Difficult one to call @AnnAboutTown. Are you her first house sitter? After 25 years she might not notice the neighbours’ noise and has not considered it. You could mention how disturbing it is in your messages and see what she says. Something along the lines of “Do you ever need to remind the neighbours to turn the volume down? It’s very difficult to work” she might even message them herself for you? In terms of review, for us it would depend on this response & on her descriptor of the sit. If it’s clearly an apartment in an urban area then there’s always noise. #yourstocall
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It does not need to be like that. I am now in Groningen, within the ramparts of the old city. There is almost no car traffic in this little street. Most noise is from mopeds and from seagulls. Then there is sometimes music from people practicing. And right now the half-hour tune from the bell tower on the main square. On warm evenings I sleep with the door open to the balcony on the back.
There is a city park close by where I walk a few times daily with the dog. It is full of people when the weather is nice, but it is just the hum of people talking and laughing. In some groups they are playing a guitar, or listening to music from a mobile phone.
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Absolutely @pietkuip and in our experience you swedes are super courteous noise wise. My point was really that if you take a sit that is urban and is an apartment then the loudness can come with the territory. But excellent if it’s quiet like yours #enjoygroningen
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@pietkuip sounds wonderful and serene 
I am in an apartment, 2nd floor thank goodness,
in urban London, right on High Street, with cars and buses every two seconds. But this is what makes it London, and exciting - the differences. So sometimes it does need to be like that. Off to the pub now to find more noise 
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Noise affects people differently. Like I’m bugged by noises in close quarters and my husband isn’t. If this is something that bothers you, I’d suggest asking about such in the future. Meanwhile, wax earplugs are great.
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Fess up! Which pub and where are you? I’ll be there in 20 mins 
#loveabritishpub
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We are cat sitting in the centre of Madrid atm and I’m actually surprised how quiet it is. It’s a small apartment in a busy area, on the top floor. We can hear people on the street from the terrace & living room, especially at lunch and dinner time, also one neighbour in the house opposite plays some weird instrument sometimes, there is random drilling now and then… also our bedroom windows are in the courtyard and I’m not joking, kids playing & laughing at 2/3 am it’s a normal thing in Spain I think 
It doesn’t bother us really, living in the London’s apartments was definitely more noisy! But we always carry noise cancelling headphones with us, also my partner is working remotely.
This is our first sitting experience living in the apartment since we started our adventures on TH, before we only had houses so in general, no noises from neighbours. But on the one sit, our house was next to the empty land/fields and one day a construction crew arrived with some heavy machinery and started to dig and drill on that land next to us. The noise was awful, the dogs went crazy (8 of them!) and amount of dust and dirt coming on our property was just unbearable. Of course we contacted HO and she confirmed that this land was sold some time ago with a purpose to build a hotel but they didn’t hear anything since. Luckily the construction team came only for 2 days in a whole 2.5 month sit but I advised the HO to mention that on the call with the future sitters.
@AnnAboutTown I would mention something like @Val suggested in the review.
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As a HO I think it should’ve been disclosed whether the noisy neighbours or the floor of the block. Maybe you could say something positive about the sit but mention that the apartment is on the ?? floor and as such, there can be noise from the neighbours above. I probably wouldn’t stay in any apartment unless it’s the top floor. Having someone ‘walk on my head’ is really annoying.
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@AnnAboutTown I am trying to understand exactly the situation- did the listing state it was a house and then you only found out on arrival it was in fact it was split into apartments with tennants living upstairs?
If this is the case then you should comment on the inaccurate listing and deduct stars in that category.
Yes definitely comment on your review that the noise from upstairs neighbours disrupted you when WFH . Maybe also state what time the noise starts in the morning and finished in evening so future sitters are aware .
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@AnnAboutTown Your question is should the HO have told you that they had tenants in an adjacent unit? Absolutely. Should you leave it in a review? Yes.
