# Rules on Noise



## Wibs

Having worked in Germany for a number of years I am well aware on all the various rules on noise, and when you are allowed to make it. For example, no noise (lawn mowers, children playing out) between 1pm and 5pm, and none at all on a Sunday.

Are there any similar rules on the Costa del Sol in residential areas? If I planned a housewarming party, should it be planned for a certain time/day?

Thanks

Wibs


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## Lynn R

Wibs said:


> Having worked in Germany for a number of years I am well aware on all the various rules on noise, and when you are allowed to make it. For example, no noise (lawn mowers, children playing out) between 1pm and 5pm, and none at all on a Sunday.
> 
> Are there any similar rules on the Costa del Sol in residential areas? If I planned a housewarming party, should it be planned for a certain time/day?
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Wibs


You may be in for a bit of a culture shock in Spain, then.

There will be local byelaws about noise (maximum decibel levels, restrictions on noise before or after certain times) but depending on the area enforcement can be virtually nil. Where I live, for instance, building work is not supposed to start before 8.00 am or 7.00 am in July/August, and there is not supposed to be noise (parties, etc) after 11.00 pm. However, in the summer people often sit outside talking, playing guitar, singing, etc until the early hours, and children play in the streets until 1.00 am or later. However, I live in a town with mostly Spanish neighbours, not on an urbanisation, and things might be quite different where you are going to be. I have holidayed in the past on urbanisations where there have been quite strict regulations about noise, swimming pool use, etc so I should check the community rules for the urbanisation where your property is.


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## mrypg9

Spain is a very noisy country but it's 'nice' noise. We live in a quiet area in that it's on the edge of a village, big gardens so large spaces between neighbours but there are barking dogs, crowing cockerels, my neighbour Juan singing after a good lunch, the occasional party and as Lynn says, people just sitting out chatting.
We came back from a night out on Saturday morning at 01.00, didn't fancy going to bed so sat out until nearly 03.00. It was so quiet so our voices might have carried but....tomorrow our neighbours may do the same. Live and let live.
Unlike much British noise, Spanish noise is happy, friendly and non-aggressive. We spent a short time , just a few months, living in an urb and I found it quite noisy as there were several holiday lets and the place filled with screaming kids.
But most Spaniards would regard complaining about noise as a strange thing to do.


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## DunWorkin

This is a sore point with me at the moment.

We live on an urbanisation on the Costa Blanca. Between October and April there is virtually no noise at all but come June everything changes. 

Spanish families from Madrid come for the summer, people with holiday homes arrive not to mentionthe holiday lets. We have everything from barking dogs, screaming children, drunken stag and hen groups. We even have one house that holds karaoke parties in the garden. 

Although we have rules about noise levels and times of day (midnight to 8am) when people are supposed to be quiet, everyone ignores the rules. I have tried asking people to be a bit quieter but got nowhere. I tried asking at the AGM for rules to be enforced but was shouted down. I now sleep with earplugs every night.

I am not unreasonable but I do think people, Spanish or not, could show a little consideration for others.


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## Isobella

Wibs said:


> Having worked in Germany for a number of years I am well aware on all the various rules on noise, and when you are allowed to make it. For example, no noise (lawn mowers, children playing out) between 1pm and 5pm, and none at all on a Sunday.
> 
> Are there any similar rules on the Costa del Sol in residential areas? If I planned a housewarming party, should it be planned for a certain time/day?
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Wibs


Best thing to do is to inform your neighbours that you are having a party, better still invite them along. Someone close to us has a once a year bash. DJ in the garden until around 5am. No one minds as it's a one off.
If noise really gets to you probably not a good idea to live in Spain permanently. Barking dogs seems to be what most people complain about. One friend had a neighbour who left their dog on a terrace whilst at work and it barked and yelped incessantly all day. Ruined their life, just being there for lunch drove me crazy. Despite denuncias etc. nothing happened, they were forced to sell. Sometimes the campo can be noisier than a city.


