Question
We live in an apartment building and we have a noisy neighbor below us. He plays music very loudly, even in the evening and at night. We called the police several times, but that didn’t solve the problem. Do we have any other options?
The answer
If the police have not solved the problem, they basically have two legal options:
1. Report them to the district office for administrative offenses. In practice, however, we consider such a solution to be of little use, for procedures that often last several months and result in sanctions that are not too high.
2. Initiate court proceedings (neighborhood dispute) in which they demand the establishment of a ban on noise pollution. Such a procedure may take years under the conditions of the Slovak Republic, but it is probably the only effective solution. Violation of a court decision then leads to a possible criminal sanction. We encourage you to continuously collect the necessary background material to prove the validity of the claim. It is possible to apply for an emergency measure to be issued during (or even before) the court proceedings. The court decides on this (with an expected appeal) in the order of weeks to months. However, there is no legal entitlement to the issuing of an emergency measure, the issuing of which is entirely within the jurisdiction of the court. A good lawyer will help you with this.
Answer according to the current legal status valid on 12/04/2022.