2nd opinion: Who's making that racket?

How much noise have you made so far today? Some sort of alarm clock, perhaps a hairdryer? A rattling teaspoon, a door slammed, starting a car, maybe. And at some point before you get home, you will want things to be a bit quieter to help you focus on something you wanted to do.

The world is an increasingly noisy place. And that is one of the reasons why you may not have heard of Noise Action Day – coordinated by the National Society for Clean Air and Environmental Protection (NSCA) with the support of the government – which happened, this year, on 4 June. It encourages us to be aware of the noise we make and to be more tolerant of normal everyday noise.

The majority of complaints about noise are not caused by louts cranking their heavy metal up to eleven. They are more to do with everyday noise – especially that which stands out through a clash of lifestyles or poor construction standards. We had a case referred for mediation some time ago where one person was convinced that their neighbours were disturbing them with noise on purpose. They had reached this conclusion because of something they overheard their neighbour say during a phone conversation they had heard directly through the walls – surely that's an indication that this is a structural problem, not a behavioural one?

Some landlords have recognised the potential for noise after the installation of laminate flooring and so have banned it; others advise tenants not to wear shoes in the house if they have hard floors.

Of course, before we look at legal action or mediation, one way to tackle a noisy tenant is by making a reasonable request for them to keep their noise to a minimum – it just might be met by courteous compliance. But I know of one person referred to mediation who, when complained about, unplugged every electrical item in his house, refrained from flushing the toilet whenever his neighbour was in, and stopped having his four-year-old grandson to stay. The actions of an understanding neighbour, or those of a war veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder who is desperate to avoid conflict? From many perspectives his actions would have been seen as advantageous to those of us who sometimes just want people to stop complaining, but at what point does his compliance make him a victim? And, for that matter, a victim of what?

With the increasing need to build higher-density housing, the prevention of noise pollution between properties is ever greater. Double-glazing is marvellous. I was able to close mine this weekend to block out the noise created by workmen fitting double-glazing to the other houses on my estate. But I expect the number of neighbour complaints in this area to rise now. When you are deprived of general background street noise, sometimes all you can hear (if you turn off your TV, radio, washing machine, microwave and so on) are your immediate neighbours.

The definition of "noisy" depends largely on one's expectations. When you move house or when someone new moves next door, you will probably expect your experience of noise to be the same. But if there are differences in the construction of the properties, or if it's been a long time since you lived next door to a family with young children, you could be in for a shock. So if one of your tenants is about to have a different neighbour, you could possibly prevent future noise complaints by just talking to them about their expectations and what new reasonable increase in noise they may face.