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## mrypg9

DunWorkin said:


> This is a sore point with me at the moment.
> 
> We live on an urbanisation on the Costa Blanca. Between October and April there is virtually no noise at all but come June everything changes.
> 
> Spanish families from Madrid come for the summer, people with holiday homes arrive not to mentionthe holiday lets. We have everything from barking dogs, screaming children, drunken stag and hen groups. We even have one house that holds karaoke parties in the garden.
> 
> Although we have rules about noise levels and times of day (midnight to 8am) when people are supposed to be quiet, everyone ignores the rules. I have tried asking people to be a bit quieter but got nowhere. I tried asking at the AGM for rules to be enforced but was shouted down. I now sleep with earplugs every night.
> 
> I am not unreasonable but I do think people, Spanish or not, could show a little consideration for others.


I agree with you but that's because we're British and we do tend to be considerate where things like that are concerned, except when we're on holiday.
But it does seem as if the right to talk loudly in the street at 03.00 is enshrined in the Spanish Constitution.

Noise and too many people living too close as well as the constant changing of people living there were the factors that put me off living in an urbanisation. I guess it depends a lot on the size and make-up of the urb but four months of living in one with a hundred or more pisos with a mix of Spanish/foreign residents but constant comings and goings put me off.


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## mike kelly

Noise is a huge problem all over Spain, there is no solution other than to get used to it. Whatever rules there are are very rarely enforced.


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## Alcalaina

mike kelly said:


> Noise is a huge problem all over Spain, there is no solution other than to get used to it. Whatever rules there are are very rarely enforced.


Noise is only a problem when someone else is making it. 

If you live in a place where, because of the climate, people tend to sleep in the afternoon and socialise between midnight and 3 a.m. it's best to do the same.


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## Isobella

My Spanish neighbours don't socialise until the early hours, except perhaps in August when we aren't there they are mostly hard working families and have to get up early for work.

I think if you have been in a noisy situation then you become less noise tolerant. When I first worked in London I had a noisy neighbour and had to sell even though I loved the place. Since then I have always been wary. Our house in the UK is set well back from a no through track and has gardens on 4 sides. We had one place in Spain and I could hear the neighbours discussing what they were going to have to eat that evening. Not just disturbing but boring Solved that by moving the bed.


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## Pesky Wesky

Wibs said:


> Having worked in Germany for a number of years I am well aware on all the various rules on noise, and when you are allowed to make it. For example, no noise (lawn mowers, children playing out) between 1pm and 5pm, and none at all on a Sunday.
> 
> Are there any similar rules on the Costa del Sol in residential areas? If I planned a housewarming party, should it be planned for a certain time/day?
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Wibs


I think a lot of Spaniards would have problems living in Germany from the sounds of it! I learnt that siesta hour is sacred (15:00 - 17:00 more or less), but little else, and even then children playing is not considered to be noise. Screaming and fighting yes, but laughing running and having fun is just not noise


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## Alcalaina

Isobella said:


> I think if you have been in a noisy situation then you become less noise tolerant.


Or maybe the opposite? I can now filter out the noises that woke me up when I first lived here (barking dogs, bin-men at 5 a.m., motos with no silencers) and sleep like a log.

Other people's conversations can be immensely irritating so I quite like the fact that here, if my neighbours are having a conversation in the street or shouting at each other from their balconies, I can "switch off" and not understand what they're saying because the local dialect is so strong.


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## Pazcat

It's odd, aside from the dogs it's really rather quiet around here. Most of our neighbours are Spanish and I hardly notice them at all.
Even if there is a get together of some kind it is never intrusive and normally done and dusted by midnightish.
We probably make the most noise and even then that's just the kids playing and me setting the neighbourhood dogs off at 2am when I'm at the telescope and I have the misfortune to cough.


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## baldilocks

Mostly around here it is fairly quiet. Exceptions are when there is something going on and the Spanish like to let off those aerial torpedoes and when there is a pop group at the poligono (about 2km away). Very few people seem to have parties. We have a gathering/soirée or what ever you want to call it a.k.a. a Villancicos evening and all the neighbours come so there are no complaints.


