Noise complaints

Although people are not expected to live in silence, they should be considerate and take all reasonable steps to avoid unreasonably disturbing those living nearby. The following are some example of steps you can take to reduce the likelihood of upsetting your neighbours:

• Maintain a good relationship with them. Communication is key as people often worry more about noise because they were not expecting it or do not know how long it is likely to go on for
• Give advance warning to your neighbours if you intend to have a party or carry out noisy building/DIY works (or other similar noisy events); explaining what it is for, when it will occur and when it will stop. Remember though that giving advance warning does not give anyone the right to make as much noise as they want to!
• Ensure builders only work during acceptable times, for example, normal working hours, and try to only carry out DIY work during such times as far as possible
• Don’t have regular noisy events at your property. If you want to do this, consider hiring a hall or similar venue away from people who may be disturbed
• Think about the type of property you live in and the insulation between the properties. If you can hear your neighbours, they will be able to hear you too
• Always consider volume; especially in the morning, evening and night. Just because you might enjoy listening to music at a high level doesn’t mean your neighbours want to
• Keep bass levels to a minimum, use headphones where appropriate, position speakers away from walls and raise/isolate them from the floor and walls if possible
• Intruder alarms can activate by accident. Ensure your house alarm is fitted with a 20 minute cut-off and, where possible, make arrangements with neighbours to be key holders
• Make sure your car alarm works properly and is not over-sensitive
• A well trained dog will not bark unnecessarily, or excessively when it does bark, and a good keeper will intervene to avoid causing disruption. If you are concerned that your dog may be barking excessively, you should contact a local dog training club. You can also visit our useful 'Is your dog barking too much?' webpage dedicated to tips and advice for excessive dog barking.
• Don’t just turn the volume up if your hearing is impaired; consider the use of a hearing loop or headphones. Contact your doctor for advice. Information, advice and support is also available from Action on Hearing Loss and other online resources
• Most importantly, be considerate