Reporting noise
What happens when you report anti-social behaviour?
In the next few editions of Talk, we’re running a series on how to report anti-social behaviour (ASB) and what to expect when you do.
In this edition we’re looking at noise nuisance – the most common ASB reported to us.
Noise is considered ASB when it’s persistent, deliberate or targeted – it’s what we call inconsiderate noise. That includes:
- Persistent dog barking
- Persistent music
- Regular arguments
General household living noise isn’t usually considered ASB however we will work with you to resolve it.
Examples of General household living noise:
- Television volume
- Pet noise
- Children
- Household appliances
- Footsteps
- Doors closing
- Music/singing
- Shouting
- Lawn mower
- DIY
- Babies crying
- Exercise
- Parties – one off
- Toilet flushing
Reporting
Before you report noise to us, it’s worth approaching your neighbour to discuss the problem:
- It’s always best to plan what you are going to say to them
- Avoid approaching your neighbour when the noise is actually happening
- Be polite, keep calm and try to keep things light-hearted and friendly
- To start off with, you could ask your neighbour if they can hear noise from your home
- Explain how their noise is affecting you.
If things don’t improve and you want to report inconsiderate noise to us, it’s a good idea to keep a diary of incidents and, if you can, record it - you can make a recording using the Noise App.
Once you have this, you can report this to us through any of our contact channels but the easiest way to do it is online. We’ll get in touch to find out more and discuss next steps. That will include asking for any logs or recordings you’ve made, and we may ask you questions about who is making the noise.
We will try to establish whether the noise is inconsiderate or general household noise. If you haven’t already sent a recording, we may ask you to make one – or arrange a visit so we can hear/record the noise ourselves.
Once we’ve heard the noise evidence, we will give you guidance around speaking to your neighbour, or arrange to have that conversation with them ourselves. Sometimes neighbours aren’t aware they’re causing issues.
For general household noise, small changes - such as a rug in a hallway or a non-slip mat under a washing machine for example - can solve the problem, and we’ll work with your neighbour to sort out a solution.
Other options are for us to arrange independent mediation to help resolve the issue, put an acceptable behaviour agreement in place, or look at whether the situation is a breach of their tenancy agreement.
We’ll agree when an improvement should be in place. If the noise persists, we’ll ask you to contact your local environmental health team – or help you to do that. They can provide additional guidance and support, and may investigate some cases further.
There may be scenarios where we arrange an inspection to be carried out by a surveyor to assess the property to suggest improvement to limit noise.
The charity ASB Help has some useful guidance on the steps you can take to deal with noise nuisance.