Lewes District Council

Noisy Neighbours

Officers with seized equipment Advice and guidance for those suffering from noisy neighbours and how to take action to stop the problem from happening.

To be a nuisance, noise has to be unreasonable to an average person. The type of noise, how loud it is, how often it occurs and the time of day it takes place are taken into account in considering whether it is unreasonable.

The noise must be persistent. Something that occurs very rarely and is of short duration is unlikely to be a nuisance. Although it is unrealistic to expect absolute quiet where we live no-one has the right to make persistent excessive noise.

Noise nuisance may come from amplified music, barking dogs, machinery, construction, DIY and alarms. We have a number of powers to deal with problem.

Noise from neighbours can be very annoying or disturbing. The majority of noise problems can be resolved amicably by talking to the person responsible.

They may be unaware their activities are causing a disturbance. A polite conversation will avoid the need to take the matter further. However, if this does not help, we may be able to assist.

Keep a log of how often the noise occurs and how it affects you. Does it drown out your television or keep you awake at night?

There are a number of ways that we may help you depending on each individual case. The person causing the problem may be sent a letter. Or we may serve them with an abatement notice.

Our team has powers to deal with a wide range of noise problems. They operate an out of hours noise hotline on 01273 484340. From 4.30pm Friday, and over the weekend, noise nuisance complaints are dealt with.

Unfortunately in some cases we may not be able to help. In this instance you are able to take your own private action against the person causing the noise.

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Noisy Neighbours