Leasehold Covenant Advice - Carpetted Flooring / LVT

brns

My lease has the following covenant:

"Not to reside or permit any person to reside in the Demised Premises unless the floors thereof (including the passages but excluding kitchen and bathroom) are completely covered with wall to wall fitted carpet or other sound deadening material except while the same shall be removed for cleaning or repairing or decorating the Demised Premises Provided Always for the sake of clarity that no wooden or laminate flooring shall be fitted to the Demised Premises."

I am asking the Freeoholders permission to install Luxury Vinyl Tile (LVT) with acoustic underlay throughout the 2 bed flat. So far they have just replied saying there is no wooden or laminate allowed, which isn't helpful. My position is that LVT is neither wood or laminate and with acoustic underlay should be similar to carpet and therefore satisfies "other sound deadening material". I am ground floor although I suspect this won't be taken into consideration.

In case this argument fails, I would be willing to live with carpet in the bedrooms and hallway, however the kitchen is an open plan kitchen/diner/lounge with a transition between lino and carpet. The lino section is very narrow and I have a freestanding kitchen island unit which extends onto the carpetted area, which is both ugly and impractical for food prep. Could I install LVT throughout this room and argue that as it is one room it could all be considered kitchen?

What do you reckon?

eddddy

brns said:

I am asking the Freeoholders permission to install Luxury Vinyl Tile (LVT) with acoustic underlay throughout the 2 bed flat. So far they have just replied saying there is no wooden or laminate allowed, which isn't helpful. 

The freeholders don't have the legal power to give you permission.

It's the lease, not the freeholders, that specifies the 'rules' that you must adhere to.

Similarly, the freeholders won't want to give you an opinion on whether "Luxury Vinyl Tile with acoustic underlay" is a "sound deadening material" because they are not experts on that topic, and a tribunal might later disagree with them.

In practical terms, all you can do is lay the "Luxury Vinyl Tile with acoustic underlay" - and if a neighbour complains, which results in the freeholder taking enforcement action - you'd ultimately have to provide your evidence to a tribunal that it is a "sound deadening material". And then let the tribunal decide.

(You might need an expert report and/or test results and/data sheets to show the tribunal.)

But if nobody complains in the first place, probably nothing bad will happen.  Although when you eventually sell the flat, the buyer might be nervous that you've breached a covenant.

princeofpounds

The wood or laminate issue is a red herring - they are only mentioned for the sake of clarity. What matters is sound-deadening. Which is not a legal term, so it would be a 'reasonable person' test at tribunal, and you would probably be expected to demonstrate equivalent or superior performance to carpet. And yes, you can probably have a fairly extensive definition of kitchen unless it is specifically defined in the lease, as long as you don't take the p.

Frankly, LVT with acoustic underlay does not have the same properties as carpet or even that near (and I say that as a fan of the material in many respects). If you were in a flat above someone else, I would consider you positively evil for thinking about installing hard floors like this - I have been underneath it myself in the past, and it's tortuous.

However, assuming that you do not have a basement flat beneath you, then you can just go ahead and take a risk by installing it. If it causes no practical impact, it's possible no-one will complain and there will no be any enforcement. However, if your neighbour above decides to do the same in future, you'll have to consider carefully before asking for enforcement yourself!

NameUnavailable

The conditions of your lease are pretty standard. The ideal of not allowing hard flooring is to avoid noise when you walk about on it, obviously carpet acts as noise insulation as well as a floor covering. 

It's not just people below you (if there was a flat under yours) but the hard flooring also creates noise for flats above you. 

As you are on the ground floor (assuming no basement flat) and it's vinyl flooring you are looking at, which shouldn't create noise, I doubt that there would be any issue. You have raised the issue with the freeholder who hasn't objected (although as said the wording of the lease is what matters). 

brns

Thank you for your responses, I'm still not sure what to do.
To clarify, there is no basement flat below mine.

One question is how much upward noise will LVT make? and Could the freeholder find out/take issue even if there are no noise complaints?

I am thinking of hedging my bets and just installing it in the kitchen/living room. That way if I am ordered to rip it up, I won't have to redo the entire flat, and I can keep it in the section which already has lino. 

princeofpounds

How much upwards noise it makes will depend on the construction of the flat, but I would suggest it should be relatively little impact noise, which is the real killer downstairs. However, given the lack of soft surfaces to absorb sound, you'll probably find that there is more echo in your flat and a louder noise level in general. Most flats I know, it would be ok, but I can't speak to yours specifically. You might want to get into tapestry hangings ;-)

Yes, the freeholder could take issue even if no-one complains. They won't find out unless someone tells them or they notice directly however. There's a good chance they won't do anything unless someone complains. Your 'compromise' plan sounds like a sensible way forward; test the water.