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## ricardoylucia

Spain has to be one of the noisiest countries in Europe...lol - We live amongst the olive groves, in the centre of a village. It can be very noisy with tractors and 4x4's, up and down all the time. The worst is when they come to fill up with water, from a new water deposit (our water pressure has now dropped), from about 5.30am in the morning (yes - it is dark). 

Just do what the Spanish do, shrug the shoulders, get up and make a coffee/tea, go back to bed, sleep to the morning and have a siesta in the afternoon...

This is Spain.


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## Pesky Wesky

ricardoylucia said:


> Spain has to be one of the noisiest countries in Europe...lol - We live amongst the olive groves, in the centre of a village. It can be very noisy with tractors and 4x4's, up and down all the time. The worst is when they come to fill up with water, from a new water deposit (our water pressure has now dropped), from about 5.30am in the morning (yes - it is dark).
> 
> Just do what the Spanish do, shrug the shoulders, get up and make a coffee/tea, go back to bed, sleep to the morning and have a siesta in the afternoon...
> 
> This is Spain.


It is officially the second noisiest with Japan (yes Japan???) being number one.

"Noisiest nation in the world?" by Ronald E. Yates

The second noisiest country in the world - hear-it.org


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## Alcalaina

A friend who runs a B&B had a visitor (English) who complained about being woken up by cockerels.

it does make you wonder sometimes.


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## mrypg9

Alcalaina said:


> A friend who runs a B&B had a visitor (English) who complained about being woken up by cockerels.
> 
> it does make you wonder sometimes.


I understand and sympathise, though. Our neighbour's cockerel has no sense of time -or decorum - and crows at any time, incessantly and loudly, from four a.m. onwards.
When our neighbours first got a cockerel a few years back -the bird is long deceased - they asked if we minded and we said no, we didn't. But that one could obviously tell the time, this one can't. However, too late now. They have noisy chickens too.

We'll just have to live with it until it dies and they hopefully find one with a more neighbourly disposition.


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## baldilocks

The noise of cockerels, the smell of goats, etc. - damned townies, go back to your city-smog and noises.


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## snikpoh

baldilocks said:


> The noise of cockerels, the smell of goats, etc. - damned townies, go back to your city-smog and noises.


Bah humbug ... I'm thinking of buying a shotgun for the cockerel and donkey that live near us!


.... and I was brought up on a 'proper' farm in UK.


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## mrypg9

snikpoh said:


> Bah humbug ... I'm thinking of buying a shotgun for the cockerel and donkey that live near us!
> 
> 
> .... and I was brought up on a 'proper' farm in UK.


I grew up with chickens in our garden and a smallholding with a very smelly pair of goats as well as a pig at the bottom of our garden.

In our 'residential' road we have cockerels (possibly more than one), a horse in a field two doors away, goats in a field at the end of the road and every house including ours has very noisy dogs.


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## baldilocks

snikpoh said:


> Bah humbug ... I'm thinking of buying a shotgun for the cockerel and donkey that live near us!
> 
> 
> .... and I was brought up on a 'proper' farm in UK.


Can i borrow it for when they next have a pop group blasting out noise from 2km away on the Poligono or will I need something with a longer range, e.g a 4" howitzer?


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## Leper

We live in an urbanisation shared by Spaniards and expats. If we (expats) make any noise during Siesta all kinds of tanned bodies appear on balconies leering and finger wagging [Retreat into Apartment from pool area and await visit from urbanisation presidente].

When Manuel and amigos celebrate Barca's win after midnight with shouts and jeers that could be heard on the Moon. Noisy bombings into the pool later and if any English speaking person complains he is destined to be shot at dawn.

Moral of the Story:- Keep it down during Siesta.


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## Justina

*Animal noises*



baldilocks said:


> The noise of cockerels, the smell of goats, etc. - damned townies, go back to your city-smog and noises.


I lived in the country for almost 30 years and loved the sound of the animals. It is one of the things I miss most.


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## baldilocks

Justina said:


> I lived in the country for almost 30 years and loved the sound of the animals. It is one of the things I miss most.


