A noise diary records every incident as it happens: the date, the time it started, the time it stopped, what the noise was, which room you were in, and what it stopped you doing. Councils judge noise by its effect on your home, not by loudness, so that last column is the one that counts. Most ask for two to four weeks.
What the sheet actually asks for
Councils, housing associations and ombudsmen all say the same thing when you complain about noise: keep a diary. Then they hand you a photocopied sheet and leave you to it. The columns are nearly always these.
| Column | What goes in it | Why they want it |
|---|---|---|
| Date | The day it happened | Shows the pattern: weekends, weeknights, every night |
| Started / stopped | Both times, to the minute | Duration is half of what makes noise a nuisance |
| Type of noise | Bass through the wall, shouting, dog, DIY, door slamming | Decides which team deals with it |
| Where from | The flat above, next door, the street, the pub yard | Identifies who they serve a notice on |
| Which room you were in | Bedroom, living room | Noise in a bedroom at 1am is a different case from noise in a hall at 4pm |
| Effect on you | What it stopped you doing | The part they act on. See below. |
The column almost everyone leaves blank
In England and Wales, a council assesses noise against the statutory nuisance test in Part III of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. The test is not “was it loud”. It is whether the noise unreasonably interferes with the use or enjoyment of your home, or is prejudicial to health — judged by how it would affect an ordinary, reasonable person, taking in how often it happens, how long it lasts, what time of day, and the character of the area.
Which means the effect column is the case. A diary full of times and types with that column empty tells an officer almost nothing.
Tells them nothing
23:40 – 01:15. Loud music from flat above. Very loud. Unbearable.
Tells them the case
23:40 – 01:15. Bass through the bedroom ceiling from the flat above, loud enough to feel through the headboard. Could not get to sleep; got up at 00:20 and sat in the kitchen. Slept about four hours and was late for work.
Write it in your own words, at the time, in the room. Nobody needs it to sound official.
What a phone can and cannot do
A phone is not a sound level meter. The microphone is uncalibrated, the reading changes completely depending on where the phone is lying, and no environmental health team will accept a phone decibel figure as a measurement. Anyone selling you an app on that promise is selling you something that will be dismissed.
What a phone is good for is being in your hand at 23:40 when the sheet is downstairs in a drawer. And what does carry weight is a short recording of the noise itself: an officer can listen to it, and it is the closest they will get to standing in your bedroom at the time.
Keep the clips short, record only from inside your own home, and never record a conversation you are not part of.
How long, and what happens next
- Most councils want two to four weeks before they act. Ask yours, because it varies.
- Send it back even if the noise stopped. A gap in the diary is evidence too.
- Keep writing while they investigate. The diary usually needs to cover the whole period, not just the first fortnight.
- If they are satisfied it is a statutory nuisance they can serve an abatement notice, and breaching one is a criminal offence.
- If nothing happens, use the council's own complaints procedure, then the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman — or the Housing Ombudsman if your landlord is a housing association or the council. Both will ask for the dated record.
The other three diaries
The same discipline works for the three other things people are told to keep a record of, and each has its own published layout.
| Diary | What it records |
|---|---|
| Damp and mould | Which room, which wall, how far it has spread, photographs with the date they were taken, and every time you reported it and what you were told. |
| Repairs not done | A dated timeline: what you reported, the reference you were given, what was promised, who came, what they did or did not do. |
| Anti-social behaviour | A block per incident: what happened, who was involved, witnesses, whether the police were called and the incident number. |
The app that writes it as it happens
The Complaint Diary is that photocopied sheet, in your pocket. Tap when the noise starts and the entry is written there and then with the time. Tap again when it stops, and say what it stopped you doing — the app asks for that every time, because it is the part they act on.
On paper you get your name, address and their reference at the head of every page, page numbers and a signature line at the foot, the declaration councils print on their own forms, photographs with the date they were actually taken, and a record of anything you changed after the fact — because a diary that can be quietly rewritten is worth less than one that shows its workings.
Writing entries is free and always will be, with no limit. Nobody should be stopped from writing down what is happening to them. One purchase unlocks the whole printed sheet, the case file with photographs and recordings, the spreadsheet, and as many diaries as you need.
The Complaint Diary
Free to download. Writing entries is free and unlimited. One purchase, no subscription. iPhone, United Kingdom only. Checked against the diary sheets published by councils and housing providers in September 2026.
Get it on the App StoreQuestions people ask
- How long do I have to keep it?
Usually two to four weeks before the council will act, then keep going while they investigate.
- Will they accept decibels from my phone?
No. Use a recording and a clear account of the effect on you instead.
- Does everyday living noise count?
Usually not. Footsteps, a washing machine at a sensible hour, a baby crying and ordinary conversation are rarely a statutory nuisance, however thin the walls are. Frequency, duration and time of night are what move it across the line.
- Should I tell the neighbour first?
Councils generally ask whether you have, and many will expect it unless you have good reason not to. Write down when you did and what was said, whatever the answer.
- Does it work without signal?
Yes, entirely. It works in aeroplane mode and nothing is ever uploaded.
- Is there an Android version?
No. It is an iPhone app only, and it is sold in the United Kingdom.
This page describes how complaint diaries are normally kept and what the published sheets ask for. It is general information, not legal advice, and it cannot promise any particular outcome. If your case is serious or urgent, speak to your council's environmental health team, to Citizens Advice, or to a solicitor.