NOISE is the biggest concern for Britons looking to move home - and the problem is getting worse.

For house-hunters across Britain, nothing is more off-putting than the anti-social behaviour of noisy neighbours. The latest findings from Alliance & Leicester’s movingimproving index show that this is the one factor that is most likely to stop people buying a property.

Not only is this the biggest single turn-off to house-hunters, but also it is a problem on the rise. More than one in three (34 per cent) say that noisy neighbours would put them off buying a property, compared to only one in four (25 per cent) two years ago.

There were 118,000 complaints about next-door noise registered in 2000/2001 alone and a Bill on anti-social behaviour is expected to be published by the Home Office next year.

Overall, more than half the reasons cited as being the most unattractive for prospective house-buyers were environmental factors and had nothing at all to do with the appearance of the property. After noisy neighbours, the biggest no-nos are being next door to a pub (12 per cent) and being near a main road (11 per cent).

Alliance & Leicester's quarterly movingimproving index asked a representative sample of 2,000 people what factors would most put them off buying a particular property if they were house-hunting.

Key findings:

• More than one in three people (34 percent) say noisy neighbours would put them off a property the most. This rises to 44 per cent among those aged 60+ years, although this falls to only 27 percent among people in their 20s.

• Living next door to a pub might seem like many students dream, but 12 percent of people say this would put them off a property more than anything else. This is slightly higher among women (14 per cent) than men (11 per cent).

• Living next to a main road is almost as unpopular as being next door to a public house: 11 percent say this would be their biggest turn-off. This is most acute among younger Britons: 17 per cent of those aged 16-19 years would find this the most off-putting thing.