Security Perspective: Why Condominium Noise Policies are Win-Win-Win.

Among the top 5 issues that will cause strife in a condominium, 3 of them are? Pets, Smoke, and NOISE.? The issue with noise is that it can be subjective; what is loud for one person may be normal for another. Combine that with the stress of multiple people living in the same building and there is a recipe for confrontation.

We have found that having a clear Noise Policy and communicating it to the residents and the staff goes a long way to alleviate this potential issue. What the policy does is:

1. Sets the expectations for the residents, both those who have an issue with the noise and those that are potentially making the noise?
2. Gives the Condominium Security Staff a clear set of directions on how to address these issues.
3. Gives management (the Board of Directors and Condominium Manager) usable information that they can act on, should the need arise.?

As part of a noise policy, we include the municipal sound levels. This gives the residents an objective standard on what is acceptable. We also include the process for registering a concern and the action that should be taken by the residents to follow up.?

For a condominium that frequently experiences noise complaints, we recommend the security team members receive some specific training on how to deal with these issues. They should also have, as part of their post orders, a copy of the Noise Policy. We have found that placing a sound meter in the office also assists when reporting on the issue. As the sound reading is not admissible for most situations, the sound meter does not need to be state of the art. What is very important is pre-determining the method of communication. How these noise issues are passed up to management and how they are stored is critical, so that management can review them at a future date, should the need arise.

Which brings us to the 3rd “Win”, that for the managers. Having a clear policy helps eliminate the Monday Morning emails that need to address a noise complaint from last Friday night. Having a policy puts the actionable items in the residents court, so that the manager has any tools/information they may need to appropriately follow-up. Having this information helps establish any history (repeat offenders) and allows for professional resolution.????

Our 3 Takeaways?

1. ?Include in the policy any municipal rules or guidelines.
2. Detail in the policy the actions required to both register a complaint (Resident) and the action taken by staff (Security) to manage expectations.?
3. Communicate, Communicate, Communicate: make sure that the complaint does not get lost in a daily shift report and that managers are able to retrieve the details should the need arise.?

Next week, we are sending out a copy of a policy that we have found useful.??

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