Noise laws..again
Aug 11th 2007, 5:29 pm
#31
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Oct 2003
Location: Depends
Posts: 4,041
Re: Noise laws..again
There are noise laws in Spain, for the poster who asked. There is a site here also http://www.ruidos.org/ There is one in Andulusia called La Protection decree 326/2003 contra lad contaminucion del ruidoen Andulusia. Discos you are not meant to hear any music coming from them and they are meant to be sound proof. It is a criminal offence and some disco owners have been fined 300k Euros and some have ended up in jail. Two I know of were in Nerja and Barcelona. Town halls can also be fined if they don't police.
Where I lived they opened a disco right next door to me and I'm in land that is meant to be rustic. My lawyer wrote to the town hall, my spanish neighbours also complained and voila no disco as the guy hadn't applied for a licence. The Guardia went in and stopped it. Probably didn't help that my neighbours are ex and current police.
. But at night my neighbours do often talk loud or shouting, but I've got used to it now and I live in a good spanish community, no Foreigners including Brits around me, I'm the only foreigner. 
The dogs in the area do bark but I find the two next to me a good warning of anyone around and my dog also then goes out to check. I've had my windows changed also, having the wind come in and the heat go out in the winter and them probably being 30 years old, prompted the decision. Mine are also double glazed and that has taken out quite a bit of the sound. I also find having the fan on full blast at the moment in my bedroom also drowns out quite a bit also and I don't hear the dogs then. I don't have aircon, just a helicopter in my room. 
For the OP who has noisy kids around them, why not be friendly and bribe them to move somewhere else or go and do something constructive....they may not have any money to do anything...
Where I lived they opened a disco right next door to me and I'm in land that is meant to be rustic. My lawyer wrote to the town hall, my spanish neighbours also complained and voila no disco as the guy hadn't applied for a licence. The Guardia went in and stopped it. Probably didn't help that my neighbours are ex and current police.
. But at night my neighbours do often talk loud or shouting, but I've got used to it now and I live in a good spanish community, no Foreigners including Brits around me, I'm the only foreigner. The dogs in the area do bark but I find the two next to me a good warning of anyone around and my dog also then goes out to check. I've had my windows changed also, having the wind come in and the heat go out in the winter and them probably being 30 years old, prompted the decision. Mine are also double glazed and that has taken out quite a bit of the sound. I also find having the fan on full blast at the moment in my bedroom also drowns out quite a bit also and I don't hear the dogs then. I don't have aircon, just a helicopter in my room. For the OP who has noisy kids around them, why not be friendly and bribe them to move somewhere else or go and do something constructive....they may not have any money to do anything...
Aug 11th 2007, 7:08 pm
#32
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 79
Re: Noise laws..again
There are noise laws in Spain, for the poster who asked. There is a site here also http://www.ruidos.org/ There is one in Andulusia called La Protection decree 326/2003 contra lad contaminucion del ruidoen Andulusia. Discos you are not meant to hear any music coming from them and they are meant to be sound proof. It is a criminal offence and some disco owners have been fined 300k Euros and some have ended up in jail. Two I know of were in Nerja and Barcelona. Town halls can also be fined if they don't police.
Where I lived they opened a disco right next door to me and I'm in land that is meant to be rustic. My lawyer wrote to the town hall, my spanish neighbours also complained and voila no disco as the guy hadn't applied for a licence. The Guardia went in and stopped it. Probably didn't help that my neighbours are ex and current police.. But at night my neighbours do often talk loud or shouting, but I've got used to it now and I live in a good spanish community, no Foreigners including Brits around me, I'm the only foreigner. The dogs in the area do bark but I find the two next to me a good warning of anyone around and my dog also then goes out to check. I've had my windows changed also, having the wind come in and the heat go out in the winter and them probably being 30 years old, prompted the decision. Mine are also double glazed and that has taken out quite a bit of the sound. I also find having the fan on full blast at the moment in my bedroom also drowns out quite a bit also and I don't hear the dogs then. I don't have aircon, just a helicopter in my room. For the OP who has noisy kids around them, why not be friendly and bribe them to move somewhere else or go and do something constructive....they may not have any money to do anything...
