Calmly discussing with your neighbour how their actions are affecting you may be best way to resolve the issue. If you can’t reach an agreement, you can ask a mediator to help. Use the Civil Mediation Council's search tool to find a mediator. Sound proofing aside, if you have talked to your neighbours about noise problems and nothing you say seems to work, another route the council might recommend is mediation. Mediation can be a particularly good choice if you have completely fallen out with your neighbours or if you are in other disputes with them. Mediation involves the following: There are other advantages to moving to a new home as well; if you use your money wisely, buying a new home can offer tremendous investment value, give you a chance to explore a new area, and a chance to meet new people. Buying a new home gives you the freedom to choose who your neighbors are, and how able they are to interact with you. You should also be aware that any official noisy neighbour complaints will go on record and could make it harder for you to sell your house. It might be difficult to sue for noise damage because determining damages is pretty subjective. If you still want to give it a try in small claims court, use your log that you should have been keeping from earlier steps. Show that there is excessive and disturbing noise on several occasions caused by the neighbour you’re suing.

If your neighbour has been violent or threatening, do not try to approach them. Call 999 while the crime is happening, or 101 to report it later. If your neighbors seem lonely and bored—like they're just nosing because they want to connect with someone—try talking to them, introducing them to other neighbors, and suggesting fun things for them to do. At the same time, you will be asked to fill out a “noise diary” which logs the time and place you heard the noise and from where it came. Most importantly, the council wants to see how the noise is affecting you. The council will use your noise diary to establish a method of investigating. This might depend on you phoning somebody up who will come round to hear the noise or they might install noise monitoring equipment.It sounds like a cliché, but it’s usually good to talk to your neighbours. One in three people have found that this has solved any noise problems immediately. Surprisingly often, people do not even realise they are being annoying and few people are totally uncaring about those around them; most are just unaware. How should you raise the noise issue with your neighbour? Injunctions. Authorities like social landlords, councils and the police can apply to the courts for injunctions to stop anti-social behaviour. Insulate your walls with sound proofing. Depending on where the main source of external noise is coming from you may consider soundproofing the party wall (the wall adjoining you and your neighbours home) or whole rooms including walls, floors and ceilings. There are no two ways about it; some people just can’t take a hint. After you’ve taken measures to limit your neighbor’s ability to snoop on you and/or confronted them directly, the most determined nosey Nellies and snoopy Samuels may not be deterred. If this is the case, then you may be forced to take more drastic actions. Find a legal service provider with our partners at the Law Superstore. They will match you with legal professionals who can advise on your situation. Leaseholders – noisy neighbours

If the council decides not to intervene, your next step should be to seek the help of a legal expert. While having nosey neighbors might not seem like such a big deal, it can be a tremendous inconvenience, not to mention extremely damaging for your peace of mind. Moving to a new home (or a new city) will allow you to find new, better neighbors, with less time on their hands to spend snooping around your business. Maybe you live in a place without a homeowners association or well funded law enforcement community. For residents of many rural communities, nosey neighbors are all but unavoidable. If you live in a place like this and you can’t seem to escape the ever present eyes of the ever present nosey neighbors, you might want to consider moving.After you complain, the council will send your neighbour a letter telling them that people have complained. They will not say who has complained. You can complain to the local council if you think a neighbour needed planning permission to make changes to their property but didn’t get it. You can also complain if your neighbour is using an outbuilding in a way they don’t have permission for – for example, using it as a residence – or if they've sub-divided their house without permission.