Welcome to Sisters In Law, news.com.au’s weekly column solving all of your legal problems. This week, lawyers and real-life sisters Alison and Jillian Barrett from Maurice Blackburn advise on when construction noise can be made.

Question: A huge development of apartment blocks is about to be built across the road from me which I’m not happy about. However, I don’t feel like I have much choice in the matter as the planning permission has all been approved.

The developers put a letter through our door saying work will take place from Monday to Friday 7am to 5pm, which I expected. But then they added they’d be working 8am to 1pm on Saturdays. This I am not happy about at all. Since when can construction workers make noise on a weekend?

I didn’t think this kind of heavy work was allowed outside of weekdays. I’m so worried about being woken up every day to loud noise and dust.

What can I do if I feel like the morning and weekend noise is excessive? – David, Victoria

Answer: Noise complaints are some of the most common neighbourhood disputes.

In Victoria the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) is the environmental regulator and it provides guidance on managing construction noise.

Construction noise is generally restricted to the normal working hours of 7am to 6pm on weekdays and 9am to 1pm on Saturdays. However, these normal working hours expand to 7am to 1pm on Saturdays for construction of large-scale residential developments in non-residential zones.

You should review the land zoning of where you live to determine whether you live in an area zoned as residential. If so, the developers may be in breach of the guidelines for construction noise.

However, developers are able to extend the normal working hours by obtaining approval from the local council. The construction noise guidelines also provide some flexibility for work hours depending on the circumstances of the noise, such as quiet work like painting in the evening.

You should contact your local council and see whether the times outlined in the developers’ notice you received are lawful, based on your land zoning and the type of construction occurring.

In addition to the above normal working hours limits on noise, developers must not emit unreasonable noise from residential construction sites, at any time of the day.

Construction noise can be unreasonable if it goes on for too long or is excessive under the circumstances. A number of factors are considered to determine if noise is unreasonable, including:

1. Volume – how far the noise spreads

2. Intensity – how loud or how many decibels the noise is

3. Duration – how long the noise lasts

4. Frequency – how often the noise is made

5. Time, place and any other circumstances

If, after the construction starts you are concerned about excessive noise, or noise is being made outside the permitted times, you should firstly contact the developer to express your concerns. Keep a record of your complaint, including the details of the unreasonable noise.

If there is no improvement after contacting the developers directly then you can contact your local council to make a complaint. The EPA has given local councils powers to manage residential construction noise, and local councils may have other powers like local laws.

You have also raised concerns about dust from the construction.

The developer has obligations to take precautionary measures to ensure that the work they are doing does not harm human health or the environment and this includes disposal of all waste and pollution (like dust).

If the dust levels cause or threaten to cause material harm then the contractor could be investigated by the EPA and ultimately face fines or need to take remedial action.

Just like a complaint about noise, you should keep a record of any excessive dust issue with information about the wind direction and speed, the temperature, time of day, and details of the activities that were being carried out at the site.

These complaints can be made with local council and you can get further advice from the EPA.

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This legal information is general in nature and should not be regarded as specific legal advice or relied upon. Persons requiring particular legal advice should consult a solicitor.

If you have a legal question you would like Alison and Jillian to answer, please email stories@news.com.au

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