Excessive noise in a flat – when does it breach the law and what remedies are available?

If noise from a neighbour or a commercial premises in the building in Poland is persistent and exceeds acceptable limits, you can demand that it be reduced or eliminated and seek compensation.

Below, we explain step by step what your rights are and how to effectively enforce them.

Excessive noise in a flat – when does it become a breach of the law?

Excessive noise in a residential property is a problem that is becoming increasingly common in modern buildings. It seems that this situation stems primarily from the widespread practice of combining residential and commercial functions within buildings. In practice, premises located on the ground floor or first floor – such as shops, service outlets, restaurants and other businesses generating heavy footfall or using technical equipment – prove particularly troublesome for residents.

The problem is not limited solely to premises situated directly beneath residential flats. Noise is just as often generated by service or retail outlets located in the neighbourhood, or even at some distance, if their operations affect the comfort of residents in nearby properties. The intensity of noise is also influenced by building density and situations where new multi-family buildings are constructed in close proximity to large-scale service and retail premises.

Constant exposure to noise in a flat is not merely a matter of discomfort. In certain situations, excessive noise may constitute a breach of the law, which means that those affected by such a nuisance are entitled to specific remedies provided for under the Polish Civil Code. It is generally accepted in case law that persistent, excessive noise may interfere with privacy, rest and even health, which provides a basis for the legal protection of those affected by noise.

Those affected by excessive noise in their premises are therefore not condemned to passively endure the nuisance or decide to sell their flat, but may avail themselves of the effective legal remedies provided by law.

Noise in a flat – when does it breach the law?

There should be no doubt that when purchasing a residential (or commercial) property, whether on the primary market from a developer or on the secondary market from the previous owner, one of the key criteria for assessing the property’s functionality is the noise level and overall acoustic comfort. In practice, however, in many cases buyers may focus on the standard of finish or the location, and it is only during the course of using the property that problems directly related to noise arise. It is also often the case that the property purchased is quiet, but after some time a retail or service outlet opens on the ground floor, generating excessive noise.

Noise in a flat can significantly affect daily life within the property, disrupting rest, sleep or the ability to work from home. In cases of prolonged and intense exposure, acoustic discomfort can even lead to a deterioration in health, both physical and mental.

Of course, a clear distinction must be made between noise typical of multi-occupancy buildings and excessive noise that exceeds permissible limits and goes beyond normal neighbourly coexistence. In practice, however, this distinction does not appear to be difficult, given that excessive noise usually exceeds the levels considered acceptable in the normal use of the premises and is easily detectable both subjectively and through acoustic measurements.

In practice, the sources of excessive noise in a flat are usually entities that generate it in connection with business activities – service or commercial – carried out in the building or its vicinity. The most common cases include:

• running a noisy business, such as a restaurant with an outdoor dining area, a nursery, a crèche, a play centre, a shop, a workshop or a warehouse;

• the installation, inside or outside the building, of technical equipment necessary for business operations, such as generators, compressors, ventilation or refrigeration systems;

• activities related to the delivery and unloading of goods, in particular the manoeuvring of delivery vehicles in confined spaces and the activities of transport personnel; an additional nuisance is caused by so-called impact noise, generated when goods are moved, particularly when using warehouse trolleys, whose wheels, upon contact with a hard floor, transmit vibrations through the building structure.

What claims under Polish law are available in the event of excessive noise?

Polish legislation provides for a range of civil law claims available to a person using the premises in the event of excessive noise, primarily:

• a claim for protection of personal rights under Articles 23 and 24 of the Polish Civil Code,
• a claim for injunctive relief under Article 222(2) of the Polish Civil Code due to the occurrence of excessive noise pollution,
• claims under Article 16 of the Polish Act on the Ownership of Premises concerning the compulsory sale of the premises.

Excessive noise in a flat as a violation of personal rights

First and foremost, excessive noise may be classified as an infringement of neighbours’ personal rights. Pursuant to Article 24 of the Polish Civil Code, a person whose personal rights have been threatened or infringed by another’s actions may demand that such actions cease, unless they are unlawful. Although the concept of personal rights has not been defined by statute, it is accepted in legal doctrine and case law that noise may indeed infringe upon personal rights such as peace and quiet, health, as well as the right to rest and privacy (cf. M. Woźniak, ‘Infringement of personal rights by noise’, ‘Przegląd Sądowy’ 2015/6, p. 33; Polish Supreme Court judgment of 20 October 1976, I CR 324/76, LEX No. 2082; Polish Supreme Court judgment of 23 February 2001, II CKN 394/00, LEX No. 52630; Polish Supreme Court judgment of 17 March 1988, IV CR 64/88, OSPiKA 1989, vol. 2, item 35).

Furthermore, the disturbance of peace caused by noise in a flat also constitutes an infringement of a personal right in the form of the inviolability of the home, giving the owner the right to use it exclusively, without unlawful interference by third parties, including through the generation of noise.

A practical example from Polish case law:

“(…) excessive noise, exceeding permissible limits and of a persistent nature, caused by several independent sources arising from the commercial activities carried out by the defendant on the ground floor of the building and on the adjacent loading bay, directly adjacent to the plaintiffs’ residential premises, constitutes a violation of their personal rights” (judgment of the Polish Court of Appeal in Kraków, 1st Civil Division, of 2 August 2019, ref. no. I ACa 999/18).

