Advice on noise from from neighbour after recently buying

Legacy_user

So, I've recently moved in to a ground floor flat, ex local authority. The flat above is a HA tenant, a small family, 2 adults 1 child I believe.

I've been 2 weeks now, and so far noise from above hasn't been THAT bad. BUT, from my bedroom, I can hear a TV above, and my problem is I can hear this sometimes until 1am. It's not massively loud, but it's pretty annoying. I can also hear someone dropping things and moving things in the room above again until gone 1am.

We don't tend to hear as much noise in the other rooms, so it makes me wonder if they have a really thin carpet in the bedroom, or perhaps a laminate floor?

It's early days at the moment, and I don't want to be making a complaint yet. The noise isn't that loud, it's just the fact it's at a time when we aren't making any background noise and are trying to sleep.

My question is, I'm certain whoever was living here before would have been aware of this, so surely something should have been mentioned on the property information forms? If I went digging and found out an official complaint had been made, would I have any recourse against the vendor?

Southend1

A certain amount of noise is to be expected when living in a flat or terraced/semi detached house. The sounds you describe are just those of someone going about their usual day to day activities. If you complain you may find they deliberately make more noise! If they were having loud parties every night or shouting until 1am there would be grounds to complain but someone watching TV, moving about and dropping the odd thing is normal reasonable behaviour.

Have you tried using earplugs when you go to bed? You may find they help. Otherwise you'll probably get used to the noise eventually.

dj1471

As Southend1 says, that's just what living in a flat is like. The way you describe it sounds like they're actually being pretty reasonable and considerate, try living above or below people who aren't...

Norman_Castle

Try talking to them. They may not realise their tv is causing a problem.

jc808

youre complaining about people moving around??

System

I dunno, I think the most annoying thing is I did multiple viewings, and I didn't hear a peep, like absolutely nothing, and one of those viewings we were there for quite a while. It made me think the sound proofing was perhaps a little better than it is.

I lived in a terraced house before with thin party walls, we heard our neighbours, but I didn't find it as annoying as this.

It's probably just me, if I had my way I would be living in a detached hundres of miles from everyone else. I'll keep saving for retirement

sniggings

to answer your question, yes if they had made a formal complaint about noise, you would have some come back.

if you can't live with it, you'll have to have a word, them turning the tv down a little, could make a load of difference to you.

tbh I'm amazed anyone buys groundfloor flats, and :eek: when I see flats with other flats above/below and to either side, why would someone choose such a flat?

I would be looking to move, as TV noise in the bedroom, I doubt you will ever get used to, just move before you make a formal complaint,as then you would have to tell the buyer.

Norman_Castle

It's probably just me, if I had my way I would be living in a detached hundres of miles from everyone else.

Its not just you. I've got a neigbour who turns up at 3AM and puts his tv on surprisingly loud. Fortunately he is rarely there.(Possibly due to the surprisingly loud Radio 4 being used to drown out his tv ).
Have you ever spoken to them?. If they seem like pleasant people its unlikely to cause problems. Just explain it keeps you awake at night.

Rosemary7391

People buy and live in the middle flats because there are quite a few of them! With properly built flats and considerate neighbours it isn't a problem. There will always be some noise, but it'll seem louder when you're in bed being completely silent yourself. Could you maybe put on some music quietly to mask the noise? I have a radio that will turn off automatically after a while, set it to classic fm and it really helps - it's much nicer than muffled unpredictable noise from someone else!

PlymouthMaid

It is probably just the case that at 1 am when you are trying to sleep, it all sounds quite loud whereas when you viewed in the daytime/early evening you would not have noticed normal amounts of noise. It is just unfortunate you you seem to be living below night owls.

sniggings

Rosemary7391 wrote: »

People buy and live in the middle flats because there are quite a few of them! With properly built flats and considerate neighbours it isn't a problem.

that's the point, not many flats, it seems, are properly built, and to get 4 neighbours that are considerate is rare imo.

I wouldn't mind but they are no cheaper! you don't know you have considerate neighbours and properly built flats until it's to late.