Noise Laws?

[Mise]

Does anyone know anything about noise laws in the UK? (or wherever...)

How much noise are you allowed to make? Is 7pm a reasonable time for noise to be heard that would not be reasonable after 11pm? (I know there's a law that allows the council to confiscate your sound equipment if you're making excessive noise between 11pm and 7pm.)

I really just want to know how much noise is permitted by law. Can't seem to find anything definitive on google.

 

[Brighteye]

There isn't anything definitive. I've been wrangling with the council about this for a while.
Noise shouldn't be a health hazard; other than this it's a question of duration, tolerance and situation, and councils can issue notices to places that are judged to be causing a lot of disturbance. Usually they'll need to do a decibel monitoring for a while beforehand, and then serve the notice, if the place doesn't co-operate by reducing noise levels when asked.
Things vary for industrial areas and so on, but that's how it seems to work. The noise officers here are rather lazy, so I wrote to my councillors, who were far more efficient, and gave the noise officers a definite prod.

 

[Perfection]

What are you planning?

 

[Brighteye]

Oh yes, if you're planning something, it's good practice to notify everyone around who might hear. If it's a big event this will be compulsory (and you should give phone numbers too) and you'll have to notify the council and fill in some forms etc.

 

[Mise]

Well my housemate bought a drum kit, and we were jammin' last night, which is, I believe, what provoked a letter through the door from our neighbours about the noise levels. I think it's fair to say that we were making more noise than we should have been, at a slightly later hour than we should have been, so I think the complaint was fair.

However, it went on to say that we should "consider other residents" after 7pm, which I thought was totally unreasonable. So I want to know what level of noise is permitted by law, at around 7pm really.

 

[skadistic]

I once got a ticket for my car radio being to loud. I contested it in court. The law states that if a cop can hear it at 60 feet its to loud. So I got my hearing checked an had the results when I went to court. Siting that no two people have the same hearing the law is unfair. I told the judge unless its measured by a standard decibel level with a mic sound was far to subjective to be evenly administered in a law. My ticket was reduced to 5 dollars and the judge told me I had cleverly pointed out a fault in system. He then told me he didn't want to see me again.

Around here the law is after 10pm if your neighbours can hear it its to loud. But the cops will simply ask you to turn it down.

 

[Urederra]

In Spain you can call the police to measure the dB produced by your neighbour, and if they are above the allowed limits, they tell him/her to be quiet and if he/she is reiterative, they will face a fine. (I believe the police in Spain have dB-meters, could you US guys buy some for your blues?)

There are different dB limits for day or night. I don't remember the exact numbers. Maybe you can google UK noise pollution levels and see what you find.

 

[Mise]

Around here the law is after 10pm if your neighbours can hear it its to loud.

Thing is, the walls in my apartment building are apparently quite thin, since, when it's quiet, I can hear other people talking. I can't hear what they are saying, unfortunately.

 

[skadistic]

Thing is, the walls in my apartment building are apparently quite thin, since, when it's quiet, I can hear other people talking. I can't hear what they are saying, unfortunately.

Use the old glass to the wall for a clearer sound.


Can you line the walls with sound dampening matte? If the walls are that thin I wouldn't worry about the other folks just cut the noise at a reasonable time like 9:30ish on the week days and 11 on the week ends.

 

[nonconformist]

I think there's a 10PM watershed, but I think if you're seriously disturbing the neighbours, it could be different.