Rules regarding noise levels from residential properties
Discussion
Anyone have any information regarding this? I'm particulary interested in the rules surrounding what sort of DB reading is considered unreasonable (and illegal?) and at what at what times of the day.
Also any info regarding how to resolve an issue (such as an independant adjudicator visit) would be appreciated.
Contrary to what you may think at this point it is actually ME who is at the recieveing end of one of these complaints, however both myself and the rest of my family think the aforementioned neighbour is being completely unreasonable about it, he has spoke to my mother in a threatening and foul-mouthed way earlier this evening and I have had enough (my mother and I both agree that we are not causing noise pollution). Obviously if an independant person comes round and tells us that we are in the wrong I'll happily bin all our hi-fi equipment and invest in good headphones, but until this happens I refuse to believe that I am causing noise pollution!
Thanks in advance.
Ash
Also any info regarding how to resolve an issue (such as an independant adjudicator visit) would be appreciated.
Contrary to what you may think at this point it is actually ME who is at the recieveing end of one of these complaints, however both myself and the rest of my family think the aforementioned neighbour is being completely unreasonable about it, he has spoke to my mother in a threatening and foul-mouthed way earlier this evening and I have had enough (my mother and I both agree that we are not causing noise pollution). Obviously if an independant person comes round and tells us that we are in the wrong I'll happily bin all our hi-fi equipment and invest in good headphones, but until this happens I refuse to believe that I am causing noise pollution!
Thanks in advance.
Ash
upstairs thought that DIY at 4am was perfectly acceptable too.There's no set db level as such, and it will be down to the council's opinion, which will be based on the local area (environmental noise), time of day etc.
For example a household making a loud noise in south kensington / richmond at 4am is likely to have the council imposing an action a lot sooner than a household making a loud noise next a A main road with no neighbours for 3 miles.
Edit: I've never dealt with residential issues, but if it's considered in the same way as my line of work (construction) then the way it will be measured is that db levels will be taken at various locations around your household without any noise being emitted at different times of day (to measure the environmental), and then the same again with noise being emitted. It will be down to the council to decide if that's a substantial difference or not.
In reality I doubt this will happen, so you're more than likely just to have so womble or council worker asking you to keep it down.
For example a household making a loud noise in south kensington / richmond at 4am is likely to have the council imposing an action a lot sooner than a household making a loud noise next a A main road with no neighbours for 3 miles.
Edit: I've never dealt with residential issues, but if it's considered in the same way as my line of work (construction) then the way it will be measured is that db levels will be taken at various locations around your household without any noise being emitted at different times of day (to measure the environmental), and then the same again with noise being emitted. It will be down to the council to decide if that's a substantial difference or not.
In reality I doubt this will happen, so you're more than likely just to have so womble or council worker asking you to keep it down.
Edited by wombat172a on Saturday 17th October 21:28
Something that isn't immediately obvious; there are consequences to noise complaints, for both sides. If a noise complaint is made, processed and actioned via the council then it has to be included in information provided at the time of sale of either house. This is something I've been told so have no direct link to back it up. So, I'm prepared to be told otherwise.
Dr Rick
Dr Rick
wombat172a said:
There's no set db level as such, and it will be down to the council's opinion, which will be based on the local area (environmental noise), time of day etc.
This is absolutely correct, but there is established guidance (and even a British Standard) on acceptable noise levels from industry impacting on housing. IIRC (I'm no expert - we usually pay peaople to deal with this for us), this says that an increase in average ambient noise levels (day or night) of more than 10dB is unlikely to be acceptable. 
MonkeyMatt said:
What exactly IS the noise in question?
the OP said:
Obviously if an independant person comes round and tells us that we are in the wrong I'll happily bin all our hi-fi equipment and invest in good headphones, but until this happens I refuse to believe that I am causing noise pollution!
So I'd hazard a guess that he's playing lound music.Knowing how irritating the noise from some playing music through earphones on a train can be, I think if we're honest most of us would say the dB doesn't come into it. If you can hear it, it's going to get on your tits, if it's persistant.
I'd say that if you like loud music, a pair of decent headphones would be a good investment, to keep the peace.
Edited by Sam_68 on Sunday 18th October 10:06
Sam_68 said:
MonkeyMatt said:
What exactly IS the noise in question?
the OP said:
Obviously if an independant person comes round and tells us that we are in the wrong I'll happily bin all our hi-fi equipment and invest in good headphones, but until this happens I refuse to believe that I am causing noise pollution!
So I'd hazard a guess that he's playing lound music.Knowing how irritating the noise from some playing music through earphones on a train can be, I think if we're honest most of us would say the dB doesn't come into it. If you can hear it, it's going to get on your tits, if it's persistant.
I'd say that if you like loud music, a pair of decent headphones would be a good investment, to keep the peace.
