We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum. This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are - or become - political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.
Wooden floors in upstairs flat and lack of soundproofing - help please

Chanterelles
Posts: 13 Forumite

Hello,
Your help and advise please.
Three years ago, upstairs neigbour ripped out the carpet and installed wooden floors, all without the approval / permission from the Housing Association (HA).
When HA was notified of this, they said... too late. I don't believe they would have stopped this anyways because of the poor wording in the lease agreement which only says the following: 3(18) to carpet Premises: to provide carpets or such other suitable floor coverings with soundproofing qualities to the reasonable satisfaction of the Landlord to the floors of the premises. (I believe the wording of the lease is the same for most of the flats, including the flat in question).
So you see, despite the title of this covenant (to carpet the premises), there is the 'such other suitable floor coverings' bit which caused three and a half years to pass by without any success and no intervention from the HA to resolve the soundproofing issue except asking the owner to put some rugs on the floor. HA did speak to the flat owner, the flat owner put some rugs probably and tried to walk lightly and that was good enough for me as I did not suffer from the thumping. The HA did not investigate properly, they play the waiting game and it worked for them.
The problem is that two months ago the flat was let. The tenants are a family of four with two young children, one is a toddler who runs, he never walks, just runs. The adults are heavy footed, heavy stumping steps. I talked to them, to no avail, they consider me to be racist and went on protecting themselves by negating anything I was telling them, and defending themselves, and telling me to work in another room etc. etc. etc. - it was quite horrible. They do not care about what I am facing.
For two months I have been writing to the HA, to no avail, they are sooo busy and I believe there is a broken chain of communication - HA - Owner - Tenant. I ended up submitting a formal complaint but really not sure what sort of result to expect, if any at all... I told them I am stopping service charges payments until the issue is resolved.
Because of the constant daily thumping - I work from home, the people upstairs are at home and very busy with housework and playing and running - all day, I have developed tension headaches, I am in pain every day from the moment I hear the first thump. Yesterday I suffered a very scary panic attack.
I am desperate and don't know what to do, where to start, who to talk to, to find a solution and to end my pain. The tenants clearly don't care and don't understand. I don't have money to throw at solicitors / lawyers. I don't think I can sell yet - not in a position to move. Environmental health (suggested by HA) do not deal with everyday living noises. Has anyone else been in a similar situation? What was done, how and what to do so as to be able to leave peacefully in my home and not feel like yelling every day? How to get the HA to understand?
Your help and advise please.
Three years ago, upstairs neigbour ripped out the carpet and installed wooden floors, all without the approval / permission from the Housing Association (HA).
When HA was notified of this, they said... too late. I don't believe they would have stopped this anyways because of the poor wording in the lease agreement which only says the following: 3(18) to carpet Premises: to provide carpets or such other suitable floor coverings with soundproofing qualities to the reasonable satisfaction of the Landlord to the floors of the premises. (I believe the wording of the lease is the same for most of the flats, including the flat in question).
So you see, despite the title of this covenant (to carpet the premises), there is the 'such other suitable floor coverings' bit which caused three and a half years to pass by without any success and no intervention from the HA to resolve the soundproofing issue except asking the owner to put some rugs on the floor. HA did speak to the flat owner, the flat owner put some rugs probably and tried to walk lightly and that was good enough for me as I did not suffer from the thumping. The HA did not investigate properly, they play the waiting game and it worked for them.
The problem is that two months ago the flat was let. The tenants are a family of four with two young children, one is a toddler who runs, he never walks, just runs. The adults are heavy footed, heavy stumping steps. I talked to them, to no avail, they consider me to be racist and went on protecting themselves by negating anything I was telling them, and defending themselves, and telling me to work in another room etc. etc. etc. - it was quite horrible. They do not care about what I am facing.
For two months I have been writing to the HA, to no avail, they are sooo busy and I believe there is a broken chain of communication - HA - Owner - Tenant. I ended up submitting a formal complaint but really not sure what sort of result to expect, if any at all... I told them I am stopping service charges payments until the issue is resolved.
Because of the constant daily thumping - I work from home, the people upstairs are at home and very busy with housework and playing and running - all day, I have developed tension headaches, I am in pain every day from the moment I hear the first thump. Yesterday I suffered a very scary panic attack.
I am desperate and don't know what to do, where to start, who to talk to, to find a solution and to end my pain. The tenants clearly don't care and don't understand. I don't have money to throw at solicitors / lawyers. I don't think I can sell yet - not in a position to move. Environmental health (suggested by HA) do not deal with everyday living noises. Has anyone else been in a similar situation? What was done, how and what to do so as to be able to leave peacefully in my home and not feel like yelling every day? How to get the HA to understand?
