Private tenant needing advice

MrZammo

Right, this may take a little while!

My girlfriend and I moved in to our first floor flat in September last year, renting from a private landlord through a letting agent.

Within days of moving in, the guy from the flat below us complained about the noise. He was saying that the floorboards were incredibly noisy and asked whether we were aware of just how noisy they were. Now, to us, they sounded perfectly normal but we thanked him for making us aware and said we'd try to avoid one area in our hallway in particular where you can feel the floorboards are little loose.

A few days, maybe a week later again we bump into him and again he tells us that the floorboards are so noisy they're stopping his wife from getting any sleep, and also now that the extractor fan in our bathroom is causing them problems too. As a gesture of good will, again i'd said we'd be as careful as we could when walking around late at night and that we'd turn the extractor fan off at night (it's on a timer that comes on with the light anyway).

Since then, he's been regularly knocking on our door, still complaining about the noise, has been abusive towards me and my girlfriend and has failed to notice any of our attempts to be civil. Now, he's contacted our landlord and complained to them resulting in them sending somebody around to check the floor. As it turns out, it seems as though it probably was poorly put down.

The problem is this, he has now requested a meeting tomorrow with me, the landlords son (as the landlord lives abroad), and a contractor to see how we can resolve the floor problem. Our letting agent has said that they may need to move us out of the flat for "a couple of weeks" to carry out the repairs!

I was just wondering whether anybody has any advice as to where we stand?

As far as i'm concerned, we've been good tenants, always paid the rent on time, had no complaints about noise from music, tv, parties or anything like that, just the floorboards and extractor fan. I really don't see why we should move out, even for a couple of weeks if the work isn't necessary, which I don't believe it is. Surely if it's not a problem health and safety-wise, which i'm certain it isn't, then it isn't essential.

I think the idiot from downstairs should just get over it be honest, and if I was the landlord i'd tell him to contact Environmental health to do a decibel check. If they see it as a valid noise complaint, then fair enough.

Sorry, I rambled a bit but i'm really annoyed about this. Any advice would be very much appreciated!

As far as I can see online, if the landlord wants to carry out the work and move us out, they can but they'll need to provide us with suitable accomodation for the duration of the work.

poppysarah

Do you tap dance at night? ;-)

The disturbance shouldn't cost you anything in terms of moving out and moving back in. Compo for internet loss? satelite losss?

Premier_2

Why do you need to move out?

Thousands of people have floors fitted to their homes everyday without any need to move out

MrZammo

poppysarah wrote: »

Do you tap dance at night? ;-)

The disturbance shouldn't cost you anything in terms of moving out and moving back in. Compo for internet loss? satelite losss?

Haha, not unless i've been sleep tapdancing!

See, I was wondering about compensation for the internet or something, especially because i'm working from home using the net at the moment.

MrZammo

Premier wrote: »

Why do you need to move out?

Thousands of people have floors fitted to their homes everyday without any need to move out

I guess i'll know more when we talk tomorrow but my understanding is that they're going to need to take the bathroom, kitchen, pretty much everything out, so they want us out to get it done as quickly as they can.

poppysarah

You should prob give shelter a ring to see what your rights are exactly

paintpot

Are the floors actually floorboards or chipboard?

I cannot understand how a floor can be that badly fitted that it requires removing the bathroom and kitchen. Now I've had a very badly fitted floor done by an insurance company and I've also had the noisiest floor on a landing that a tenant complained about. Neither required removing anything, was done swiftly in a day or less and one was floorboards and the other chipboard tongue and groove, the latter being the biggest pain. Also, for two weeks work you must live in a very large flat.

You refer to the floorboards - is there carpet on top or it is partly the noise of your clattering about on wooden floors?

If the LL wants to move you out, and you agree, then they should pay for any alternative accommodation costs. I would also personally compensate my tenant for the inconvenience but we are not all the same.

Sorry, but I am confused about the level of work required to fix the problem

Wickedkitten

You should ask him if you can sit in the place that he thinks is the noisiest whilst your girlfriend walks around upstairs so you can see how loud it might be for yourself.

If its wooden floors then it is probably noisy as hell for the people that live below you which is the reason why a lot of places don't allow them for any other flats bar ground floor ones.

MrZammo

The flat is carpeted but the carpet is pretty thin.

As I said earlier, i'm not sure what they're planning to do until i've spoken to them tomorrow.

I really think they're making a mountain out of a molehill though. I reckon they could put in a decent thick carpet and that'd be fine.

Also, Wickedkitten, you're right there. I think we need to know ourselves just how noisy it is downstairs so that we know whether it really is that awful.

Debt_Free_Chick

Was the flat occupied before you moved in? And did the guy downstairs live there at that time?

It seems odd if the noise has suddenly materialised since you moved in. Has the LL never had these complaints before?

paintpot

MrZammo wrote: »

The flat is carpeted but the carpet is pretty thin.

As I said earlier, i'm not sure what they're planning to do until i've spoken to them tomorrow.

I really think they're making a mountain out of a molehill though. I reckon they could put in a decent thick carpet and that'd be fine.

Also, Wickedkitten, you're right there. I think we need to know ourselves just how noisy it is downstairs so that we know whether it really is that awful.

Definitely see if you can listen to the noise. People don't always appreciate how noise can travel but if it's "badly fitted" floorboards then I would expect that you would hear the noise aswell e.g. creaking etc, and thus know that there is a problem with them.

The ground floor flat occupier may be being overly sensitive/a serial complainer and may be better going to live on the moon or a desert island. Some people cannot understand that if they live in a flat or a semi etc that they will have to put up with some noise. Of course that noise has to be within acceptable levels. The build quality will also affect the level of soundproofing.