Edited by Sam_68 on Sunday 18th October 10:06
Just to clarify, my family never plays music at what one would consider to be an unreasonable hour (I never play it past 9pm these days).
I would admit in the past that in my silly teenage years I may have gone abit overboard but now I am 22 and since the various run ins with this not very nice chap I have made EVERY reasonable adjustment to try and cater to his needs such as unplugging the external sub-woofer from my hi-fi, setting the equalizer to it's least bassy setting, making sure every window/door is closed before music is played.
Even with all these precautions in place he still continues with his obnoxious and threatening behaivour, my hi-fi goes up to level 30 and I swear on my life it never goes past level 15 (with sub-woofer unplugged, equalizer down etc). He also only ever knocks on the door when he's pissed (probably where all the hard man talk comes from) which worries me as my mother felt very threatened by the language he used and he looks like the kind of chap who would use physical violence if pushed enough. She is an easy target too (divorced, single mother, not threatening in the slightest etc)
I'd also like to point out he has two dogs who without fail every morning at 6am when the neighbours have gone to work start howling for hours on end and wake my old dear and my brother up, so in theory its his house-hold thats creating the more anti-social kind of noise, wouldn't you agree?
Most of you will probably still think I'm an utter pr!ck for daring to play any kind of music at any time of the day at any volume but until someone official comes round and tells me whats too loud I refuse to live a life of silence, hence why I would like some official information.
(Thank you to those of you so far who have provided useful information)
I would admit in the past that in my silly teenage years I may have gone abit overboard but now I am 22 and since the various run ins with this not very nice chap I have made EVERY reasonable adjustment to try and cater to his needs such as unplugging the external sub-woofer from my hi-fi, setting the equalizer to it's least bassy setting, making sure every window/door is closed before music is played.
Even with all these precautions in place he still continues with his obnoxious and threatening behaivour, my hi-fi goes up to level 30 and I swear on my life it never goes past level 15 (with sub-woofer unplugged, equalizer down etc). He also only ever knocks on the door when he's pissed (probably where all the hard man talk comes from) which worries me as my mother felt very threatened by the language he used and he looks like the kind of chap who would use physical violence if pushed enough. She is an easy target too (divorced, single mother, not threatening in the slightest etc)
I'd also like to point out he has two dogs who without fail every morning at 6am when the neighbours have gone to work start howling for hours on end and wake my old dear and my brother up, so in theory its his house-hold thats creating the more anti-social kind of noise, wouldn't you agree?
Most of you will probably still think I'm an utter pr!ck for daring to play any kind of music at any time of the day at any volume but until someone official comes round and tells me whats too loud I refuse to live a life of silence, hence why I would like some official information.
(Thank you to those of you so far who have provided useful information)
this is my line of work and i work out of office hours visiting people who have noisy neighbours, be it music, diy or barking dogs.
with music, no DB is recorded/ monitored and there are no upper limits etc. it is purely a subjective assement of the level of music at the time of the visit and taking into account a reasonable activity the complainant would like to carry out.
music being played at 3am where most people would like to sleep wouldnt have to be as loud as say music being played at 3pm where people are expected to be awake. so it takes a low level of music at silly hours, to be considered as a stautory nuiscance under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 section 80. (a statutory nuisance is where someones activity interferes with the enjoyment of your property).
music during the day can still be classed as a nuisance providing it is loud enough to intrude into another property/flat. if i or the complainant wanted to sit and read a book/magazine and couldnt because of the bass beat or guitar noise from a neighbour then this would be considered a nuisance. we would need to witness around 15 minutes of the noise for it to be classed as a nuisance. the council would then issue an abatement order under the above legislation (EPA1990 sect80) requiring music to not be audible outside the boundary of the property.
with music, no DB is recorded/ monitored and there are no upper limits etc. it is purely a subjective assement of the level of music at the time of the visit and taking into account a reasonable activity the complainant would like to carry out.
music being played at 3am where most people would like to sleep wouldnt have to be as loud as say music being played at 3pm where people are expected to be awake. so it takes a low level of music at silly hours, to be considered as a stautory nuiscance under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 section 80. (a statutory nuisance is where someones activity interferes with the enjoyment of your property).
music during the day can still be classed as a nuisance providing it is loud enough to intrude into another property/flat. if i or the complainant wanted to sit and read a book/magazine and couldnt because of the bass beat or guitar noise from a neighbour then this would be considered a nuisance. we would need to witness around 15 minutes of the noise for it to be classed as a nuisance. the council would then issue an abatement order under the above legislation (EPA1990 sect80) requiring music to not be audible outside the boundary of the property.
Edited by plumAJP on Monday 19th October 12:45
Gassing Station | Homes, Gardens and DIY | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff