notorious for complaining about anything and everything. We now warn our guests about Mr & Mrs B and tell them to enjoy their holiday and not take any notice of the retired couple next door.
Unfortunately our neighbours are there 365 days, so there's no respite for us or our guests...unless they decide to sell and go back to the UK (I wish!):roll:
We seem to have been very lucky with our neighbors. We have neighbors very close by who live in the town full-time, and they are very, very nice.
We have met them both, and every time we are in town we go out of our way to ask how they are doing, and how they are tolerating our guests -- we make sure to tell them that if any guests are out of line, they can let us know immediately and we will take care of it. They're both very reasonable, so I think they would not take advantage, and they hopefully appreciate our efforts to avoid inconveniencing them.
One of them is an artist, and we bought a painting from her and hung it in the house -- so that may have helped.
It's not that I have particular advice -- just be polite, nice, etc., which I'm sure you are -- just sharing our story.
We have met them both, and every time we are in town we go out of our way to ask how they are doing, and how they are tolerating our guests -- we make sure to tell them that if any guests are out of line, they can let us know immediately and we will take care of it. They're both very reasonable, so I think they would not take advantage, and they hopefully appreciate our efforts to avoid inconveniencing them.
One of them is an artist, and we bought a painting from her and hung it in the house -- so that may have helped.
It's not that I have particular advice -- just be polite, nice, etc., which I'm sure you are -- just sharing our story.
Brooke
neighbours
thanks for your replies - it makes me feel better knowing others also think they're unreasonable!
Sarah - I think you hit the nail on the head with your suggestion of a lifestyle clash. I hadn't really considered that & now I feel less 'guilty' about renting out the villa. Yes - even if we had family and friends over for summer we would use the pool & he would still be unhappy.
Perhaps also - like Crystals neighbours - they have nothing else to occupy themselves with apart from moaning about ours (& others) guests. Why else would they sit at the front of the house!?
Whilst I would love to be able to give him peace & quiet - in July/August in Spain it is really impossible unless you live away from people.
thanx again
Mouse (in a 'I'm feeling lots more confident that I'm not being unreasonable' kinda way!)
x
Sarah - I think you hit the nail on the head with your suggestion of a lifestyle clash. I hadn't really considered that & now I feel less 'guilty' about renting out the villa. Yes - even if we had family and friends over for summer we would use the pool & he would still be unhappy.
Perhaps also - like Crystals neighbours - they have nothing else to occupy themselves with apart from moaning about ours (& others) guests. Why else would they sit at the front of the house!?
Whilst I would love to be able to give him peace & quiet - in July/August in Spain it is really impossible unless you live away from people.
thanx again
Mouse (in a 'I'm feeling lots more confident that I'm not being unreasonable' kinda way!)
x
Have your thought that the reason he is complaining about the 2pm noise is because it is siesta time. In many places noise should not be made between certain times (here in the south of France it's usually between somewhere between 1 and 2:30pm) and once on a camping holiday in Germany, you could not even access the site in a car between 12 and 2pm to keep it quiet.
Lucky for me though, I have had no complaints about from the neighbours about the guests using our apartments, although one is directly above someone who lives there permanently.
Lucky for me though, I have had no complaints about from the neighbours about the guests using our apartments, although one is directly above someone who lives there permanently.
No need to go far to shop 'til you drop - just go next door to Chanel. http://rueparadis.monsite.wanadoo.fr/
I've noticed here in the Fuengirola area 2-5pm is the most busiest time in the restaurants and tapas bars where the majority of Spanish workers congregate for a long lunch.
Maybe it is just the retired people in Spain that actually go down for a siesta, but in Mouse's case it is difficult to tell a family with children to be quiet for 3 hours, especially when it's the peak time for pool use.
Maybe it is just the retired people in Spain that actually go down for a siesta, but in Mouse's case it is difficult to tell a family with children to be quiet for 3 hours, especially when it's the peak time for pool use.
Yes he did mention that it was siesta and that it was sacred - but modern spain is losing this habit. None of our spanish friends sleep...only eat!
And we are not in a sleepy village where everything stops.
Even spanish people (if they have a pool) would be using it on a hot afternoon in their siesta time (our other neighbours do)
Also - last year he complained about children playing in the pool at 7.30pm.....in august. So if we took all his timings into account (that he didn't want noise) we would be left with about 3 hrs in the day!!
I think as Sarah said - its a lifestyle clash, which unfortunately means there is nothing much I can do to solve his problems. Much as I would like to.
Mouse
x
And we are not in a sleepy village where everything stops.
Even spanish people (if they have a pool) would be using it on a hot afternoon in their siesta time (our other neighbours do)
Also - last year he complained about children playing in the pool at 7.30pm.....in august. So if we took all his timings into account (that he didn't want noise) we would be left with about 3 hrs in the day!!
