Laminate floorboards/noise complaints

poppysarah

So there's already a record of it - fantastic. Just make sure you write to the council mentioning the previous problems being investigated and her refusing mediation.

olly300

wubbue wrote: »

Olly 300, we went for a carpet at the cheaper end of the scale and the guy in the carpet shop said that underlay wouldn't be necessary with that type of carpet.

It may not be necessary but you want to keep your future tenants and it doesn't have to be expensive or even thick.

These tenants will probably move out due to the agro (see the second PM I sent you) and if you can prove that you have a well insulated floor you are likely to keep the next ones.

And the neighbour is mad complaining about light switches. Yes you can hear people turning on and off light switches if you live in a flat with thin walls but this is due to there being no noise outside which is common in the middle of the night.

HaushinkaGreenDay

Hi wubbue,

Having read your story, I'm afraid that, essentially, you broke the terms of your lease when you installed the laminate flooring, therefore it makes sense for the Council to insist on your removing it completely (from underneath your carpet).

I'm not sure if the 'cheap carpet without separate underlay' that you bought would meet the terms of the lease, as it specifically states carpet WITH underlay, which I take to be separate. Modern foam- or felt-backed carpets, especially cheaper types that are made from polypropylene (horrid stuff!!) probably don't offer the same level of sound or heat insulation.

This is another thing to consider, as from 1st Oct 2008 all landlords must have an Energy Performance Certificate (for new tenancies), and legislation is on its way that can force landlords to carry out improvements for all manner of health, safety, efficiency and well-being reasons - so might be worth carrying out the work to the council's standards now, to save the hassle of having to do it anyway further down the line.

Also, I've lived in mid-floor flats and you can get quite a lot of noise from below if the floor/ceiling in-between isn't well insulated (think conversions from houses and poorly-built purpose-built flats!).

Having said all this, I completely sympathise with you about your upstairs neighbour - I guess if she really has problems with noise, she should consider having her own flat sound-insulated, rather than making your, and your tenants' lives hell.

I hope the situation resolves itself as efficiently as possible; as you said, the neighbour might cause problems for subsequent tenants.

Kind regards,

Haushinka

wubbue_2

Oh c*ap Haushinka. Really trying to think of a good argument re us breaking the lease by installing the laminates but can't think of one! You're right, tho I should point out that we didn't do so intentionally. I didn't even know that kind of thing was covered in leases until all this came up. However I do go back to my original point which is that having the laminates under the carpet creates an extra layer of soundproofing and prevents the old floorboards creaking. Surely it also helps with insulation (you mention the EPC).

OK so we did install laminates when we shouldn't have but as this actually has benefits as listed above and the carpet prevents the problem that made laminates banned in the first place (reverberating noise etc) then I still don't see any logic in pulling the whole lot up.

BTW the lease doesn't state what sort of carpet you need to have so I think it would be unfair for the council to say that what we've got isn't good enough.

Andy_Hamilton

You know your going to have to lift the laminate.

If I was you I would write a letter to the council and say you have really tried to help by fitting carpets. Tell them you are happy to lift the carpets then the laminate and refit the carpets on the understanding (and written contact) that they are not to complain about any noises which could travel through the flats (stuff like creeky floorboards etc). Put a cluase that if they wish to complain again about such noises they will have to pay the full amount for sound proofing fitted from inside their property.

dander

My feeling is that it would actually be worth your while with a neighbour like this to remove all the laminate flooring. If you do take it out and install carpet that complies absolutely with the letter of the lease, then you leave her with nothing genuine to complain about. It may be that the council are insisting on this because as long as you satisfy this step that they can then tell your neighbour that that's an end to it, and they are satisfied that your flat is not a nuisance.

I suspect that the noise levels coming from the flat are not unreasonable, because if the council had measured the volume and found anything specific, they would surely have told you.

Plus, if the neighbours have complained to the police about her you only strengthen their case if you can say you have made this level of effort to accomodate this woman.

scousethife

Get an enormous bin of mango chutney and pure it through her letter box then spend the next two weeks shouting "want any popadoms with that?"

If that doesnt help neighbour relations I dont know what will