Nuisance neighbours

Nuisance neighbours can be irritating and annoying.

We can only take action if your neighbour is causing a 'statutory nuisance' (a nuisance covered by the Environmental Protection Act 1990).

This where a nuisance is so intrusive, it has an unreasonable impact on your ability to enjoy your own property.

A statutory nuisance can be caused by:

• noise from a home or commercial premises - for example, loud music or TV, noisy animals, DIY, machinery
• security lights
• odours
• smoke from a chimney, bonfire or commercial premises
• dust and debris
• flies (only from commercial or industrial premises)

As a largely rural area, some farming noise and smells is to be expected. There are codes of practice farmers follow to minimise nuisance, for example when spreading manure or using bird scarers.

How to complain about nuisance neighbours

For our environmental protection team to investigate your complaint, email enquiries@rutland.gov.uk with:

• your name
• your address
• your phone number
• details about your complaint
• the address of the property you think might be causing a statutory nuisance

We cannot investigate anonymous complaints, by law.

We will log your complaint and ask you to provide evidence - dates, times, location and duration of incidents logged on a monitoring form. This information is important because it will form the basis of our investigation, justify the investigation and allow it to move to the next level.

How to resolve issues without involving the Council

There are other ways to try and resolve disputes and issues with your neighbours: