Five things you need to know today

The Council’s Noise Service, in partnership with the Police, is at hand as always to offer 24-hour support and advice about how to resolve neighbourhood noise issues such as loud music, shouting, dog barking or DIY noise. Over the last year it has dealt with 6290 complaints about a range of these problems, which can often be resolved through informal action.

When further action is needed, the Noise Service can assist by providing a free and confidential mediation service. The Council also works in partnership with the Police to tackle the disturbance of neighbour noise with a more formal action when other approaches are not successful.

Community Safety Leader, Councillor Cammy Day, said: “Noisy neighbours can seriously affect those that live around them and with many people in Edinburgh living in flats and tenements this can be a real problem. We are committed to tackling this and are developing an antisocial behaviour unit with the Police to deal with the worst offenders.

“Residents shouldn’t have to put up with noisy neighbours and there are services available to help. In the first instance it’s always worth speaking to your neighbours as it may be that they are simply unaware that their noise is affecting you.

“When this doesn’t resolve the issue, I would urge people to contact the Noise Team who will be happy to provide advice or intervene to help prevent future disturbance.”

A new leaflet – ‘Living with Your Neighbours’ – has also been produced to provide advice about how to deal with noisy neighbours and who to contact if you are being disturbed by excessive or antisocial noise. It also offers some tips about how to be a considerate neighbour and make sure you are not unintentionally causing a noise problem.

Some of these tips include:

• Positioning your loudspeakers away from walls, ceilings and off the floor
• Letting your neighbours know in advance if you plan to throw a party and closing the doors and windows to minimise noise when you do
• Avoiding carrying out DIY early in the morning or late at night
• If you are installing a hardwood floor, making sure you use a quality underlay first
• Being considerate when using the stairwell by not talking too loudly
• Moving noisy appliances like washing machines slightly away from the wall or placing a mat or section of carpet underneath

If you are being disturbed by noisy neighbours or any other noise-related matter during normal office hours, you can contact the Council Noise Team on 0131 529 3030. Alternatively, you can call Police Scotland’s non-emergency number – 101 – out of hours or email asknoise@edinburgh.gov.uk