It sounds like the HO lead you to believe it was a house but it was actually a house turned into a duplex. If they didn’t mention this - and include it in their listing - I’d consider that intentional nondisclosure. I have twice encountered HO’s on THS who left it out of the listing and mentioned it in passing on a call. The units were completely illegal and I declined; my concern would be noise and safety. This HO didn’t give you that opportunity.
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I have to agree with @Val and @Newpetlover. We would definitely mention it in a review…but our thoughts, unless there is something else wrong with the sit, we probably wouldn’t deduct a stay. With most apartments, especially depending on how the building was designed and use of materials, noise will most likely be a problem to everyone at some given time. We wouldn’t actually house sit for an apartment (largely due to not have a yard for the animals), but also because we have lived in apartments and know this is a common occurrence and something that ‘goes with the territory’. We would probably just mention in the review that “Helpful things to note: this is a sit on the X floor and noise was a bit of an ongoing issue, so if you work from home or need it quite most of the day, this is definitely a factor to consider before applying.”
Also, if the HO has lived there for 25 years, she is probably used to it and has just grown accustomed to it if it has been an ongoing thing (especially because it sounds like it is a family’s day-to-do, not Fri/Sat frat parties or raves lol). Definitely not a loss of star for ‘accuracy of listing’ because this might be an issue for her. Just because something bothers a sitter about ‘outside’ factors…this is actually not part of the HO listing IMO.
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Thank you for this, I was very confused by the discrepancy.
For the record, if this was a house, I think the HO should disclose that it’s a duplex, or make clear that it’s not a fully detached home with no shared walls/ceiling/floor.
For apartments - well, that’s the magic of living in a multifamily building. I live in an apartment, and while I don’t say anything about neighbors in my listing, I mention the city noise, because hey, I live in an apartment in the middle of a busy city. I used to have a family with a toddler living above me, and I would discuss this with potential sitters in the video call. It did not deter any of my applicants. It wasn’t actually that bad, other than the otherworldly heavy footsteps of a 3 year old (HOW do they do that?), but I admit to not being sad when they moved out.
For the sitter, only they can decide if this is worth deducting stars, but I would mention the noise in the review in a non-confrontational way, like “there is consistent noise from other units in the building that made WFH challenging. This may not be the best sit for those needing a calm and quiet workspace”.
ETA: I don’t know how I missed Val’s comment above - but same same 
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Didn’t you notice the noise when you had a video conversation with the owner?
It would drive me mad too and I don’t work, but like to read in peace.
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Hopefully the homeowner disclosed there was a family living upstairs. I personally tend to stay away from any sits where there are other tenants in the home. Not because of noise but I prefer to have a certain anonymity when I’m house sitting.
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Not sure if that’s easy to do as loud noice is just a person’s opinion. My husband doesn’t mind background noise when working but I need almost complete silence. Although if you can hear what the neighbors are talking about, the walls really are thin. Best you can do is leave an honest review. Hope your sit finishes soon
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I do appreciate all your constructive comments! I’ve certainly learned a lesson the hard way. I probably will just leave one star off and then mention it briefly for other house sitters to know. The rest of the house sit has been pretty good other than that.
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@AnnAboutTown that would drive me mad too. I’m sorry you’re going through this.
I work from home and have noisy neighbours. The only thing that’s saved my sanity are white noise websites or apps like mynoise dot net (try voice blocker) or the calm app. They block most sounds but not banging on floorboards.
I wonder if the family above are around more because of the school holidays, not that that’s helpful for you at the moment. Take care.
Edited to comply with posting guidelines
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In the UK it’s pretty common for what were originally large town-houses to have been converted into apartments. There is also a style of house called a maisonette, where it is designed as two entirely separate dwellings, one on top of each other. If you live in the upper one, you go straight through your front door and up a flight of stairs. There is often a back door with steps down into your own garden. Both types of housing are so common that it’s not something that anyone would feel the need to ‘disclose’. In both, you are inevitably at the mercy of your neighbours when it comes to noise.
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For sure. Good point. I’ve stayed in many cities, New York, Boston, Miami and found the ambience of the noise rather enjoyable actually. This is something entirely different and isn’t exactly about being in a city. It could happen in a small town apartment building as well.
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