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The unit above us is making the same agonising impact noises. We have lived in our unit (NSW) for more than eight years and had never heard any stumping, stomping noises as such. Since the above unit ripped up the carpet and put on hard floor our way of life has completely changed.
The complication of our case is that the owner above us got approval from committee to install the hard floor. But after we got their original application we discovered that the acoustic report for the underlay has been evaluated in utterly unrelated test condition to our unit.
Our unit is old one and does not have any suspension ceiling, just concrete slab, but the test report supplied was done with 11-12cm dropping ceiling for the unit below. We think this brings the outcome of test differently. The good news is we have a by-law that the owner needs to provide after-installation acoustic report if there is a complaint about it.
After we reached out to our strata manager and the committee many times, the strata manager was very good and issued notice to comply to the owner above requesting them to submit an after-installation acoustic report, however the owner simply ignored the request.
What should we do the next? Sounds like the only option to get out of this predicament is to sell our lovely home? Any suggestion is much appreciated.
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First of all, the committee and/or strata manager needs to follow up the Notice To Comply and seek fines, if only to establish that the upstairs neighbour has been uncooperative.
Then you need to seek mediation with a view to taking action at NCAT for the flooring to be fixed. The question of permission is almost irrelevant since the issue is whether or not the noise is excessive.
If the upstairs owners feel they have been treated unfairly by being challenged on flooring for which they have been given permission, then that is an issue they should take up with the committee.
And you should be talking to an experienced strata lawyer (like either of our sponsors) now, before you even think of calling a real estate agent. This is a surprisingly common problem as it’s a combination of people thinking they can do as they like with their property, inadequate by-laws and ineffective committees and strata management.
Don’t give up without a fight because the facts are simple – if the floor is too noisy then it needs to be fixed.
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