It’s important to respect your neighbours during this difficult time, especially as they may be in a more challenging situation than your own.
They might be a key worker, someone who’s self-isolating, or they might be classed as a vulnerable person so need to ‘shield’ and stay at home for 12 weeks.
What is too much noise?
You should keep any form of noise to a minimum between the hours of 11pm and 7am. In fact, you may have agreed to follow this rule in your tenancy agreement.
While we won’t investigate noise made during daytime, it’s still important you’re extra considerate at all times of the day.
Also, we ask you to be patient and tolerant of your neighbours if they’re creating noise that is bothering you. They’re probably not being loud on purpose.
It can be hard to tell if you’re making too much noise and if your neighbours can hear you, so we’ve listed four top tips to keep noise down while you’re staying at home.
Give a ‘heads-up’
If you’re planning on doing any loud DIY work in your home that could make a lot of noise, you might want to give your neighbours a ‘heads-up’ in advance.
Your neighbours will appreciate you letting them know, and they can tell you if there’s a time that doesn’t work for them. This may be because they have a work meeting scheduled for a certain time, or a regular baby nap time. Who knows, they could even be NHS workers who need to sleep after a nightshift at your local hospital.
You can do this and still maintain social distancing, pop a note under the door or give them a heads-up over the phone if you’ve exchanged numbers.
Move your speakers
If you have speakers in your home, make sure they aren’t resting against a wall or placed directly on the floor.
You might not have your speakers set to a high volume or bass setting, but the vibrations can easily run through these surfaces and disturb your neighbour. Even better, keep volume and bass levels low to be on the safe side.
It’s also worth using headphones or earphones if you don’t need your sound playing out loud.
If you’re a budding musician, we recommend restricting your practice hours to the daytime out of consideration for your neighbours.
Be mindful when calling others
Apps like Skype, Zoom, and Houseparty are a great way to stay connected with friends and family when staying at home.
You should try to be mindful of your neighbours, especially on group calls, and talk at a normal volume.
When you’re in a group call, you might raise your voice to be heard and not notice.
Don’t slam or stomp
When moving around your home, especially at night, be aware of your footsteps and try to tread lightly if you can.
Could you use handles to close doors, instead of slamming them shut? Not only does slamming damage the door, it can also give your neighbours an unpleasant shock.
If you have them, place rugs in the parts of your home that you walk around the most during the night.
It’s amazing what a rug can do to dull the sound of your movements, helping keep unnecessary noise to a minimum and saving your neighbours from a sleepless night.
If you need to report a noise issue
You should always try and speak to your neighbour before reporting any noise nuisance to us. Most of time, your neighbours have no idea they’re disturbing you.
If talking with your neighbour (via phone, note under the door or from a distance) doesn’t work, there’s guidance on how to report a noise issue on our website. There’s also guidance on what we will and won’t investigate as antisocial behaviour.
Let’s work together as one community, thanks for your help.
Read the latest information about coronavirus from A2Dominion.