Animals are very often the source of a noise complaint, whether it is dogs barking or cockerels crowing.
It can be very frustrating to live next door to this type of persistent noise and can cause a huge disturbance to people’s days and routines, especially with a recent increase of people working from home.
We would initially recommend the same advice that we do for other noise nuisance complaints, to speak or write to your neighbour (provided you are not putting yourself in harm’s way) to explain the issues you are experiencing and how it is causing a nuisance to you. Most of the time, pet owners do not realise that their animals are causing a noise nuisance, as this is more likely to happen when the owner is not home (mostly common with dogs and sometimes cats), therefore having this discussion with your neighbour could prompt them to ensure they put actions into place to prevent the noise being so persistent.
If you have already spoken to your neighbour and the noise is still ongoing, we would advise for you to contact the Environmental Health Team at your Local Authority. Following investigations, they may, if the noise meets a certain threshold, issue the pet owner with a ‘Noise Abatement Notice’ if the noise does not subside.
If your neighbours are council tenants, housing association tenants or private tenants, we would also advise for you to report the noise nuisance to their landlords. It is quite common that pets such as dogs and cats are not allowed in rented properties, although this is not always the case.
Cockerels are a more common pet than most realise and the owner has a duty to ensure that they do not cause a nuisance to surrounding neighbours. All of the information above is relative to cockerels too and many local authorities have information specific to cockerels on their websites. This also goes for the likes of ducks and pigeons being kept as pets too.
Other concerns of animals:
A very common complaint of dogs in public spaces is them not being kept on a lead and being out of control and/or aggressive. There are many areas in England and Wales where Public Space Protection Orders (PSPO) are in place specifically requesting that dogs are kept on leads at all times. You can find out if there is a PSPO in place in your local area by checking your council’s website. The result of breaching a PSPO is a £100 Fixed Penalty Notice (on the spot fine).
If there is not a PSPO in place in a public space in your area and you have concerns surrounding dogs not being kept under control, we would advise for you to report this to your council. If there has been any harm come to you or another member of the public from a dog, you should call the Police immediately on 999 and ambulance if required.
If you have concerns with pets, such as dogs, frightening livestock, then we would recommend for you to to visit https://www.countrysideonline.co.uk/care-for-the-countryside/dog-walking/ for further advice on how to protect your animals.
Animals require a lot of maintenance, both to their health and in and around their home. If this maintenance is not kept on top of, it can often cause issues such as strong smells from the property or garden that they reside in. A very common complaint is that of dog mess not being picked up in gardens and public spaces. If any of these concerns are the case for you, then we would advise for you to contact Environmental Health at your Local Authority and again if you neighbours are tenants, to contact their landlord to express your concerns.
If you are worried about how an animal is being taken care of, then please report your concerns to the RSPCA: https://www.rspca.org.uk/