Noise and the right to quiet enjoyment, by country
Where the statutes speak to disturbance in rented homes. Ontario is the only one that forbids a landlord by name from substantially interfering with reasonable enjoyment and also lets a tenant who does the same be served a notice that is void if the conduct stops within seven days. Sweden sets the strictest duty on the tenant, a warning-first route and a social-committee notice before the lease is forfeited, while Germany and Spain allow ending the lease directly for a serious disturbance or a nuisance activity, and Norway and the Netherlands state the duty without naming an ending rule.
Scope of this guide
Canada: the Canada Labour Code (federal sector) and the Ontario statutes that LawAsked has loaded. Other provinces are not compared.
| Country | Landlord's duty | Tenant's duty towards others | Remedy or ending the tenancy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | Must not disturb the tenant in the agreed use or enjoyment | Landlord may demand early termination if the tenant makes considerably harmful use of the property | |
| Canada | Must not substantially interfere with the tenant's reasonable enjoyment of the unit or complex | Conduct that substantially interferes with other tenants' or the landlord's reasonable enjoyment is a ground for notice | Landlord's notice must give at least 20 days and is void if the tenant stops within seven days; tenant may apply to the Board about landlord interference |
| Germany | Must grant the tenant use of the property during the tenancy | Contrary use continued after a warning can be stopped by court action | Either party may end without notice if the other lastingly disturbs the peace of the house and continuing is unreasonable |
| Spain | Landlord's disturbance of the tenant's use of the home, in fact or in law, is a ground for the tenant to end the contract | Nuisance, unhealthy, harmful, dangerous or unlawful activities in the home are not allowed | Landlord may end the contract outright for such activities; tenant may end it for the landlord's disturbance |
| Netherlands | Must make the property available to the tenant and leave it available for the agreed use | Must behave as a good tenant in using the property; must report disturbance by third parties without delay | |
| Norway | Must keep ordinary peace and order in the property during the tenancy, unless agreed otherwise | Must follow ordinary house rules and reasonable orders made to secure good order | |
| Sweden | Must ensure neighbours are not exposed to disturbances that are harmful to health or worsen their living environment so much that they should not reasonably be tolerated | Landlord must first urge the tenant to stop and notify the social committee; the tenancy is forfeited if the disturbance is not corrected without delay after the warning |
Country by country
Austria
- Rule
- ABGB §§ 1096, 1118
- Applies to leases under the ABGB. The Mietrechtsgesetz grounds for termination were not usable because their item lists are not in the ingested text.
die Bestandinhaber in dem bedungenen Gebrauche oder Genusse nicht zu stören wenn der Bestandnehmer der Sache einen erheblichen nachtheiligen Gebrauch davon macht Canada
- Rule
- Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 (Ontario), ss. 22, 29, 64
- Ontario statute only; the Canada Labour Code does not cover housing. An application to the Board must be made within one year of the conduct.
substantially interfere with the reasonable enjoyment of the rental unit or the residential complex in which it is located for all usual purposes by a tenant or members of his or her household it substantially interferes with the reasonable enjoyment of the residential complex for all usual purposes by the landlord or another tenantprovide a termination date not earlier than the 20th day after the notice is givenThe notice of termination under subsection (1) is void if the tenant, within seven days after receiving the notice, stops the conduct or activity or corrects the omission. An order determining that the landlord, superintendent or agent of the landlord has substantially interfered with the reasonable enjoyment of the rental unit or residential complex for all usual purposes by the tenant or a member of his or her household.No application may be made under subsection (1) more than one year after the day the alleged conduct giving rise to the application occurred. Germany
- Rule
- BGB §§ 535, 541, 569
- Residential lets. The ingested text does not define noise or set quiet hours; the test is the lasting disturbance of "Hausfrieden" weighed against both parties' interests.
Durch den Mietvertrag wird der Vermieter verpflichtet, dem Mieter den Gebrauch der Mietsache während der Mietzeit zu gewähren. Setzt der Mieter einen vertragswidrigen Gebrauch der Mietsache trotz einer Abmahnung des Vermieters fort, so kann dieser auf Unterlassung klagen. wenn eine Vertragspartei den Hausfrieden nachhaltig stört Spain
- Rule
- Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos, art. 27
- Housing lets under the LAU. The article lists the grounds but sets no noise threshold.
e) Cuando en la vivienda tengan lugar actividades molestas, insalubres, nocivas, peligrosas o ilícitas.b) La perturbación de hecho o de derecho que realice el arrendador en la utilización de la vivienda. Netherlands
- Rule
- Burgerlijk Wetboek Boek 7, art. 203, 213, 222
- The articles read do not set a remedy or ending rule for a disturbance; failing to report disturbance by third parties makes the tenant liable for the damage caused by the delay.
De verhuurder is verplicht de zaak ter beschikking van de huurder te stellen en te laten voor zover dat voor het overeengekomen gebruik noodzakelijk is. De huurder is verplicht zich ten aanzien van het gebruik van de gehuurde zaak als een goed huurder te gedragen. derden hem in zijn genot storen of enig recht op de zaak beweren, moet hij daarvan onverwijld aan de verhuurder kennis geven Norway
- Rule
- Husleieloven § 5-2
- The section states the duties of both sides; the ending rule for breach is in the general breach provisions, not read here.
Er ikke annet avtalt, plikter utleieren i leietiden å opprettholde vanlig ro og orden i eiendommen.Leieren plikter å følge vanlige ordensregler og rimelige påbud som utleieren har fastsatt til sikring av god husorden. Sweden
- Rule
- Jordabalk 12 kap. 25, 25 a, 42 §§
- Housing tenancies. For particularly serious disturbances the warning step can be skipped, and the right is not forfeited if the matter is of minor importance.
Hyresgästen ska vid sin användning av lägenheten också se till att de som bor i omgivningen inte utsätts för störningar som i sådan grad kan vara skadliga för hälsan eller annars försämra deras bostadsmiljö att de inte skäligen bör tålas (störningar i boendet). ska hyresvärden uppmana hyresgästen att se till att beteendet omedelbart upphör och, om denne är en bostadshyresgäst, underrätta socialnämnden gör sig skyldig till bristande skötsamhet eller störningar i boendet eller inte håller den tillsyn som krävs enligt 25 b § och rättelse inte görs utan dröjsmål efter uppmaningHyresrätten är inte förverkad om det som ligger hyresgästen till last är av ringa betydelse. Countries not in this table yet
The United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, France and Japan are not covered: the ingested statutes (federal US law, the Housing Act 2004 and the Japanese leasing act) contain no provision on a landlord's duty of quiet enjoyment or on noise between tenants, and their law is not guessed here.
How this table was built
Every row is taken from the official, consolidated text of the statute, which LawAsked loads from each government’s legislation service.
Each figure is tied to a passage quoted word for word from that text. When the page is served, it checks that every quoted passage is still in the current text of a law that is in force; if a law is amended and its wording changes, that row is hidden until a person reviews it again.
The table shows the statutory minimum only. Collective agreements, awards and individual contracts often give more than the statute, and some countries let a collective agreement set different terms.
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The table and the CSV are free to reuse under CC BY 4.0: credit LawAsked and link to this page. Quoted statute text stays under the terms of its official source.
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LawAsked, “Noise and the right to quiet enjoyment, by country”, https://lawasked.com/guides/quiet-enjoyment-noise (reviewed October 25, 2026).
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