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How to make a noise complaint in Glasgow

Glasgow City Council no longer runs a service for noise from homes. For neighbour noise, contact the Housing Officer if either home is a housing association property, Police Scotland on 101 for ongoing excessive noise or disorder (999 in an emergency), or the free Mediation Service on 0800 027 3901. Noise from pubs, clubs, building sites and alarms goes to the council on 0141 287 1060.

Last updated: November 8, 2026

Who to contact about noise in Glasgow

The council's noise page (last changed on 3 November 2026) opens: "Glasgow City Council no longer operates an Out of Hours Domestic Service." It then lists where to go instead:

Reporting routes, from the council's own pages
Noise	Who to contact
Neighbour noise where either home is a housing association property	The Housing Officer: "Housing associations can investigate issues if their tenants are affected within their housing stock, even if the source is not their tenant."
Ongoing excessive noise, disorderly behaviour, noisy vehicles	Police Scotland on 101, or 999 in an emergency
Children playing, footfall, doors closing, people talking	The Mediation Service, 0800 027 3901 (24 hours): such noise "is unlikely to support any formal action"
A privately let home	The landlord, found on the Landlord Registration website
A licensed short-term let, such as Airbnb	The council's short-term lets page
Pubs, clubs, building sites, alarms	The council on 0141 287 1060, or its online noise form

Sources: the council's noise page, online form, housing association directory, Mediation Service and short-term lets pages, and Landlord Registration Scotland. The council's antisocial behaviour page handles neighbour problems such as "regular very loud music or noisy parties, threats and harassment and vandalism", reported online or on the same helpline.

What happened to the night service

Glasgow stopped sending officers out to domestic noise at night in 2024. West of Scotland Housing Association passed on the council's notice in September 2024: "Glasgow City Council no longer operates an out of hours domestic noise response service." For a while an officer still gave advice by phone in the evening, and the notice said "If you need an immediate response do deal with the noise you are experiencing, please call Police Scotland on 101." The Glasgow Splash reported city-centre residents protesting at the decision to "stop taking action against anti-social domestic noise at night and early morning". By November 2025 the advice line had gone from the council's page too.

Noise from pubs, clubs, building sites and alarms

For commercial premises the council still investigates. Officers first "discuss the situation with the complainant and seek to rectify justified complaints timeously"; if that fails they use their powers under the Environmental Protection Act 1990. "Where nuisance conditions are witnessed by officers they shall issue a statutory notice to require the removal of the nuisance within a specified timescale", and "any disturbance will have to be monitored from your property before any formal action can be considered." Ignoring a notice can lead to "work being carried out in default; serving a £150 (domestic)/ £400 (commercial) fixed penalty notice; or referring the matter to the Procurator Fiscal": the Scottish fixed penalty of section 80ZA.

Barking dogs and building work in Glasgow

The council's noise page links two leaflets on dog barking, one for people affected and one for owners. In Scotland many councils point people affected by barking to a Justice of the Peace court application; see barking dogs and the law.

Glasgow's standard planning advice on building work, attached to its planning decisions, is that construction noise in residential areas "should not occur before 0800 or after 1900 Monday to Friday, and not before 0800 or after 1300 on Saturdays", and "should be inaudible at the site's perimeter on Sundays and public holidays". That is advice to developers, not a fixed rule; building-site noise complaints go to 0141 287 1060.

The law behind a noise complaint in Glasgow

Statutory nuisance under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 applies in Scotland too. The Noise Act 1996 does not: Scotland has no national night hours, and the night-noise powers of the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004 apply only where a council has adopted them, for the periods it chooses. The UK guide to reporting noisy neighbours covers the steps, notices and fines, and UK noise laws the hours; for particular noise see barking dogs, loud music and builders' hours. A reading from the free online decibel meter can sit beside each entry in your diary; the council measures with its own equipment.

Sources

Glasgow City Council: reporting a noise problem (last modified 3 November 2026), the Mediation Service and the online noise form, read live in a browser on 2026-11-08; the antisocial behaviour page and the planning committee report of 9 February 2021 with the standard construction advisory note; West of Scotland Housing Association (6 September 2024); The Glasgow Splash (1 November 2024); Landlord Registration Scotland. All read 2026-11-08. This page is a plain-language summary, not legal advice; the legislation and Glasgow City Council's decisions control.

Who do I call about noisy neighbours in Glasgow?

Not the council: it no longer runs a domestic noise service. Contact the Housing Officer if either home is a housing association property, Police Scotland on 101 for ongoing excessive noise or disorder (999 in an emergency), or the council's free Mediation Service on 0800 027 3901.

Does Glasgow City Council still have a noise team?

For commercial noise, yes: pubs, clubs, building sites and alarms are reported on 0141 287 1060 or online. For noise from homes, the council stopped its out-of-hours response in 2024 and now points people to housing associations, the police and mediation.

What time can builders work in Glasgow?

The council's standard planning advice is 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday to Friday and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays, with construction inaudible at the site boundary on Sundays and public holidays.

UK noise guides and other councils

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