Where I lived they opened a disco right next door to me and I'm in land that is meant to be rustic. My lawyer wrote to the town hall, my spanish neighbours also complained and voila no disco as the guy hadn't applied for a licence. The Guardia went in and stopped it. Probably didn't help that my neighbours are ex and current police.
. But at night my neighbours do often talk loud or shouting, but I've got used to it now and I live in a good spanish community, no Foreigners including Brits around me, I'm the only foreigner. The dogs in the area do bark but I find the two next to me a good warning of anyone around and my dog also then goes out to check. I've had my windows changed also, having the wind come in and the heat go out in the winter and them probably being 30 years old, prompted the decision. Mine are also double glazed and that has taken out quite a bit of the sound. I also find having the fan on full blast at the moment in my bedroom also drowns out quite a bit also and I don't hear the dogs then. I don't have aircon, just a helicopter in my room. For the OP who has noisy kids around them, why not be friendly and bribe them to move somewhere else or go and do something constructive....they may not have any money to do anything...
Aug 11th 2007, 10:01 pm
#33
Welsh Ambassador to Spain
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 1,741
Re: Noise laws..again
Ahhh....if only the Spanish could learn to live like our lovely, quiet well-behaved knife wielding, murderous, hoodie-wearing chavs.
Don't Vorry! Little by little ve vill take ze country
Don't Vorry! Little by little ve vill take ze country
Aug 11th 2007, 10:14 pm
#34
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 79
Re: Noise laws..again
fortaleza, now that is sehr gut and sehr funny... but there is some foresight there
Aug 24th 2007, 11:15 pm
#36
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Apr 2003
Location: Extremadura
Posts: 1,742
Re: Noise laws..again
Have only just found this thread, and felt I had to contribute - seeing as we are currently being driven to distraction by screaming, shouting, yelling kids!!
We love living in our little village; we have lots of friends here and we are (generally) quite happy to live life the Spanish way.
We are the only foreigners in the village, and have been accepted with open arms.
However, we are currently living in a rented house, right on the Plaza.
We completely accept that when there is a Fiesta (like there is next week) that we won't get any sleep, due to the noise of the music and everyone having fun.
We'll be out there enjoying ourselves too; and a Fiesta is meant to be noisy and busy - so no problem.
What we do struggle with, is the "invasion" of the relatives who come from far and wide to spend the summer holidays here!
There are so many young children and teenagers around at the moment............and they make such a flipping racket ALL the time
Shouting, yelling, screaming, screeching!!
I like children, and I'm all for them having fun.
I understand that the Spanish culture means that children play outside until the early hours during the summer................but do they all have to congregate outside our house!?
The teenagers sit on our doorstep shouting, singing, playing music on their mobiles and leaving litter (even though there's a bin 2 metres away
)
However, the huge difference about the teenagers here, is that I don't feel nervous around a big group of them - and none of them have ever been rude or foul mouthed to me.
The other day, I was trying to have a siesta, and just after 4pm, I was woken by a couple of teens and a 6 year old playing "volleyball" over the electric cables (!) with a plastic bottle!!
I asked them - with a wry grin - if there was a time for siesta, and they grinned back at me sheepishly and nodded. I think I made my point!
Of course, the other delights are the youngsters coming home from the disco at 6 a.m, who decide that it's OK to start yelling "Hey!" at the tops of their voices, playing their car stereos at full volume and playing football in the Plaza!!!
Then there's our wonderful next door neighbour, who regularly chucks buckets of water out into the street at 3, 4 or 5 a.m, from his third floor window!
Imagine how that sounds in the dead of night, when you're fast asleep
We musn't forget the dreadful motorbikes that plague everywhere, at anytime of the day or night.
Then there's the Churreria which opens at 7 a.m, and sounds like the Tower of Babel at this time of year!!
We've currently got a broken drain grill in the street outside our house. It has been temporarily covered over with a series of metal sheets (!) so now every time a vehicle goes over it, it makes you jump out of your skin!!
Especially when some people seem to think that they need to go over it at a rate of knots!
A great way to be woken at 7 a.m (not!)
I probably sound like a right old Victor Meldrew!
Don't get me wrong; I love the Spanish vitality, energy, openess, excitability, enthusiasm and so on.
