Are screaming children a noise nuisance for the neighborhood? This question is currently being resolved.
Children play, run, jump, fall and get up again. And of course, they make a lot of noise. Does it bother you and embarrass you when you think about your neighborhood? You’ve probably even asked yourself this question: “What if your children could scream at the top of their lungs in the garden, without your neighbors even being able to complain?” Well that’s exactly what could happen in the future!
Limiting “neighborhood conflicts”, particularly in the countryside, and reducing complaints from neo-rural residents against farmers, is becoming a social issue. New regulations are coming, introduced in an upcoming law. They aim to create the conditions for “balanced living together and to limit conflicts between economic, cultural or tourist actors in a territory”, taking up the principle of responsibility based on abnormal disturbances in the neighborhood. This principle is simple: the person’s liability cannot be engaged if the activity predates the installation of the person complaining about the disorder, if it complies with the legislation or if it continues “under the same conditions or under new conditions which are not at the origin of the aggravation of the abnormal neighborhood disturbance”.
This is where the new regulations take on their full meaning regarding the nuisance caused by the cries of children or the incessant crying of babies. The text excludes from the category of “abnormal neighborhood disturbance” noise caused by children in nurseries, play areas, and similar facilities. “In other words, this aims to preserve the right to play,” explains the Vie publique site.
Let’s take a concrete example. You may be in the habit of going to a playground on Wednesday afternoons, to allow your child to enjoy a beautiful sunny afternoon and play with their friends. During these rowdy moments, it is not uncommon to hear children screaming, yelling at each other, or just talking loudly or laughing as they go down the park slide.
From now on, these disturbances or noise nuisances will no longer be categorized as abnormal neighborhood disturbances if the play area in question was built before the house whose inhabitants are complaining of nuisances. The surrounding homes, and in particular their owners, will no longer be able to complain. In any case, this is the whole objective of this law which should be adopted in the spring.