It seems like everyone has a story about troublesome neighbours, and one of the most common issues is noise. So, what can you do if you have a noisy neighbour? Obviously the first thing you can do is speak to them about it (if it is safe to do so – there may well be other issues which make you feel unsafe speaking to your neighbour). If that doesn’t work, there are a few avenues you can explore.

Make a complaint to your local council/government

Local governments/councils are often responsible for enforcing noise regulations. If you make a complaint to your local council, they will probably ask you to keep a noise log/noise pollution journal. This involves recording the level of noise pollution (in decibels) using specific sound recording equipment, which itself has to comply with a number of requirements. The equipment also needs to be placed in a particular position and calibrated in a certain way.

As you can probably tell, these regulations are quite tricky for an everyday person to understand, much less put into practice. This often results in a noise log that is pretty meaningless, leaving it open for councils to reject it. The regulations also do not adequately address noise where volume isn’t the issue – sometimes the problem is the duration or type of noise – for example, where someone plays a particularly irritating kind of music continuously from 7am to 10pm and you are working from home. Noise regulations do not respond to individual circumstances that might make this kind of noise just as invasive as someone playing loud music every Saturday night.

Apply for a Misconduct Restraining Order (MRO)

Never fear, your noise log might not have been for nothing! This could be used as evidence in applying for a Misconduct Restraining Order (MRO), the name given in WA to a civil law mechanism for helping people address offensive, destructive or disruptive behaviour by people who they are not (and have never been) in an intimate or family relationship with. There are different names for MROs in different places – eg, in Victoria they are called personal safety intervention orders. In most jurisdictions MROs are dealt with by lower courts (like the Magistrates Court).

You can apply for one of these orders in relation to any behaviour that intimidates or offends (so long as your reaction is reasonable), causes damage to property, or most relevantly, is or is likely to cause a breach of the peace. Many different types of behaviour might justify an application for an MRO, including persistent noise of the kind described above. Other examples include a neighbour who sprays your children with water whenever they are playing in your garden (which could also be a criminal assault), or someone who persistently blocks your driveway with their car.

The advantage of an MRO is that it can be used to address specific behaviour, so you might be able to get an order similar to an injunction which prevents your neighbour from playing music all day. If your neighbour continues their behaviour despite the MRO, that breach of the order is a criminal matter (in WA at least), even though the MRO itself is civil in nature. Sometimes the very fact you have applied for an MRO is enough to stop the behaviour. Of course, it is always worth getting legal advice (including from a community legal centre if you are eligible for their assistance), but applications for MROs (and other types of restraining order) are intentionally more accessible to the average person than many other areas of law.

Sue them for nuisance

In a similar vein, you might also be able to sue your neighbour for interfering with your use and enjoyment of your land through the common law tort of nuisance. The interference must be substantial and unreasonable, which takes into consideration the nature of the property and area. As put by Adjunct Associate Professor Kate Offer:

‘Living harmoniously with neighbours is about mutual tolerance and compromise… In the case of Southwark London Borough Council v Tanner (2001), tenants in a block of council flats in London sued in nuisance over the fact that they could hear their neighbours going about their everyday lives because of poor insulation between the flats constructed by the council. The [court] held it was not a nuisance because the normal use of a flat couldn’t be a nuisance otherwise you’d have the “absurd position” that neighbours behaving “normally and reasonably” in their homes would be deemed to be a nuisance.’

If you successfully argue nuisance in court you may be able to obtain similar orders to those available pursuant to an MRO. Suing for nuisance is, however, more complex than applying for an MRO and may require you to instruct a lawyer.

Conclusion

Unreasonably noisy neighbours don’t have to be a fact of life – there are legal mechanisms available to help you address the issue. It is important to bear in mind, as always, that legal proceedings can be costly. If you can, it is always best to get legal advice before taking any action and of course, try to have a conversation with the person first if it is safe to do so.

Note that the content of this blog does not apply in all jurisdictions, does not constitute legal advice, and should not be relied upon. You should seek legal advice in relation to any particular matters you may have. All opinions expressed are our own, not necessarily those of any organisations with which we are connected.