Nuisance Noise and Inconsiderate Neighbours: The Scourge of Modern Urban Living
by: Bill Grieve - Fri, 09 May 2025
In his monthly series for Bahrain This Month, Bill Grieve casts his civic lens on areas of concern, offering an enlightening and engaging perspective on various issues affecting life in the Kingdom.
In today’s densely populated residential apartment buildings, nuisance noise has become a persistent issue, affecting residents’ quality of life. Inconsiderate neighbours and apathetic building management increasingly allow the peace to be disrupted, including impacting on shift workers, airline crew, hospitality and security workers, parents with infants, and elderly or infirm people who need rest during the day as much as at night.
What Constitutes Nuisance Noise? Essentially, any unwanted sound that disrupts anyone else’s peace in their home. Common examples include neighbours’ loud TVs, furniture scraping, yelling, noisy gatherings and the running amok and shouting of unsupervised children indoors. While some might dismiss noise as part of city life, it becomes intolerable and unacceptable when it violates others’ peace or right to rest – adults shouting, a child screaming unnecessarily or a vacuum cleaner being dragged around noisily is inconsiderate in an apartment building whether it’s 11am or midnight.
Research suggests that permanent owner-occupiers are generally more responsible/considerate than transient tenants and short-term occupants, who tend to generate more disturbance and behave less responsibly in residential apartments.
Complaints about nuisance noise in apartment buildings are common with inconsiderate nuisance noise such as furniture being dragged across bare floors, hard heels walking disturbingly, children being allowed to clamour around noisily across hard floors and toys clattering on hard tiled floors all impacting inconsiderately on the occupants below being reported with disturbing regularity.
Unfortunately, many building management companies fail to act. Some claim they’re powerless if the offenders are apartment owners – a stance that is both incorrect and indicative of either incompetence, dereliction of duty or sheer apathy. Building management companies and teams have a duty to enforce building bylaws and rules as well as uphold community harmony by ensuring nuisance noise is curtailed at the source without delay. Nuisance noise is the direct responsibility of the creator.
Effective building management is crucial, and their responsibilities include:
• Implementing Noise Policies: Clear guidelines on acceptable noise levels and quiet hours should be visibly posted and distributed to residents regularly.
• Enforcing Rules: Immediate investigation of complaints, applying consequences to offenders, and mediation of disputes are essential.
• Effective Communication: Multilingual notices to encourage consideration and compliance.
Noise Isn’t Just a Night-time Issue – Too often, nuisance noise is considered problematic only after dark. But for shift workers, air crew, nurses, or new parents, rest during the day is vital. A screaming stomping child, irresponsible cleaning/maintenance or a loud vacuum cleaner being dragged around at 10am can be just as disruptive to someone sleeping after a night shift as a blaring TV at midnight. Noise consideration must be around-the-clock.
Parents Must Play Their Part – Children naturally make noise, but it’s the parents’ responsibility to guide and parent them.
Allowing children to run, shout, or play loudly indoors, especially in shared buildings, disturbs other residents and demonstrates a lack of consideration.
Children need supervision and, ideally, time outdoors or at school – not being confined in small apartments or flats where noise carries and disturbs others. Children running amok in residential areas reflects on their upbringing.
Irresponsible property owners and those renting their apartments out focused solely on self or income, regularly fail to install basic noise-dampening features like carpets, felt pads under furniture or proper sound proofing and insulation.
Worse, they ignore complaints about their own actions or noisy tenants, sometimes even suggesting that aggrieved neighbours ‘buy the apartment’ to resolve a nuisance noise issue – an outrageous and unethical response bordering on extortion.
Soundproofing isn’t just a courtesy, it protects property value, increases rent yields and reduces tenant turnover.
Landlords must proactively equip and maintain their flats to prevent nuisance noise and ensure long-term tenant satisfaction as well as responsible ownership and renting.
Apartment owners renting out their properties are responsible to ensure their properties are suitable for tenants. This includes:
• Property Preparation: Insulate and prepare furniture (felt pads under all floor contact furniture especially chairs) etc.
• Screening Tenants: Choose residents who understand and respect shared living.
• Lease Clauses: Include noise obligations and consequences in rental contracts.
• Acting on Nuisance Noise Complaints: Respond swiftly and seriously when issues arise.
Broad action and perhaps even legislation are needed to address sources of residential nuisance noise and RERA, apartment owners, residents, leading building management companies and owner associations are encouraged to work together to address the subject of nuisance noise in residential apartments.
Nuisance noise is more than merely annoying – it’s a significant quality-of-life issue. Building managers, property owners and occupants of residential apartments alike need to step up. Through stricter bylaw enforcement, resident education, soundproofing measures and mutual respect and consideration, peaceful co-living is possible.
Click here to read the more article on nuisance noise from Bahrain This Month
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Bahrain This Month
May 2025
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