What to do if you're disturbed by noise
If noise is causing a problem, there are steps you can take to resolve it informally or make a formal complaint.
Resolving noise before reporting
If you're affected by noise, try speaking to the person responsible first. This is often the quickest and most effective way to stop the problem.
You can try the following:
- speak to the person or business causing the noise
- write a polite letter if you don’t feel comfortable speaking directly
- contact your housing association if both parties live in housing association properties
Download our Noise or other nuisances booklet for guidance.
Reporting a noise problem
If the noise issue has not improved after you've tried to resolve the problem, you can report it to us.
You must complete and send us the following:
- request for formal investigation form
- witness record sheet showing dates, times and type of disturbance
We won’t normally consider complaints unless both documents are submitted.
What happens next
Once we’ve reviewed your evidence, we’ll decide how to proceed.
We may contact the person or business causing the the noise and monitor the noise to assess its impact.
If the noise is verified as a nuisance, we:
- will write formally to the person causing the nuisance
- may serve an Abatement Notice, requiring the noise nuisance to be stopped
- start legal action if the case is serious or persistent
- seize equipment that has the potential to create noise
Keeping a record
Keeping a record helps us understand the problem and take action.
Include the following in your noise record:
- date and time
- type of noise
- how loud it is
- where the noise is coming from
You may be asked to use the Noise app:
- download the Noise app from your app store
- only use it if we’ve asked you to
- we can only accept recordings made using the Noise app