Flat noise talking to neighbours

evoke

^ I went through exactly this. It makes you feel sick, on edge and just p*ssed off with life. I know exactly how you feel.

One of the golden rules about living in a flat is to think about your neighbours far more than you would do if you were in a house not shared with anyone else. It just sounds like your neighbours above you simply cannot comprehend the mental anguish they are causing you. To many people this would just seem like 'a bit of noise'. It isn't. It destroys your soul.

louby_lou

I agree. Had the most awful neighbours in my old flat (I was upstairs flat and they were the next terrace house along) the walls were *paper thin* and unfortunately their children's nursery was next to my bedroom. The constant screaming of one of the children was unworldly. I know children make noise, but this was obscene. They must have gone through about a dozen nannies in the 2 years I lived there. And the mother would call each of them from opposite ends of the house - the still remember the sound of one of the noisy toys she used to use to placate the child. It makes me flinch to recall it.

They were just loud people with no concern for others, and I moved out. in fact I would have moved out after the first 12 months if I could - it was just cheap and convenient. Your neighbours sound at least to be decent people, so I hope things will improve.

I do feel for you, I found the only thing for me was to play some music as soon as I got up in the morning to drown out the sound of the screaming child from 5.30am onward. It gave me some sense of satisfaction even if I was in the shower and couldn't hear it. The woman downstairs sold and moved on. Either because of me or the people next door, probably a combination of both.

I am not suited to flats either

Good luck.

lstar337

We have had this problem.

We have a group of Portuguese people living above us and they make all sorts of noise all day and night. We presume they work in shifts because there is always somebody there making noise day and night.

Every bank holiday (because they cant work) they group together and have a party. The music is so loud that we can't talk to each other when we are sat on our sofa, and there is no point putting the TV on, it isn't loud enough.

When the music finally goes off they seem to bellow at one another as loud as possible and laugh uncontrollably. They also fall out regularly and scream and fight with each other (pretty physical too) which always ends with door slamming and a woman crying.

We spoke to our landlord about them several times (we have a 4 year old who needs her sleep), who came back and said that the landlord for the flat above insists that there are only 2 people on the lease, and that only 2 people live there. Total BS.

Anyway, after one party too many, we told our landlord that we wanted to leave, and that we would use the ridiculous noise levels to terminate our lease, and that we would be talking to local authorities about our speculated number of people living in the flat above.

Our landlord got back to us the next day, and said that they have spoken to the landlord of the flat above, who in turn had spoken to the people living there. Since that day, no music, no parties, and minimal noise.

We bumped into the man who lives there at one of the security doors and explained that we were not against them having any parties at all (everyone needs to unwind), but they needed to be a little more respectful of our 4 year old, and realise that the noise they make is a little OTT. He tried to complain about us slamming our front door (seriously?) but I explained that we had added weather stripping, which had made the door difficult to shut normally. He accepted this and said we could be friends.

So that is what worked for us.

Fraise

nickyg2000 wrote: »

Hello all,

Just had a chat with the neighbour and he popped over. I don't think he quite understood quite how loud everything sounds down here despite explaining. He was really cool about it though and said he will try & be quieter and not flush the toilet at night etc. But agrees the floorboards need fixing sometime after he's moved out. He also suggested I get ear plugs and drink a glass of wine before bed. So it basically ended him saying hey will try and be quieter and if we can still hear t.hem just let them know.

It might not be a solution but its not made things worse and I feel better having mentioned the problem. They made an effort to be quiet last night and tonight but guess its ones of those things which they will forget. Getting some moulded ear plugs at £90 a pop and see how we go. Worse case will sell in a year or so but hope t doesn't come to that....

£90 for earplugs? What make are they?

Re the noise, what floor coverings do they have above? If it's laminate or kardnean then it will be horrifically noisy when they walk about. They are probably just going about their normal routine and don't realise how noisy it is for you.

In your position I would to speak to the landlord of the flat and remind him that you are entitled to 'enjoyment of peace' - that will be in the lease, and the noise is a breach of that. If he is reasonable he will not want this escalating, and will offer to remedy the problem. If he pleads poverty, then for your own sanity you could pay for the floorboards to be screwed down properly - that costs next to nothing.

If you really wanted total silence you could have soundproofing fitted between your ceiling and the upstairs floor, but that is an expensive job. But it's cheaper than losing money off the value of your property, and you'll have peace and good health too.

Alternatively, once the flooboards have been screwed down, you could have Colour Red underlay fitted up there with a carpet on top. Depending on the size of the room it will set you back about £600? Maybe the landlord will go halves?

Colour Red absorbs impact sound, something like 46 decibels. Basically, you can barely hear a thing once it's down There's another underlay that absorbs 55 decibels, but the Colour Red is fantastic and out of the 3 people I know who have had it fitted they are over the moon with how quiet it is now.

Here is a link for you

http://www.carpet-underlay-shop.co.uk/tredaire-colours-underlay---red-1096m2-161-p.asp

nickyg2000

HFCs kid llhf

Fraise

nickyg2000 wrote: »

It's carpet upstairs but think its old with thin underlay. I doubt I'd be given access until the current tenants move out. I'm also worried about a written record of complaints or disputes with neighbours as this would have to be disclosed when selling.

Have you spoken to the landlord and asked him if you can screw down the floorboards and recarpet it? I'm sure he'd agree as it will improve his property. It's worth a try.

It won't be a dispute, you're just making a request. Lots of neighbours work out solutions to problems without turning them into disputes.

nickyg2000

Fifth Jeff pigfx

lstar337

nickyg2000 wrote: »

No not spoken with the landlord as I don't want to !!!! the neighbours off, looks like i'm going behind there backs and complaining. I guess I could email him and say when there is a gap in the tenancy could I screw the floor boards down and replace the underlay. Annoying the flat is rented furnished so will be a pain to do...

I doubt he will agree when he has tenants as they have been there 4 years, he won't want to !!!! them off.

I don't understand how they are going to get !!!!!! off. A polite word with them about how noisey it is (through no fault of theirs) for you, will not likely anger them.

If you bust down their door screaming expletives it might, but nobody is suggesting that.

DirectDebacle

Bite the bullet and get some quotes for sound proofing your ceilings.

nickyg2000

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