Noise

Neighbour noise can be horrible and really disruptive. It can prevent you from sleeping. It can generally interfere with everyday life in your own home.

But remember – nobody has the right to disturb the entire neighbourhood with noise. You don't have to suffer in silence if you feel that noise levels are inappropriate, especially late at night.

Sometimes it’s best to talk to the neighbour. They may be OK with stopping or turning down the noise. But often they’re belligerent or uncooperative. If that’s the case, you can complain. You have to complain to the council, not the police.

Talk to the council

Which council you call depends on where you live, NOT where the noise is coming from. (eg: if the noise comes from Haringey and you live in Enfield, you call Enfield)

You’ll need the address of the person or people making the noise. For this you may need to walk around a bit. If you know that the noise is coming from the back of someone’s house and you don’t know the house number, we have a convenient map right here.

It’s a very old map, but has house numbers on it, and most of those numbers are still valid.

If you live in Haringey

There's a link you can use that will let you notify the council department responsible for noise complaints.

If the noise occurs outside office hours (late at night or a weekend), ring the council at 020 8489 0000 and go through their phone tree. You can then speak to an operator who will be able to take down your complaint.

Haringey have noise teams who drive around at night. If they receive a complaint from you they'll want to visit your house, and go into a bedroom affected by the noise. If they choose to take action, they will then go and speak to the neighbour and ask them to turn down the noise.

Also, you can ring 020 8489 1335 during regular office hours, or enforcement.response@haringey.gov.uk.

If you live in Enfield

Visit the Enfield noise complaint web page or ring 0208 379 1000 on Friday or Saturday nights.

Note that Enfield does not respond to online complaints on weekends: you have to phone them up directly if you want a response right away.

Enfield may offer to record noise complaints from a specific neighbour in a sort of diary, to give a long-term record of noise issues.