This has been the reality for Rona Clayton and her neighbours, who live in a block of units next door to Light of all Nations church on Tankerville Rd, Hoon Hay.
The church is on the former Hoon Hay Club site.
Mrs Clayton said nothing has been done to stop the noise from the church, even though she and her neighbours have complained to Christchurch City Council about 20 times. They have also asked the church’s landlord Marilyn Paston to address the issue and sent a petition with 16 signatures to Wigram MP Megan Woods.
City council head of regulatory compliance Tracey Weston said it had received 16 complaints about noise at the church in the last two years.
"Council noise control has responded to all complaints received and the property owner has been advised.
"To date, we have issued one excessive noise direction, and this was on 27/06/2020," she said.
In residential areas, the noise level allowed from 10pm until 7am is between 40 dB and 65 dB.
Ms Weston said no sound equipment has been seized from the church because this noise level has not been reached.
A spokeswoman for Dr Woods said the petition has been received and she is aware of the neighbours’ concerns.
Two gatherings were held at the church at the start of the lockdown,. Police were called to the second gathering and broke it up after one of Mrs Clayton’s neighbours reported it.
Said Mrs Clayton: “I want to know why the [city] council are not doing their job.
“You’re entitled to a first warning, a second warning, but a third, no.”
She said on any day of the week, particularly Fridays and weekends, noise can start in the morning or in the evening and not finish until after midnight.
“I usually go to bed about midnight and that’s when, if I’m there [home], I hear that,” she said.
On August 10 last year, she said the noise did not stop until 2am.
As for her neighbours who live in units closer to the church, Mrs Clayton said "they hear everything and when they [church-goers] come out, it’s the slamming of doors, it’s the kids screaming.”
One neighbour, Elizabeth, who wants only her first name used, said she would not have moved into her unit if she had known how loud the church gets.
Mrs Clayton has asked Ms Paston to talk to her tenants about reducing the noise at the church but nothing has been done.
But Ms Patson did say "if the matter’s not resolved amicably, then the landlord is willing to have further conversations on the matter".
