How to resolve a neighbour dispute

You should contact a housing officer or the housing department of the local council or housing association. They could:

• contact your neighbour to help resolve the problem

• take steps to end the tenancy

• apply to court for an antisocial behaviour order.

If you're also a social housing tenant, they might be able to rehouse you.

If there's antisocial behaviour

Officials should take reports of antisocial behaviour seriously. To help build your case, you can provide evidence by recording the dates and times of the behaviour and the effect it has on you - for example, if you can't sleep because of loud noise they're making.

If you think discrimination is involved in a neighbour dispute, make sure your landlord knows. Read more about discrimination in housing.

If you don't know who your neighbour's landlord is, you can find out by searching the Scottish Landlord Register.

When you write to the landlord, provide evidence of the dates and times of your neighbour's behaviour and the effect it has on you - for example, if you can't sleep because of loud noise they're making.

A private landlord can:

• talk to the tenant about the problem

• take court action against a tenant who is causing the problem

• take steps to end the tenancy.

If there's antisocial behaviour

Landlords should take reports of antisocial behaviour seriously and take steps to address it.

If the landlord doesn't take action

If you've asked a private landlord to deal with antisocial behaviour in their property and they haven't taken reasonable steps to deal with the problem, you should contact your local council.

The local council can then serve an antisocial behaviour notice (ASBN) on the landlord. An ASBN will set out steps that the landlord must take to tackle the antisocial behaviour. Find your local council on mygov.scot.

If the landlord doesn't take the action listed in the ASBN, they might eventually lose their landlord registration.

Antisocial behaviour is acting in a way that causes, or is likely to cause, alarm or distress. To be antisocial, the behaviour must be persistent.

Antisocial behaviour can include:

• shouting, swearing and fighting

• intimidation of neighbours and others through threats or violence

• vandalism, property damage and graffiti.

Read more about what you can do about antisocial behaviour.

Your local council will have an antisocial behaviour strategy. They can take court action to stop the behaviour. You should contact your local council's antisocial behaviour department to find out more. Find your local council on mygov.scot.

You can contact your local council's environmental health department if there’s a problem with:

• noise - for example, loud music

• rubbish - for example, piles of rubbish in a shared garden

• odours - for example, a lack of cleanliness in your neighbour's home leading to bad smells

• leaks - for example, water coming through the ceiling from the property above

• insects - for example, a wasp nest in your neighbour's garden.

An environmental health officer will usually contact your neighbour and try to reach a solution. If they agree there's a statutory nuisance, for example if it's damaging to your health or disruptive to you, they can serve a notice on your neighbour. This means your neighbour must stop or prevent the problem.

The environmental health department can also enforce action to repair leaks. If they have a warrant, they can enter properties to carry out the necessary work.

Find contact details for your local council's environmental health department on mygov.scot.

A common repair is a repair to any parts of a property which owners share the responsibility to fix and pay for.

In a tenement, this will usually include the common stairs, lifts and roof.

A common repair is also called a joint maintenance responsibility.

If one neighbour has refused to cooperate with a common repair, you can contact your local council, which might put you in contact with the building control department. Find your local council on mygov.scot.  

After an inspection, the building control department can serve a notice on all owners responsible for that part of the property. This means they must do the repair in a certain time period. Your local council can only carry out an inspection if they think your property is a danger. The procedure will be different for each local council.

Some local councils will also mediate between owners and might help with payments for missing shares. Contact your local council for more information.

Read more about damages and repairs.

Whether planning permission is needed will depend on the change being made. For example, you might need planning permission to build a conservatory or large extension.

Permission usually depends on the height of the extension and how close it will come to a boundary. If you think there's been a breach of planning control, you can contact the local council's planning department. Find your local council on mygov.scot.

The local council can investigate and issue an enforcement notice if your neighbour has carried out building work without permission or is using the land for an unauthorised purpose. An enforcement notice will explain the regulations that have been broken and the steps that must be taken to fix it. This can include removing a structure that was put up without permission.

It can take some time for the planning department to complete its investigation.

PAS is an impartial and confidential planning advice service that might be able to help if you want to object to a planning proposal. There's more information about this free service on the PAS website.

You can find guidance on changes that can be made without planning permission on the Scottish government website.

If the building work is disruptive

Each local council has recommended times for building work. To find out when building work noise is permitted, contact your local council. Find your local council on mygov.scot.