Ground floor converted flats - please share good and bad experience about upstairs noise

dan_first_time_buyer

Hi All,

I am planning to buy my first property to live in.

I am considering ground floor converted flats, as I'd really love to have a garden but can't afford a house.

However, the thing that I am mostly worried about is noise from the upstairs neightbour - my nightmare is to even be able to hear every single step.

If you are living (or lived) in a ground floor converted flat, what's your experience about it?

Thanks,
Dan

luvchocolate

I lived in a ground floor flat for 8 years, the flat above was a rental and changed tenants many times, the worst was a couple with 2 small children could hear all the running about, not the children's fault but the noise was awful.
Also young professionals playing loud music.
I would never buy a ground floor flat.

AnotherJoe

Self evidently some will have good experience and some will have bad. And the killer is, if you have bad there's nothing you can do about it. If noise is an issue for you, dont buy a GF flat.

need_an_answer

If your "greatest fear" is noise from above then the only way to truly control it is to stay away from that type of purchase.

You'll find that some peoples experience will be that they never hear the upstairs neighbours and you'll find that others hear every step.

TBH...you get used to the noise if its "normal" but if its something that you already have on your radar as an irritant then sorry you'll hear it.

Communal living whether that's in a ground floor or mid floor apartment will always subject you to hearing either some noise or even cooking smells from your neighbours to some extent.

What you have to decide is if the garden outweighs a potential interruption or whether you can live with it.

knightstyle

If the flat upstairs is rented out I would not buy. This is from past experience of living in a downstairs flat.
Plus where do people park? We had a lovely flat but the top flat used to let friends use their parking space at night and it was by our bedroom window so we would be woken by loud talking/shouting and car starting at 2,3 4 am when they went home.

Crumble2018

Don't do it if you don't like other peoples noise. We have been in a 1st floor flat for 3 years - first year was great as the upstairs nighbour was a very considerate single woman. Since then we've had a very noist couple (could always hera them having sex, general shouting and crashing about), and the most recent ones (2 guys) have no concept of noise travelling - as well as talking very loudly, they are now running some sort of fan 24 hours a day which puts a contant "hum" in our bedroom as the vibrations are travelling down the walls.


I am hypersensitive to other peoples noise, and sadly we can't afford a house. We currently have an offer in on a top floor flat, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it all goes though OK. But even if this falls through, I will only consider top floor flats in the future.

Davesnave

What other people's experience is or has been has no bearing whatever on what yours might be.

There's a multitude of factors which affect both noise transmission and human behaviour, so how on earth would some kind of informal poll here indicate anything useful?

elsien

Goes both ways - I've lived in a middle floor flat which had been cheaply converted with little soundproofing.
Some neighbours I hardly heard. Others were more noisy. The worst nuisance was downstairs playing their music so loud they couldn't hear me ringing the bell or hammering on the floor.
Now I live in a terrace and it's the same, except the noise comes from side rather than below or overhead. For those of us that can't afford detached houses, there's always going to be something.

davidmcn

As with purpose-built flats, some will be better than others. So you might be better to ask people who live in similar age/style of properties in your area.

Davesnave

elsien wrote: »

For those of us that can't afford detached houses, there's always going to be something.

I didn't move into a detached house until I was 60. Its fine now, but it was the first time I'd ever come across a difficult neighbour and experienced noise issues....and he was 200m away!:rotfl:

Any move, anywhere, comes with a risk of neighbour problems. That risk may be minimised by careful research and the application of money, but it cannot be entirely eliminated. Look at some of the more extreme 'neighbour from hell' stories in the media and you'll see well-off people in detached houses represented too.

MovingForwards

I've lived in a converted Victorian house, I've lived in a converted house, I'm currently living in a purpose built flat.

I would never buy a flat unless it was the top floor.

Noise travels, footsteps travel, running across the room travels, yelling / shouting travels.

I'm on the first floor, I can hear the front / back doors close. I can hear all the flat doors close.

Buy a top floor flat and look for one with a garden, move a bit further away so you can have a better choice.