What Should We Do About Our Neighbour's Complaining?

Originally written by Jeff Durham, updated by the editorial team on 20th May 2026

Miss Marie Rice asks

We have a flat within a 1930's converted house. Since we've had new neighbours they keep complaining about the noise from our flat (mainly the bedroom which is above thiers), but we didn't have any problems with the people who lived there before. We can hear the same noise from the flat above which we have put down to the fact that this is a conversion and not purpose built.

We have tried to rent out the flat but the neighbours seem to keep pushing our tenants out. We have tried to talk to them and put rugs down etc... but they keep knocking on the door and complaining to our tenants. What should we do?

When a Neighbour Keeps Complaining About Noise

Living in a converted property often means dealing with sound travelling between flats. If your neighbour regularly complains about noise from your home, it can be stressful and frustrating, especially when you feel you are doing nothing unusual.

This situation is common in older house conversions where soundproofing was not a priority during the building work. The structure itself may be the real problem rather than your behaviour.

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Understanding the Noise Issue

In many converted houses, sound insulation between flats is poor. Everyday activities like walking, talking or watching television can travel through floors and walls more easily than in purpose built blocks.

If previous occupants of your neighbour's flat had no complaints, this might be relevant, though it is worth remembering that different households have different routines and activity levels. It may also help to consider whether you can hear similar sounds from other flats in the building. If noise travels both ways equally, this points to a structural issue rather than unreasonable behaviour on your part.

That said, repeated complaints suggest your neighbour genuinely feels disturbed, whatever the cause. It is often more effective to find a practical solution rather than simply dismissing their concerns.

Your situation may be slightly different. ask a question below ↓ and our editorial team will reply with our advice.

What the Law Says About Noise

The Environmental Protection Act 1990 covers statutory noise nuisance in England and Wales. Local councils can investigate complaints and take action where noise amounts to a legal nuisance.

The bar for statutory nuisance is fairly high. It typically applies to things like:

Persistently loud music
Frequent shouting or arguing
Dogs barking repeatedly
Excessive noise from parties or gatherings
Loud DIY work at antisocial hours

Ordinary household sounds, such as footsteps or conversation at normal volume, will not usually meet this threshold, though assessments can be context dependent. In exceptional circumstances, everyday noises that are persistently disruptive or worsened by poor building insulation could still be relevant. Councils also pay particular attention to noise occurring after 11pm, though nuisance rules apply at any hour.

If your neighbour has complained to the council, you can ask what specific allegations have been made. The council should be able to explain the process and what happens next. For detailed guidance on noise complaints and council powers, check the GOV.UK website.

Practical Steps to Consider

Even when you believe complaints are unreasonable, taking some steps can help reduce tension and show goodwill. Consider whether any changes might make a difference:

Adding rugs or carpet to hard floors
Moving speakers or televisions away from shared walls
Being mindful of noise levels late at night
Keeping a record of your normal daily activities in case disputes escalate
Checking your lease or property agreement for any specific clauses about noise

Speaking directly with your neighbour, calmly and without confrontation, sometimes helps. If direct conversation is difficult, a mediation service may assist. Some councils offer neighbour mediation schemes, though availability and cost vary between areas.

If you rent your flat, your landlord or managing agent may also be able to help, particularly if the building's soundproofing could be improved.

Where complaints continue without clear grounds, you are entitled to carry on living normally. Keep records of any harassment or unreasonable behaviour from your neighbour, as this may become relevant if the situation worsens.

The Next Step

Now that you have read through the advice above, you might want to put it into practice. Our Neighbour Rights Checker lets you check your legal rights in any neighbour dispute. Takes 1 minute. Try it now →

Showing 20 of 77 questions

Ask Problem Neighbours a Question

Ken 20/05/2023 at 11:23 am

I have lived here for 20 years. There has never been a complaint about me. But recently, I had my third stroke, and this time it affected my sight and my hearing. I am unable to get out as I used to do, and all I have at home is my tv. But because of my stroke, I need to turn the volume up sometimes in order to hear it. I use headphones a lot, but what I am supposed to do when I have guests. I can hardly sit here with headphones on while they sit there and fiddle their thumbs. No other neighbour has complained, just this one.

