Complaints rise that this neigbourhood feature is blocking home sales

Pickleball courts are all the rage, but some homeowners are arguing that this fad is hurting rather than helping them in their property deals.

The thwack of ball on racquets and the din of competitive play may qualify as a nuisance noise in a suburban setting, one legal expert told the Boston Globe.

Balls make a “pop-pop” sound when hit, residents trying to sell their homes have previously told the outlet, which has been documenting long-running suburban pickleball squabbles.

The latest chapter is a group of vendors in Massachusetts alleging buyers are put off, and seeking legal remedy.

The residents, near Sagamore Beach, a village on Cape Cod, claim noise from a local pickleball court is the reason they cannot sell their homes, the Globe reports.

Some properties have been on the market for several months and treated to many price reductions, in the hunt for a sweet spot in the market.

The court backs on their gardens and they have engaged a lawyer to have the facility closed, according to the Globe.

There is a precedent for this sort of neighbourhood action.

As swiftly as pickleball – played with racquets and a net, like tennis, but on a more compact court, and with similarities to badminton and ping pong – has become a trendy sport, so too have arisen issues around the installation of courts in American communities.

A woman in San Francisco petitioned to have a pickleball court shut because of the noise it imposed at her mansion, which bordered the courts.

Her and husband’s grounds were that an inquiry should be made into the environmental impact on the neighbourhood, and she described the sound of patrons playing as “grating”, SFGATE reported.

Under Australian law, residential noise disruption would also be classed as an environmental issue, enforced by councils.

The San Fran mansion owner loaded a petition to Change.org and became known as the “anti-pickleball crusader” in the press.

The council moved some of the courts and three months later she sold her palatial estate.

It was then discovered had a private pickleball court in her garden, according to SFGATE.