Before you make a noise complaint
Before you make a noise complaint to Liquor & Gaming NSW, you must try talking to the venue manager or licensee.
This is often the most effective and fastest way to resolve a noise disturbance issue.
Let them know about your concerns with noise coming from their venue or patrons leaving the venue. Make sure they are aware of the issue and can try to address the problem.
Information is avaiable to help educate and support licenced venues and their communities.
If you don’t feel comfortable speaking to the licensee or venue operator, or if the issue isn’t resolved, you can lodge a noise complaint.
Making a noise complaint
Noise complaints are reports made by members of the community raising concerns about the level of noise made by a licensed venue. This may include:
- noise from amplified music
- other types of entertainment such as karaoke and trivia
- patron noise
- anti-social behaviour from patrons when leaving a venue.
To help us understand your concerns, you must provide a detailed summary of the noise issues. Things to include:
- The type of disturbance, date and time.
- Any actions you took, for example, if you contacted the venue or NSW Police.
- A record of your attempts to engage with the venue to resolve the issues and outline what happened. You may also wish to keep a diary or log of noise issues about each instance of disturbance.
You can submit video or audio files to support your complaint. We may use these to help assess the issue, but not as enforcement evidence.
How we handle noise complaints
We assess noise complaints using a risk-based approach. We may consider relevant factors such as:
- If you have made attempts to resolve the complaint directly with the licensee or venue operator.
- The context of the complaint. This includes the type, frequency, seriousness, and timing of the alleged disturbance.
- Intelligence, including compliance history.
- Whether the venue has any existing noise-related conditions on its liquor licence.
- Whether resource requirements are proportionate to achieving a desired outcome.
- The objectives and purpose of the relevant legislation and the available enforcement options.
Depending on the situation, we may choose a formal investigation or take other action.
For more information on the process, read the Noise Complaint fact sheet. It also outlines our approach in dealing with noise reports.
What happens after a complaint
Once a complaint has been submitted, L&GNSW will assess the best way to handle it. Action we may take includes:
- Encouraging you and the licensee to resolve the issues locally.
- Mediation between you and the licensee, guided by L&GNSW inspectors.
- Remedially engaging with the venue providing education and support. This gives the venue an opportunity to put proactive measures in place and may result in a timely resolution.
- Recording the complaint and taking no further action. We may use these recorded complaints for compliance activities.
- Referring your complaint to another agency such as NSW Police or a local council.
- Allocating your complaint to a L&GNSW inspector for investigation.
Investigations can take an extended time to complete, but we will notify you of the outcome. For privacy reasons, we may not be able to disclose details if an enforcement action is taken.
L&GNSW inspectors conduct investigations into compliance issues. They follow a graduated enforcement approach set out in the Compliance and Enforcement Policy.
More serious or ongoing disturbances
You may lodge a statutory disturbance complaint (rather than a general noise complaint) if all of the following apply:
- you are experiencing ongoing noise and disturbance issues with a licensed venue
- you have not been able to resolve your concerns directly with the venue
- you have reported these matters to L&GNSW before.
You must meet specific requirements before lodging a disturbance complaint and the process may take some months to resolve.
Learn more about making a statutory disturbance complaint.