Things are finally starting to get back to normal in the UK. But having endured several national lockdowns, how have UK residents coped with the extra time spent with their neighbours?

A new study by The Solar Centre reveals a huge rise in nuisance complaints in the last year, suggesting the extra time spent at home has caused neighbour disputes to boil over.

This is according to data gathered through Freedom of Information requests, sent to almost 200 UK councils. Data analysts at The Solar Centre then crunched the numbers to reveal the extent of the complaints.

In 2020, there were 299,077 noise and statutory nuisance complaints filed across the country, a 28% increase on the yearly average*.

This increase was even higher in London, rising from 76,717 complaints in 2019 to 99,754 in 2020 – a 30% increase year over year.

In five years, councils in London received 420,535 nuisance and noise complaints. But, the home of London, and the UK’s, worst neighbours is Hammersmith and Fulham, with 21,314 complaints per capita since 2016.

Of all the complaints Hammersmith and Fulham Council received, the most common was loud music. This was the case for many areas in London. Some of the more unusual complaints included urination, running a brothel and one resident even complained about delivery noise – something surely out of the neighbour’s control.

Behind Hammersmith and Fulham, the areas with the highest volume of complaints were Hillingdon, with 20,106 per capita, followed by Barking and Dagenham with 15,514 per capita.