Noisy neighbors: nuisance or menace?

We’ve all heard horror stories about nightmare neighbors, from drilling in the middle of the night to never-ending parties every day of the week. These reports are often dismissed by those that have never experienced it, but now a recent YouGov survey of 1511 respondents across KSA (752) and UAE (759) has revealed the true extent of the noisy neighbor problem in the region.

The survey shows that an incredible 61% of us have been disturbed by neighbors at home, with the main cause coming from noisy children (22%). Over 70% of residents that we interviewed are currently living in apartments, meaning neighbors not only either side, but also above and below. Surrounded on all sides, it might be assumed that apartment dwellers have a harder time than those in villas. However villa residents are just as likely to have experienced disturbances from neighbors (58%), suggesting noisy neighbors in those areas are probably just making greater levels of noise.

Perhaps the most worrying statistic to come of this survey was that 43% have no idea what to do about noisy neighbors and simply try to ignore the problem when noise is made. A third of males (33%) in our sample would try to speak with the neighbor directly, but perhaps understandably this is more problematic for females (22%). Only 2% of respondents would call the police.

Everyone would agree that can be very annoying to be woken up from a deep sleep, leaving us feeling tired, confused and irritable. However, studies have shown that not only is getting a good sleep an annoyance and it can be seriously detrimental to your health. Perhaps that is why over half (53%) of those surveyed would consider moving because of recurrently noisy neighbors. So by driving residents away, a noisy neighbor may eventually cause headaches for the landlords as well.