House Sharing - Housemates, Noise and Interpreting Everyone's Right to Quiet Enjoyment

BigBarbieBanger on 10/04/2020 - 14:39
Last edited 11/04/2020 - 13:25

I've been happily house-sharing with an owner-couple for years. Just recently tension arose with everyone confined to barracks.

So one of my housemates has been working on an elaborate wooden bookcase just outside my bedroom/study/office door. It's been going on for around a year. He does the work in his free time on weekends. It can be noisy, with hammering, power drills etc.

Up to now the noise hasn't been too much of an issue. If he was wood-working on a weekend afternoon, I was often out of the house anyway, or I would leave. I was also away interstate for several months.

Recently the owner said he wants to start his woodwork earlyish in the mornings. On weekends I want to sleep in. That's when a conflict of interests arose.

I'm optimistic I can talk this through with the owners. But what sort of quiet hours are reasonable for a room renter to expect? Until 6am, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11am? Are there rights tenants have to quiet enjoyment of their rooms?

I'd like to get some independent opinions to better prepare myself for a discussion with my housemates this weekend. All my friends and family haven't house-shared for a decade or more, otherwise I would have asked them these questions.

Ideas?

Easter update

I sat down with the others here. It seems the woodworking housemate is under intense pressure in his full time job (now working from home too), so much so I think it's impacting his mental health. Anyway that explains the extra tension lately. He's been to a counselor this week for the first time. Given the therapeutic benefits of woodworking for him, it's probably best for him to work on the shelves when he wants over the next couple of weekends. I'll get some earplugs, see how it goes, and after that we both agreed to reassess.

Longer term I'm aware it might be wise for me to explore other accommodation options.

I appreciate everyone who shared a thought-provoking or funny comment. I won't reply individually. But the feedback enabled me to go into what could have been a tense situation with a lot more perspective, calm and clarity. And the result was probably as good as it could have been, given the circumstances.

Cheers and ava good weekend.

Home & Garden

Comments

  • FW190 on 10/04/2020 - 14:46
    +2

    probably check with your local council/EPA about noise restrictions?

    iirc I think it was something like 8am to 8pm where people can do whatever they want (within reason), but YMMV.

    or, before you throw council/EPA rules at them, have a chat and see if an agreement/compromise can be reached.

    • Gnostikos on 10/04/2020 - 15:11
      +1

      Local council noises regulations across Australia only apply to noise passing from one premises to another or noise emanating from public places that affects adjacent premises.

      The regulations do not deal with the noise contained within a premises, especially when the only complainant is someone living at that very premises.

      The OP's predicament very clearly identifies only them as the person being affected by the house mate's woodworking. Perhaps they could enquire with neighbours as to whether they find it bothersome too, and then possibly have grounds to submit a noise complaint to the council, but that'd just be making this affair needlessly complicated and I imagine would be perceived as a serious escalation of this dispute by the owners and likely deepen the divide between them and the OP, possibly even compelling them to see eviction/termination of the lease as the only resolution.

      • FW190 on 10/04/2020 - 17:47

        thx didn't know that

        but yeah, if it is enough to bother the OP, the neighbor would probably hear it as well

    • tik tok on 10/04/2020 - 15:39

      There is no time restriction on when someone is allowed to disturb your peace (you could be an essential night shift worker).
      The EPA lays out guidelines to what may be deemed reasonable. If you think your peace is being disturbed, you can very well call the cops. Its a different thing if they even bother to attend a noise complaint.

  • Godric on 10/04/2020 - 14:47

    What did they say when you spoke to them about it?

    • Domingo on 10/04/2020 - 15:17

      This comment really is unhelpful and not funny. OP has clearly stated:

      I'm optimistic I can talk this through with the owners. But what sort of quiet hours are reasonable for a room renter to expect? Until 6am, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11am? Are there rights tenants have to quiet enjoyment of their rooms?

      I'd like to get some independent opinions to better prepare myself for a discussion with my housemates this weekend. All my friends and family haven't house-shared for a decade or more, otherwise I would have asked them these questions.

      • Godric on 10/04/2020 - 15:44
        +1

        Wasn't intended to be funny.

        "Just recently tension arose with everyone confined to barracks."

        I assume there's been SOME discussion surrounding the matter, and would help to provide that info.

  • wordplay on 10/04/2020 - 14:49

    They are the owners, gonna be pretty hard to argue with them.
    I would just set a reasonable time that you are ok with noise starting - say 7:30am on weekends and 7am on weekdays. will give you both a bit of a compromise.

  • ssquid on 10/04/2020 - 14:51
    +2

    "Hey your work is disturbing me, can you do it later in the day? No? Guess I'll move out then."

    Done.

    • dcep on 10/04/2020 - 15:03
      +7

      "Hey your work is disturbing me, can you do it later in the day? No? 70% rent reduction for 6 months then."

