No sound insulation in flat above us

justincaselow

Hi

We recently purchased a flat and have been living in it since August this year, we've noticed that above our bedroom there appears to be very little sound insulation or deadening below the above flat's floorboards. There are wooden floors in the room above our bedroom which does not help matters but don't believe we should be able to hear as much as we do.

We are able to hear not just walking around but chest of drawers opening and recognising the music being played. This has been mentioned to the students upstairs who are tenants several times and have had to call 101 on a few occasions as the noise is after 10pm.

We've contacted the landlord to inform him a few times but have not heard anything back from him. What are our rights in this instance? Is there any regulation indicating that sufficient sound insulation must be provided beneath floorboards? Any other relevant advice people have?

Thanks
Justin

jamesperrett

There are regulations for new builds or conversions but, if it was converted a few years ago, you are probably suffering from the laxer standards that applied previously.

Simply adding insulation won't help as one of the main problems is impact noise from footsteps which is being carried through the joists and into your ceiling. If you really want to solve the problem (and you have sufficient height) then you are probably going to have to build a false ceiling below the existing one.

lindens

if all the tenants are doing is walking around and opening drawers you really can't complain about them. They are just going about their daily lives not behaving anti-socially

sniggings

would be cheaper to move than fix the problem.

if the noise is that bad, hearing draws etc then it will cost loads to fix that.

one issue you may solve, i.e getting them to fit carpet instead of wood, but you are still left with the draws and music.

I lived in a really bad flat, the living room was fine, but the bedroom had NO soundproofing at all, I could even hear sighing.

You might have some come back on the seller of the flat, if they never disclosed the sound proofing as a problem?

Norman_Castle

This has been mentioned to the students upstairs who are tenants several times and have had to call 101 on a few occasions as the noise is after 10pm.

What have the police said about this?.

cattie

Have you had a read through the lease? Only many leases of flats state that good quality carpets must be fitted & wooden floors are not acceptable. If your lease states this then you should try to put pressure on your freeholder to invoke the ban on wooden flooring in the upper flat.

You can always try these people for advice. http://www.lease-advice.org/
It's a government funded agency offering advice to residential leaseholders.

I once lived in a Victorian purpose built flat where the new owner upstairs had taken up all of the carpets & just had bare floorboards, so know just how intrusive sound can be from a property above. I could hear everything my neighbour & her many visiting friends did, from coughing to talking on the phone. I almost had a nervous breakdown over it as it was like sharing my home with lots of strangers & it was the cause of me selling my flat to buy elsewhere. I avoided Victorian purpose built or conversion flats from then on as I knew that the sound insulation was non existent.