SLG44 13/08/2022 at 12:53 am

I have had the opposite problem. I have recently moved into my lovely home not that long ago, and one of our neighbours is rather noisy. They play their music very loud and shout and swear very loudly. Now I had no complaints, but it seems someone else does, and this neighbour has received the complaint about the noise. As we are the new neighbours we have been instantly blamed and told that “The council said it was us.”

No complaints have been filed by me! I tried to tel her it wasn’t us, but she was having none of it. She was even verbally aggressive towards my sister one night as a result. What do you do in this instance?

Boss 02/08/2022 at 1:56 pm

I moved into my flat 1 year and 3 months ago and inagine the neighbor below knocked on my door to tell me she was the reason that the old tenants moved out and told me she hopes we won't be fighting!!! Oh really I thought to myself well you have Met you're match here then cos I was stabbed by a man and beaten and Tortured and was rehoused after many years of being homeless . She literally knocked on my door 3 times over a year ago all I do in my flat is relax after a hard day working 12 till 6 Mon to Sat I usually go home late at night and she screams through walls for no reason and slanders me to the housing officer .calls the police for no reason and left a while smashed pot outside my door . The lady is a Jamaican lady in her mid thirties and acts like a delinquent . The best part of it for me is I fitted cctv footage in my flat after experiencing it before so she's caught on camera so I'm not worried when she screams through walls if she ever knocked at my door and attacked me that would be self defence so keep a record of everything and let their sorry self melt I'm GOD ALMIGHTY WE TRUST AMEN

MOST cases are mental people so keep a record they will get sectioned

Boss 02/08/2022 at 1:48 pm

People need to mind their own business it can lead them to getting a misdemeanor charge for false allegations. If its just white noise then ignore it if you retaliate you're fueling their mental problem
Tenants like that usually get asked to leave due to causing trouble unnecessarily so don't worry too much .
Don't forget the neighbors the other side know the tenants behaviour anyway its been going on for a while so!!! Best to put cctv cameras in you're flat so that when they start screaming for no reason at 4am in the morning when u use the toilet they are caught out . Be smart and don't let anyone take you for a mug . Who hears stuff through walls their lives must be so sad and dim

Sandee 16/05/2022 at 1:52 pm

My neighbour next door has her noisey friend to stay she is 66 friend is 33 stays for weeks on end,terrible voice,one bedroomed so l have no escape,all l hear is C,, Bi,,,, had enough of it,always loud and screeching,lm not moving,been her twenty years

Kerry 07/07/2021 at 3:12 pm

I've just moved into a first floor old flat it's fairly Victorian so the floors creek even when too toed on , I suffer with a back problem so I don't jump around or run or even walk fast in my flat , also the feont door when I quietly close it seems to make a noise even when respectfully closing it .
I've been homeless most of my life living in hostels shelters and any place I can ,
So I've come to a point in my life where I am so respectful and my advice to you all is to do what you can to improve you're home like

Making sure floor boards are fitted correctly
Perhaps getting the front door oiled or replaced with one that doesn't express the same problem ,
Also in regards to complaints it all helps you to understand the character of the people you live around.

I am a person that cannot be fooled or intimidated because if that was ever the case then they would find them self homeless with no where to live cos I am that person that will take action against a person if for a second I thought they were harassing me or finding ways to make me move out. You have to protect where you are at in you're life.

So to anyone that's getting complaints about anything that isn't classes as antisocial behaviour my advice is to put those clowns were they deserve to be and PUSH THEM OUT INSTEAD.

This feed is interesting !!

