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Myself and my wife are currently renting a unit and have been there for 18 months, throughout we have had issues with our downstairs neighbour complaining about noise. We would accept this if we were particularly noisy but we are not and we are considerate, we remove shoes, we have rugs on all floors to minimise noise etc.
The neighbour has complained to our landlord, they have had mediation and new carpets will be installed in our apartment, the problem is that I believe her behaviour has gone from cookly old bag to harassment. A selection of examples as follows:
1) The day we moved in she ‘introduced’ herself and told us we would be making noise and we would need to put carpets and rugs down (which we did)
2) She advised us that the previous occupant had made noise though from what she heard he didn’t have much of a sex life!
3) She has complained that she can hear wardrobe doors opening!
4) When we returned from a holiday she came to our door thinking that we had moved out and new tenants had moved in so that she could ‘welcome’ the new tenants! When I explained that we had been away for two weeks and asked if she had still heard noise she said she had!
5) She has told us that we have no right to the enjoyment of the apartment
6) She has threatened us indirectly by saying she will take our landlord to court and so our tenancy would end.
We have been polite and patient through all of this and then last night when I was on an exercise bike in a carpeted area of our flat she came up to complain about noise and said that if I was using it, the bike would have to be on carpet etc!
I have had enough, we have been considerate and accomodating but I am not having this idiot dictate how we live our lifes and enjoy the apartment – does anyone know where we stand on this? Do we need to get out landlord to arrange a noise test by strata?
Thanks in advance!
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While we have a track record on this Forum of hammering people who lay down timber floors and expect others to deal with the noise, there is an area that we haven’t really explored and that’s increased sensitivity to noise that some people acquire with age or hearing damage.
A dear friend of ours (now departed) suffered from this and she drove her neighbours mad with her banging and shouting at them to try to get them to be less noisy. It was terribly frustrating for both them and her.
As THIS website shows, increased sensitivity to noise is a fact of life for some people and can be a result of damage to hearing and/or simply ageing:
Here are some symptoms listed by the website:
Very quiet sounds are well tolerated, while ordinary sounds like voices at conversational volume are experienced as too loud or distorted.
The person’s own voice seems too loud or distorted.
Low intensity sounds, such as the noise of a refrigerator, seem too loud.
Sudden, loud noise can cause discomfort and pain.
A loud noise can worsen sound intolerance for some time.
Loud noises can worsen tinnitus and distortion.
Loud noises can cause a ‘popping’ sensation inside the ear.
Now, there is no way of knowing whether the downstairs neighbour in this scenario suffers from this but I would think it would be worth checking out.
So, in the first instance, I would be writing to the rental agent and strata manager to say that you genuinely don’t believe that you are creating excessive noise and you are concerned that your neighbour is suffering from a common medical condition that causes oversensitivity to noise.
To help establish the facts, you are happy to allow acoustic testing to be done while you go about your daily life, provided the downstairs neighbour avails herself of a medical test for noise sensitivity.
There is no cure for noise sensitivity but there are ways that it can be moderated which makes everyone’s lives more livable.
And i think this gives you the opportunity to show you are sympathetic to your neighbour without caving into complaints that may turn out to be genuine but unreasonable.
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.
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