Complain about noise

Things you should know before you call:

• Your name won't be given out.
• Noise must be coming from a separate address to yours.
• Some levels of construction noise are allowed during the day – see when construction and maintenance noise is permitted.
• Noise rules don't apply to unplanned emergency works, like water mains breaks.
• We can investigate noise from parked cars on private property (alarms, car stereos and engine revving). 

Noise from moving vehicles 

We don't monitor noise from moving vehicles like cars, trains, and aircraft. 

You should: 

• contact the police for noise from moving vehicles
• contact the Harbourmaster for boats on the water
• contact the Civil Aviation Authority for aircraft in flight
• contact Kiwirail for trains and railway crossing noise.

What happens when I complain about noise?

When you make a noise complaint, we come out and investigate. This is why you need to make a complaint when the noise is happening.

To judge if the noise is excessive or not, we will consider:

• volume
• the time of day
• the type of noise.

We do not use any monitoring equipment to decide if the noise is excessive. However, we do use sound level meters to assess unreasonable noise. See How do I know if noise is excessive or unreasonable?

If you make a noise complaint between 8am and 8pm (and this complaint is not already escalated or with specific instructions), we may ask you to call back in 30 minutes to confirm the noise is still occurring before we send someone out.

If we find the noise is too loud, we may issue an Excessive Noise Direction (END).

An END notice lasts for 72 hours. If there are more noise complaints during that time, we will visit the site again to determine if the noise is still excessive.

If we find the noise excessive for a second time within 72 hours, the enforcement officer and the police will seize the noise-offending equipment or issue a $500 fine.