Noise nuisance

There is no legal definition of what is a statutory noise nuisance is, but for the Council to investigate a complaint, you would need to show how it impacts upon your health or quality of life.

To be a nuisance, the following factors are considered:

• Disturbance – the noise must interfere with your enjoyment of living in your home, for example, by preventing you sleeping or reading
• Loudness – the louder the noise the more likely it is to be a nuisance
• Duration – the longer the noise goes on for the more likely it is to be a nuisance
• Occurrence - the more often the noise occurs the more likely it is to be a nuisance
• Time of day – noise can be a nuisance at any time of the day or night
• Type of noise – the more annoying the noise (e.g. a whistle or whine) the more likely it is to be a nuisance
• Locality – people living in different areas (e.g. town and country) can expect to hear different types and levels of noise
• Your sensitivity - if you have above average sensitivity to noise then the law may not consider the noise a nuisance.

What we don't investigate

We can only investigate noises that are not part of normal daily living. As upsetting as it may be we do not investigate noises such as:

• Domestic appliance noise (e.g. vacuum cleaner, washing machines)
• Moving furniture
• Children playing/running up and down the stairs
• Dropping objects
• Intermittent banging/slamming of doors