Recently, the people's Court of Nanshan District, Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province concluded the first elevator noise infringement case in the city. According to the law, a real estate company of the defendant was ordered to take sound insulation and noise reduction measures for three elevators purchased by the plaintiff within a time limit, so as to make the noise environment of the units involved meet the noise emission standard of social living environment.

After trial, the court found out that the plaintiff purchased a real estate unit involved in the case in 2007. After purchasing the property, the plaintiff found that the noise generated by the three elevators in the community affected the living environment, so he has not occupied the property so far. The plaintiff entrusted the city environmental monitoring center station to monitor the noise generated by the elevator involved in the case. The monitoring results are as follows: the noise value after deducting the background influence when the elevator is turned on is 40.2db (a), and the leg value when the elevator is turned off is 34.8db (a), which exceeds the relevant national standard of 0.2db (a). During the trial, the defendant's real estate company applied to the court to identify whether the elevator noise of the real estate involved in the case exceeded the relevant national standards. Nanshan court entrusted the city environmental monitoring center station to detect and identify the elevator noise of the real estate involved in the case. The results show that under the condition of octave band sound pressure level measurement, the measured values of elevator noise at night under 125Hz, 250Hz and 500Hz sound pressure levels are 54.2db, 47.9db and 37.4db respectively, which are higher than the national standards (48dB, 39db and 34dB).

The court held that citizens have the right to live in an environment free from noise pollution. According to Article 124 of the general principles of the civil law of the people's Republic of China, "anyone who violates the provisions of the state on environmental protection and prevention of pollution and causes damage to others by polluting the environment shall bear civil liability according to law." As the developer of the real estate project involved in the case, the defendant is obliged to take effective sound insulation and noise reduction measures for relevant facilities in the process of real estate development and construction, so as to ensure that the real estate project developed by the defendant meets the requirements of relevant national noise limits. The defendant's delay in performing the legal obligation resulted in the noise in the plaintiff's room when the three elevators in the involved building were running, which exceeded the noise limit stipulated by the state, resulting in noise pollution, violating the relevant provisions of the state on noise, affecting the living environment of the plaintiff, causing the plaintiff to be unable to stay in the involved house, infringing the plaintiff's legitimate rights and interests, and shall bear the corresponding civil liability. The court then made the above-mentioned judgment according to law.