Noisy Neighbours in France and Spain

Unbearably noisy neighbours have forced 600,000 people in the UK to move house in the last 12 months, according to the Telegraph.

Anyone considering moving to France or Spain to get away from noise, however, should pause for thought. More people in France and Spain than in the UK are fed up with their neighbours’ noise.

A European-wide survey of 2,000 households found:

• In Britain, one in seven families say their quality of life suffers a great deal or a fair amount because of sounds, which are outside their control. A similar proportion say that they are significantly and regularly disturbed by noise made by their neighbours or in the immediate area outside their homes.
• 40 percent of French households reported finding neighbours’ noise intolerable.
• 34 percent of German and 33 percent of Spanish households reported finding neighbours’ noise intolerable.
• Only 12 percent of British people said they suffered significant stress caused by noisy neighbours.
• 13 percent of French people said they had confronted neighbours about noise.
• Only 5 percent of Brits said they had confronted neighbours about noise, making them the least likely in Europe to have complained to neighbours about noise.