Noisy bar under the house? A report is not enough, a lawsuit must be filed

If thebar at your doorstep produces noise that exceeds the tolerance limit, especially when customers stay for hours at night outside the premises, it is no longer enough to call the police, make a simple report or a complaint, but to put your signature to a complaint. Of course, a report to the police or the municipality can lead to administrative sanctions, but in order to initiate criminal proceedings and obtain compensation for damages, it is now necessaryto file a lawsuit signed against the manager of the premises. He certainly has a 'legal obligation' to control the clientele, and it is he who must take action to report or put an end to the nuisance, for instance by turning to public security or agents, or by turning away the noisiest of them. But even if the manager commits the offence of disturbance of the public peace and does not stop the noise, if none of the neighbouring residents files a complaint, justice can no longer proceed ex officio, i.e. on the initiative of the authorities, as was previously the case.

The Court of Cassation - in its judgement 29866 of 11 March 2025, filed on 28 August 2025 - therefore ruled in favour of a bar owner who had been sentenced to a fine and payment of court costs, and who had emphasised that any lawsuit was 'non-existent'. And it cancelled without postponement the court ruling against which the bar owner had appealed: the condition for starting a criminal proceeding for this type of offence was missing, the Court emphasised. With the Cartabia reform, for night clamouring, which falls under the offence of disturbing the occupation and rest of persons (Art. 659 of the Criminal Code), it is in fact now essential for the offended person to file a complaint, for acts committed after 30 December 2022. In addition, the Supreme Court's ruling made it clear that even if the offence of disturbing the peace was committed before a reform, the law that is more advantageous for the accused will apply. This is the principle of favor rei, which establishes the application of the criminal law most favourable to the defendant in the event of legislative changes between the time of the offence and the present.