Having been born there, I like it as well, chickens clucking and squabbling over one measly bit of corn, geese honking when there is something they don't like (such as a stranger) similarly with sheep (we used to use those as an early warning of potential intruders at night when we were on guard during exercises).

Sheep going Baaa is very useful when you are trying to find them. Once when on duty for British Rail, there was a report of sheep on the line. So muggins was sent to check the line in the area and get rid of them. It was dark, so I walked along the line making Baaa noises because sheep will always answer. All the answers I got were from nearby fields - no sheep on the line!


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## Justina

*Baldi*



baldilocks said:


> Having been born there, I like it as well, chickens clucking and squabbling over one measly bit of corn, geese honking when there is something they don't like (such as a stranger) similarly with sheep (we used to use those as an early warning of potential intruders at night when we were on guard during exercises).
> 
> Sheep going Baaa is very useful when you are trying to find them. Once when on duty for British Rail, there was a report of sheep on the line. So muggins was sent to check the line in the area and get rid of them. It was dark, so I walked along the line making Baaa noises because sheep will always answer. All the answers I got were from nearby fields - no sheep on the line!


You have had so many different jobs, it is difficult to keep up with you.
I once bought several chicks in our village and was assured that they would produce great eggs. Well, I waited and waited and they fluttered around until one afternoon there were cookadooling all over the place in unison.
They didn't take long to move on down to a proper farmer with his sheep, goats, turkeys and of course chicks.


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## mrypg9

Our neighbour's two spaniels have barked for over three hours non-stop. You'd think they would be hoarse.
It wouldn't enter into anyone's head to complain.


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## baldilocks

mrypg9 said:


> Our neighbour's two spaniels have barked for over three hours non-stop. You'd think they would be hoarse.


Canine with equine ambitions!


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## ricardoylucia

mrypg9 said:


> Our neighbour's two spaniels have barked for over three hours non-stop. You'd think they would be hoarse.
> It wouldn't enter into anyone's head to complain.


Our neighbour opposite has 3 hunting type dogs - continual barking from about 09.00am in the morning to about 10.00 at night...complaining does not get one anywhere...


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## bandit1250

ricardoylucia said:


> Our neighbour opposite has 3 hunting type dogs - continual barking from about 09.00am in the morning to about 10.00 at night...complaining does not get one anywhere...


sausages laced with.......just saying.


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## bandit1250

bandit1250 said:


> sausages laced with.......just saying.


sleeping pills!!!


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## Alcalaina

Just a reminder that if anyone is_ seriously_ bothered by barking dogs, noisy neighbours etc. e.g. if they regularly keep you awake at night, you can make a denuncia and the local police will go and have a word. 

An English friend of mine did this, as a last resort. The neighbours got fined €60, which he paid himself because they didn't have any money and he didn't want to fall out with them. But the dog never kept him awake again.


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## mike kelly

I have a neighbour with a very noisy cofee machine which I can hear every morning at 8 am if I sleep in my inside bedroom (the one with air conditioning). So annoying


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## mrypg9

mike kelly said:


> I have a neighbour with a very noisy cofee machine which I can hear every morning at 8 am if I sleep in my inside bedroom (the one with air conditioning). So annoying


I presume you mean an espresso machine which grinds the beans then makes a lovely fresh café solo...Well, I have one of those, it's slightly noisy when grinding the beans and no way could I wait until 08.00 for my coffee.
I think you are being a tad unreasonable. Your neighbour may well have to start work at 08.30!


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## Leper

Siesta 2pm - 4.45pm is sacrosanct where I live in Mojacar Playa. It is only polite to keep voices down and not play football against the side of houses/apartment etc. When in Spain . . . observe Siesta quietness or prepare to be glared at!


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## Leper

One other thing in Mojacar Playa - Last year the mayor banned loud music, loud karaoke etc from pubs and restaurants. There is still musical entertainment but nothing like the dreadful loud noise of a few years ago. Well done Angela our Mayor!


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## dancebert

I'm a light sleeper. After moving to a street with a fire station 20 years ago, I started using the ear plugs shown below. For the last 8 years I've lived in countries where the concept of 'too loud' doesn't exist, so I use them often.

