A study by the Domain Group/Nielsen asked 1445 people in NSW about harmony in their neighbourhood and found that one in five had experienced an issue or a conflict with a neighbour in the past five years.

Apart from pets and parties, which made up more than half of the complaints, other gripes dividing neighbours include screaming kids (11 per cent), loud fights (18 per cent), slamming doors (11 per cent) and overflowing bins (7 per cent).

Gossiping neighbours "who don't mind their own business" also annoyed 21 per cent of people.

But despite all this, two out of three people actually consider themselves good neighbours, the report discovered.

And what neighbours squabble about most depends on where they live.

Natascha Rohr, the director of Community Justice Centres, wasn't surprised to hear that 5 per cent of respondents to the Domain survey cited "screeching roosters" as a neighbourly dispute issue.

She'd even heard complaints about budgerigars.

The CJC received 30,000 calls a year and mediated in about 1500 disputes statewide. More than half were rows with neighbours.

After a meeting in anywhere from a government office to a local library - lasting three hours on average - each party would be able to "have their say, get everything off their chest ... and that often leads to some brainstorming of ideas about what happens in the future".

She said that mediation sessions averaging three hours cost feuding neighbours nothing and led to an agreement in 79 per cent of cases.

Invasions of privacy were also common. "The curtains are twitching and it's the neighbours peering out of their windows at them, or occasionally security cameras being trained on the place next door after something's gone missing.

"A lot are about fences and trees, barking dogs are huge, noise from parties and kids massive."