I think as Sarah said - its a lifestyle clash, which unfortunately means there is nothing much I can do to solve his problems. Much as I would like to.
Mouse
x
Its a mathematical law that:
Children + Pool = Noise
And when on holiday in hot climate there is a rider to this law that:
Noise = Noise * all daylight hours + more
We have also had "complaints" from a neighbour about families renting our villa and making excessive noise for long hours, but fortunately our neighbour understands the above laws, and we have discussed ways of jointly building up the hedges and shrubbery on our mutual boundary to absorb as much sound as possible. When discussing this, we both shrugged and agreed it wasn't possible to do anything more, other than move out.
Mind you, loud drunken adults at 3 am is clearly anti-social, on holiday, or at home; renters or owners. And sadly, we've had a party of those too, but fortunately only for 1 week.
Children + Pool = Noise
And when on holiday in hot climate there is a rider to this law that:
Noise = Noise * all daylight hours + more
We have also had "complaints" from a neighbour about families renting our villa and making excessive noise for long hours, but fortunately our neighbour understands the above laws, and we have discussed ways of jointly building up the hedges and shrubbery on our mutual boundary to absorb as much sound as possible. When discussing this, we both shrugged and agreed it wasn't possible to do anything more, other than move out.
Mind you, loud drunken adults at 3 am is clearly anti-social, on holiday, or at home; renters or owners. And sadly, we've had a party of those too, but fortunately only for 1 week.
The spanish seem to do everything noisily and until the early hours of the morning in summer.
Our spanish neighbours are a delightful elderly couple who are barely visible during the day (except for a chat at the bread van!!).
In the evenings, though and particularly at weekends, their children and grand-children visit and then they can party until 3 or 4 am. I'm pretty sure they're never drunk it's just that they all talk very loud.
We put it down as a culture difference, it's all part of the spanish experience and as my mother used to tell me, if you're tired, you'll sleep!!
Our spanish neighbours are a delightful elderly couple who are barely visible during the day (except for a chat at the bread van!!).
In the evenings, though and particularly at weekends, their children and grand-children visit and then they can party until 3 or 4 am. I'm pretty sure they're never drunk it's just that they all talk very loud.
We put it down as a culture difference, it's all part of the spanish experience and as my mother used to tell me, if you're tired, you'll sleep!!
We live in a block of apartments with mainly Spanish neighbours..and La Luz is right, they all seem to have loud family gatherings at weekends..and they love BBQ's, which in no way bothers us...I think it's a great way of life!Our spanish neighbours are a delightful elderly couple who are barely visible during the day (except for a chat at the bread van!!).
In the evenings, though and particularly at weekends, their children and grand-children visit and then they can party until 3 or 4 am. I'm pretty sure they're never drunk it's just that they all talk very loud.
We once actually told our villa neighbour that he's very lucky not to have a Spanish family living next door to him...(no disrespect to the Spanish)....mind you I wouldn't wish him as a neighbour on anyone!
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Alan Knighting
- Posts: 4120
- Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:26 am
- Location: Monflanquin, Lot-et-Garonne, France
I have neighbours who are a complete pain in the thing you sit on. They also run self-catering properties.
They couldn’t care less how their behaviour or that of their guests impacts on their neighbours but they are the first to complain about what we do and what our guests do. They don’t think they are in the wrong. They think they are “the kings of the castle� because they have been here longer than I have. It’s all a case of “do as I say and not as I do�.
Over the years they have taken every opportunity to invent “problems� and then to escalate the problems. I have consistently ignored them and have left them with their resultant frustrations. Mind you, they still come to a party at my house if they think there’s a free drink or two (or in their case, four or five).
"Live and let live" is the way of normal sensible people.
Alan
They couldn’t care less how their behaviour or that of their guests impacts on their neighbours but they are the first to complain about what we do and what our guests do. They don’t think they are in the wrong. They think they are “the kings of the castle� because they have been here longer than I have. It’s all a case of “do as I say and not as I do�.
Over the years they have taken every opportunity to invent “problems� and then to escalate the problems. I have consistently ignored them and have left them with their resultant frustrations. Mind you, they still come to a party at my house if they think there’s a free drink or two (or in their case, four or five).
"Live and let live" is the way of normal sensible people.
Alan
Alan it's really spooky!...Sounds like we all have exactly the same moaning couple! Our neighbours have exactly the same attitude as yours too.."Don't do as I do, do as I say".
Similar to your neighbours Alan...when we were living at the villa and had a BBQ or a 'get together' all our neighbours (including the moaning ones) got invited. Mr & Mrs B never turned down an invitation and were often the last ones to leave and I must add always highly enebriated!
Similar to your neighbours Alan...when we were living at the villa and had a BBQ or a 'get together' all our neighbours (including the moaning ones) got invited. Mr & Mrs B never turned down an invitation and were often the last ones to leave and I must add
always highly enebriated!