Dealing with a noise nuisance

Your local council is there to help with noise problems in your neighbourhood.

When dealing with a noise dispute with your neighbours your local council may need to get involved.

They are there to provide you with advice and to tell you what steps you need to take to try to make the noise nuisance stop.

 Noise in the neighbourhood

Your local council is there to help with noise problems in your neighbourhood.

The most common noise nuisances are:

• Loud Music
• Loud pubs, clubs and parties
• Dogs that constantly bark, whine or howl*

If you feel confident enough to do so, talk to your neighbour before you register your complaint. You may be able to sort any differences out verbally, but if the neighbour becomes intimidating or violent walk away and get your local authority involved.

Reporting the noise nuisance to your local council.

The environmental department at your local council will take your complaint, it is their duty to take all complaints seriously and take all steps to investigate all noise complaints.

Every local council has their own way of dealing with complaints and will use their own complaints procedure.

You will need to keep a record of when the noise nuisance is happening, how loud is it and the reasons as to why it is happening.

How will the council deal with the ongoing noise complaints

The council will look into a number of factors whilst dealing with your complaint, they also look into how serious the problem is.

They will assess:

•  Whether it is reasonable, bearing in mind the locality
• How often the noise occurs
• How many people are affected*

One of the most common noise complaints is dogs constantly barking or whining

The abatement notice

If your council decides the noise is a statutory nuisance, they’re legally obliged to serve an abatement notice. This sets out what’s required of the person causing the nuisance. For example, if the issue is loud music, the person may be asked to stop the noise or only play music between set times.

An abatement notice for noise can be delayed by seven days to give the council time to persuade the person to stop the noise nuisance. If this isn’t successful, an abatement notice must be served at the end of this period.

In some cases, the council may not need to prove a statutory nuisance where a premises holds a public entertainment licence. The council can take action against a premises that operates outside its licensing agreement.*

There is a penalty for not following an abatement notice, the maximum fine is £5000 for domestic premises. For any businesses or industrial premises the maximum fine jumps to £20,000.

If there is an extreme case and if the police have enough evidence, anti social behaviour orders can be issued.

*Info from Direct Gov