What is noise?
How loud is "too loud"
Who is responsible for noise control?
How is noise measured?
What is a good neighbour?
What is noise?
"Noise" can be any offensive sound that disturbs your quality of life i.e. stereos, parties, band practice, alarms or machinery.
How loud is "too loud"?
There is no set level or decibel reading to measure whether noise is excessive or not. Common sense and the Resource Management Act states that noise, under human control, "shouldn't unreasonably interfere with the peace, comfort or convenience of any person".
Officers following up on a complaint will assess whether the noise is too loud based on the:
- Time of day
- Type of noise
- Location of neighbours
- Zone i.e. residential, rural, commercial or other
Who is responsible for noise control?
We are responsible for controlling excessive or unreasonable noise. Armourguard is contracted by us to respond to your complaint.
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How is noise measured?
We do not use monitoring devices to measure noise as these only refer to the volume of noise and not the other factors which make up excessive noise. We have adopted a matrix system which measures the nuisance level of noise as well as the volume.
The matrix system is based on 4 factors:
- Volume
- Time of day
- Duration
- Tone
Each factor is given points:
- High 3 points
- Medium 2 points
- Low 1 point
Then they are added together. If a noise assessment scores more than 6 points we take action against the property owner or occupier immediately.
The monitoring matrix ensures that noise levels are not excessive. This does not mean that there will be no noise.
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What is a good neighbour?
These simple steps will reduce the likelihood of someone making a complaint against you.
- Be considerate of your neighbours
- Tell them if you are having a party or invite them
- Tell them of planned work on your section that may be noisy
- Minimise noise travelling by shutting doors or windows
- Don't start up noisy equipment such as chainsaws early in the morning or late at night
- Ensure burglar alarms cut off after 15 minutes and have to be manually reset
- Ensure car alarms are installed correctly and are not over-sensitive or faulty
- Keep noise levels down at night.
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