From closing the curtains to watering plants – if you aren’t doing these 10 things are a officially bad neighbour
FOLLOWING a year of lockdowns, isolation and more people than ever working from home, getting along with our neighbours has never been more important. It’s often hard to know what to do – and what not to do – in order to maintain harmonious relations with those living closest to you. Recently the top 10 […]
FOLLOWING a year of lockdowns, isolation and more people than ever working from home, getting along with our neighbours has never been more important.
It’s often hard to know what to do – and what not to do – in order to maintain harmonious relations with those living closest to you.
Recently the top 10 weirdest behaviours of Britain’s worst neighbours were revealed – including licking cars – so it’s relatively easy to know what we shouldn’t do.
But new research from Habitat has revealed the secrets to maintain happy neighbourly relations.
Be friendly… but not too friendly
The home and furniture brand’s poll of 2,000 people uncovered the many ways Brits’ have embraced their neighbours during lockdown.
While we inevitably bump into our neighbours coming in and out of their homes on a regular basis, it’s important to be aware of the time if initiating a chin wag.
Making sure you delay any casual chit chat until after 10am so you’re both awake and make sure you’re friendly – but not too friendly – are just some of the ways you could ensure you get along, according to research findings.
Dinner and drinks
Since lockdown, 29 per cent of Brits speak to their neighbours every morning, with peak time being 10:05am – once the caffeine has kicked in.
Some are saving their catch-ups until the evening – with 32 per cent saying they’ll be going for a drink with their neighbours now that lockdown’s over.
If that’s not enough socialising, a third of respondents have invited their neighbours for dinner or drinks for the first time ever since the end of lockdown.
That's when good neighbours, become good friends...
Here are the top 10 tips to building and maintaining a happy and harmonious relationship with neighbours:
- Don’t venture into small talk before 10am
- Put your neighbours’ deliveries in their hiding place
- Be friendly, but not overly familiar
- Be generous with lending your garden furniture
- Avoid the over-the-fence flirts
- Don’t gossip on the street, you never know whose window is open
- If you’re sweeping your path, give next door’s a brush too
- Shut the curtains when you’re getting dressed
- Tidy empty bottles away during the day, no one likes a sudden noise in the night
- Offer to water the plants when your neighbour goes away.
What’s mine is yours
Another way to ensure you remain on good terms is to be willing to share and lend your belongings, such as garden furniture.
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Over a third (35 per cent) have lent or borrowed items from their neighbours in the past year, having never done so before.
And 25 per cent of neighbourly WhatsApp group chats set up in lockdown are now still being used, but for swapping furniture and homeware items.
Among the list of things to do is shutting the curtains before stripping off – although this recommended not only to keep terms with neighbours, but also to avoid getting in trouble with the law.