Councils have powers to investigate and deal with defined statutory nuisances under Section 79 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (EPA). The Act is very specific about what could be classed as a statutory nuisance. The problem must be coming from a property or land and must affect another property.

For a statutory nuisance to exist, it must be shown that the issue is either ‘prejudicial to your health’ or is significantly interfering with your reasonable enjoyment of your property.

It must occur regularly and continue for a period of time that makes it unreasonable. It is not enough for the issue to be merely annoying or disturbing.

There are no stated levels or time for noise to be assessed as a statutory nuisance; all nuisance is assessed subjectively.

When assessing a case of we will take into consideration a range of factors including:

• duration
• frequency
• impact – i.e. material interference with use of property or personal well-being; actually or likely to be adverse to health
• local environment
• motive – i.e. unreasonable behaviour or normal user
• sensitivity of the plaintiff – statutory nuisance relies on the concept of the average person, and is not designed to take account of unusual sensibilities

The Council can only take action where there is evidence that a statutory nuisance is occurring within the terms of the EPA.

Where we cannot take action

No house or flat is totally soundproof so everyone can expect a degree of noise from adjoining neighbours. If you are being disturbed by noise from neighbours, it may be because:

• your neighbours are behaving normally but the sound insulation in the floors or walls between your properties may not be good enough to reduce the sounds of everyday living.
• child noise, door slamming, people knocking at a neighbour’s door or domestic disputes.
• you have become sensitised and intolerant to noise, particularly if you do not get on with your neighbours. Some people ‘tune’ into noise from next door and find it ‘unreasonable’, whilst others would not

Read more on our noise action guidance (PDF, 130KB)