September 2014
Featured in this insight: Police, crime & community safety, Public health & wellbeing
Survey finds arguing and loud voices top neighbour nuisances: A recently published survey has uncovered residents’ pet peeves when it comes to nuisance neighbours.
The survey, which was conducted with 2,602 UK adults, discovered that more than one quarter (27%) of respondents has had a problem with an annoying neighbour in the last year.
Neighbours who argued and had loud voices topped the list, with around two fifths (41%) of Brits having incurred this problem. Around three in ten (29%) said loud music and noisy TVs were a top neighbour nuisance, with just over one quarter (27%) responding with door slamming. Other popular reasons for troublesome neighbours included people stomping around (23%) and noise from pets (21%).
Of the participants who said they had experienced issues with their neighbours, more than half (53%) said they had been left feeling angry, a similar percentage (52%) were left harbouring irritation, around two fifths (42%) said they felt stressed and one in ten (11%) said they felt afraid.
The survey’s findings showed that younger people are more likely to suffer from a nuisance neighbour, with one third (33%) of 18 to 24-year-olds stating they had been affected by an irritating neighbour, compared to less than one fifth (17%) of the study’s 65+ participants.
Younger generations were also less clued up with how and where to seek advice or help, with almost nine in 10 (86%) 18 to 24-year-olds unaware of where to source aid, compared to just two fifths (44%) of those over 65.
Richard Lloyd, Executive Director at Which?, said: “Having a nuisance neighbour can be a real problem, and our research has found that young people especially are suffering in silence. There are a number of ways you can complain and resolve a dispute which is why we have produced a free guide to help.”
View more of our sector specific insights: Police, crime & community safety, Public health & wellbeing