The oracle 04/06/2021 at 10:29 am

I am suffering problems with a family who lives next door were I live in a council flat because I have got autism and adhd and the neighbour who lives next door keeps moaning to the council ever noisy I make in the past year and so they need to understand I can’t help my self been hyper and putting my stuff away at night at my flat and they are trying to put me back on the streets and my flat neighbour has supported me and the neighbours who have got a problem with me been noisy need to understand my disabilitie because they are just trying to push me out of my flat because my mum and dad want to stay living at my flat and they are disgusted with the neighbours who keep moaning to the council about me I think if I confronted them I will get cause more problems and I suffer anger problems to because I don’t want to start a fight with them over them moaning to the council I just want someone to tell them to leave me alone and I stop trying to judge me of me noisy all the time because I want to stay at my flat and my neighbours want me to stay at my flat and I hope the neighbours who keep moaning to the council about me what it is doing my mental health and anxiety because I am good resident at my flat I don’t want to move again due to them moaning twerps

bob 28/04/2021 at 7:14 pm

from my experience the noise makers in flats above other people act all innocent, deny making bangs and play the victim. what part of they are constantly banging on the ceiling with every foot step bang bang bang bang bang bang over and over as they smash their heels into the floor. no matter how thick the carpet, underlay etc it just cannot cushion the impact of these inconsiderate people.
how they have the cheek to say they feel the victim and downstairs is harassing them by banging back a few times is beyond me, you fill their whole flat with bangs non stop.

if you want to live in hell, live in a downstairs flat, if you value your health, sanity, sleep, live in a house!

Dee 13/03/2021 at 10:18 pm

Hi,
My neighbour is making false complaints on us saying we are making lot of noise. I live in a second floor flat with 2 young children and my husband. The person living downstairs keep complaining about the heavy footfall even when my children are just moving around the house. We are receiving letters from council regarding the noise. We have called the council and mentioned it is when my kids are walking. But it’s of no use. The person living downstairs keep banging their roof when my kids walk around. They also yell at us when my younger kid cry in the balcony when she fell. They also come and bang our doors sometimes. It’s been 3 years since this is ongoing. We tried to complain police regarding this false complaints but no use. I feel so helpless. Due to the lockdown my kids can’t go outside much. At the same time they are not allowed to play even inside our own house because of fearing for the neighbours. Could anyone provide guidance?
Thanks

Lilwitchy 03/02/2021 at 4:40 am

My neighbours n my friends neighbours make our lives hell ive had 11years of it n my friend s few years myself n my friend have bipolar is as if both our sets of neighbours are comparing notes because want a move t bigger home so making up so many allegations against us causing my friend to have a probation order against her 18month n I'm under antisocial team i dont even have a criminal record its so distressing for us both we walk around on eggshells n scared even if I drop a pen or out so small on the floor or close n open the cooker its causing both our mental health n bipolar disorders to go sky high through The roof ive just read about an app for the phone for noise what goes straight to the council what can we do to clear our names n prove them to be the liars n prove they are literally harassing us t the point we don't want to b on our own in the house so swap between them both t look after each other there is only us 2 in the house no animals nothing x

Re 25/11/2020 at 1:44 pm

Please read comment below as this is a continue......

The neighbour below has an app on her phone from the council to record any noise. Now I've been wondering why she has been randomly banging on her ceiling at all different times of the day. It turns out the noise recorded goes straight back to the council and reports me for the noise. But my next door neighbours are always making noise and their kids run around a lot. I just don't complain about it because I like to leave people to do what they want.
Has anyone had neighbours using this app against them, recording noises that you actually haven't made? Please help me. Thank you for reading my comments.

