sunnybob":2j9ljkos said:
The best defense is a good offence.
Does he have a lawn mower? leaf blower? loud radio on the windowsill?lawn parties?
Complain the same manner as he complains to you.....
That's not a particularly adult way to go about it thought is it?
The problem with noise is it's very subjective and what one person finds objectionable another person will just shrug and say so what.
If you're friendly enough have a chat and ask exactly what he finds objectionable and when (were you 'at it' on a sunny Sunday afternoon when he wanted to sit quietly in his garden?). There's usually a mid ground with these things but remember if he complains to trading standards you could find yourself facing enforcement action.
Extract from
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... n_note.pdf
Statutory noise nuisance
Local councils have a lot of experience in dealing with noise disturbance. They have a legal duty under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to investigate complaints about potential statutory nuisances – including noise - and to take action to remedy them if they are found to be substantiated. In deciding whether a noise problem is a statutory nuisance, environmental health practitioners will consider a number of factors, some based on many years of case law.
These include:
• the level of noise (it does not necessarily have to meet a high decibel level to be a statutory nuisance – it can be a low-level but persistent noise, such as a music bass beat coming through a party wall);
• origin of the noise (it has to be emitted from premises or from a vehicle, machinery or equipment in the street);
• its frequency and duration;
• the time of day or night when the noise occurs;
• whether any aggravating characteristics are present (e.g., prevailing weather conditions can affect noise);
• any particular sensitivity of the complainant (e.g., shift workers; someone with hypersensitive hearing); and
• the character of the neighbourhood where the noise occurs (e.g. existing background noise and the sounds typical of the area).
To amount to a statutory nuisance, a matter complained of must either be prejudicial to health or a nuisance, either public or private, at common law. Both have particular meanings in law, however, and, as the courts currently interpret it, noise is unlikely to be prejudicial to health. For a noise to be a nuisance, it must be an unacceptable interference with the personal comfort or amenity of neighbours or the nearby community.
Once an environmental health practitioner has decided that a statutory nuisance exists or is likely to occur or recur, the local authority is under a duty to serve an abatement notice which will usually include an indefinite ban on a recurrence of the noise. In the light of that, it would be inappropriate to serve a community protection notice where a noise amounts to a statutory nuisance or an abatement notice has been served in the past and the restriction is still in force.
