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Topic
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As a tenant in the same residence for nearly 4 years, informing our real estate of terribly disturbing chronic noise issues exacerbated by wooden floorboards above us, has led to a grand total of 'nothing' being done.
In short:
Can we by-pass the real estate and pursue action directly with strata or government bodies, or can only the landlord take action to at least have the 'legality' of the floor covering reviewed or possibly changes? It's been over 3 years since we had a good nights sleep and it is literally killing us. My health has deteriorated and I had to give up work for the first time in 20 years to address the health issues from stress and sleep deprivation.
The background:
In addition to dealing with many instances of strata law being broken, we have had 2 sets of neighbours in the unit above us daily impact and often devastate our sleep and quality of life from noise transmitting through, and being amplified by wooden floor boards, replete with heavy footfalls, creaking timber and loose pipes (presumably between the floor boards and concrete) banging at intervals 24/7 every day of the year.
The latest tenants perform some type of shift work and perform 'normal' activities such as cleaning, moving furniture, running washing machines etc leading to sudden banging and clattering on the wooden floor that leaves us jumping awake from sleep (assuming we've been able to fall asleep in the first place).
It is loudest between the hours of 11.30pm-3.30am weekdays and 11.30pm-4.30am Saturday, although it occurs throughout the day.
Because the floorboards amplify every sound there is no peace and I am sitting here at 3.30am while they stomp and bang upstairs desperately looking for a course of action.
Apologies for the long post – it is my first here – and I'm upset at not being able to rest my head right now to post more succinctly and eloquently in the light of day. Thanks for any and all feedback.
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Replies
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I feel your pain having experienced the same thing in my block.
Take my advice. Get an experienced strata lawyer involved as a matter of urgency. Speak to any of the expert strata lawyers who contribute to this site. Make your financial position clear to them so that they can take a course of action where costs may be recovered. Maybe the initial consultation would be free.
ANY other course of action would take a very long time and may be successful, but maybe not.
Firstly, have a look at your building's by-laws which should have, at the very least, a clause about the peaceful enjoyment of your lot. They may even have a section on flooring. Failing that, the Strata Act has a section on 'nuisance'.
Then go to your landlord and ask them to get involved as a matter of extreme urgency. They should, if they have any sense, help you with this – especially when you explain that the people upstairs have knocked about 10-20 percent off the value of their investment unit by rendering it uninhabitable.
If they don't want to do anything, you have a choice – you can either go to the tenancy section of Fair Trading and get them to get your landlord to do something about it, or you can go straight to the strata section and take action against the upstairs owner and/or the Owners Corporation under either your by-laws or the strata laws.
Have a look at THIS SECTION of this website to get an idea of how you should and shouldn't run your case. And you might seriously consider talking to a specialist strata lawyer about what your options are.
By the way, the first person who says, “this is apartment living, get used to it”, tell them 'Jimmy Thomson says you are a moron'.
And smile.
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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