today we received the result of NCAT submission requesting our timber-floor loving go-ahead young couple upstairs neighbours to comply with the by-law. This took over 3 months of nervous waiting but at last we got a favourable result. Yippee!! They have been given until end April to rectify the noise problem so we will expect louder noise levels until then I presume.
We do feel vindicated and were being to feel isolated from other owners as they turn a blind eye and don’t want to get involved.
The adjudication considered our noise log and our wording that the noise was ‘invasive, pervasive and loud throughout our unit’. They did have an acoustic test done (which they originally wanted us to pay for) and this showed that although the floors met BCA it did not meet minimum AAAC level to provide acoustic amenity. We were dismayed – to say the least – by the acoustic engineers comment that although the floor did not meet the minimum recommended requirement, they did not consider this was significant as it was only 2db short. This type of comment I think is made depending on who pays the bill and is not really an independent report.
the adjudicator did comment that the by-law did not stipulate any minimum requirement but we feel that this was, however, taken into account. They had asked for an order that we put insulation in our ceiling (to stop their noise???) but the adjudicator said that we had not contributed to their noise and did not have to do this.
So now we wait – should we expect that they will communicate with us as to how they are going to rectify the situation.