They reduce sound by 32 db. Thirty db is the difference between a normal indoor conversation and a hair dryer or the difference between a hair dryer and a jackhammer. They're intended for single use but I find they last about a week before they begin losing effectiveness because they don't rebound as well after being compressed to place in ear. Sold in bulk and in the bright colors because they're designed to be used in industrial settings. Ebay sellers buy in bulk, then repackage into smaller lots. A bag of 50 individually wrapped pairs is about 10-12 USD.

Howard Leight brand Laser Lite earplugs:


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## Pokerexpat

mrypg9 said:


> Spain is a very noisy country but it's 'nice' noise. We live in a quiet area in that it's on the edge of a village, big gardens so large spaces between neighbours but there are barking dogs, crowing cockerels, my neighbour Juan singing after a good lunch, the occasional party and as Lynn says, people just sitting out chatting.
> We came back from a night out on Saturday morning at 01.00, didn't fancy going to bed so sat out until nearly 03.00. It was so quiet so our voices might have carried but....tomorrow our neighbours may do the same. Live and let live.
> Unlike much British noise, Spanish noise is happy, friendly and non-aggressive. We spent a short time , just a few months, living in an urb and I found it quite noisy as there were several holiday lets and the place filled with screaming kids.
> But most Spaniards would regard complaining about noise as a strange thing to do.


A nice noise? That's a new one! Try living in Barcelona it's hell on earth


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## Barriej

We live in what could be loosely called an urbanisation, but its part of a small village and we are not enclosed.
There are signs in the stairwells about noise after midnight but its not enforced as the villagers kids play infront of two of the blocks well into the night and groups gather and talk. 
We have no restaurant or bar in the village, but right now at 20.30 I can hear car doors slam (why does it seem that there are 20 doors on a car?), kids running around outside, there are always cars going through (although where they are headed is a mystery as there is only a road in), dogs are barking, the 3 donkeys and various chickens are doing their usual, the blackbird in the tree has been vocal again for the last hour. There are house martins nesting on the balcony and swifts are in the sky. Next door tend to rearrange their furniture at various times in the day and everyone (and I mean everyone slams their front doors).

Does it bother me?

No, I was born in West London with the Heathrow flight path over the house, police cars and general road noise as well as everything else a city has to offer.
Im actually happier here than London.


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## tebo53

I live on the outskirts of Benidorm and its noisy from people (mainly brits) singing and laughing (and occasionally an argument) in the streets at all hours, its noisy with music and traffic including coaches and delivery trucks at all hours etc etc. 

But when we decided to retire here we knew about the noise and we have missed it during the pandemic. Noise doesn't bother us, we love it here!!!

Steve


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## Isobella

Noise bothers me anywhere. Had to laugh at the post that said that Spanish noise is better than Brit noise cockerels don’t bother me or owls etc. Happy to live in a place which is quiet of humans. I am not Noise friendly.


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## Alcalaina

There are plenty of laws in Spain covering noise, or "contaminación acústica", both national and regional. You can check them here. But the police don't usually go round looking for rule-breakers. If it's a problem people can make a denuncia, then they will act.





__





Entorno normativo de la contaminación acústica


Normativa europea ...




www.juntadeandalucia.es


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## kaipa

One of the differences with noise in Spain is that in the warmer months your windows are open and therefore you get alot of exterior noise add to that fact that nights are often very still with no wind means that noise appears more amplified than maybe in UK


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## Relyat

The harder landscape also serves to accentuate any noise. 
Fewer rugs and carpets indoors and less in the way of gardens and plants outdoors to absorb the sound and prevent it bouncing around.


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## Isobella

kaipa said:


> One of the differences with noise in Spain is that in the warmer months your windows are open and therefore you get alot of exterior noise add to that fact that nights are often very still with no wind means that noise appears more amplified than maybe in UK


True. My Spanish neighbours were very quiet except during warm weather she spent nearly all day outside on her mobile. Wafted straight around our pool and she had a voice like a foghorn.


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