How to deal with noisy tenants

No landlord wants to be faced with noise issues – whether they’re coming from your tenants or your tenant’s neighbours. Our homes are our safe spaces. When someone else’s lifestyle interrupts this, it’s often not long until the frustration reaches boiling point.

Excessive noise can soon begin to impact everyday life. Whether your tenant is the problem or not, in either case, you may become involved in trying to resolve the issue. With this in mind, it’s really important that you understand how to deal with noisy tenants in the correct way.

What causes landlords to receive noise complaints? 

A big part of knowing how to deal with noisy tenants is being able to identify the specific noise situation you are facing. The best way to do this is to categorise the complaint into one of three scenarios: 

Scenario 1: Your tenant is complaining about a neighbour

The first scenario would be your tenant complaining to you about noise coming from their neighbour. Here, your position as the landlord would be one of support, rather than enforcing change yourself. 

The first thing you should encourage your tenant to do is take informal action if they feel safe enough to do so. You could suggest having a respectful conversation with the neighbour, as they may simply be unaware of the disturbance they are causing. 

The second thing you should advise your tenant on is to gather evidence by using the local council’s noise app and by keeping detailed logs of dates and the type of noise. If you wish to help open a dialogue without creating friction, you can review our advice on how landlords can mediate neighbourly disputes.

Scenario 2: A neighbour is complaining about your tenant

If you are receiving complaints about your tenant from their neighbours, you’ll need to make sure that you respond professionally and take the complaint seriously. Although you aren’t automatically liable for their actions, ignoring the issue could result in local authorities contacting you directly. 

The first thing to do is to investigate the issue neutrally between both your tenant and the neighbour. Ask the neighbour for any evidence logs they may have kept, and remind your tenant of the tenancy agreement in writing because most standard agreements include clauses against causing nuisance. For a more thorough walkthrough, see our guide on managing tenant noise.

Scenario 3: Persistent tenant noise and formal escalation

The next part in this process is escalating the situation due to antisocial behaviour. This is why it is crucial to keep flawless records of every email and warning letter you’ve sent. You’ll need this if the situation gets escalated. Read our guide on antisocial behaviour and landlord responsibilities for more information on how to handle this.

A landlord’s noise complaint escalation pathway

Here’s what you should do next if informal warnings have not resolved the issue: 

• Informal dialogue: Where safe, the affected party should attempt a calm conversation or send a polite note to request a compromise.
• Community mediation: If direct contact fails, involving an independent local mediation service can help both parties reach an agreement.
• Contact the local council: If the noise is persistent and deemed a statutory nuisance, report it to environmental health officers who can issue abatement notices.
• Escalate to the police: In cases involving threats, violence, or harassment, contact the police on 101 or 999 for immediate danger.

So, what does the law say about how to deal with noisy tenants?

When it comes to landlords receiving noise complaints, local authorities can usually step in when it becomes a problem. There is no legal level above which noise becomes a statutory nuisance, but it must be considered ‘unreasonable’. Under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, the Noise and Statutory Nuisance Act 1993 and the Noise Act 1996, we all have the right to be protected from excessive noise that interferes with our quality of life and becomes a nuisance.

If the noise is deemed to be a statutory nuisance, local environmental health officers do have the power to take action in the form of noise abatement orders. A local authority can also take this to court if needed. They can even dish out fines of up to £5,000. In extreme cases where an individual becomes aggressive or violent, the police may get involved as this becomes a case of antisocial behaviour.

What should I do if my tenant’s neighbour is causing noise issues?

The first step should always be for the tenant to approach the neighbour first and try and resolve it verbally in a calm and respectful way. Often, all that’s needed is a conversation on both sides to clear up any issues.

If that does not work, they may ask you to step in. You are not obligated to rectify the issue – unless the neighbours making the noise are also your tenants. There’s not much more you can do about the situation than your tenants can.

That being said, in the interests of building a good relationship with your tenants and taking your duty of care seriously, you should do what you can to help and talk to the problem neighbours on behalf of your tenant. You can also advise your tenants on how to escalate the issue if this does not work. You can inform them of the process of raising a noise complaint with the local authority.

What about if it’s my tenant who is causing the noise issues?

It can be even more uncomfortable when the issue is coming from your tenants. Neighbours may contact you to complain about noise problems. You should always take these complaints seriously. Do not ignore them, as you could end up with bigger problems on your hands in the long run.

As a landlord, it’s important to build up a good rapport with the neighbours around your buy-to-let property, as it is with your tenants. Having the trust and respect of good neighbours means that you will be alerted of any problems that may arise with your property such as illegal subletting and other illegal activities, and property damage.

Not dealing with and doing your best to fix any noise issues caused by your tenant could trigger the breakdown of the relationship with neighbours. You should speak to both the neighbours and your tenant immediately and try and understand the situation.

How to avoid noise issues

It’s a good idea to include a noise clause in your tenancy agreement that details the consequences of making excessive noise during quiet hours. You should also detail what those quiet hours are (typically between 11pm – 7am). Using a noise clause means that if your tenant does make excessive noise within the quiet hours, they will be in breach of their tenancy agreement. This allows you to take further action.

If your property is a flat or an attached terrace house, for instance, you could also insulate it well to reduce the risk of future noise complaints. Whilst hard flooring is easy to maintain and clean, carpets reduce noise better than hard floors. For this reason, carpets may be best suited for particular properties. Yes, you may need to replace them every 3-5 years as they endure wear and tear and trap odours, but this may be preferable to continuous noise complaints from neighbours.

Remember, if noise complaints escalate to the council or police, they will usually go on record. This may make it harder to sell the property in future. Potential buyers may be put off. That’s why it’s never worth leaving noise issues and always worth taking some responsibility to fix the issue. You will at least gain the respect of your tenants or the neighbours, depending on who is causing the problems.

Disputes with tenants can get messy, and unfortunately are an all too common problem for landlords. Contact us to find out more about landlord insurance. This can protect you in a number of tricky situations such as loss of rent. Get in touch today to find out more and get a quote.