When complaints about children are received
There are several situations where a complaint about children would be completely legitimate.
Including:
- when a child screams;
- plays a musical instrument;
- if children cry;
- using noisy objects, such as balls, during games;
- there is running and stomping.
To recognize a complaint as legitimate, it is necessary to record the implementation of such actions outside the time established by Federal Law No. 52 of 1999 “ On the sanitary and epidemiological welfare of the population .” These acts also indicate what noise level is acceptable.
Neighbors complain about air conditioner noise
Installing an air conditioner is one of the most common reasons for complaints from neighbors. As a rule, residents complain about the noise that the outdoor unit makes, vibration, condensation dripping from the drain pipe, etc.
It should be noted that in many cases such complaints are completely justified. The fact is that over time, air conditioners can fail, as a result of which they begin to make a lot of noise. This causes a lot of inconvenience to people living nearby. Moreover, this is especially felt at night.
Thus, when you receive complaints from neighbors about strong noise coming from the air conditioner, it is necessary to diagnose it and, if necessary, fix the problem. Otherwise, if residents complain to Rospotrebnadzor and it is determined that the noise level does not meet the standard, the equipment will have to be dismantled.
In addition, it should be remembered that the installation of an air conditioner will require the consent of all residents, since the facade of a multi-storey building is public property.
Laws regulating noise levels in an apartment
For comfortable living of citizens in apartment buildings, Federal Law No. 52 of 1999 was developed. Art. is devoted to noise indicators. 23 of this act, which makes references to other documents.
These include:
- SanPiN No. 1.2.2645-10 of 2010;
- sanitary standards from 1996 regulating noise levels.
Certain laws apply at regional levels. At present, no single legal act devoted to these issues has been adopted. When a citizen violates the provisions of the listed documents, administrative liability is applied to him.
What laws at the regional level determine noise levels?
You can complain about a child’s noise when the noise limit is violated or actions occur outside the permitted period. The table shows the acts developed by regional authorities to regulate the issue under consideration.
Region | Law |
Altai region | Law No. 95-ZS of 2021 “On ensuring peace and quiet of citizens in the Altai Territory.” It has been established that night time should be considered the period from 22.00 to 08.00. On weekends until 09.00. During the daytime, you must not make noise from 13.00 to 15.00 |
The Republic of Buryatia | Law of May 5, 2011 N 2003-IV “On Administrative Offences”. It is prohibited to make noise from 22.00 to 06.00 |
Volgograd region | Law No. 1693-OD of June 11, 2008 “Code of the Volgograd Region on Administrative Liability.” The night period is considered to be from 22.00 to 07.00 |
Lipetsk region | Law No. 83-OZ of June 19, 2021 “Code of the Lipetsk Region on Administrative Violations.” Night time – from 23.00 to 07.00 |
Moscow | Law No. 42 of July 12, 2002 “On maintaining the peace of citizens and silence at night in the city of Moscow.” No noise is allowed from 23.00 to 07.00 |
Nizhny Novgorod Region | Law No. 44-Z of April 1, 2015 “On ensuring peace and quiet of citizens in the Nizhny Novgorod region.” No noise is allowed from 22.00 to 07.00. On weekends from 23.00 to 10.00. During the day there is a quiet hour from 12.30 to 15.00 |
Novosibirsk region | Law No. 99-OZ of February 14, 2003 “On administrative offenses in the Novosibirsk region.” Night time on weekdays is from 22.00 to 07.00. On weekends from 22.00 to 09.00. No noise should be made during the day from 13.00 to 14.00 |
Oryol Region | Law No. 1490 of 06/06/2013 “On liability for administrative offenses”. Night time is considered from 23.00 to 07.00 |
Saint Petersburg | Law No. 273-70 of 2010 “On administrative violations in St. Petersburg.” No noise is allowed from 22.00 to 07.00 |
Tatarstan | Law No. 3-ZRT dated January 12, 2010 “On maintaining peace and quiet at night.” No noise is allowed from 22.00 to 06.00. On weekends and holidays from 22.00 to 09.00 |
Other regions have also adopted laws regulating the time during which the peace of citizens cannot be disturbed.
Who from the municipality can help?
Often, after multiple verbal comments, the neighbors above are in no hurry to calm down the fidgety behavior. You can complain to municipal authorities. Let's consider where to turn when the neighbor's children upstairs are very noisy every evening. First of all, contact the chairman of the house or the district police officer.
Basically, the appearance of a representative of the authorities has the desired effect. A short explanatory conversation is enough, and the noisy neighbors above will be able to learn to influence the little guys.
Appeal to judicial authorities
When the upper tenants are fed up with their actions, noise and stomping, there is only one way out - an application to the judicial authority. Talk to the neighbors on the side, below, from the next entrance. They are also dissatisfied with the restless behavior of children. Writing a collective statement about noisy neighbors will speed up the process.
At night, children make noise and run around
Attach copies of letters left for the children's parents. If you contacted the local inspector, wrote a statement and have the paper, then attach a copy to the application to the court.
