How long can you listen to music loudly?
There is an opinion that you can listen to loud music during the day, but loud music is prohibited at night. However, an analysis of the legislation tells a different story.
The use of television, radio and any other sound-reproducing equipment and sound-amplification systems at high volumes in apartment buildings and on land is prohibited if this disturbs the peace and quiet of citizens. SanPiN 2.1.2.2645-10 “Sanitary and epidemiological requirements for living conditions in residential buildings and premises” sets the maximum noise level:
- 30 – 45 dB – at night;
- 45 – 55 dCb – during the daytime.
For comparison, you can use the following indicators:
- normal speech – 40 dB;
- baby crying – 78 dCb.
In this situation, the noise level in the neighbor’s apartment matters.
That is, you can play music in your apartment so that the sound in neighboring apartments does not exceed the established standards. It is difficult to determine on your own how much music can be heard from your neighbors. Brick walls can absorb noise.
For example, a ½ brick wall absorbs up to 48 dCb. That is, ordinary speech cannot be heard behind it.
A wall of 1 brick absorbs up to 55 dB. Accordingly, you can listen to music behind it at a volume slightly higher than normal speech.
So, we can conclude that you cannot listen to music too loudly at any time of the day. If the noise from music exceeds the maximum permissible norms, then the offender can be held accountable, regardless of whether he listened to music during the day or at night.
What to do if your neighbor continues to disturb your sleep
Small dirty tricks
It is possible that your subtle hint will be understood.
You can also listen to music, but do it during the daytime. Yes, you will disturb your neighbor and break the silence, but there will be no complaints against you for this if you turn on the music at the permitted time. If rowdy people live upstairs, place the speakers on a high cabinet.
If your neighbor has a car
It is worth noting again that you should not spoil other people’s property - in this case, you yourself will look no better. But it’s worth hinting at such a possibility.
Just leave a note on paper under the wipers, outlining your calls for silence. Seeing that the demands of other residents go beyond the boundaries of the house, the neighbor may think about it.
If this “conversation” does not work out, pour valerian next to the car. The tart smell of cats is unlikely to please the driver. You can also sprinkle some grains and bread crumbs on the hood, which will attract sparrows and pigeons. Perhaps a neighbor will perceive bird excrement as a “warning from above.”
Telephone “terrorism”
There is no need to say anything. Just keep quiet on the phone. It is advisable to repeat this several times.
Most likely, you will not have enough time for telephone terrorism. In order not to be distracted from more important matters, find a special program on the Internet (for example, “Dialer”). Enter your neighbor's number there - the program will do everything for you.
Power outage
If there is a shield on your landing, great. Take advantage of it by simply turning off a certain apartment. Before doing this, consider whether such a possibility exists, otherwise you may leave not only noisy neighbors, but also other people, as well as yourself, without light.
About the benefits of physics lessons
You can show your neighbor how unpleasant loud music is, while you yourself enjoy the silence. Simply fill the pots with water and lean it against the ceiling of the pot. Tape headphones to the walls and turn on music on your phone. It is advisable to select the heaviest and loudest tracks, turning them on at full power.
If noisy neighbors are superstitious
Try leaving various objects that are used “for witchcraft” near the door of the silence breakers. Needles, feathers, scraps of fabric, and salt will do. You can take soil from a flower pot, which out of fear will be mistaken for a cemetery. You can also draw a pentagram with chalk or leave a note with a “spell.” If neighbors believe in magic and mysticism, such methods may work.
And remember - most conflicts can be resolved through negotiations, so leave drastic actions as a last resort.
My neighbors are constantly listening to loud music, what should I do?
If neighbors constantly listen to music, this does not indicate a violation. Therefore, it is recommended to proceed as follows:
- Talk to the offenders. The noise level in your neighbors' apartment depends on a number of factors, such as wall thickness and distance from the noise source. That is, in neighboring apartments music from the room through the wall and music from other rooms will be perceived differently. Perhaps the offenders do not know that the sound is disturbing the neighbors.
- If the offender does not respond to the request, then you need to call the local police officer. He will hold a conversation about the inadmissibility of disturbing the peace of neighbors. In case of repeated violation, the district police officer will draw up a protocol on the administrative violation.
- If loud music bothers you at night, you need to call the police. Employees will arrive and draw up a report on the administrative violation.
- If loud music is played regularly and this has led to health problems, then it is necessary to call the employees of the Sanitary and Epidemiological Station to take measurements. Based on the expert’s report on excess noise levels, you can go to court to seek compensation for moral damages.
