VAN NUYS, LOS ANGELES (KABC)
In a normally quiet stretch of Van Nuys, CA, residents say their peace has been shattered for months by a homeowner who unleashes window-rattling blasts from train horns and his home alarm on an almost daily basis.
The man, 50, admits to the noise—claiming it’s his way of getting the LAPD’s Van Nuys division to respond to an ongoing grievance.
While he sees it as a protest, neighbors call it harassment.
The situation raises a broader question for homeowners everywhere: What can you actually do when someone’s excessive noise disrupts your life?
The Van Nuys noise nightmare
Gary Boyadzhyan has been intermittently blasting horns, sirens, and alarms since May, leading to multiple complaints from neighbors.
Boyadzhyan told Fox 11 he is doing this because his ex-girlfriend’s father has been terrorizing and torturing him for the past 20 years, and that he’s blasting the horn so that law enforcement can do their job and serve justice against that man.
“I need help,” he told ABC7 Eyewitness News. “I don’t know how else to cry out for it. That’s why I’m setting off the sirens. I’m crying out for help.”
Boyadzhyan’s neighbors said he’s keeping them awake all hours of the night.
“He started with the alarm, then added the horn,” Bernarda Phipps, who lives directly across the street from the noise offender, tells Realtor.com®. “It has stressed my husband out a lot, because his sleep gets broken.”
“This man is up mowing his lawn at 2 a.m.,” a neighbor named Bob told Eyewitness News. “He’s working on cars, metal to metal banging, all hours of the night into the early morning.”
Another neighbor told Eyewitness News the noise from the horns and sirens “makes the windows rumble.”
After being previously warned that he would be taken into custody if the noise continued, Boyadzhyan was arrested on Aug. 13.
He was booked into the Van Nuys Station Jail on suspicion of a misdemeanor and released the following morning.
His next court date is scheduled for Sept. 8.
What counts as a noise violation in California
California state law recognizes excessive noise as a serious hazard to public health and welfare, and establishes guidelines for acceptable environmental noise levels.
But enforcement of noise rules (including specific decibel limits, quiet hours, and what counts as a violation) is left to local governments through their municipal codes or county ordinances.
Excessive noise generally means sound that is unreasonable, disruptive, or exceeds set decibel limits for the time and place.
Measurement of decibel levels is usually done with a sound level meter at a set distance from the property line or noise source.
When it comes to noise violations, timing matters. Most local codes have “quiet hours” where stricter limits apply. So construction work at noon might be legal, while the same work at midnight would be a violation.
Los Angeles County and the City of Los Angeles each have distinctive noise rules. In the city, the “Party House Ordinance” empowers LAPD to shut down loud gatherings even if decibel limits aren’t exceeded, and using a leaf blower between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. is prohibited. In the county, a barking dog that persists for more than 10 minutes continuously—or 30 minutes intermittently—constitutes an automatic violation.
Steps neighbors can take to address excessive noise
Dealing with a noise nightmare of your own? Here are the steps you should take, according to attorney Chad D. Cummings, of Cummings & Cummings Law.
The first step is to document the disturbances in detail.
“Note the dates, times, and nature of the noise, and make audio or video recordings if possible,” says Cummings. “This evidence will be crucial when engaging authorities or pursuing any legal remedy. Also communicate with other neighbors and exchange contact information to serve as witnesses if necessary in future litigation.”
Next, file a formal complaint with local law enforcement and city code enforcement simultaneously.
“By reporting each incident, an official record is established, and it’s putting authorities on notice to act and building an evidentiary foundation for use in a future lawsuit,” says Cummings. “Every instance should be reported, since numerous reports underscore the seriousness and consistency of the issue.”
Involve mediation services before pursuing legal action.
“Before resorting to lawsuits, it is often wise to explore mediation or community remedies,” says Cummings. “Many areas offer mediation programs to help neighbors reach a compromise with the help of a neutral third party.”
Contact the HOA or neighborhood association authority if applicable.
“If the property is part of a homeowners association or a rental, notify the HOA board or landlord as well in writing with each instance of the noise disturbance,” advises Cummings. “These authorities can ‘dual track’ enforcement by applying community noise rules through warnings, fines, or other penalties whilst law and code enforcement simultaneously pursue their remedies.”
If all else fails, Cummings says a civil lawsuit might be the final option, though he warns that litigation can often be expensive and time-consuming.
“Noise harm is intangible, and proving significant disturbance and specific damages requires strong evidence,” he says. “Some neighbors have attempted claims for intentional infliction of emotional distress, but that tort is notoriously difficult to prove and is rarely successful in noise dispute.”
But even though these cases can be challenging, they are not impossible to win.
Following a civil nuisance suit brought by neighbors in New York Supreme Court over excessive concert noise, Forest Hills Stadium was ordered to lower bass levels, reduce volume, and adhere to the New York City Noise Code.
And after neighbors filed a civil nuisance suit against the Town of Falmouth, MA, due to excessive noise from nearby pickleball courts, a settlement agreement was reached that ended all future pickleball play on the courts in question.