It's just that at this time of the year, with an influx of so many other people - the village isn't the same, and the noise levels can be a tad wearing.
I do think there can sometimes be a general lack of consideration for other people; there's very much an "I'm up, you're all up!" attitude, whatever time of day or night.
I guess in time I'll learn to ignore all the noise, just like everyone else seems to
At least we shan't be living on the Plaza forever, and life should be a whole lot quieter once we have our own house.
Before anyone says anything, I do appreciate that we chose to come and live in Spain so therefore we should accept the Spanish way of life.
I feel that we do that - but it doesn't stop you getting frustrated when everyone around you is just so flipping loud!!
We love living in our little village; we have lots of friends here and we are (generally) quite happy to live life the Spanish way.
We are the only foreigners in the village, and have been accepted with open arms.
However, we are currently living in a rented house, right on the Plaza.
We completely accept that when there is a Fiesta (like there is next week) that we won't get any sleep, due to the noise of the music and everyone having fun.
We'll be out there enjoying ourselves too; and a Fiesta is meant to be noisy and busy - so no problem.
What we do struggle with, is the "invasion" of the relatives who come from far and wide to spend the summer holidays here!
There are so many young children and teenagers around at the moment............and they make such a flipping racket ALL the time
Shouting, yelling, screaming, screeching!!
I like children, and I'm all for them having fun.
I understand that the Spanish culture means that children play outside until the early hours during the summer................but do they all have to congregate outside our house!?
The teenagers sit on our doorstep shouting, singing, playing music on their mobiles and leaving litter (even though there's a bin 2 metres away
)However, the huge difference about the teenagers here, is that I don't feel nervous around a big group of them - and none of them have ever been rude or foul mouthed to me.
The other day, I was trying to have a siesta, and just after 4pm, I was woken by a couple of teens and a 6 year old playing "volleyball" over the electric cables (!) with a plastic bottle!!
I asked them - with a wry grin - if there was a time for siesta, and they grinned back at me sheepishly and nodded. I think I made my point!
Of course, the other delights are the youngsters coming home from the disco at 6 a.m, who decide that it's OK to start yelling "Hey!" at the tops of their voices, playing their car stereos at full volume and playing football in the Plaza!!!
Then there's our wonderful next door neighbour, who regularly chucks buckets of water out into the street at 3, 4 or 5 a.m, from his third floor window!
Imagine how that sounds in the dead of night, when you're fast asleep
We musn't forget the dreadful motorbikes that plague everywhere, at anytime of the day or night.
Then there's the Churreria which opens at 7 a.m, and sounds like the Tower of Babel at this time of year!!
We've currently got a broken drain grill in the street outside our house. It has been temporarily covered over with a series of metal sheets (!) so now every time a vehicle goes over it, it makes you jump out of your skin!!
Especially when some people seem to think that they need to go over it at a rate of knots!
A great way to be woken at 7 a.m (not!)
I probably sound like a right old Victor Meldrew!
Don't get me wrong; I love the Spanish vitality, energy, openess, excitability, enthusiasm and so on.
It's just that at this time of the year, with an influx of so many other people - the village isn't the same, and the noise levels can be a tad wearing.
I do think there can sometimes be a general lack of consideration for other people; there's very much an "I'm up, you're all up!" attitude, whatever time of day or night.
I guess in time I'll learn to ignore all the noise, just like everyone else seems to
At least we shan't be living on the Plaza forever, and life should be a whole lot quieter once we have our own house.
Before anyone says anything, I do appreciate that we chose to come and live in Spain so therefore we should accept the Spanish way of life.
I feel that we do that - but it doesn't stop you getting frustrated when everyone around you is just so flipping loud!!
Aug 25th 2007, 7:25 am
#37
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 79
Re: Noise laws..again
Have only just found this thread, and felt I had to contribute - seeing as we are currently being driven to distraction by screaming, shouting, yelling kids!!
We love living in our little village; we have lots of friends here and we are (generally) quite happy to live life the Spanish way.
We are the only foreigners in the village, and have been accepted with open arms.
However, we are currently living in a rented house, right on the Plaza.
We completely accept that when there is a Fiesta (like there is next week) that we won't get any sleep, due to the noise of the music and everyone having fun.