  • timthetoolman on 10/04/2020 - 15:13
    +2

    10am seems reasonable

  • Randxyz123 on 10/04/2020 - 15:20
    +2

    Have you spoken to them yet? With everyone stuck at home now, maybe some simple rules need to be put into place. E.g. limit the noise before 9 am, don't do it after 9 pm at least until you are allowed to leave the house again or only every 2nd weekend can he start before 8 am. As you say, you would be out normally regardless so both of you need to come to a compromise.

    Can he move the equipment to a different area of the house so it isn't outside your window?

    Also would recommend some noise-cancelling headphones

  • try2bhelpful on 10/04/2020 - 15:21

    Maybe ask if he can start a bit later and offer to pitch in to help build it. Get it finished sooner.

  • Gnostikos on 10/04/2020 - 15:28
    +1

    So one of my housemates has been working on an elaborate wooden bookcase just outside my bedroom/study/office door.

    This is the part that puzzles me.

    Who sets up a woodworking and carpentry shop in what I presume is a hallway or interior living space, that's probably near carpeted areas?

    Why on earth doesn't he do it in the garage, backyard or some spare room away from the trafficked areas of the house?

    Even with drop sheets, liners and padded mats, he must be making an incredible mess indoors and all of that wood dust is just settling on everything inside the house and being blown around by people's movements throughout the day. Not to mention the use of solvents and varnishes and so on should really be done outdoors or in a well-ventilated area. He seems quite unconcerned with trashing his own place.

    This house mate doesn't seem like the sharpest tool in the toolbox; pun intended.

    • ssquid on 10/04/2020 - 15:33

      Maybe OP's in a bungalow/granny flat.

      • Gnostikos on 10/04/2020 - 15:38

        Even if the OP is living in a flat, surely there's a common area outdoors where the clotheslines and parking bays are that would have sufficient space for someone to easily set up a workbench out there (that could have power delivered with an a extension cord) and have all the space in the world to do a woodworking project without worrying about making a mess/causing damage to interior surfaces nor disturbing people in the next room.

        Every block of flats I've ever seen, even if it was only a two-storey building with 10 units, always had a combined common area size equal to the footprint of the entire building, if not bigger.

  • holdenmg on 10/04/2020 - 15:48

    It doesn't sound safe having it just outside the bedroom/study/office door.
    How are you to get out in the event of an emergency or a fire?

  • Stewardo on 10/04/2020 - 15:59

    Help him with the woodwork, you might learn a new skill for when you buy your own place. 9-5pm seems fair to me on weekends

  • sparkles on 10/04/2020 - 16:02
    +4

    Have you considered this is a underhanded tactic to get you to move out? Because on face value, it seems like such an a-hole thing to do.

  • iforgotmysocks on 10/04/2020 - 16:21

    he wants to start his woodwork earlyish in the mornings

    Perhaps he could use headphones?

  • whooah1979 on 10/04/2020 - 16:25
    +1

    It is lawful in NSW to use power tools between 07:00 to 20:00 on weekdays, Saturdays and 08:00 to 20:00 on Sunday. You state should have similar hours.

    • Gnostikos on 10/04/2020 - 16:51

      Once again, state and local regulations on noise and disturbances only apply to noise passing from one premises to another or noise emanating from public places that affects adjacent premises.

      They don't give two sh*ts about noises within a premises that only the tenant/s of that premises are making complaints against.

  • Donaldhump on 10/04/2020 - 17:19
    +7

    Mate it’s simple

    My neighbours a noisy bastard, he has worked out now that when he is a noisy bastard, I play pantera very loud at 2am in the morning in the room where it is very close to his room, that following night.

  • kale chips suck on 11/04/2020 - 09:15
    +1

    Night shift worker here. I solved my noise issue - 8 houses being built next door - with Bose noise cancelling headphones. Ear plugs work too but, in my case, not as well.

    I have the headphones by the bed. When I wake up from noise, I put them on and go back to sleep. Most of the time I seem to accommodate having them on because it's unusual now for me to wake and have had them come off.

  • Manifesto on 11/04/2020 - 09:25
    +1

    Don't get mad get even!
    Play loud music when they are asleep!

  • OzHunterNSW on 11/04/2020 - 11:48
    +2

    HAHAHA… you are in a nightmare situation.

    No body cares, they only think of themselves. To them it is one huge party.

    They are insecure and seek the perception of excitement, fun, and laughter.

    Start looking for a granny flat, a unit on your own, anything.

    I shared for many years in my Uni days…. and NEVER AGAIN NEVER AGAIN

  • psdillon on 11/04/2020 - 13:18
    +2

    You're a champ to have put up with it for a year, and even leaving the house to accommodate him. Normally I would give people the benefit of the doubt and assume they are just clueless, but this is way beyond. He sounds like a sociopath.

  • Euphemistic on 11/04/2020 - 13:46

    I’d say starting 8 on Sat and 9 on Sunday is reasonable. If you need to sleep in longer than that, you need to go to bed earlier the night before.

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