The fine could be imposed as part of a CPN which are issued by local councils (Picture: Getty)

Crying or arguing in your own home could be considered a crime and can lead to a hefty fine being imposed.

This is due to Community Protection Notices (CPNs), which are issued by local councils to prevent residents from disrupting their neighbours’ everyday life.

Prime Minister Theresa May introduced the rules when she was home secretary in 2014.

Anyone who is 16 or older can be issued with a CPN.


Anything which is deemed to be disruptive to your neighbours, such as crying loudly or arguing, could result in your local council slapping you with a notice which bans you from continuing.

In Newcastle-Under-Lyme, residents are forbidden from crying, arguing or banging loudly in their own homw (Picture: iStockphoto)

A Freedom of Information request by The Sun found that in Newcastle-Under-Lyme, residents are forbidden from crying, arguing or banging loudly in their own home.



The council in the area served one resident a notice to ‘not to create any wailing, jabbering, crying and hammering on the wall type noises’ in December 2015 following a complaint from a neighbour.

It said that the noises should not be ‘capable of being heard outside of any property that x [the neighbour] may reside at any time of the day and night’.

The council said that it had not had any reports of the notice being breached, and that it hasn’t issued any fines so far.

If individuals are served a CPN and fail to comply, they face an on-the-spot fine of £10 (Picture: Arman Zhenikeyev)

However, if individuals are served a CPN and fail to comply, they face an on-the-spot fine of £100 or a fine of up to £2,500 if prosecuted.

Meanwhile, businesses can be fined up to a whopping £20,000.

What is a CPN? A CPN can be issued when the behaviour is: deemed to have a ‘detrimental effect’ on the quality of life of those in the locality

persistent or continuing in nature

unreasonable There is no restriction on the type of behaviour a CPN can deal with, for example it can deal with noise, nuisance, rubbish in gardens and littering Before issuing a CPN, the issuing body is supposed to give a written warning setting out that if the antisocial behaviour continues a CPN will be issued.