We'll be out there enjoying ourselves too; and a Fiesta is meant to be noisy and busy - so no problem.
What we do struggle with, is the "invasion" of the relatives who come from far and wide to spend the summer holidays here!
There are so many young children and teenagers around at the moment............and they make such a flipping racket ALL the time
Shouting, yelling, screaming, screeching!!
I like children, and I'm all for them having fun.
I understand that the Spanish culture means that children play outside until the early hours during the summer................but do they all have to congregate outside our house!?
The teenagers sit on our doorstep shouting, singing, playing music on their mobiles and leaving litter (even though there's a bin 2 metres away)
However, the huge difference about the teenagers here, is that I don't feel nervous around a big group of them - and none of them have ever been rude or foul mouthed to me.
The other day, I was trying to have a siesta, and just after 4pm, I was woken by a couple of teens and a 6 year old playing "volleyball" over the electric cables (!) with a plastic bottle!!
I asked them - with a wry grin - if there was a time for siesta, and they grinned back at me sheepishly and nodded. I think I made my point!
Of course, the other delights are the youngsters coming home from the disco at 6 a.m, who decide that it's OK to start yelling "Hey!" at the tops of their voices, playing their car stereos at full volume and playing football in the Plaza!!!
Then there's our wonderful next door neighbour, who regularly chucks buckets of water out into the street at 3, 4 or 5 a.m, from his third floor window!
Imagine how that sounds in the dead of night, when you're fast asleep
We musn't forget the dreadful motorbikes that plague everywhere, at anytime of the day or night.
Then there's the Churreria which opens at 7 a.m, and sounds like the Tower of Babel at this time of year!!
We've currently got a broken drain grill in the street outside our house. It has been temporarily covered over with a series of metal sheets (!) so now every time a vehicle goes over it, it makes you jump out of your skin!!
Especially when some people seem to think that they need to go over it at a rate of knots!
A great way to be woken at 7 a.m (not!)
I probably sound like a right old Victor Meldrew!
Don't get me wrong; I love the Spanish vitality, energy, openess, excitability, enthusiasm and so on.
It's just that at this time of the year, with an influx of so many other people - the village isn't the same, and the noise levels can be a tad wearing.
I do think there can sometimes be a general lack of consideration for other people; there's very much an "I'm up, you're all up!" attitude, whatever time of day or night.
I guess in time I'll learn to ignore all the noise, just like everyone else seems to
At least we shan't be living on the Plaza forever, and life should be a whole lot quieter once we have our own house.
Before anyone says anything, I do appreciate that we chose to come and live in Spain so therefore we should accept the Spanish way of life.
I feel that we do that - but it doesn't stop you getting frustrated when everyone around you is just so flipping loud!!
We love living in our little village; we have lots of friends here and we are (generally) quite happy to live life the Spanish way.
We are the only foreigners in the village, and have been accepted with open arms.
However, we are currently living in a rented house, right on the Plaza.
We completely accept that when there is a Fiesta (like there is next week) that we won't get any sleep, due to the noise of the music and everyone having fun.
We'll be out there enjoying ourselves too; and a Fiesta is meant to be noisy and busy - so no problem.
What we do struggle with, is the "invasion" of the relatives who come from far and wide to spend the summer holidays here!
There are so many young children and teenagers around at the moment............and they make such a flipping racket ALL the time
Shouting, yelling, screaming, screeching!!
I like children, and I'm all for them having fun.
I understand that the Spanish culture means that children play outside until the early hours during the summer................but do they all have to congregate outside our house!?
The teenagers sit on our doorstep shouting, singing, playing music on their mobiles and leaving litter (even though there's a bin 2 metres away
)However, the huge difference about the teenagers here, is that I don't feel nervous around a big group of them - and none of them have ever been rude or foul mouthed to me.
The other day, I was trying to have a siesta, and just after 4pm, I was woken by a couple of teens and a 6 year old playing "volleyball" over the electric cables (!) with a plastic bottle!!
I asked them - with a wry grin - if there was a time for siesta, and they grinned back at me sheepishly and nodded. I think I made my point!