As practice shows, the court rarely satisfies demands for the recovery of a large sum as compensation for moral damage. And even for minor compensation, the plaintiff will need to prove that noise was the cause of the deterioration in health.
Attention! The law does not oblige the victim to act in this manner. The proposed methods can be used in any order.
In the apartment
Audibility in an apartment directly depends on the material of the walls. Brick houses have better sound insulation compared to panel and monolithic ones. If neighbors do not take this fact into account when music occurs, they can be held accountable.
Note! In order to hold neighbors administratively liable or seek compensation for moral damages, it is not necessary to measure the noise level. Witness testimony can be used as evidence of exceeding the permissible noise level. But the best option is to use the results of the expert's report and testimony.
Example. Galina filed a lawsuit against her neighbor Tatyana. The plaintiff explained that loud music was played in the neighboring apartment for 10 hours a day. This led to a deterioration in her health (increased blood pressure, headaches). And the plaintiff’s husband had a heart attack due to the loud noise. Galina demanded compensation for moral damages from Tatyana. To measure the noise level, the plaintiff called Rospotrebnadzor. The result of the examination showed that the permissible standards were exceeded. Neighbors and an ambulance paramedic were brought in as witnesses. They explained that it was really uncomfortable to be in the plaintiff’s apartment because of the loud noise. The court satisfied the applicant's demands in full (Decision of the Yuryansky District Court dated January 20, 2015 in case No. 2-45/2015).
In the country or on the street
If the peace is disturbed by loud music played on the street, the situation is twofold:
- If noise is disturbing on the street, for example, in a summer cottage, then the actions of SanPiN 2.1.2.2645-10 “Sanitary and epidemiological requirements for living conditions in residential buildings and premises” do not apply to the situation. SanPiN standards apply if noise interferes with being in a residential area, as well as if citizens are disturbed by the sound from a disco or club. The rules do not apply to individuals who operate sound-amplifying equipment.
- If noise from music disturbs the apartment, for example, from a portable speaker installed by a company at the entrance, then violators of public peace can be held accountable. To do this you need to call the police.
What should you do if your neighbors are making repairs that are very noisy and drill every day?
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How to reduce household noise levels
The use of modern insulating materials allows you to protect your home from the spread of any noise and reduce its level by more than 40 dB. In particular, an excellent option for reliably insulating an apartment from the spread of household noise is the use of so-called floating floor technology.
The load-bearing walls of apartment buildings are thick enough to provide reasonable sound insulation. However, not all walls are load-bearing.
If it is not possible to install professional sound insulation, the correct selection of insulating materials will help reduce the level of household noise. The problem of the spread of annoying noise can be eliminated by insulating walls with plasterboard structures.
You can increase the level of insulation from above by installing reliable suspended ceilings. However, the stiffer the materials used, the better conductors they are.
Where to call?
To bring loud music lovers to justice, it is necessary to call specialists from the competent authorities. However, only in some cases the situation can be resolved by calling. The priority option is to file a written complaint, preferably a collective one.
During the daytime
If music plays during the daytime, then you need to call the local police officer. He will draw up a protocol on the administrative offense. The document will be transferred to the administrative commission and the violator will be subject to an administrative fine. The amount of the fine is established by regional legislation. But usually these are insignificant amounts - from 100 to 1000 rubles.
After 23.00
If loud music is playing at night, you can contact the following authorities:
- If your neighbors have music playing, you should call the police. If night concerts have become regular, it is necessary to prepare a collective complaint to the administration. There is judicial practice on the eviction of the owner from an apartment due to loud music at night.
- If music is played in a club or bar located in the house, it is necessary to prepare a collective complaint to the prosecutor's office. The prosecutor will go to court with a lawsuit against the organization. This will entail the suspension of the enterprise’s activities for up to 90 days.
Sample application
Consultation on document preparation
Are you tired of reading? We’ll tell you over the phone and answer your questions.
When neighbors love dogs and cats endlessly
If your neighbors dog barks at night, the owner needs to take measures to eliminate disturbances to the general peace. But sometimes there are too many pets, the harm from them is felt by all the residents of the entrance, and the pet owners cannot cope due to their number.
Such people are compassionate old women who manage to place up to fifty dogs and (or) cats in their one-room apartment, which not only contribute to unsanitary conditions, since the grandmother simply does not have time to clean up after them, but also create unbearable tests on the nerves: howling and barking can be heard at night all House. About this situation:
- bring to the attention of not only the police and the prosecutor's office,
- but also sanitary and epidemiological authorities,
- as well as the administration.
