Neighbour from Hell: What to do if you have noisy neighbours

Neighbours From Hell

The reality of life, unfortunately, is that you cannot choose your neighbours. So what can be done if your neighbour from hell is making a racket?

The first action should always be to knock on the door, speak to your neighbour and ask them to tone it down a bit.

As a mediator, I always recommend that if a solution can be found by agreement, you are always better and bearing in mind also that you will have to continue to live beside these people into the future.

Podcast:  Noisy Neighbours

No compromise
If you don’t get any satisfaction you can always consult a solicitor and ask the solicitor to write a letter to them and if they are rent-paying tenants also send the solicitor’s letter to the landlord.

With an apartment complex or gated community, you can consult the management company because in all title documents there are covenants & agreements to say that occupiers of a property will not cause a nuisance to others.

You could also call the Gardaí but in the case of a gated community or apartment complex, they have limited powers. If the noise is not disturbing people on the street then a public nuisance is not being created so they cannot intervene.

There is also the option of going to the local authority if it is a local authority house.

Take them to Court
As a last resort, you could go to the District Court and swear out a nuisance summons. The first question you would be asked by a judge in those circumstances is whether you had exhausted all other options.

Relief can also be sought from the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB) in the case of noise being caused in private rented accommodation. The Residential Tenancies Act 2004 imposes minimum statutory obligations on landlords and tenants of private residential tenancies.

Tenants have an obligation under the act not to engage in anti-social behaviour and it imposes an obligation on landlords to enforce the tenant obligations. There is also a provision in the act for third parties who are adversely affected by a failure on the part of a landlord to enforce tenant obligations to refer a complaint to the PRTB in accordance with the procedures set out in the Act.

The PRTB also has sophisticated methods for resolution available. There is an online telephone mediation system, a conciliation system and a Quasi-judicial method for resolution.

How noisy is too noisy?
Just because you can hear your neighbours or they occasionally play loud music, does not make them neighbours from hell. You will have to show that the noise was “so loud, so continuous, so repeated and of such a duration or pitch or occurring at such times that it gives you reasonable cause for annoyance”.

A log of incidents of noise and copies of correspondence will help you to prove that this was the case. Evidence is a key factor in those sorts of cases.

The court, if it agrees with you, has the power to order the offending party to abate the noise or cease it. The court can apply penalties, including fines for non-compliance but is unlikely to suggest that the neighbour from hell return from whence he came!


For further advice or if you wish to discuss any other legal area please contact reception@lynchsolicitors.ie or telephone 052-6124344.

The material contained in this blog is provided for general information purposes only and does not amount to legal or other professional advice. While every care has been taken in the preparation of the information, we advise you to seek specific advice from us about any legal decision or course of action.

8 Comments to “ Neighbour from Hell: What to do if you have noisy neighbours”

  1. Richard Keating says :Reply

    According to Irish noise legislation ‘domestic noise nuisance’ does not fall under the EPA’s remit. Furthermore noise nuisance from a privately owned property does not involve the local authority, unlike UK local authority counterparts. In Ireland ‘if the person causing a noise nuisance is a private home owner then………… the person experiencing the noise nuisance can only avail of a right of complaint to the District Court in seeking an order to deal with the noise nuisance. This singular route for complaint emanates from ‘S108 of the EPA Act.’

    108.—(1) Where any noise which is so loud, so continuous, so repeated, of such duration or pitch or occurring at such times as to give reasonable cause for annoyance to a person in any premises in the neighbourhood or to a person lawfully using any public place, a local authority, the Agency or any such person may complain to the District Court and the Court may order the person or body making, causing or responsible for the noise to take the measures necessary to reduce the noise to a specified level or to take specified measures for the prevention or limitation of the noise………
    The act states ‘ where any noise which is so loud’………’ any person may complain to the District Court’.
    My query in this regard is whether or not ‘a domestic noise’ which is NOT so loud, but yet repetitive, of such duration and occurring at such times to give genuine cause for annoyance to an adjoining property would be precluded from complaint to the District Court under S108 legislation given the precise wording of the legislation. For example I am talking of shallow dull ( not so loud)noises, such as repetitive vexatious dartboard, knocking and or tapping noises.

    1. John M. Lynch says :Reply

      I would suggest that the answer to your question is a matter of interpretation by a judge and a matter of proof by you. It is a matter of evidence – a noise expert would have to give evidence to support the claim that the noise is of such a tenor as to give reasonable cause for annoyance and the judge would have to accept his evidence. I would take the view that section descriptions are mutually exclusive and would cover each description in its own right.

    2. Amy says :Reply

      Hi just wondering what I should do. I have neighbours from 2 different house out drinking on weekends and during the week and if I ask them to quite down they get louder if I ask again I get shouted abuse. Tonight I didn’t even say anything and they started shouting abuse. I eventually went out 3 hours later and said keep it down and I was shouted at and verbally abused to which I threatened to call Gardaí to which I got more abuse. I am a carer for my mam and we have children in the house but our neighbours don’t seem to care. What can I do? I am afraid to call the guards in case of retaliation from them

      1. John M. Lynch says :Reply

        Call the Gardai, is the most effective option.

  2. richard keating says :Reply

    Thanks for your insight on this. Much appreciated.

  3. Brian says :Reply

    My noisy neighbour would appear to be operating a business of some sort , as some of the noise would by its nature seem to come from machinery/devices other than those normally associated with household devices. This coupled with regular delivery almost daily of small parcels (some from of stock of materials?) and the presence an extra person in the house who seems to arrive and depart at times consistent with someone working a 7 or so hour shift most week days. What might my options be?

    1. If a business is being carried on , it may be that planning permission is required. If the neighbour is carrying on business that is causing a nuisance ( i.e. unduly interfering with your enjoyment of your houuse0 you may have a case in nuisance. It is , as always , a matter of having the proof to make your case.

  4. Philomena Moynihan says :Reply

    I have a neighbour (35 to 40 year old) who plays extremely loud music on a very powerful sound system. I cannot watch tv, listen to radio or relax in any way when this is happening. In the past I have asked him to turn it down but he won’t. I had this problem all day and night for three years 2004 to 2007 and they would not stop until I threatened legal action.
    The loud music has started again and he has in fact bought more powerful equipment that plays upstairs and downstairs at the same time. He and his parents have also behaved in anti social ways such as deliberately blocking my gateway when they have their own space but wont use it. His parents have denied that there is any loud music playing and cover his back for him no matter what he does. He has thrown water at me over a period of weeks as I was arriving home from a 12hr work day (I called the Gardai on that one) and he has climbed over my back wall and stomped on my plants. Recently he told me he is going to knock down the boundary wall in the garden and build on it and that it is none of my business if he does.
    I know he is very aware that the loud music is causing great upset and stress and I believe that this is a source of satisfaction to him and that it is often the reason he does it. Other times he is drinking or taking drugs or both.
    I was wondering if it would be a better option to pursue all these behaviours as one grievance as it is all anti social behaviour, intimidation and vandalism, rather than seek to deal with the noise issue on its own. I feel I have not had anything approaching a normal life since I moved in in 2004. I own my house and I live on my own and the neighbours own theirs.

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