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30/01/2018 at 2:04 pm #11559
Location: NSW
My unit is on the ground floor and sits underneath another unit.
The unit above mine is not connected to any apartment laterally.
The unit above mine just completed major renovations and including the installation of wooden floors throughout. I believe that such flooring is in breach of the standard by-law on the topic, which my strata has aped.
I am attempting to lease my unit and fear that the noise from persons, animals and household goods being carried across the unit will greatly disturb my forthcoming tenants. And may drive them out.
I have no idea if the SC/OC knew that wooden floors would be installed (and turned a blind eye) or if the SC/OC knew nothing about the installation.
Could someone please advise what are my rights and how can I assert them?
Thank you.
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17/02/2018 at 4:43 pm #29239
The first thing to do is to establish your by-law and how it may have been breached.
Then you need to approach your committee and/or strata manager to ask them what they intend to do about it (will they issue a notice to comply with the relevant by-law or seek orders at NCAT?).
Failing that, go to Fair Trading and ask for mediation with the upstairs owner to require them to either fix the noise problem or comply with the by-laws. This may not have any effect but it is a mandatory step before you can go to NCAT.
You may have to start a “noise diary” and get an acoustic engineer report to establish that the noise from upstairs is excessive and breaches both by-laws and strata laws on your right to the peaceful enjoyment of your lot.
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.
17/02/2018 at 5:57 pm #29241Thanks for your reply.
The text of the by law in the strata is as follows:
Floor Coverings
An owner of a lot must ensure that all floor space within the lot is covered or otherwise treated to an extent sufficient to prevent the transmission from the floor space of noise likely to disturb the peaceful enjoyment of the owner or occupier of another lot.
This by law does not apply to floor space comprising a kitchen, laundry, lavatory or bathrooms.
In Nov 2017 I wrote to the Strata C’tee informing that wooden floors were installed in the apartment above mine and asking the Strata C’tee if the installation complies with the by laws. I asked them to act swiftly in case the apartment will soon be sold.
Surely if the flooring complies with the by law then (a) the SC would so advise me and (b) the SC would advise HOW it complies (acoustic insulation?)
Guess what? No response received from the Strata C’tee or managing agent.
And noise does travel from that apartment to mine.
The offending apartment is now advertised for sale.
You write
You may have to ….get an acoustic engineer report to establish that the noise from upstairs is excessive and breaches both by-laws and strata laws on your right to the peaceful enjoyment of your lot.
1. How is “excessive” defined? I think the by law makes reference to noise transmission and doesn’t indicate that noise under a certain level is allowable. But maybe I am misreading the by law.
Why must I spend $ on such things? Surely if the noise producing owner is adhering to the by laws (after all the SC ticked off on his renovations), surely evidence must be presented by him or the SC that the wooden floors were appropriately treated so they comply with the by law?
For the record, I have a witness who was in my apartment recently and heard footsteps very clearly walking up and down the length of the apartment. Who know? Maybe they were doing circuit training?
17/02/2018 at 7:17 pm #29243You wrote:
Why must I spend $ on such things? Surely if the noise producing owner is adhering to the by laws (after all the SC ticked off on his renovations), surely evidence must be presented by him or the SC that the wooden floors were appropriately treated so they comply with the by law?
Because it is most likely that as soon as you say that the new floors are non-compliant and noisy they will have documentation from the installer that it does comply with the by-law.
That will address the first part of your complaint. Then you will have to prove that it is now too noisy.
Jimmy has addressed what you need to do:
You may have to start a “noise diary” and get an acoustic engineer report to establish that the noise from upstairs is excessive and breaches both by-laws and strata laws on your right to the peaceful enjoyment of your lot.
This evidence can then be used to seek remediation of the issue. It will lead to a quicker resolution that going through each stage separately.
Now, can you seek recompense for the cost of the acoustic engineer? That is a question that another Flat Chatter will need to answer.
17/02/2018 at 10:36 pm #29245@TruleEConcerned said:
Why must I spend $ on such things? Surely if the noise producing owner is adhering to the by laws (after all the SC ticked off on his renovations), surely evidence must be presented by him or the SC that the wooden floors were appropriately treated so they comply with the by law?