Re 25/11/2020 at 1:31 pm

Hi there, I live in a high rise and have had constant problems with the neighbour below me. In February 2020 she banged on my door, and as I answered she shouted abuse at me and told me to shut my f-ing kids up. This was on a Sunday morning around 11:30. She was in her pjs and stunk of alcohol. She rattled off a few days that my kids were supposed to have been making a lot of noise and most of it was during the night. One of the days was around 9pm. My oldest bounced his football once and I instantly told him to stop because we have to be considerate to our naighbours and people like to relax of an evening without interruption of a loud noise. The other times she complained about, me and my kids were not home. I work of an evening and my kids stay at their nannas. So she then accused me of leaving my children home alone and said she's calling police and social services. Then got in my face calling me awful names and swearing In front of my children. 2 days later I get social services sending me a letter saying they been informed I'm leaving my kids home alone and that they are making a lot of noise constantly. However the letter was sent to my previous addres (being my mums home) and had the wrong dates on it. I.e 02/03/2010. I was advised by my kids school to ignore the letter and continue to do what I am doing and from questions they have asked my kids , they know I haven't left them home alone. Yes I let them play during the day. It was winter weather and we was going into lockdown. So I wasn't having my kids chained to a chair watching tv all day. From then on this woman has constantly been banging on her ceiling, banging on my front door ( sometimes being around 4 in the morning and then running off, screaming and shouting. All at different times of the day and night. I've tried to seek help from the council but had nothing done about it. Then again in September she had contacted social services with the same story. Only this time they contacted me via phone. I explained everything and I was advised to let my kids play and to report the neighbour of any banging and abuse. Which I have done and sent to the council. And I still haven't heard anything back. For the last few weeks ( except the 5 days I was in hospital and the couple times I have stayed at my boyfriends home) she has been randomly banging on the floor, again at random times of the day and night and I know my kids haven't made any noise because at the times of her banging they've been doing their homework or playing on my phone on the sofa. I had my tenancy officer arrive today and she told me the lady had recorded a lot of banging noise coming from my flat between the hours of 2-4 am. My kids were asleep, I have sleep apnoea and a lot of pain in my gallbladder so I was awake a lot of the night and my boyfriend was awake watching me in case I needed to go back to hospital. There was no noise coming from my home. And then there was noise at 11 today where my kids were d

baileyb 09/10/2020 at 1:55 pm

Hello Neighbours moved in below me 3 years ago, and havent stopped complaining about alleged noise coming from my flat. The neighbours are falsely accusing us of making banging noises during the night and have shouted through their window at me about it. I made a complaint to the council to tell them to stop shouting through the window and they were told to stop. However, these neighbours have told the council that we are making noise during the night when we are asleep, and the council keep harassing me about this. I have told the council many times that we are not making banging noises during the night. We only make low level domestic noise and no noise at night. How can I stop the council from harassing me about these neighbours who have no proof . Their complaints are unjustified and unreasonable. Also we have health problems and dont need this harassment. Please can anyone advise?

baileyb 05/10/2020 at 1:37 pm

Hello
Neighbours moved in below me 3 years ago, and havent stopped complaining about alleged
noise coming from my flat.
The neighbours are falsely accusing us of making banging noises during the night and have shouted through their window at me about it. I made a complaint to the council to tell them to stop shouting through the window and they were told to stop. However, these neighbours have told the council that we are making noise during the night when we are asleep, and the council keep harassing me about this. I have told the council many times that we are not making banging noises during the night. We only make low level domestic noise and no noise at night. How can I stop the council from harassing me about these neighbours who have no proof . Their complaints are unjustified and unreasonable.
Also we have health problems and dont need this harassment.
Please can anyone advise.

Don't know what to 18/09/2020 at 3:57 am

Can bullying be when one neighbor spread bad rumours to other neighbors about you and try to get other neighbour to side with them and also they will call officer on you, even when you didn't do anything that will cause disturbance to any of these neighbors? I know we are only asian race different from the rest of the neighbors who are all middle eastern on the street. I notice they only to seem like they pick on us mostly cause we will not do anything and will keep to ourselves and we don't speak their language. I did talk to the neighbour one time but that neighbour just yell at me and when it was my turn to talk, he will cut me off so none of my words matters. So i just left as that. When we first moved in, the neighbor complain to us, telling us not to park in front of our home cause he can't reverse out of his driveway so we were being considerate and we didn't park there but then he is having their guests park there which I thought we had arrangements about the situation. For 6 years, this one neighbour across from us, their guests will park in front of home all the time when there are plenty of space near them. I know it is not my property but should be considerate. During the phrase 2 of the pandemic, i notice the neighbor was having a lot of guests more than 10 people coming to visit their home and will stay there for long period of time. I don't want to cause a big problem so didn't report it cause don't want to be bad neighbour.

