Spotlight on: Noise complaints – time to be heard
Published in October 2022
Report summary
At the heart of our findings in this report is a fundamental unfairness: most noise reports concern household noise rather than anti-social behaviour (ASB), and yet most landlords handle it under their ASB policy.
So, things like movement, intermittent music or the washing machine running at night (more common given the energy crisis) are viewed through the lens of ASB.
It is unfair to both the resident making the complaint and the resident being complained about for the noise to be treated as something it is not; and it is harder for the landlord to make consistent and reasonable decisions if it does not have the right framework for all types of noise reports.
What is in the report?
- Landlord policies and practice
- Timeliness and communication
- Modern living
- Good neighbourhood management
- Making a complaint
The featured case studies in this report have been selected to illustrate the range of findings and outcomes and how lessons can be drawn from those to share more widely.
The full report
Please view or download the full report pdf.
Further learning on noise complaints
Noise complaints key topics page
Noise complaints are a common issue that residents and landlords face in their daily lives.
Explore guidance, spotlight reports, and training options for landlords and residents to help you navigate through this key topic.
View more Spotlight reports
Follow up report: Spotlight on noise complaints – Time to be Heard
This follow-up report summarises our evaluation of our Spotlight on noise complaints, Time to be Heard, which we published in October 2022.
We contacted landlords who had attended our initial webinar and all landlords who had featured in the report.
Spotlight on attitudes, respect and rights
We have released our latest Spotlight report on attitudes, respect and right - relationship of equals, calling for a Royal Commission to create a long-term plan for social housing after finding that current approaches for the sector are not working for residents with a vulnerability.
Spotlight on: Knowledge and Information Management
This report reveals how landlord’s services can be held back by weaknesses in data and information, that can turn an ordinary service request into an extraordinarily protracted complaint.