Noisy neighbour upstairs, help

Christal_2

I know my problem doesn't have much to do with the money saving, but have been here for long time and would love anyone kind enough to share some light on my problem.

I have been living in a 3 stroey develpment for sometime, my flat is on the 1st floor so I have got neighbour upstairs. They are a couple with a very young child, they all look nice but their noise is almost unbearable. The noise usually comes from the child walking/jumping/running and playing, which makes hell a lot of noise as my ceiling/their flloor kind shakes whenever she runs/jumps, and my ceiling light shakes too....also for some reason the parents walk like elephants, very heavily and almost every step they take shakes their floor too..especially in the morning, I guess it's because they are in a rush. And of course the loud music/tv noice from time to time...

I have tried reason with them, knocked on the door and spoke to them more than half a dozen times, they said they will be careful but nothing happened. My last hope is the Housing Association so I complainted to HA, they sent me some diary sheets and wanted to me to record the incidents for a month then send back to them. I sent off the sheet about one month ago but havn't heard anything so rang them today.

What HA is saying is they can request the solicitor to write another letter to my norisy neighbour but they will only do it if I want them to do so, as at the end of day, I'm the person who lives below them so they can still make my life hell..........after any letter from anyone, the lady also told me as the noise is the lowest level of anti-social behavir there is not much they can do apart from sending letter.......

I'm really not sure about what should I do now, should I just live with it (God knows how long I havn't been able to sleep properly), or ask for the letter from solicitor and hope my noisy neighbour will behave. My concern about the letter is when the HA sent first letter to my neighbour to tell them they have received complaints about the noise, the couple got quite upset and had a not very friendly talk with me, they got defensive and aggressive.........were saying things like they don't think there is any noise, and the 2 weeks after that the noise only got worse...........felt like they were doing it on purpose because of my complaint.

So I really don't know what to do now, should I pray my neighbour can be more considerable after they receive the letter from solicitor or just try to live till they or I move out?

Bargain_Rzl

Is it possible that your building is simply very poorly insulated? In other words, that your neighbours are just going about their everyday lives and there's little they can do about disturbing you?

When you mentioned your ceiling light shaking, this was my first thought. There's nothing my upstairs neighbour could do to cause anything to shake in my flat, as the ceiling/floor is sturdily constructed in between.

If it's a rented flat you might be better off moving somewhere with better sound insulation (a newbuild perhaps?) A lot of blocks of flats have this issue, especially house conversions.

wecanhelpu

Christal wrote: »

I have been living in a 3 stroey develpment for sometime, my flat is on the 2nd floor so I have got neighbour upstairs.

No wonder it's noisy, I think the neighbours are on the roof.

Christal_2

BargainR, well me and my hubby bought the flat 3 years ago, so can't move in the next 2 or 3 years. I think you ave a point, it could be poor insulation althought it is a new build not house conversion. But where can I find information or someone who can tell me whether the flat is poorly insulated?

wecanhelpu, that's embarrasing, my flat is on 1st floor only, gonna go change that.

granville_2

Christal wrote: »

BargainR, well me and my hubby bought the flat 3 years ago, so can't move in the next 2 or 3 years. I think you ave a point, it could be poor insulation althought it is a new build not house conversion. But where can I find information or someone who can tell me whether the flat is poorly insulated?

wecanhelpu, that's embarrasing, my flat is on 1st floor only, gonna go change that.

think very carefully before you start getting solicitors to write letters. this will affect you when you come to sell the property.

ie you will have to let prospective buyers know you've been in dispute with your neighbours. not good for an easy sell.

is your flat a new build? these often have poor insulation. what type of flooring do your neighbours have?

is there anything in your lease that specifies flooring types allowed (ie not hardwood / laminates etc)?

JBeau

Hi Christal, I totally understand your situation. From experience the one thing you shouldn't do is expect them to suddenly become reasonable. Unless they go first - the only solution is to move on. For support and lots of info try
www.nfh.org.uk
Good luck

thelawnet

buy them some carpet.

Christal_2

Thanks for all the reply guys. Granville, is that true? The letter from solicitor is offered by the HA means it's their solicitor not mine, does it still qualify as a dispute? If that's the case, then when I consider the dispute being closed? I'm not sure what exactly type of flooring my neighbour have, what I know is the flat is carpeted already when it's ready for sale, but have tiles for kitchen and bath room floor, and their bath room is right on top of my bedroom, so I can not only enjoy the heavy noise made by them walking around but also the flush/water noise in the middle of the night. There wasn't anything in my lease talking about floors, but there was letter from HA saying now only ground floor can have floorboard as the noise is kind bad.

Thanks Jbeau for your understanding, will take a look at the link. Hope to find some information about the insulation as I really think that could be one of the reason.

Sapphire

New-builds especially have a very poor reputation for noise levels. They are mostly cheaply built with low-quality materials (though often advertised as 'luxury'!).

olly300

Sapphire wrote: »

New-builds especially have a very poor reputation for noise levels. They are mostly cheaply built with low-quality materials (though often advertised as 'luxury'!).

I think you should read building regulations. Since 1992 all new build flats and conversions have to have a certain level of insulation on the floorings and ceilings, and exterior walls.

However it doesn't stop flats being poorly designed so that kitchens and bathrooms are over other flats' bedrooms like in the OP case. Also it doesn't stop you hearing neighbours who are next door through interior walls.

In the case of the OP if the property was built/converted before 1992 the only solutions are:
1. to enforce restrictive convenents about noise/flooring/nuisance
2. pay for insulation in your ceiling (which you have to pay for yourself)

If it was built after 1992 you need to investigate the level of insulation between you and the flats above/below you before you complain to the freeholder.

Also OP if you can hear your neighbours your neighbours can definitely hear you especially if you use the washing machine at night or vacuum.

picnic

just a question.. if i read this right you are on the first floor... neighbours above and below..? are you day to day movements causing you neighbours below the same upset as yours above are? if so may be there is a problem with the build...
just and observation..