Ending Tenancy Early

Morning all,

On Saturday I moved into a new rental property which is on a through road that is far busier than I had realised.  Due to the traffic noise on Saturday night I got around 3 hours of broken sleep and this afternoon before going back on shift I got maybe 1.5.  I usually sleep with a window open as otherwise I find it very stuffy and wake up with a headache and use ear plugs which typically get changed every 2 weeks.  This afternoon I closed all the windows but that made no difference at all.

I plan to speak with the agent in the morning to see where I stand in regards to cancelling the tenancy which I’m gutted about as the house is lovely however working permanent nights this is going to be massive problem moving forwards.  I also appreciate this will be an ache for the landlord, who met on my viewing and is a really nice guy.

Does anyone have any experience of cancelling a tenancy early or where I might stand with this please?  I wonder, perhaps misguidedly, if there is an initial cooling period for example.  I’m rather hoping that as the tenancy is barely 3 days old they might allow me to duck out and lose the months rent as this would give them practically a month to find another tenant.

The tenancy for my current place runs out at the end of the month so I will also be speaking to the previous agent to revoke my notice.  There haven’t been any viewings yet so hopefully this wont be an issue.

Not sure what the answer is but my advice, given what I’ve heard about the current state of the rental market, is speak to the old landlord first, don’t leave the new one unless you’ve actually got somewhere to go!

Why did you leave the old one? Would you want to live there again for a while or just as stop gap until you move again?

I’d be happy enough staying in the current place (1 bedroom house) where I have been for just over four years now and have always enjoyed the location enough to see past the obvious limitations in size.  While I had no plan to move, a two bed with a garage and nicer garden area came up all of 10 minutes down the road which seemed a good opportunity but had vastly underestimated the traffic noise.  The road is located 100m from a junction with a main road in the dip of a hill so the sound from that carries plus all the passing traffic.

Give ear plugs a try, I work away and use them every time i go to sleep. Try the Rhubarb and custard ones (also known as Laser lites) which i find best out of the ones at work.

I dont mind sleeping with them in but others hate it but might be worth a try first

I think you are at the mercy of the landlord being nice.
An agreement is an agreement.

/\ That. Also, a constant noise is something that you can get used to fairly quickly, IME. (Used to live within earshot of the M621)

I used to live in a surprisingly quiet little garden flat in Glasgow, when I moved out a friend moved in from a few streets away.

Met him a few weeks later and he told me he was having trouble sleeping because it was so quiet – he’d been living in a much busier, and frankly much rougher, part of town. And in his experience the only time it went quiet at night was moments before trouble broke out 🙂 So the quiet was really putting him on edge.

Noise, or quiet, can be something you just get used to. I used to live in a very quiet cottage on a country estate, private roads, no passing traffic. It meant that absolutely any noise at night seemed significant – you really noticed it and it would really disturb your sleep

Now I live near the main road into a town – theres a constant sound of traffic – but its consistently present, so I don’t notice it.

The issue with noise really, when you’re needing to rest, or concentrate, isnt whether its present or absents but whether its ‘interesting’. Unexpected noises grab your attention.

I work away a lot and something I tend to do is play music or have the radio (I actually have the same radio show on catchup – as in the same proigram every night)  on when I’m sleeping – have a familiar sound in the room thats more present than any noises outside the room means any other noises don’t bother me.

Your first few nights in anywhere new you’re going to sleep badly because everything’s unfamiliar. You maybe just need to get used to being where you are.

As said above try ear plugs and and introduce a familar noise that you can sleep through like the radio or TV, then slowly reduce the volume so its a mix of radio/TV and the outside noise

I worked nights for a good few years and this helped me

You say its a 2 bed house, is the 2nd bedroom free and at the back of the house? if so try sleeping in there

The other thing to try is white noise (or ‘brown noise’ (lol)) through a speaker next to the bed during the night. Part of the problem is that traffic noise is intermittent, whereas this will provide a constant masking hum.

It’s probably worth exploring the options with the two landlords as a backup plan but I’ve also found road noise to be a thing you just get used to.

When I went to Uni I moved from a near silent village in the sticks to a room overlooking a dual carriageway in Durham that saw intermittent traffic all night.

Initially I really struggled with the noise and absolutely hated it, but after a week or so I no longer noticed it at all.

Spent 15 years living right next to the East Coast mainline (as in it backed on to our back garden). After a week or so stopped noticing the trains at all.

As above, If the house is better in all other ways, earplugs, noise generators and persistence is the way forward. Other than that you’re at the mercy of both sets of landlords…

I don’t think you will have any cooling off period etc – I think your landlord would be well within their rights to say the location is obvious so entirely your problem.

like others I’ve found that after a week or two noise usually becomes ignored.  Opening the window clearly won’t help so I’d be looking at how to avoid that – humidifier/aircon or other solutions to achieve the comfort you want.  I’d look at the options for curtains / blinds too.  You can get noise reducing curtains – I don’t think they are a magic bullet but I’ve noticed just replacing cheap flimsy curtains with a heavy fabric is noticeably less noisy.  Consider also room layout – you might be surprised how moving the bed reduces the noise.  You can buy acoustic screens for offices which dampen at least certain frequencies perhaps between your head and window?

I hate sleeping with ear plugs in – but noise cancelling ear phones do work to some extent and I image in the in ear ones would be an option.  Is anyone credible selling a speaker solution? (You won’t be able to silence a room – but perhaps the pillow area?).

Evening all and thank you for your thoughts.  Today I tried to sleep there again for an hour before giving up and going back to the old place and getting 5 hours on the sofa!

I’ve used Howard Leight earplugs (NRR 32db) for years when sleeping during the day which have always been fine.  For whatever reason though at the new house the car noise managed to circumvent these.  Whether it was down to the vibration or frequency or what I have no idea but it was noticeable enough to keep me awake.  Perhaps it was due to the intermittent nature of the passing traffic and it might have been different if it were a more constant noise.  It may well have to do with the road going uphill from the junction so cars coming up in second so more low end.  Whatever the reason, even with all the windows closed the noise was still noticeable.  For balance I used to live opposite a very busy junction where the noise was a constant thrum and had no issues with this.

The bedrooms are equal sized at the front and back of the house with the stairs and bathroom between them.  The house itself is situated on a raised bank on the corner and there was not discernible difference between either room.  Having all the windows closed was simply not an option for me as noted in my OP I find it very stuffy and wake up with a headache otherwise.  Have to say I don’t really like the idea of having to use an AC unit or buy sound proof screens and the like.

I was fortunate enough to have a very positive outcome from the new landlord who has agreed to waive the tenancy at the cost of my first months rent and I have revoked my notice with my previous landlord and resigned a new tenancy agreement.  Its a shame as it is a lovely house and was very excited to have a garage space for bikes and gym stuff but feel this is the best outcome for me.

Amazing outcome – what you have there is two very nice landlords!.