Of course, the other delights are the youngsters coming home from the disco at 6 a.m, who decide that it's OK to start yelling "Hey!" at the tops of their voices, playing their car stereos at full volume and playing football in the Plaza!!!
Then there's our wonderful next door neighbour, who regularly chucks buckets of water out into the street at 3, 4 or 5 a.m, from his third floor window!
Imagine how that sounds in the dead of night, when you're fast asleep
We musn't forget the dreadful motorbikes that plague everywhere, at anytime of the day or night.
Then there's the Churreria which opens at 7 a.m, and sounds like the Tower of Babel at this time of year!!
We've currently got a broken drain grill in the street outside our house. It has been temporarily covered over with a series of metal sheets (!) so now every time a vehicle goes over it, it makes you jump out of your skin!!
Especially when some people seem to think that they need to go over it at a rate of knots!
A great way to be woken at 7 a.m (not!)
I probably sound like a right old Victor Meldrew!
Don't get me wrong; I love the Spanish vitality, energy, openess, excitability, enthusiasm and so on.
It's just that at this time of the year, with an influx of so many other people - the village isn't the same, and the noise levels can be a tad wearing.
I do think there can sometimes be a general lack of consideration for other people; there's very much an "I'm up, you're all up!" attitude, whatever time of day or night.
I guess in time I'll learn to ignore all the noise, just like everyone else seems to
At least we shan't be living on the Plaza forever, and life should be a whole lot quieter once we have our own house.
Before anyone says anything, I do appreciate that we chose to come and live in Spain so therefore we should accept the Spanish way of life.
I feel that we do that - but it doesn't stop you getting frustrated when everyone around you is just so flipping loud!!
But the noise is almost like in a madhouse, nothing I ever heard before. But it is cultural and I knew this before (Spain is the second noisies country in the world, after Japan someone said) but those noises are just terrible.
So I know what you mean. You are not the only one. I am still thinking what to do as if this continues lovely sceenery we have looking onto the beach and palm trees, will not look so lovely any more.
Aug 25th 2007, 7:32 am
#38
RETIRED ;-))
Joined: Jul 2003
Location: Benalmadena Pueblo,Spain
Posts: 20,156
Re: Noise laws..again
Don't worry as last nigt I was going absolutelly crazy with the upstairs family who screamed and shouted till 2am. The same family who poured water over my breakfast watering their flowers..And the same family who told me she is fed up with tourists telling her when to sleep when to wate flowers and when to put her kids to bed. I explained last week (after my very wt toast) that I am not a toursist, I live here, I need to get up for work and my child needs sleep as he has music lessons 9am 3 times a week and has to get up even if we are still on holiday.
But the noise is almost like in a madhouse, nothing I ever heard before. But it is cultural and I knew this before (Spain is the second noisies country in the world, after Japan someone said) but those noises are just terrible.
So I know what you mean. You are not the only one. I am still thinking what to do as if this continues lovely sceenery we have looking onto the beach and palm trees, will not look so lovely any more.
But the noise is almost like in a madhouse, nothing I ever heard before. But it is cultural and I knew this before (Spain is the second noisies country in the world, after Japan someone said) but those noises are just terrible.
So I know what you mean. You are not the only one. I am still thinking what to do as if this continues lovely sceenery we have looking onto the beach and palm trees, will not look so lovely any more.
Tell the police someone is being murdered in the apartment above, or there is a crack party going on. ;-))
Aug 25th 2007, 8:30 am
#39
MODERATOR
Joined: Mar 2007
Location: Costa Valencia
Posts: 14,795
Re: Noise laws..again
Hi Sam
Know exactly where you are coming from. If it is any consolation in our town this week it is the fiesta that is organised by the 18 year old so it is rock bands every night until 4 a.m. and the bangers to wake you at 8 a.m. A 25 year old girl who lives in the main street where it is all set up was complaining to me the other day about the noise levels and the fact that she is getting no sleep. How you are feeling is the same as the Spanish people who are born and raised here so it is nothing to do with the fact that you have chosen to live here.
We know that the past week and next week are our two weeks of extremely little sleep and that most of the people here try to get the time off work because they cannot cope with the lack of sleep.
