Nuisance complaints

We are required to investigate complaints of nuisance under the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

A statutory nuisance we could act on is:

• persistent – happening with regularity
• continuing – likely to continue happening, non-stop
• objectively unreasonable
• affecting you within your own home

Where a statutory nuisance is happening, we must take action on your behalf. We will do this by:

• writing to you and the person or organisation causing the issue
• asking you to keep a record of the nuisance for at least fourteen days in a row
• gathering further evidence to determine whether a statutory nuisance is happening or not, once we receive your records

Thing to bear in mind before you make a complaint:

• we always advise you discuss a nuisance with the person or organisation first – it may be that they don't know there’s an issue
• we cannot investigate issues from unknown sources
• one-off problems are very unlikely to be a statutory nuisance
• we cannot punish a nuisance event that has happened, nor prevent a nuisance that might happen
• we cannot consider your health conditions, personal circumstances or taste
• we cannot accept complaints on behalf of other people, unless they can’t complain themselves