I recently did a pet sit in a terraced house, and the neighbour played their TV / radio at top volume throughout all hours of the night. There was no escape from the intrusive noise, and I felt begrudging about caring for someone’s pets in a place I couldn’t even get a quiets night sleep or really enjoy the space.
Has anyone else had this before? Do you ask HO about how ‘peaceful’ the surroundings are during the video chat to try and gauge issues like this?
Hi @RR12345,
Our experience… we’ve never had a neighbor as annoying as the one you mention. They did have a party next door that lasted until late once, but that was anecdotic.
The most uncomfortable thing we’ve had with neighbors is that they’re extremely inquisitive. #NoseyNelly
We have the topic: neighbors among our protocol questions during video calls.
Where we ask:
We always keep in mind that neighbors can be used (voluntarily or not) as a monitoring mechanism.
Did you include this information in your review to warn future sitters ?
We only take on sits in detached houses exactly to make sure this kind of situation doesn’t come up. Always, this is a rule. No exceptions.
While I haven’t experienced it on a sit I have had noisy neighbours and it can be really detrimental to well being, especially if you value a quiet and calm environment, as I do, so you have my sympathy.
This is so important to me that it is something I ask about with both sits and holiday rentals. I tend to take it on a case by case basis - for eg, if the property is a detached house on 2 acres in the countryside I’m not so worried (although I may ask about road noise) but it’s definitely something I’d ask about with a one bed flat in an older building in, say, Barcelona because I know, from past experience, it might be an issue. I tend to say something like ‘I work at home on audio projects so need a very quiet environment’ (which is true).
If it’s any help I find white noise and headphones helpful. And, as @Silversitters mentions, it’s definitely something to tactfully flag in your review. Unfortunately people living with that level of disturbance often get used to it and forget how intrusive it is to others.
I live with “that level of disturbance” and as a consequence I am now searching for a new home. 
This is a really good point to ask about prior to accepting a sit. @Skylos can you give an example of how you politely ask if the neighbours are noisy or otherwise bad?
My one sit that wasn’t great had an upstairs neighbour rolling a walker, and sometimes scraping furniture instead, across the floor at all hours, day and night. The HOs said it had driven them nuts in the past but someone spoke to her and it was better for a while. Of course she started using chairs or whatever again instead of her walker, the week I arrived. And whenever anyone upstairs flushed it was like a waterfall behind the wall. I will not likely sit in an apartment again unless I really, really wanted to be in that location at that time and there was nothing else.
…Then there was the sit where, one afternoon, the next-door neighbours were having target practice in the backyard with what seemed to be a car-trunk-full of guns. Culture shock for this Canadian … 'murica, y’all. 
This just reminded me of a lovely sit in the U.K. countryside - it was very tranquil rural location, the property was far away from neighbours, and roads .
One day as I was drinking my coffee outside in the garden there was a tremendously loud noise .. that I couldn’t make out initially because it was so so loud and out of place . Then I saw a military helicopter very low overhead !
It was so out of place with the setting that I thought a war had started !
I later found out that it belonged to someone in the nearby village who liked to take it out for a spin on weekends .
Hi @ABGM!
Sure, happy to share the technique that "works for us", especially if you are good at reading between the lines or trust your instinct.
It’s not foolproof, but it helps when making decisions, I promise.
During the video call (we don’t accept any sit without a VC, no exception), we friendly introduce ourselves and check where the PPs are heading.
We first talk about the pets (most of the time, we’re surprised when owners don’t mention them in the conversation, but YES, it happens sometimes).
We do answer all the questions that PPs have for us and at the moment they invite us to ask (if they don’t, first 
), we invite ourselves and we proceed with our Protocol Questionnaire.
Politely… We make it clear: “This isn’t personal, nor an interrogation. These are standard questions we ask everyone upon our first contact.”
We are sincere and chill, it’s not a job interview, but rather a conversation between adults (animal lovers 
) who are trying to agree on a win-win-win deal.
We always ask about:
“Do you have a good relationship with your neighbors? Anything we should know about any of them in particular? Are they used to strangers/sitters? Would any of them be able to help us if needed?”
After this question, we let the PPs talk freely — information usually begins to flow without HOs feeling interrogated or uncomfortable.
Tip: Special attention to silence (it speaks louder)
We usually cover the following topics:
,Tip: This question about neighbors can also reveal if our PPs might actually be the problematic ones. To be fair, it also helps the PPs get a sense of what kind of sitters they are inviting into their home and entrusting with their pets.However, there are some things you simply can’t predict or discover until you are on-site and sometimes not even through PPs or neighbors directly.
Working zones, renovation works, kindergartens, heavy traffic, etc.
This is the case for apartments, where you can’t always tell how much soundproofing effort the developer put in
Personally, we prefer a balance: enough privacy (not hearing the neighbor’s toilet flush 
) but still not to be too isolated, being close enough to have casual chats with neighbours — part of the joy of discovering new places.
As for " 
target practice in the backyard" — you got me there, lol. I have no idea how to handle that either. If it’s legal, there’s probably not much you can do about it.
