Hard lesson for defiant timber floor couple

If you are in a block where your upstairs neighbours have installed a hard floor and their stomps, clomps, thuds and scrapes are driving you mad, you might take heart from a recent decision in the ACT.

There, a couple who’d bought into The Viridian building thought the restrictions on the timber flooring they wanted to install were too severe and instead took the advice of their timber installer that the proposed flooring and insulation would be more than adequate.

However, the relevant by-law in The Viridian was very specific and demanded a six-star acoustic rating as defined by the Australasian Association of Acoustic Consultants (AAAC) – the highest noise insulation you could achieve in an apartment floor.

The couple applied to install the flooring but failed to specify flooring and insulation that would meet the AAAC standards. The strata committee rejected their application on those grounds.

The couple’s timber flooring installer claimed that the by-law standards applied to a fixed floor whereas theirs was a floating floor which needed less insulation.

The committee insisted that the flooring be installed subject to the conditions in the by-laws.  The couple went ahead and installed it anyway – which is when the downstairs neighbours started complaining about the noise from upstairs.

After receiving breach notices from the strata manager, the couple went to the ACT Tribunal, claiming that The Viridian’s flooring by-law was “harsh and oppressive” and therefore invalid.

They also claimed that other owners in the block had installed hard floors and there was no way they could have complied with The Viridian’s strict rules.

The couple lost the initial case and last month were told they had lost their appeal too.  That said, the Tribunal’s decision was surprisingly even-handed.

The strata scheme was given 14 days to provide details of the other apartments that had received permission for hard flooring under the terms of the relevant by-law, and the materials they had used in their installation.

Subject to that, the couple was ordered to either detail their plans to replace the timber floor with one that was compliant, or to cover it with underlay and carpet.

So if anyone ever tells you that you have to put up with the fact that an upstairs neighbour has installed a hard floor that breaches by-laws and drives you mad, and if they say you have to live with it because a tribunal would never order anyone to rip up their floor or recarpet it, point them in the direction of this case.

Neighbours can’t enhance the value of their property at the expense of your peace of mind, and tribunals across Australia are finally starting to embrace that fundamental strata concept.

The peaceful enjoyment of your lot is not a hypothetical construct; it’s a right and it’s real and it certainly isn’t subject the sales spiel of a timber floor installer.