Living next to a noisy neighbor can be a frustrating and a stressful experience. What is the best solution to solve this problem?
What does the PRC law say?
Here are the main points you can use to address the problem and find a solution.
A. Relevant laws & regulations
Generally speaking, noise refers to the phenomenon that noise generated exceeds the environmental noise emission standards stipulated by the state and interferes with people’s normal life.
According to the “Sound Environment Quality Standard” that came into effect on October 1, 2008, in residential areas, the noise limit standard is: 55 decibels during the day and 45 decibels at night. If this standard is exceeded, then this is classified as noise.
Noise emissions is an obvious tort that infringes on the neighboring rights of people. Neighboring rights refer to the right of either party to require the convenience or certain restrictions of the other neighboring parties, in order to reasonably exercise their ownership or use rights to their real estate.
Article 90 of The PRC’s Property Law stipulates that:
People shall not make noise that will interfere, distract the normal life of neighboring parties, or harm the physical or mental health of others.
B. solutions
1. The most preferred way to deal with such disputes is to settle them through friendly negotiation, such as negotiate with the neighbor directly or do it through the mediation of a third parties, such as the property manager company, relatives/friends of both parties.
2. If friendly negotiation fails, it can only be resolved through legal means.
1) Call the police. According to the provisions of Article 58 of the “Public Security Administration Punishment Law”, Usually, for the situation of a noise, a warning shall be given; those who fail to make corrections after warning shall be fined between 200 and 500 yuan.
2) File a lawsuit with the court, requesting the other party to stop the infringement and compensate for losses (if any).
C. Evidence preparation
Evidence is required for filing a lawsuit, then how to prepare the evidence?
1. Prove the existence of noise: it is difficult to be accepted by the court as legal evidence by recording the noise with your own smart phone. You are supposed to hire a qualified third-party environmental monitoring agency to do that as they have professional instruments to collect and analyze noise information.
2. Prove that the noise is made by a neighbor. For example, a recording of the previous negotiation between you and your neighbor, or you may ask the property manager to provide a written statement about what happened.
3. If you believe that you have suffered any loss because of the noise and plan to claim compensation, you need to prove that there is a direct causal relationship between your loss and the noise (meaning a direct causal relationship between the damage result and the tort, such as the noise caused mental illness, for which you have paid medical expenses, etc.).
The evidence discussed in the above three paragraphs constitute a chain of evidence. It’s probably not possible to file/win the case if any evidence is missing. You may review our previous article for more: How to File a Lawsuit in China (P2-evidence)
D. Friendly negotiation
Finally, we would like to point out that, despite the many provisions, it is highly recommended to resolve the dispute amicably through consultation. The reason is as follows:
First of all, this kind of litigation is not easy to file/win, as the job of evidence collection is time-consuming, laborious and costly. Moreover, generally speaking, there is neither direct economic loss nor substantial physical injury involved, despite the fact that the noise is killing. According to the current laws, even if the lawsuit is won, the only result is the noise will be stopped. The other party does not have to pay any substantial responsible for his annoying behavior.
Relevant regulations:
Law of the People’s Republic of China on Administrative Penalties for Public Security
Article 58. A person who, in violation of the provisions of the law on prevention and control of pollution by the noise emitted in the course of social activities, makes noise to impair the daily life of another person shall be given a warning; and if he fails to make amends after the warning, he shall be fined not less than 200 yuan but not more than 500 yuan.