This is an existential question – but you’re right. Any minute now the StrataKops will be arriving at your front door with their acoustic digital ear trumpets to ascertain if there is any excessive noise …
Or not ..
This is how strata works. People break the rules and someone complains. The people who have broken the rules rarely if ever volunteer the information. How prepared you are to complain relates directly to how upset you are.
Every building is different so there is no prescriptive assessment of what is acceptable and what isn’t .
If it’s bad enough, gather the evidence and complain. If it doesn’t seem worth the hassle, learn to live with it and don’t make your own life a misery as a result.
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.
20/02/2018 at 12:45 pm #29262One would think the SC would be able to require that the renovating owner notify the SC and other owners of the planned renovation – giving the owners of apartments that may be impacted by the renovation an opportunity to understand the nature of the renovation. “Before the fact”
Also:
If a carpet is to be replaced with timber or tile flooring, the SC should be able to establish fairly specific guidelines to the renovating owner regarding the need for sound insulation underlay. And the renovating owner should be required to provide to the SC evidence that the work proposed will comply with the SC’s guidelines.
Our SC is dominated by lawyers. They prefer to cite legal precedents when a dispute has arisen than establish guidelines that would help prevent disputes.
We’ve renovated our bathroom, laundry, and kitchen. We replaced old carpet with new. We discovered that the original construction and materials were clearly inadequate – or non-existent – in terms of water sealing and sound insulation.
Our experience is that builders, tilers, carpet installers seem happy to do work that would not comply with any building standard, or that would be clearly illegal.
Owners are also inclined to DIY a renovation – and are often happy to ignore SC requirements to seek permission before undertaking a renovation, or comply with any building standards.
And the ABC “standards” are not binding. They’re merely “recommendations” that are not enforceable.
As a member of an SC – I’m wondering if all SCs are just plain lazy – or is it only the SC of the apartment complex where I have purchased?
20/02/2018 at 12:59 pm #29263@VicRes said:
“…documentation from the installer that it does comply with the by-law.”
This could be a statement from the installer that “the work complies with ABC building codes” Nothing more. Effectively meaningless, as the ABC codes are (as I understand) non-binding suggestions of good practice. And mostly refer to build-time design rather than renovation. They don’t say much about replacing carpet with timber flooring.
What would work for me would be
“We propose to use 12mm Dunlop AcoustiCushion sound insulation underlay under the timber flooring”
or
“We propose to use 10mm Regupol 6010 sound insulation underlay under the timber flooring”
Or similar.
Why would this not work, one wonders?
20/02/2018 at 6:34 pm #29270Thanks for your replies. I will consider them tonight and get back to you with queries.
On the issue of the timber floor’s compliance (or non compliance) with the by law, I forgot to write that:
1. Is it too much to expect the SC to have evidence that the timber floor complies with the by laws. Such evidence could come from the renovator or from the SC’s own experts. And the evidence should be able to stand up to scrutiny at NCAT;
and
2. The renovations were made by the owner/builder who knows the law or should know it.
25/02/2018 at 11:14 am #29285Hi Truleconcerned
I think someone pointed out in an earlier reply that this can become a very emotional issue
By your own entry in the thread, you do not know whether the OC knew of the renovations.
You also think that the noise may disturb your tenants
Strata, as in most laws, is concerned with breaches of a defined legislation. Emotion does not come into the decision.
You first need to establish whether the OC did know of the renovation. As someone pointed out many owners do renovations without notifying the OC. Find out whether the OC knew and what they approved by looking through the correspondence – both minutes of meetings and letters/emails. The approval for a renovation would be in a minuted meeting at least.
Secondly you need to establish that there is a noise nuisance. Like JT said, you need to start a noise diary. The courts will not act on a perceived breach.
There is no magic bullet You will need to do some research and write some letters in order to get some action. It will take time – thats ensured by our legal processes. In this case patience is a virtue.
Robert
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› Flat Chat Strata Forum › Talkin’ ’bout a renovation › Current Page