The Sound and the Fury: How to File a Noise Complaint in NYC

Daniel T. Allen | July 10, 2011 6:00 PM

Excessive noise is a menace to “public health, comfort, convenience, safety, welfare and prosperity,” according to the city’s website. Besides that, it’s really aggravating.

C'mon neighbor, it's Sunday morning! Flickr/Martin Alvarez Espinar

The Bloomberg administration overhauled the noise code in 2007, enacting more stringent regulations for construction sites, sanitation trucks, nightclubs, ice cream trucks, animals and other noisemakers.

Here’s how to lodge a noise complaint if you live in New York City:

Call 311. But be forewarned, as illustrated by Wired magazine, noise complaints are the number one reason New Yorkers use the 311 service, so get in line.
Call the police — but not 911. For an immediate non-emergency noise problem, call the local police precinct.
If the noise continues…For ongoing noise problems, reach out to the N.Y.C. Department of Environmental Protection at 718-337-4357.
East Coast Choppers? If the noise is caused by a helicopter, lodge your complaint with the Economic Development Corporation hotline at 212-619-5000.

Fun Fact: The loudest place in New York City is underground. At 93 decibels, the F, V, B, D train platform at the Bryant Park subway station was the loudest sound recorded in a 2010 survey conducted by Hear the World, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing hearing loss.

Tags: city living, civic engagement

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Ms. Linder

Good morning:

I live at 2045 Story Avenue, Bronx New York and have been having problems with my noisy neighbor for the past two months which Stellar Mangement is aware of and nothing is being done. This neighbor allows her child to run throughout the apartment literally 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5:00 a.m. when we are trying to sleep. I’ve been told take management to court and file a complaint. What else can we do? We are tired of losing rest.
Sleepless in New York

My wife and i live in a brownstone in Manhattan, west side, We rent but have one bad tenant who slips through the cracks still owing over a years rent for a room, he feels he’s untouchable. He has never worked do to the fact my mother inlaw never checked him, Mays out. Drugs smoking loud music at 10 pm, i think he knows when the cops change sifts. I’ve called many times about, even yesterday and as i write he’s doing it. I’m retired and can’t get to sleep so i’m up at 11:45 at night writing this. There has to be something someone can do. This is when the cops should take over but like last night i waited for an hour and no one showed
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Screw this site

Seems like this website is just a place to vent when you feel helpless. Nothing gets done. I’m dealing with it right now as we speak with two children trying to get to sleep. Problem with these pathetic, non-enforced laws is that when the boiling point is reached, someone is going to take matters into their own hands.
sleppess in the bronx

i live at 309 east mosholu bronx new york,and have been problem with my noisy neighbor in apt 5d.loud music since 10:00 until 9:00 am this morning.what else can i do.i’m tired of losing rest.please bloomber i want to pay my taxes in a happy slepp.
Decibelle

I agree that calling 311 is useless. I called them last week to report loud bangs on W 58th St in Manhattan, caused by traffic driving on metal plates on the street which had loosened, and had a email next day saying that no action was necessary. It was only when I complained to DOT and the mayor’s office online that I finally obtained relief.
Last Straw on Gates Ave

Help, i have an upstairs neighbor from hell, she blasts music/TV in every room all night, my mother is 76 years old and the noise is effecting her health. I have called the local police department, 311 and still the noise is unbearable. I have also spoken with this neighbor several times, no help there, as i write this at 3:33AM the NOISE is mind blowing, it gets louder and louder. where do you get help from, f
ed up at 969 Gates Ave in Brooklyn. Joann please lower the noise level.

maquih

Talk to the landlord! He might be able to evict your neighbor if many tenants are complaining.

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