My neighbour in a private owner-occupied house is making noise.

Domestic and neighbour noise nuisance are not dealt with by the Air Quality Monitoring & Noise Control Unit.

Section 108 of the Environmental Protection Agency Act 1992 allows individuals to take private action through the District Court should they find the noise to be “so loud, so continuous, so repeated, of such duration or pitch or occurring at such times that it gives you reasonable cause for annoyance".

Taking a Section 108 action

Section 108 of the Environmental Protection Agency Act 1992 allows individuals to take private action through the District Court should they find the noise to be “so loud, so continuous, so repeated, of such duration or pitch or occurring at such times that it gives you reasonable cause for annoyance".

This private action can then be taken to the District Court under Section 108 of the Environmental Protection Act 1992. An explanatory leaflet is available outlining the procedure. Click  Here for more details (pdf).

A complaint can be lodged in the court by obtaining a form from the Summons Office, District Court, Four Court, Tel: 888 6117. It is not a requirement to have legal representation at a Section 108 hearing.

In order to attempt to prove the noise caused by your neighbour causes you a nuisance, you should do the following;

• Keep written records of the noise nuisance as it occurs, detailing the date and time of the noise nuisance, the nature of the noise nuisance (e.g. music audible / DIY works etc.) and the effect that this has had on you as the injured party (e.g. an inability to sleep, moving to a different room in order to avoid the noise etc.). 
• Keep copies of any correspondence you have sent to your neighbours in an attempt to rectify the problem.
• Take note of any verbal discussions / agreements you have had with your neighbour with regard to the noise.
• You are not required to provide any noise readings to the court to support your case, however, you may wish to do so. 

Before you go to court you should do the following:

• If you are taking a court action regarding neighbour noise nuisance, you will be required to explain to the court exactly what the noise nuisance is. 
• Your evidence should be clear and relevant. 
• In order to present your evidence to the court it can be useful to make a sequential ‘timeline’ of events relating to this complaint and to make brief notes detailing measures, if any, that you have taken to attempt to resolve the matter prior to court.
• You should have any supporting material e.g. letters, with you in court in case the judge wishes to see it.
• The aim of the court action is to abate the noise nuisance. 
• You should consider, in advance of the case, what you would like the outcome of the case to be, bearing in mind that in some cases, the noise nuisance cannot be fully eliminated, but restrictions may be imposed to reduce the impact of the noise upon you e.g. restricting the times of day that certain activities are carried out. 

My neighbour is a tenant of Dublin City Council and is causing noise.

Domestic and neighbour noise are not dealt with by the Air Quality Monitoring & Noise Control Unit.

If you have a noisy neighbour who is a tenant of Dublin City Council, the estate manager for your estate will deal with your complaint.  Contact them through the customer services department at (01) 222 2222.

The house beside mine is a private rented dwelling, the tenants are making noise, what can I do?

Domestic and neighbour noise are not dealt with by the Air Quality Monitoring & Noise Control Unit. In this case there are two main options open to you:

1. Take a private action against the tenants of the house under Section 108 of the Environmental Protection Agency Act 1992, through the district court.  See Taking a Section 108 action above.
2. Under the Residential tenancies Act 2004, all private rented tenancies must be registered with the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB) www.prtb.ie  . The Residential Tenancies Act 2004 places certain obligations on both the landlord and the tenant.  You can check that a premises is registered with the PRTB and, if so, make a complaint about the noise nuisance, to the PRTB.  The PRTB then compels the landlord to enforce the tenants obligations not to engage in anti-social behaviour.  Should the tenants continue to do so, then the landlord is obliged to terminate the tenancy.