Read: Law on silence in Moscow in 2021 in an apartment building: official text
It is also possible to film with your smartphone how the chandelier is shaking, when the little robbers are stomping and running around like crazy. We admit that an official invitation to court will not please the neighbors; they will be more diligent in controlling noisy, stomping children. You can also seek support from other authorities.
Where to complain in guardianship
For example, it is possible to contact the guardianship authorities for the following reasons:
- The urchins gallop like horses until one in the morning and disturb the sleep of the other residents of the house.
- The child is often in an apartment without his parents and begins to cry for several hours.
- Suspicion of child abuse.
The last two cases may require contacting the guardianship authorities. There are three ways to contact us:
- statement (preferably collective);
- letter;
- anonymous call.
Employees of the organization will help you draw up a sample complaint to the guardianship and trusteeship authorities about the improper upbringing of a child. When drawing up an application, indicate the address of the department and the applicant’s details. In it you need to write what happens upstairs with your neighbors every time you are at home.
Child running around the apartment
Strongly recommend taking action towards the family. Attach additional materials indicating the need for verification of the application (video and audio materials, characteristics from the school for the child).
Within three working days, employees will come, look at the child’s living conditions, and talk with neighbors. They will have an explanatory conversation with parents. In difficult life situations, a child may be temporarily taken away from the family. For example, a mother raises a child alone; she does not have the opportunity to look after him when she is at work.
The decision on the results of the audit is made within 30 days from the date of submission. The supervisory authority is obliged to notify the family of the results of the examination.
When children run around during the day and evening and scream, call the police. They will record the fact of an offense on the part of neighbors.
What noise level is acceptable?
When neighbors complain about a child's stomping, you need to consider what level of noise is acceptable. If the established boundaries are not respected, this will be considered a violation not only at night, but also during the day .
Increased noise has an adverse effect on the health of citizens. It manifests itself in certain consequences. For example, irritability, nervousness, decreased reactions.
Statistical data give reason to conclude that the presence of sound vibrations of more than 70 dB affects the frequency of accidents.
Federal Law No. 52 of 1999 establishes the following noise limits:
- during the daytime – 40 dB;
- at night – 30 dB.
In this situation, it is necessary to take into account the time boundaries established in each individual region. For example, quiet speech has a range of 30 to 40 dB. People may complain about crying as it is approximately 60-65 dB.
What to do if you have a complaint about children
Neighbors below or above may complain about noise caused by children. This manifests itself in the form of verbal warnings, statements sent to the police department, and the board of homeowners' associations.
If a citizen wants to maintain relations with his neighbors, he must try to resolve the issue peacefully.
Eg:
- When a child is a newborn, you can try to rock him better and take into account the doctor’s recommendations on feeding. Sometimes the reason for crying is the carelessness of mom and dad;
- If children are over 2 years old, they should be explained the established rules of behavior and have something to do so that they do not make noise.
Regardless of what situation occurred, you need to apologize to your neighbors and say why the child is crying. For example, the cause of crying may be illness or teeth that are cutting. Conversation often helps resolve conflict peacefully.
If the neighbors wrote a complaint to the district police officer, you will have to give an explanation about this . The police officer can be provided with a certificate issued by a doctor to confirm the fact of the disease. Then it will not be possible to hold them accountable.
Children often run around the apartment, this is natural. You need to give your baby the opportunity to splash out his energy. For this purpose, you can enroll him in classes and go for walks more often.
The neighbors wrote a statement to the district police officer about the noise, what will happen
Sometimes dissatisfied neighbors move from verbal threats to real actions and begin to write complaints to various authorities, starting from the city administration and up to a statement addressed to the local police officer. If you find yourself in such a situation, the main thing is not to get confused and act calmly and confidently.
So, after receiving the application, the district police officer will have to take the following actions:
1) Go to the scene of the “incident”.
2) Carry out a thorough check of all the circumstances of the case. As a rule, at this stage, a conversation is held with the owner of the apartment from which the noise is coming, and other residents are interviewed.
3) To confirm the fact of a violation, Rospotrebnadzor employees may be involved, who will take appropriate measurements of the noise level.
4) If it is determined that the permitted indicator has been exceeded, the owner of the apartment will be held administratively liable under Art. 6.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, according to which such a violation may result in a fine of 100–500 rubles (for citizens).
If the examination shows that all standards are met, then the initiation of a case of administrative violation will be refused due to the lack of corpus delicti and, accordingly, grounds.
In addition, the owner of the apartment, about whom the district police officer has been unreasonably complained about, can respond by writing a statement against the neighbors for slandering him.
Complaints of crying at night: what to do
The reason for neighbors' dissatisfaction may be crying at night. This especially applies to situations where an elderly or disabled person lives behind the wall. The question of the possibility of applying penalties to them in this case will be controversial.
The offender is a child who has not reached the age of prosecution. However, legislation sets limits on permissible noise that cannot be violated. Therefore, the issue must be resolved peacefully. Parents should talk to neighbors and try to find a compromise . Often, after an apology, citizens come to their senses and do not go to the local police officer with a complaint.
If the reason for a child’s crying lies in the parents, for example, when they do not try to calm the baby, do not fight colic, or do not organize nutrition correctly, neighbors need to know what to do. may be filed with the local police officer or the chairman of the HOA . Then authorized persons deal with the issue, bringing the perpetrators to justice.