0
Comments
-
Chanterelles said:I ended up submitting a formal complaint but really not sure what sort of result to expect, if any at all... I told them I am stopping service charges payments until the issue is resolved.
From experience I've found people who selfishly reject any claim they are noisy also selfishly expect others to be quiet. Can you live with a loud radio or tv on? It will help distract you from their noise, if it annoys them that's a bonus. Call them racist if they complain.
0 -
I believe, and it was vaguely confirmed to me by HA at one point, that wooden floors and insulation upstairs are not installed up to the required standard. This is more the issue I think I would pursue but don't know where to start and who could look into this, check, survey, confirm... HA did not yet share materials used for the floors. Will acoustic survey in my flat reveal anything useful?
It would be a shame to have to 'argue' with every possible new tenant so another thing I was thinking, would it be possible/feasible at all to ask the owner and the HA to ensure that the occupier(s) of this flat are made aware of the thumping issue and respect it. How could this be achieved?
0 -
Chanterelles said:
So you see, despite the title of this covenant (to carpet the premises), there is the 'such other suitable floor coverings' bit which caused three and a half years to pass by without any success and no intervention from the HA to resolve the soundproofing issue except asking the owner to put some rugs on the floor. HA did speak to the flat owner, the flat owner put some rugs probably and tried to walk lightly and that was good enough for me as I did not suffer from the thumping. The HA did not investigate properly, they play the waiting game and it worked for them.Assuming the HA are the freeholder of both properties?It appears your complaint was resolved by using rugs and walking lightly which was good enough for you. They wouldn't continue to pursue it if you stopped complaining. It clearly worked for that tenant but not with the new noisier, less considerate family. Try highlighting that the previous solution simply masked the inappropriate floor installation which was satisfactory with the previous considerate tenant but the current tenants have demonstrated the problem is still there. The HA should as the freeholder pursue the leaseholder for the inappropriate floor installation.As the flat above is privately owned the HA have no control over these tenants. The landlord of the flat needs to advise his tenants of the problems they are causing. Do you have any contact with him? Can you ask the HA for contact details or for them to contact him on your behalf?I'd suspect a noise survey would require access to both properties. Without an agreement to resolve a proven problem its not worth doing at the moment.The owner is possibly completely unaware of the current problem and may be sympathetic and agreeable as before.
0 -
Norman_Castle said:Assuming the HA are the freeholder of both properties?0
-
I am looking for help. My head splits every day, I am in pain from the stress and having panic attacks. I don't think that hearing the noise is the same as banging in your head every day.
I am looking for a solution. Will an engineer or a solicitor help? Are there people here who have found a solution to wooden floors in the flat above or resolved noisy living issues?
Are there any engineers or solicitors here that can advise me what to do?0 -
I am so sorry that you are in pain @Chanterelles it must be awful living with this tension day to day.
I have little advice by way of legal redress other than opening up dialogue with the landlord and see if they can influence the current tenants to be more sympathetic to your situation.
If I were you I'd check my home insurance policy and see if there is an Legal Protection insurance you could potentially use to move things forward.
I'd also check with Environmental Health again - not to ask if they can help but to pick their brains for where to go next.
It goes without saying you should keep good records of the timeline you're on.
There are a few things for you to consider - if you sell your place you have to declare any issues with neighbours so I'd want to keep things as light as possible in case a future sale is jeopardised.
I'd also explore ways I could make my day to day existence more comfortable - can you use noise cancelling headphones for periods of the day to help reduce the impact on you? Can you make sure you get out every day for a walk and some fresh air to make sure you give yourself some break from the daytime noise. Can you take up yoga or mindfulness techniques so that you are not absorbing this stress into your body? High levels of cortisol (the fight or flight hormone) can wreak havoc on your body.
Ultimately we cannot control others behaviours but we can control our responses to it. When I was going through a very nasty and stressful divorce I placed my peace of mind and good health very high on my list so I learned to let a lot of things go - I had a short/medium and long term plan and I actively worked towards that future.
Good luck as you navigate these difficult times - I will hope a new tenant moves in - an old lady who is light of foot and goes to bed early.
((hugs))
1
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply

Categories
- All Categories
- 348.2K Banking & Borrowing
- 252.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 452.4K Spending & Discounts
- 240.8K Work, Benefits & Business
- 617K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 175.6K Life & Family
- 254K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16K Discuss & Feedback
- 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards