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My upstairs neighbor and I recently had the floor between us tested for noise as I had complained to him about heavy walking. He no longer wears shoes inside but this has not resulted in less pounding. The previous occupant was very quiet. Our strata has a special flooring by-law which states: “The L’nT,w of the floor of a lot must be 50 or less (other than in an area that is a kitchen, laundry, lavatory or bathroom)”. Upstairs agreed to have an acoustic company test the floor. We had this carried out with the result being: “The installed hard floor covering has achieved concessional compliance to the building’s by-law requirements as noise levels within 2dBA are widely deemed as non-perceivable. This means that the difference between a floor performance of Lntw of 50 and 52 will not be perceivable”. My question is: where exactly is the cut-off – I thought it was 50? While the floors in the living areas were 52, the floor in one of the bedrooms with carpet was 26. The knocking from the acoustic machine upstairs was very loud in the living areas and very soft in the carpeted bedroom.
I know there’s a by-law about disturbing the peaceful enjoyment of another lot but in all reality how do you prove that? The Strata Committee has not been involved; I was once the chair so I know how that would go. I don’t know if anyone has had any success in this area?
I haven’t posted on Flat Chat before but often read it. What a great resource it is; how vast the problems are in strata – thanks Jimmy
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Thank you for your kind words. There are two elements to transmitted noise – one is the sound insulation or lack of it, the other is the behaviour of the people creating the noise.
You are right in assuming that it will be trickier to prove a “nuisance” case, but not impossible. You need to gather evidence of what the noise sounds like, when it occurs and how frequently. This could be recordings and stat decs from friends and neighbours.
Then you can approach the neighbour and ask them what it is that they are doing that creates the thumping sound. It’s worth them cooperating on this as the next step is messy for both of you – mediation and maybe the tribunal.
I have an upstairs neighbour whose original owner put in a cheap floor then buggered off overseas and sold. The floor has never been brought up to the building’s now stringent standards but the occupants don’t make much noise … except when the owner’s teenage son is visiting; he can’t move from one room to the other without running.
If it ever became unbearable, I too would be looking down the barrel of a trip to Fair Trading and NCAT, so I sympathise.
By the way, you could get a different acoustic consultant to give you another interpretation of the test results. If the limit is 50, then 52 is a breach.
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Jimmy, as to your recommendation of going to Ncat, as you know it is a complex and often expensive process, the following question must be on the minds of many in this forum: do you know of any law firms that do pro bono work on strata matters? I ask because FT is in my experience not very helpful – thety are not lawyers after all – and hiring a strata lawyer to represent a single owner as in this matter is both expensive and even if successful, costs will not be awarded.
If pro bono lawyers are not available and the only option is so -called legal centres, staffed by young ‘uns or withdrawing the case, then the system is even more unjust than most of us believe.