Neighbour's hot tub, pool pump or extractor fan humming day and night: what can you do?
Updated: 2 days ago
A hot tub on the patio, a pool in the garden or a new extractor fan in the garage: for your neighbours it is a treat. For you it can mean a low hum that never stops. In the evening and at night, when everything else is quiet, you suddenly hear it everywhere. This article explains how to describe that kind of noise, how to raise it calmly and which rules apply in the UK.
Why this kind of noise stands out
A pool pump, the filter unit of a hot tub, mechanical ventilation or a refrigeration unit is rarely loud. The problem is that it is constant. A pool pump often runs for eight hours or more a day in season, a hot tub filters and heats at night as well, and a chest freezer starts up every few hours. A low hum also travels easily through walls and windows and is sometimes felt more than heard.
Your neighbours usually notice very little. The unit stands outside, in a cabinet or in an outbuilding on the far side of their house, and they are used to it. So assume they do not know how it sounds at your place.
Raise it in a friendly way
Start with what you notice yourself, without criticising the equipment. Say that the sound seems to come from a certain direction and suggest listening together:
"For a few weeks now I've been hearing a low hum in our bedroom in the evening. It seems to come from your hot tub, but I'm not sure. Would you be willing to come and listen some time?"
From their side they generally cannot hear what you hear.
What you can ask for and agree
Ask for one specific, realistic change and agree when you will check together whether it helps:
Timer or night setting. A pool pump can run during the day and be off between, say, 10 pm and 8 am. Many hot tubs have an eco or sleep mode.
Anti-vibration mounts. Rubber feet or a damping mat under the pump or unit keep the hum out of the wall and the floor.
Enclosure. A box lined with sound-absorbing material and fitted with ventilation openings dampens a pump considerably without overheating the motor.
Relocation. A few metres further from your bedroom, or behind a shed, often makes a difference.
Servicing. A rattling fan or a worn bearing is usually quick to fix.
Put the agreement briefly in writing and name a date to review it.
What do the rules say in the UK?
There is no law that says how long or when a pool pump, hot tub or extractor fan may run. Noise from a home can, however, be a statutory nuisance under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 if it unreasonably and substantially interferes with the use of your home. The council's environmental health team looks at the time of day, how long and how often the noise occurs and the character of the area; it does not need decibel readings. If it finds a nuisance, it can serve an abatement notice that restricts the noise or limits it to certain hours. A constant hum at night is usually judged differently from a pump that runs for a few hours during the day.
Your tenancy agreement, lease or house rules may also contain terms about noise, and in Scotland a hot tub at a short-term let may be subject to licensing conditions. This article is general information, not legal advice; check with your council or an adviser if in doubt.
Keep a log
Each time, note the date, start and end time, which room you heard it in, whether windows were open or closed, what it sounded like and what it did to you. Add whether the source is confirmed or only suspected. Do not quote decibels you measured yourself; a phone app is not an official measurement.
In practice
In January 2024 Perth and Kinross Council's licensing committee dealt with a holiday cottage in Crieff whose hot tub was used late into the night, with music and loud conversation carrying over the fence. Rather than refusing the short-term let licence, councillors granted it for one year with a condition that guests leave the hot tub and garden by 10 pm, a compromise the neighbour described as reasonable (source: The Courier). The lesson: a clear time limit is often the solution, not removing the hot tub.
If you cannot sort it out together
Send a second, clear letter. Refer to your earlier conversation and mention what you have recorded in your log.
Try community mediation. A neutral mediator often gets the conversation going again.
Contact the council. The environmental health team can explain the rules, ask you to keep a diary and investigate whether the noise is a statutory nuisance.
Would you rather write a short note yourself first? Create a friendly first letter in two minutes with our free message generator.
Help with the first message
With the CalmNotes pack for pool pump, hot tub and ventilation noise you get editable sample messages to raise the hum calmly, a reminder and a third message if nothing changes, guidance on the rules and a log. Read more on the page pool pump, hot tub and ventilation.
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