I hope this answer helps you and other community members!
I’ve been caught out a couple of times when sitting near airbases in the UK, and if the weather is nice enough for you to sit outside - then it’s normally nice enough for the RAF to practice their flying drills/training!
Nothing like al fresco brunch with earth shaking beneath you from a fighter jet!
I used to live in the centre of town and invested in noise cancelling headphones early on - after a half marathon finished outside my window, and they blasted music through speakers and commentated the race from 8am - 5pm whilst I was completing my dissertation (I eventually went and worked in the library).
I have a regular housesit that I love, but during the summer months the neighbours get the hot tub out and spend most evenings drunk and screaming at each other in it. On top of that the dogs are quite barky - and there is a certain pitch (normally cockapoos) that I just can’t stand (not selling the sit, but I actually love it), so I have a noise cancelling playlist on Spotify and I exist in that little bubble whilst on noisier sits. It works for me. Currently on a sit with a yowling cat and a weird ventilation system that makes a hissing sound 24/7 so have been making good use of them!
Generally I find neighbours to be lovely! And I think it often reflects on your HO if they have a good relationship with their neighbours (not always), I was on a sit two weeks ago and their neighbour fixed a mechanical issue on my van for me 
, the main issue I’ve had, and I do check this with newer HOs who haven’t had sitters before, but I check it they have older neighbours (not necessarily nosy, but nervous and a bit forgetful) who might not recognise me and think there is someone suspicious hanging around their neighbours house - after one poor HO got a call that there was “a tall, pink haired girl hanging around their house”. Depending on the sit, if you’re lucky, you might even get filled in on all of the village politics and drama!
I don’t ask directly about neighbours, but if when discussing the sit, and you talk about emergency contacts, if it’s a neighbour then that is usually a good sign! I think now that it’s happened OP, you have the perfect opening for future sits “I’ve just finished a sit, that whilst lovely, I did find the neighbours kept odd hours and it was a bit noisy - do you have any neighbours who like their music, or is it generally calm around there?” Then it can lead to a more open discussion?
Hope that you get a peaceful night’s sleep soon!
I did a sit in London once and the neighbors gave a friendly heads up about a party they were going to throw at the weekend and invited me, too. Seems savvy and neighborly to do that — less likely to get noise complaints.
I haven’t encountered noise problems (other than road construction) while sitting, though I always sit in densely populated areas. I anticipate possible noise in such settings and carry earplugs and earbuds on all travels anyway.
There was a marathon early one morning right by a sit home and another where there was a parade, but I considered those festive noises and part of the sit experience. I have a lovely memory of cradling a lovable cat and watching together as marathoners ran past the sit home.
If cleaners are coming to a sit home, I let them know that I’m ducking into a room with earbuds on and the door closed, so I can avoid vacuuming noise. Or if it’s nice outside, I’ll be there.
I had 13 days with the large adjacent home being re-roofed with barrel tile from 7 AM to 6 PM 9 of the 13 days. HOA said he didnt know !
How can i reply to the people who replied to me here? I am afraid of repercussions because now the homeowner has my information. What do you guys do ?
I think a lot of people especially in cities adjust to noise and aren’t aware of it after awhile. Some noise is going to be expected in apartments and different people have different tolerances. (Before I was married, I was living in a studio apartment where my bed was against a wall leading to my neighbor’s television. I was used to it. But it drove my now-spouse crazy.)
If a homeowner misled you by explicitly saying it’s quiet, great neighbors, no noise, maybe you could take a star off, but if it wasn’t discussed, I’d mention it for the sake of other sitters, without taking anything off.
Personally, as a host, I don’t mention anything about noise on my listing, but I do mention some abatement from the piano player downstairs using white noise, and I have warned sitters recently about some ongoing facade work during weekdays.
It sounds like you definately should ask about this on chats, as many peope won’t think to mention the noises they are used to.
This reminded me. We had a sit a while back. Absolutely lovely homeowners, beautiful house with tranquil yards and deer popping in on schedule most mornings, lovely cats, ensuite bathroom in the guest quarters! They warned us about an occassional noise once or maybe twice a week when the cows arrived at the “market” about a mile or so away. I was out in the garden when I heard it. At first I thought it was motorcycles. Many, many motorcycles. Then I knew. We could hear it at night even with the bedroom window closed.
We joke about it even now: The mooing of the cows.
I didn’t mention it in the review since the homeowner was upfront about it before we confirmed.
@Skylos excellent questions, thanks. Yes, silence says a lot. If anyone asked me about MY neighbours I would have to think very carefully before replying. A lot of swearing doesn’t create a good first impression.
@Silversitters wow, I would love my own helicopter. 
@ERRa OMG where is this fighter-jet-watching housesit!! I must have it!!! 
Serious aircraft junkie here.
What? It sounds like maybe you should start a thread of your own to ask/explain your question.
Maybe they were elderly and deaf?? Just possible they need some consideration too.
Anything in the Lake District National Park when it will be potentially clear weather 
Add the Yorkshire Dales & N York moors to that!