The rules for keeping pets are determined by the laws of the subject, therefore, after an on-site inspection at the address, the form of influence on the person keeping too many pets will be established. Thus, a certain number of dogs or cats can be placed in special kennels. If the owner “collected” stray dogs, it is possible to isolate them from the population by taking them outside the municipality or to shelters, if any.
What can't you do?
Often those affected by loud music try to solve the situation on their own. However, it is recommended to act exclusively within the law.
It is forbidden:
- use physical violence against the offender;
- threaten violence;
- cut off the electricity;
- turn up the music in your apartment even louder;
- damage the property of the offender.
When conducting a conversation, you need to be extremely polite and correct. The offender can record the threats on video or on a voice recorder, and then he will be the victim.
Is it possible to evict a music lover?
In 2009, the court of Pervouralsk, Sverdlovsk Region, made the first decision in the history of the Russian Federation to evict an owner from an apartment who violated the rights of neighbors by playing loud music. Representatives of the city mayor's office filed a lawsuit.
For 2 years, neighbors appealed to the authorized bodies to bring them to justice. In 2008, neighbors called the police 48 times at night to calm down a trespasser. As a result of the lawsuit, a decision was made to evict and sell the apartment at auction.
In 2021, a similar situation was considered in the court of the city of Nyagan in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug-Yugra. Over the course of the year, the owner was repeatedly cited for loud music at night. The result was also eviction.
We can conclude that eviction from an apartment of an owner or tenant is possible due to a combination of the following factors:
- the plaintiff is the district administration or city hall;
- the defendant has been repeatedly prosecuted for disturbing the peace;
- Conversations at the local level did not produce any results.
If other measures fail, then the last option is eviction. In this situation, the offender’s apartment will be sold, and the funds will be transferred to his account (minus the costs of the auction).
How to write a statement to the police
In order to bring those responsible for disturbing your peaceful sleep, you can use a sample application to the district police officer about noisy neighbors:
To the head of the police department of _____________district, _____________ residents of house No.__, entrance No.______, st.___, city__________ Full name of residents, apartment numbers.
STATEMENT We ask you to take liability measures against the tenant(s) living in the apartment. No.____ apartment building No._______, entrance No._____, st.______, ________. For a long time (indicate how long), the specified tenant disturbs the peace of citizens at night: he deliberately carries out repair work (exploding firecrackers, listening to music, etc. - indicate the fact, exactly how the peace was disturbed), be sure to reflect the time. The tenant does not respond to repeated attempts to convince him to stop his actions, continuing to violate the right to rest of all residents of the entrance (house). On criminal liability for knowingly false denunciation under Art. 306 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation warned (signatures of all applicants).
Signatures of all residents ____________ ____________ Date Attachment: photos, video material on electronic media, printouts of conversation fragments, etc.
Lawyer's answers to private questions
Near the house, neighbors play sports in the morning. They also include a portable speaker. Can they be held liable for daytime noise?
If they go to the site on weekdays after 7.00 and on weekends after 10.00, then it will not be possible to hold them accountable for the music.
Guests came yesterday. We listened to music loudly even though it was night. The police arrived. They copied my passport details. What punishment awaits me?
The passport data was rewritten to draw up an administrative protocol. It will be reviewed by the administrative commission. As a result, penalties ranging from a warning to a fine will be imposed. The size of the fine depends on the region and can range from 100 to 1,000 rubles.
A neighbor parks his car near the house and listens to music loudly in it. Can he be held accountable?
Only if he listens to music at night. To record a violation, you need to call the police or call the local police officer.
I live in a private house. Until what time can I listen to loud music?
If the noise disturbs your neighbors, you can only listen to music during the daytime. The periods of daytime and nighttime are established by regional legislation.
In the next apartment, the tenants are listening to music loudly. The owner does not respond to our complaints. What to do?
Contact the sanitary and epidemiological station to take measurements. Call the local police officer to record your complaint. If the measurements reveal that the maximum noise level is exceeded, the district police officer will initiate administrative proceedings.
If noise keeps you awake at night
Who do you call when your neighbors are noisy at night? After 11 pm, night noise is punishable in accordance with administrative legislation:
- fine up to 2000 rubles
- in case of failure to comply with the decision on a fine - arrest for up to 15 days.
After drawing up the protocol, the silence breakers usually stop their activity. In this case, it is desirable, but not necessary, to try to “peacefully” calm down the offenders before calling the police. The law stipulates that noise amounting to thirty dBA or more is considered contrary to community standards and may be grounds for liability.
If your peace is disturbed by noisy neighbors living in a rented apartment, reporting such behavior to the owner of the premises should help.