Not right 18/09/2020 at 3:53 am

I seen this middle eastern family with their guest are purposely provoking this asian family when the asian family was just minding its own business and was helping its own family member to park and get into the home. The asian family were not even making any kind of conversation/attention with middle eastern family and their guests but keep causing unpleasant unreasonable conversation to stop this asian family so trying to cause argument. They are not treating them right especially when living on same street. I do not ever see this asian family cause any trouble for any of us. But this middle eastern family with guest are bad people even when they act good. This middle eastern family with guests don't own the streets

Loopy Louis 12/08/2020 at 2:45 pm

The woman next door has a habit of turning up at our door, knocking and expecting to come in. We never invite her. Once in, she has a list of petty complaints that I have to listen to. If I am taking a shower, then she accuses me of being in and ignoring her. Then she phones later and moans at me and discusses me with one of the other neighbours that she has teamed up with. She is a gossip, a busybody and very judgemental. I can no longer sit out in the back garden because she comes over and asks me a lot of intrusive questions. I am planning to move to get away from this self-righteous, moany old cow.

Kay 22/07/2020 at 3:01 pm

I have neighbours to complain about me having windows open in the Summer. The way the flats were built means my window is over their garden. I live 2 floors up and open the windows to let air in. They say they can’t use the garden Because becauseI could hear them.Meanwhile they play loud music with bongos! Many people have complained but they are friends with half the building so people back them up. They even complain about me living in my house. I am working remotely so often about. They are drunk by noon but I am wrong for having a window open and working from home. I wish I could afford to move!

Gaz 06/07/2020 at 8:46 pm

I've got a problem with my neighbour upstairs she been complaining to the council for the least thing as in strange noise and load music the noises are colour tack I use to pin things up small white tacks you use ti pin back small cable as in phone cable I've got six decking solar lights which I've got around my living room window. I've got unscrew them from the window to change the batteries and screw them back that's a fault I've got several sensor lights around my house from the livingroom to the hall to the kitchen and bathroom a and if I do anything there that's a fault. Putting up Christmas decorations up by using the colour ticks that's a fault my music it so so vulume 14 that's not load and if wanted to make loader I don't have problem with that I get BUMP BUMP BUMP THAT'S HER BANGING ON THE FLOOR SHE'S also reported me to the council twice I suffer with a HEART PROBLEM I take sezuires and got Spinal problems I go about with a 3 wheel zimmer and diabetes 2 And like to know is as am a council tenant and am on the ground floor dose she needs my consent to get SKY TV as the guy from sky got to get into my garden. And last of all name calling as. Perv. THERE'S A WELL KNOWING PEADO IN THE AREA can someone help me

Langfora 03/06/2020 at 12:31 pm

Hi, we’ve lived in our semidetached property for about a year and half now. The house was in a real state so needs lots of work doing to it. Our neighbours have been very understanding about this and we’ve tried to keep noise to a minimum and always let them know in advance about loud work taking place. They’ve been okay with everything thus far. Suddenly after a conversation about our plans for the wall (our wall) splitting the property, he’s done nothing but complain literally the next day he made a nasty comment over the fence about our dogs barking and then the following day had a go about a burning bin that we’d previously advised him of. What I don’t understand it why if he didn’t like our idea for the garden wall wouldn’t he just say. We are reasonable and we could have worked something out. Instead he’s being completely unreasonable in such an aggressive manor. We’re not sure how to deal with this when he clearly won’t say what’s really bothering him. Help!!

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