A similar position has been adopted in legal doctrine, where it has been held that: “Interference [with the sphere of ‘domestic peace’] may occur through (…) direct non-physical influences disturbing domestic peace (excessive noise, unpleasant odours or dust). (W. Borysiak (ed.), Civil Code. Commentary, 34th ed., 2025)

Compensation for excessive noise in a flat

In the event of an infringement of personal rights, under the provisions of the Polish Civil Code, one may, amongst other things, claim financial compensation from the person or entity generating excessive noise. In practice, however, the question arises: what might the value of such compensation be, and how should it be calculated? The provisions of the Polish Civil Code do not specify either a minimum or a maximum amount that the court may award; moreover, they do not indicate any financial framework within which the adjudicating court might operate when awarding compensation. The amount of compensation in each case is determined individually and should represent a real economic value for the injured party, commensurate with market economy conditions (see the Polish Supreme Court judgment of 14 January 2011, ref. no. I PK 145/10).

The answer to the question of the amount of compensation is therefore not straightforward and requires an analysis of a range of factual circumstances, including, amongst others:

• the intensity and nature of the noise in the flat, for example whether it is continuous, intermittent, high-frequency or sporadic,
• the impact on the victim’s health and well-being, for example: the onset of stress, insomnia, concentration difficulties, and a deterioration in physical and mental health,
• the type and function of the victim’s premises – where the case concerns a flat in which someone works remotely or where its use requires silence (e.g. a doctor’s surgery), these circumstances may justify higher compensation,
• the awareness and degree of fault on the part of the person or entity generating the noise, i.e. whether the perpetrator acted deliberately, intentionally disregarded standards, or whether it was the result of negligence,
• the victim’s response to date, i.e. whether they attempted to resolve the issue amicably (warnings, mediation) and what the outcomes were,
• the social scale of the infringement, i.e. whether the noise affected only one person or a larger number of residents in the housing community,
• the technical feasibility of reducing the noise, for example, whether the perpetrator could realistically have reduced the noise through simple measures (soundproofing, changing activity times) but failed to do so.

Noise in a flat as a nuisance – when can a lawsuit be filed?

Another remedy available to property owners affected by excessive noise is an action for the removal of a nuisance. This mechanism is closely linked to what are known as ‘immissions’.

The concept of immissions is not explicitly defined in Polish law. Legal doctrine holds that emissions are impacts on a property arising from neighbouring properties, whether in the immediate or wider vicinity, caused by behaviour or events taking place on that property. It appears that excessive and above-standard neighbourhood noise falls within this definition.

Article 144 of the Polish Civil Code provides that, in exercising their rights, property owners should refrain from actions that would interfere with the use of neighbouring properties to an extent exceeding the average measure resulting from the socio-economic purpose of the property and local conditions. Consequently, the provision prohibits the generation of harmful emissions. However, where the permitted emission limits are exceeded, the owner of the property affected by the emissions may bring a so-called action for injunctive relief. The purpose of this legal mechanism is to obtain a court injunction prohibiting further emissions and to restore the ability to use the property without interference from the neighbour’s activities.

In its judgment, the court does not confine itself to a general order, but may specify in great detail what measures are to be taken by the entity generating the emissions – for example, the implementation of specific technical solutions, changes to work organisation, or the replacement of noise-generating equipment, for instance:

“The court ordered (…) the installation in the premises and on the loading bay of a resin floor and expansion joints or a floor covering meeting acoustic standards, the replacement of rubber dampers under the compressors mounted on the building wall, and the construction of a noise-reducing canopy over the loading bay – as described in detail in the expert opinion of R. M. dated 8 February 2015, 24 June 2015, 20 August 2017 and 19 February 2018” (judgment of the Court of Appeal in Kraków dated 2 August 2019, ref. no. I ACa 999/18).

Noise in the premises – gathering evidence

Naturally, in Poland, when basing a claim on both noise pollution regulations and the infringement of personal rights, it will be crucial to gather evidence that demonstrates both the scale of the problem and its impact on daily life in the property. Above all, a key document may be an expert opinion (from a court-appointed or private expert) in the field of acoustics, who will measure noise levels and compare them with the applicable standards, which are expressed in decibels. Of key importance will be not only the fact that noise standards have been exceeded, but also the nature of the noise and its impact on daily life. It is also worth noting that case law emphasises that even if individual measurements do not always show an exceedance of standards, the actual noise level under normal operating conditions of all equipment and processes is of decisive importance.

Compulsory sale of a property generating excessive noise

The compulsory sale of a flat within a housing community is an extraordinary measure designed to protect the legal interests of the community, used, amongst other things, in cases of gross or persistent breaches of domestic order. Undoubtedly, the generation of excessive noise by a flat owner may, in certain situations, be regarded as a gross or persistent breach of order, justifying the community’s request for the compulsory sale of the flat pursuant to Section 16 of the Polish Act on Ownership of Flats. The provision therefore allows for the compulsory ‘removal’ of a person generating noise from a residential building, against their will.

Of course, ‘removal’ does not occur automatically, and in disputes based on this provision, both the intensity and frequency of such actions, as well as their impact on the ability to make normal use of the premises and the common areas of the property, will be subject to assessment.

However, given that this mechanism leads to far-reaching interference with property rights, it may be applied only after strictly defined conditions have been met and in accordance with the principle of proportionality. We have provided further information on the practical aspects of applying the mechanism of compulsory sale of a flat in this publication.

Summary

In summary, excessive noise in a residential property is not merely a matter of discomfort, but may constitute a genuine breach of the law, triggering specific civil law remedies. It is crucial to distinguish between noise typical of multi-occupancy buildings and excessive noise that exceeds permissible limits and infringes upon privacy, rest or health.

In such cases, the property owner is not deprived of protection; they may assert their rights both through claims for the protection of personal rights (including compensation) and through a declaratory action aimed at effectively limiting the source of the noise. In extreme situations, it is also possible to apply exceptional measures, such as the compulsory sale of the property.