There has been a huge response to our column a couple of weeks ago about timber floors. But it wasn’t all bad news. One loyal reader had a hard-fought win after a selfish upstairs neighbour had removed carpet and put down timber flooring throughout his two-bedroom apartment.
It took hiring a specialist solicitor and an acoustic engineer then three trips to the Consumer Trader and Tenancy Tribunal but Garry (surname withheld) got a result that gives us all hope.
Initially the CTTT made orders that the floor be ‘rectified’ but there was the inevitable appeal on the grounds that the timber floor complied with the minimum Building Code of Australia.
As we know, the BCA code is worse than useless on this issue. Garry says home owners should refer to the Acoustic Engineers table that compares timber floors with carpet; it’s very difficult to get a timber floor that has the same noise insulation as carpet.
The upstairs neighbour also trotted out “medical reasons” for not having carpet but the appeal was still rejected. Then at a third hearing to consider fines for non-compliance, the tribunal rejected the guy upstairs argument that he had put down rugs and wore wearing soft-soled shoes.
A fine of $600 was imposed plus legal costs of $1,200. A few weeks later, carpet with insulating underlay was laid. Garry’s building now has a specific by-law banning timber floors.
“It is a sad reflection on the primitive state of our strata laws and BCA code that somebody has to take long expensive legal action to obtain peace and quiet from an inconsiderate neighbour,” says Garry. “Unless a timber floor can achieve the same acoustic rating as a carpet with good underlay, this type of hard flooring should be banned.”
No argument here. But isn’t it great that the CTTT has finally applied the law, logic and a little science and not only curbed the curse of cheap wooden flooring but imposed fines and awarded costs against a selfish neighbour.
It’s time Fair Trading took a chainsaw to these sub-standard floors and the carpet salesmen who dupe apartment owners into buying them in good faith. I will pass on to Garry the email addresses of anyone who wants more details of this case.