These are the things you could be fined up to £2,500 for doing in your own home

We like to think of our own homes as private, but you could be committing a crime and face being landed with a hefty fine simply by crying in your house, due to strict council rules.

The rules were introduced by Theresa May when she was Home Secretary in 2014, and can see anyone over the age of 16 be landed with a fine of up £2,500 for making too much noise.

Disruptive to neighbours

The strict rules fall under the 2014 Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act, and mean you could be issued with a Community Protection Notice (CPN) if you make too much noise in your own home.

Community Protection Notices are issued by local councils to prevent residents from causing disruption to their neighbours' everyday life.

If you do anything that is considered to be disruptive, such as crying loudly, arguing, moving furniture, or banging on walls, your local council could issue a notice which bans you from continuing.

A Freedom of Information request submitted by The Sun found that in Newcastle-Under-Lyme, residents are forbidden from crying, arguing or banding loudly in their home.

Findings revealed one resident was issued with a notice to not "create any wailing, jabbering, crying and hammering on the wall type noises", following a complaint by a neighbour.

It said that the noises should not be "capable of being heard outside of any property that [the neighbour] may reside at any time of the day and night".

The penalty for breaching a CPN is a £100 fine on the spot, rising to a maximum of £2,500 if you dispute the order and are prosecuted in court.

If businesses fail to comply, they can be fined up to a hefty £20,000.