What you can do about noise and nuisance

Resolve the problem informally

Before contacting our team, you may want to use some of the letter templates below.

It could help open up a conversation with your neighbour and see if you can resolve the issue without legal action.

If this doesn't work, you can take your own legal action. Find guidance on how to take your own legal action against a nuisance.

You can adapt these letters to cover a range of noise complaints. This could include loud music or alarms, to noise from washing machines.

initial letter to a noisy neighbour
follow up letter to a noisy neighbour
notification letter to let a noisy neighbour know you plan to take your own legal action
initial letter to a nuisance neighbour

letter to a local business about noise
letter to a site manager about noise from construction
letter to a licensed premises, like a restaurant, pub or club
notification letter to let a business know you plan to take your own legal action

If you don't know it, you can find the registered address of a company on GOV.UK.

Mediation between you and your neighbour could help ease the situation. Especially if there isn’t a simple legal solution.

Brighton & Hove Independent Mediation Service offers a free and confidential helpline on 01273 700 812. Or you can send an email to mediation@bhims.org.uk.

We receive many complaints about people feeding birds, but there’s no law against it. This means we cannot help with this type of complaint.

You may want to speak to your neighbour about the issues you are experiencing. You can use this bird feeding template letter.

If there’s a build up of bird droppings, we may be able to help. Find out more about rubbish and drainage issues on private land.