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Hi There
My new neighbours the Level above me are outright noisy.
1)Noisy small childern(2 under age of 5)running around from early morning until 8pm at night
2)Parents slam doors(front door)bedroom doors (cubbard doors)
The floors above are wooden, not sure that is even allowed in NSW Buildings anymore, only ground floor allowed wood. So the Accoustics are poor quality.
If the OC ignore my requests at the monthly EC meeting, and not pay to put pads on common property front door, what can I do.
Who would have to pay for replacing the wood tiles in the Unit, the OC or the owner of the Unit?
Is it tough to evict these tenants via fair-trading/NCAT as they are very noisy, and impacting my quality of life e.g. Headaches from the noise/sleep problems/ear problems etc.
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In short, you apply for mediation against either the owners corp or the family (or both). You will have a by-law that forbids residents from disturbing each other’s peace and quiet. Children are not excluded. If the parents won’t stop the door slamming, maybe NCAT will. If the owners corp won’t take action regarding the hard flooring, then you can apply to NCAT for orders under a section 138 obliging them to do something about it.
The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.
Hi Flat Chatter,
Sydney (NSW) here.
I have a couple living opposite me and they allow their front door to slam violently which unfortunately occurs during the day, into the evening and early mornings (i’m guessing at least one of them works shift work or odd hours). The noise issue is only compounded when they have visitors as they to seem oblivious to the noise created. I’ve had comments from my visitors regarding how loud the door slams, so its not just me.
I have been renting in the building for the past 14 years and have seen many tenants come and go from the unit opposite. I generally approach each new tenant/s and make them aware of the slamming but this generally only stops the slamming for a very short period. With the latest tenants I have bypassed speaking with them directly and contacted the property manager of the real estate through which they rent advising him of the issue hoping that the problem would be resolved once and for all. The property manager did email me back the same day and advised he had spoken to the tenants and they responded to him with ‘they believe the door closer is not working as it should’. I was amazed at their apparent awareness, but still continue to let the door slam closed?! It has been 10 days since I contacted their property manager and the slamming has continued. The property manager also advised that he had emailed Strata regarding the door as his real estate firm cannot touch the door for fire safety reasons. I even approached the leasing agent during the open inspection before the new tenants moved in and he asked me to email him about the slamming door (which I did twice) but nothing happen. I hoped that by doing this the door could be fixed before being leased.
The issue is severely impacting my sleep at night and is just plain disruptive when at home in the evenings and weekends. It is starting to cause a stressful situation and I’d like some advice on the best process to undertake to have the issue resolved. I feel as a renter, I may have limited avenues but I want to be heard so I can have quiet and peaceful enjoyment of my home.
Thanks.
As a renter you have exactly the same rights as anyone else to the peaceful enjoyment of your home. You can even initiate action at Fair Trading to resolve the issue through mediation.
But getting back to basics, there are two parts to this problem. The first is technical, the second behavioural.
Starting with the technical side, many modern door closers have a two stage setting on them. They close fast until the are almost at the jamb, then they slow down to avoid slamming. They can be adjusted to vary both forces independently. However, there are fire safety people who will adjust them to maximum slam because that is theoretically safer (and they don’t care about the disruption that causes).
But it’s nonsense to say they can’t be touched because of fire safety. All fire regs require is that the door will close if left to its own devices. They can’t be removed but they can be adjusted.
If the door closer can’t be adjusted and the neighbours can’t be persuaded to hold the door as it closes, then you may have to take action to force them to do so. You could ask your strata manager or strata committee to issue a Notice To Comply with whatever by-law you have covering noise nuisance.
Now, you will hear all sorts of nonsense about the tenants being given so many warnings first. This is all rubbish. A Notice To Comply is simply an official warning that a resident is breaching such and such a by-law. It warns that failure to comply with the warning in future could lead to further action and fines. In the case of tenants, breaches of by-laws can lead to eviction as they have broken the terms of their lease.
However, if the strata committee or strata manager still won’t step up, you can seek orders at the Tribunal (NCAT) but first you would have to seek mediation at Fair Trading in the first instance, using this form. Have a look at your by-laws and see which one you would pursue them under.
You will get conflicting advice on this becasue there are three routes you can go down. One is to raise a complaint against your landlord, another is to raise a complaint against the strata committee/manager, the third is to raise the complaint against the noisy neighbour.
If the committee isn’t interested, my preference would be to raise the issue with the neighbour. The argument that you can’t control kids just doesn’t wash in strata. If they really can’t get their kids to behave, then they shouldn’t be living in a unit.
Now, if I were in your shoes I would wait until November 30 when the new strata laws come in and you can approach your strata committee and ask THEM to arrange mediation. Then you can sit down with the neighbour in a less confronting environment and get them to see your point of view (while getting one stage closer to Tribunal action, if required).
The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.
Thanks for the advice JimmyT. Upon returning from holidays, the property is now for lease again and the fire compliance company has looked at the door apparently. Hopefully the issue has been fixed but wont know for sure until new tenants move in.
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