How do I report a noise complaint? When to contact the police or council about noisy neighbours

With the weather warming up, you might have been spending more time outside having to listen to noisy neighbours.

Even inside the house you might still be subjected to excess noise, whether that’s loud music or dogs barking.

If you’ve had enough and just want to get a little bit of sanity then we have you covered on how to make a complaint.

What are noise nuisances?

The GOV.uk website describes noise nuisance, saying: “unreasonably and substantially interfere with the use or enjoyment of a home or other premises” or causing an injury to health or likely to injure health.

There are things that are considered a noise nuisance, such as loud noise (like music or television) and dogs barking.

You can also file a noise complaint for buskers and commercial noise from nightclubs, pubs and shops.

Car alarms and mechanical noise are also considered nuisance noise by the government.

Things that aren’t considered nuisance noise are fireworks, traffic noise and noise from political demonstrations.

Individual councils are allowed to decide how they will deal with noise complaints.

What to do if you would like to make a noise complaint

Birmingham City Council have recommended approaching your neighbour first to discuss the issue that you have with their noise.

This can reduce the need for people like the police or the council to get involved.

Taking this approach can resolve the problem quickly and also prevent more noise issues from arising in the future.

However, if talking to your neighbour hasn’t resolved the issue then you might want to put a complaint into the council.

How to make a complaint to the council for noise nuisance

Birmingham City Council has an online form that can be filled out if you’d like to complain about noise nuisance.

The form will ask you a variety of questions, including the type of noise, where the noise is coming from and your address.

It will then ask you how often you are impacted by the noise, what time of day the noise happens and whether or not you know who is making the noise.

Once you have completed the online form, someone from the council will then contact you regarding your complaint.

You will then be asked to keep a diary or record the noise so that they can see how often, how long and when the noise tends to occur.

What happens after you make a complaint to the council for noise nuisance

Once you have made a noise nuisance complaint to the council, they will then inform your neighbour that a complaint has been made against them.

The council will also try to gather their own evidence by talking to other ear-witnesses and taking recordings.

If your neighbour does not cease their noise nuisance, the council will take legal action.

This could see the case going to court with fines of up to £5,000 for domestic noise and £20,000 for commercial noise.

If the council needs to pursue legal action to resolve the noise complaint then they may ask you for your identity to be revealed to the neighbour during the legal proceedings.

Your neighbour will have the legal right to know who made the complaint if they do decide to appeal the Noise Abatement Notice given to them.

If the case goes to court, you may also be required to give evidence.

For more information you can visit Birmingham City Council’s noise nuisance page.

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