If the neighbors don't let you do the repairs, they constantly complain
Apartment renovation is a very noisy business and therefore the laws of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation establish the time when it can be carried out without violating the rights of other residents. However, some neighbors are not happy with this, and they complain about renovations in the apartment, despite the fact that they are being carried out during the permitted hours. How to complete repairs in conditions where neighbors constantly complain to the police or other authorities and thereby do not allow repairs to be done, and where should you write complaints about them?
Residents' complaints against you to the competent authorities will not harm you in any way, however, frequent visits by police or a local police officer in order to establish the truth may delay the completion date of the work indefinitely.
There are several ways to get rid of the constant visits of the police and neighbors to your apartment:
- Notify all residents of adjacent apartments about the upcoming renovation. It is not necessary to run from one apartment to another for this. It will be enough to hang a notice in the entrance indicating that the repairs will be carried out within the time allowed by law. It would be useful to make a reference to the regional law “on silence”. You should also leave your contact information so that they can contact you if anything happens.
- Turn off the call. This method is only good if you can’t hear the knocks on the door.
- If a neighbor comes with the police, write a statement against him. If this is not the first time the tenant has bothered you with his dissatisfaction, calls, knocks on the door and visits with the police, then tell the police officer that you want to write a statement regarding hooliganism. After all, by his actions a person expresses clear disrespect for you and violates public order.
- Try to come to an agreement. If you don’t want a neighborhood war, then just go to the disgruntled tenant and find out what and why he is not happy with. The method does not always work, but why not.
When complaints about stomping
If a child runs around and neighbors complain, this offense will result in administrative sanctions. Especially when this happens at night or during the day, during quiet hours according to regional legislation .
Stomp that exceeds the sound threshold of 40 dB is taken into account.
Parents can lay a thick covering in the room or make high-quality sound insulation.
In addition, you need to take your child outside more often. This encourages him to run wild, throw out his emotions and behave more calmly at home. You can also talk peacefully with your neighbors and agree to regulate the issue. In this case, it is imperative to apologize and try to explain the child’s behavior.
Sound insulation and its possible cost
Sometimes, the only correct solution to problems with neighbors who regularly write complaints about loud noise is to soundproof the room. This measure is especially relevant for apartments with thin partitions, where even simple steps can be heard.
There are different options for this procedure. You can soundproof not only the walls and floor and ceiling, but even the loggia. At the same time, when choosing a specific type of sound insulation, it is necessary to start from the nature of the sounds that cause inconvenience to neighbors. This may be impact or airborne noise.
In the first case, we are talking about the sound that occurs when the floor slab is impacted. For example, when we walk or run on the floor. With airborne noise, you can hear something being said behind the wall, music playing, a TV on, etc.
The cost of soundproofing an apartment depends on various factors: the total area of the room, the selected materials, the professional level of the craftsmen, etc. For example, in Saratov they charge an average of 300 rubles per square meter for such a service.
In conclusion, it should be noted that every resident of an apartment building must clearly know their rights, but also not cause harm to other residents. The creation of noise is an inevitable component of human life. However, it is important here not to go beyond the permissible standard values, and also to maintain silence at certain time intervals.
What to do if the complaint is not justified
If it was not possible to achieve the desired result when contacting the police, neighbors can use other methods. This includes filing an application with other authorities, for example, the courts or Rospotrebnadzor.
If a complaint has been filed, but the parents are sure that the children were not the source of the increased noise, they need to contact the district police officer. Federal Law No. 52 of 1999 specifies that a violation of the maximum noise level must be recorded.
This can be done using the testimony of neighbors and audio recording . In addition, a citizen has the right to call police officers who record the commission of a violation at an unspecified time.
Recording noise, how to challenge evidence
Only special equipment is used to measure noise levels. The recording is made by employees of the Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology, after which they make a conclusion about whether the established noise regime was violated or not. When neighbors can prove such a violation, the citizen will be held accountable.
It will only be possible to challenge such evidence if the child cries as a result of an illness or other condition that causes him discomfort. For example, if teeth are being cut. This can be proven by providing certificates from a doctor, testimony from relatives that the parents took measures to calm the child, but due to illness, this was not possible.
Therefore, complaints about noise made by children must be justified. For this purpose, recording of exceeding the established sound thresholds is used. At the initial stage, the conflict should be resolved peacefully so as not to spoil relations with neighbors.
What to do if you are accused of being loud, but you are not
Our neighbors don’t always bother us; sometimes we ourselves become an annoying factor for someone. And if everything is clear with real guilt: all you have to do is correct the situation and apologize, then what about neighbors who like to quarrel out of nowhere, or are simply not entirely healthy?
- First of all, you should enlist the support of other neighbors, this will help if the police are called.
- If you still feel some guilt, you can spend money and organize at least minimal sound insulation.
- Always warn your neighbors about large-scale repair work, coordinate the schedule, especially if there are small children and elderly people around.
- If complaints against you are constantly being received, and your conscience, meanwhile, is completely clear, then you can file a lawsuit for libel.