Rosemary
Know exactly where you are coming from. If it is any consolation in our town this week it is the fiesta that is organised by the 18 year old so it is rock bands every night until 4 a.m. and the bangers to wake you at 8 a.m. A 25 year old girl who lives in the main street where it is all set up was complaining to me the other day about the noise levels and the fact that she is getting no sleep. How you are feeling is the same as the Spanish people who are born and raised here so it is nothing to do with the fact that you have chosen to live here.
We know that the past week and next week are our two weeks of extremely little sleep and that most of the people here try to get the time off work because they cannot cope with the lack of sleep.
Rosemary
Aug 25th 2007, 8:50 am
#40
Senior Moment
Joined: Jan 2006
Location: On the edge
Posts: 20,460
Re: Noise laws..again
Thats why I'm so pleased we chose out of town. The hustle and bustle is there if we want it, but we can retreat to the quiet here.
Having said that I've just added a couple of pics to my gallery, a couple of the fireworks last night that went off at about 11-12 pm, and one of an amazing sunset we had the day before yesterday ..... two extremes!
Having said that I've just added a couple of pics to my gallery, a couple of the fireworks last night that went off at about 11-12 pm, and one of an amazing sunset we had the day before yesterday ..... two extremes!
Aug 25th 2007, 9:03 am
#41
Straw Man.
Joined: Aug 2006
Location: That, there, that's not my post count... nothing to see here, move along.
Posts: 46,302
Re: Noise laws..again
Thats why I'm so pleased we chose out of town. The hustle and bustle is there if we want it, but we can retreat to the quiet here.
Having said that I've just added a couple of pics to my gallery, a couple of the fireworks last night that went off at about 11-12 pm, and one of an amazing sunset we had the day before yesterday ..... two extremes!
Having said that I've just added a couple of pics to my gallery, a couple of the fireworks last night that went off at about 11-12 pm, and one of an amazing sunset we had the day before yesterday ..... two extremes!
Aug 25th 2007, 9:25 am
#43
Popping in for a chat
Joined: Jun 2006
Location: Back home
Posts: 4,573
Re: Noise laws..again
We are on an urbanisation and there is still building work going on...Sunday is the builders day off so that should be a quiet relaxing day. Noooo.......it is filled with constant noise from other residents drilling, cutting stone, banging and installing swimming pools etc.. 
Aug 25th 2007, 9:36 am
#44
Straw Man.
Joined: Aug 2006
Location: That, there, that's not my post count... nothing to see here, move along.
Posts: 46,302
Aug 25th 2007, 9:56 am
#45
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 312
Re: Noise laws..again
Hi Sam
Know exactly where you are coming from. If it is any consolation in our town this week it is the fiesta that is organised by the 18 year old so it is rock bands every night until 4 a.m. and the bangers to wake you at 8 a.m. A 25 year old girl who lives in the main street where it is all set up was complaining to me the other day about the noise levels and the fact that she is getting no sleep. How you are feeling is the same as the Spanish people who are born and raised here so it is nothing to do with the fact that you have chosen to live here.
We know that the past week and next week are our two weeks of extremely little sleep and that most of the people here try to get the time off work because they cannot cope with the lack of sleep.
Rosemary
Know exactly where you are coming from. If it is any consolation in our town this week it is the fiesta that is organised by the 18 year old so it is rock bands every night until 4 a.m. and the bangers to wake you at 8 a.m. A 25 year old girl who lives in the main street where it is all set up was complaining to me the other day about the noise levels and the fact that she is getting no sleep. How you are feeling is the same as the Spanish people who are born and raised here so it is nothing to do with the fact that you have chosen to live here.
We know that the past week and next week are our two weeks of extremely little sleep and that most of the people here try to get the time off work because they cannot cope with the lack of sleep.
Rosemary
In another case I was at a local church recently and saw a neighbour come in to complain about the bells being rung. The church is 100 years old and was there before any of the residents, and it's not as if the bells ring for hours- 10 minutes more like.
You would imagine that people would think when they buy a property that now and again these things will happen- like on Saturdays every other week there will be football matches and every Sunday there will be church bells. Like on the sunny Costas people will be out and about all hours.
But that's asking way too much. They move in and complain about something that has been going on for generations. I don't understand the mentality.
