Olivia Egdell-Page advises on Nuisance Dogs

Article by Ed Magnus For Thisismoney.co.uk 20 October 2023

Our neighbours’ dogs are barking loudly and causing a nuisance: What should we do?

We’ve lived in our house for over four years and have always enjoyed relative peace when in our garden. 

Until now, none of our neighbours have caused an issue. This all changed a few months ago when a family moved in that has a Yorkshire terrier that doesn’t stop barking, and a black labrador that charges at our fence every time we enter our garden.

It means when we use the garden we have to cope with constant yapping. And also a rather terrifying dog throwing itself over and over again at the shared fence.

Luckily the fence is five feet high, but we are worried that it might eventually get into our garden and hurt our children, or at least break the fence panels.

The terrier also barks every time it is let out into the garden. This is most annoying at 7am and at 11pm when they are let out before and after bed. It has woken us up on numerous occasions.

The whole thing is driving my husband and I mad. We have complained to our neighbours, but they became rather defensive. 

What would you recommend we do? We really don’t want to sell as we love living in this house, but everything has changed in the past two months.

Ed Magnus of This is Money replies: This sounds both annoying and potentially alarming. No one should have to contemplate selling their home because of the  neighbours’ dogs. 

Typically in these situations, diplomacy is the best approach. I would suggest you pursue further dialogue with your neighbour before either getting the local council or a lawyer involved.

Whatever you do, don’t be aggressive or confrontational, even if it means biting your tongue a little. An argument will only make the problem worse. 

Be empathetic, and show that you have the ability to listen to them – but make it very clear how their pets are impacting your life. 

Aside from the risk to your children and the fence, the black labrador sounds like it is in danger of hurting itself if it keeps charging at the fence, so perhaps you could use this to try and prompt your neighbours into taking appropriate action.

We spoke to Olivia Egdell-Page, partner and head of the property department at Joseph A Jones & Co solicitors, and Esme Wheeler, dog welfare expert at the RSPCA, for their advice on the matter.

What should their first course of action be? 

Esme Wheeler replies: In the first instance, we’d always encourage anyone who is worried about a barking dog to approach the dog’s owner. 

They may be unaware the dog is barking – or just how much of a problem this is for neighbours. 

Where there are issues like separation anxiety, they can look at addressing these with a vet or behaviourist.

But we know sometimes this doesn’t help. In these cases, concerned neighbours can contact the local authority to make a noise complaint. 

Local council staff have statutory powers to investigate the cause of the barking and will contact them with welfare concerns.

On the point about dog control, it’s always concerning if people are worried about their children near dogs. 

Owners do have a legal responsibility to keep their dog under control in public places.

Where dog behaviour is potentially causing concern, early intervention should be the aim – stopping incidents from occurring or escalating.

If you have concerns that your neighbour’s dogs are scaring your children, we’d always urge neighbours to have a conversation where they discuss ways to create that feeling of safety and mutual respect. 

Wherever possible, good neighbourly relations are the best course of action for dealing with this.

Is there any legal recourse? 

Olivia Egdell-Page replies: The use and enjoyment of your property is governed by both the title to the property and in statute.

Given that you have moved into your respective properties relatively recently, the title to both properties will be available from the Land Registry. 

Here, you can check if there are covenants requiring the properties to be used in a way that does not cause any nuisance or annoyance to the neighbouring owners, as is often the case. 

It would then be for you or your solicitor to establish who has the benefit of these covenants, and take steps to seek enforcement. 

Often such covenants benefit the original developer or builder of the property, and enforcement can prove challenging in such cases. This is a complex area of law.

There are also statutory protections available to you. These allow local authorities to act for complainants, or for complainants to act directly, without involving the local authority.

The Noise Act 1996 empowers local authorities to deal with noise emitted between 11pm and 7am from dwellings and gardens, as I note is your main complaint. 

On receipt of a complaint, an environmental health officer must take reasonable steps to investigate the complaint. If the officer is satisfied that the noise exceeds the permitted level, a warning notice will be served on the person responsible.

If the warning is ignored, the officer can issue a fixed penalty notice and take further action, through confiscation or further prosecution.

Further protection is available in cases of statutory nuisance, defined as ‘noise emitted from premises so as to be prejudicial to health or a nuisance.’ The assessment of noise nuisance is based on whether it is ‘reasonable’. 

In such cases, the local authority is under a duty to take such steps as are reasonably practicable to investigate the complaint, and where they are satisfied that a statutory notice exists or is likely to occur or recur, to serve an abatement notice.

Please be aware that any communication or dispute with your neighbours would need to be disclosed to a prospective purchaser of your home, should you take the difficult decision to sell. 

I’d advise you to enter into correspondence with caution, and with this in mind. 

My recommendation would be to discuss this amicably, and if this does not succeed to suggest mediation to reach a workable resolution for both parties, with the statutory protections as a last resort.