One Vision Housing invests in mobile technology to tackle noise nuisance

One Vision Housing (OVH) has invested in a new mobile tool, The Noise App, to help customers report and capture evidence of noise nuisance which is affecting their quality of life.

The Noise App is a tool to help organisations like OVH when investigating complaints about noise and anti-social behaviour; making it easier for everyone involved to resolve them.

OVH’s Neighbourhood Service Officers spend a lot of time dealing with issues around noise nuisance, most commonly related to loud music and neighbours arguing and/or shouting.

Noise nuisance is accountable for almost 30% (28.4%) of OVH’s anti-social behaviour complaints. And 2016 is expected to be a record year, having already recorded 236 noise nuisance complaints since January (there were 203 noise complaints in 2015).

OVH customers can download the Noise App for free (on iPhone at the App Store, and on Android at the Google Play Store) and use it to record any noise nuisance they’re suffering from. It will then be reported directly to OVH and logged as evidence of their complaint.

The app captures audio, GPS data, timestamps, and source information about each report, making it easier for OVH to build a case. Customers can also add notes to their report, and check the status of their complaint.

OVH Community Safety Manager, Helen Grant, said: “We have invested in this app to make it easier for customers to report issues of noise nuisance, and to assist them in capturing evidence.

“Sometimes our tenants don’t realise how much can be heard by neighbours, and once we discuss noise levels with them, they usually take steps to keep noise levels down. There is, however, a minority of people who don’t care how much they affect others, and in those cases, this app will help us and the victims of the nuisance to take action to tackle it”

OVH also works with local councils to tackle noise nuisance. Where the Local Authority determines that there is a statutory nuisance, they can choose to serve tenants with an ‘abatement notice’, and if this is breached the tenant can be prosecuted by the Council. Since 2014 a breach of abatement notice is also an absolute ground for possession; meaning that if tenants continue to cause nuisance they may lose their home.

OVH does, however, always try to take a reasonable approach, and tenants with one-off incidents or occasions, like a party at Christmas or New Year, will be treated differently to those who are consistently disturbing their neighbours.