Upstairs neighbour has put in laminate flooring and his teenage son is a nightmare- am at the end of my rope....

[BenguinsMummy]

Background: couple move into 2 bed apartment above us with teenage son and things are friendly, no excessive noise, teenage son keeps on inviting his friends to hang out in our communal garden (we are a gated community) and proceeds to supply his friends and pretty much everyone with the access codes to the gates... Again, not exactly the biggest issue in the world as we have CCTV and very watchful neighbours. Neighbours had another child a year ago, so there are 2 adults, a teenager and an infant occupying a two bed apartment where the second is at best a box room... (Not my problem, I've included so as not to drip feed)

Fast Forward to just before Christmas, I come home from collecting my DS from nursery having been out Christmas shopping and I come home to loud persistent banging.... It's 6 pm, i assume that they are a little excited (week before Christmas remember) and assume that they will have whatever fun they're having and quieten down... (I was travelling away the next day until new year so wasn't really effected, didn't even go to bed in fact as I was on the road by 5 the next morning to miss the traffic) and didn't return until early new year...

Right, so, when we got back the noise persisted, and persisted, and yep, persisted, sometimes banging, stomping and what sounded like thunder rumbling...

Being non confrontational, I decided to pop upstairs and request that the maybe try to limit their noise as it was 8pm and I was trying to get my son to sleep...the NDN listened to what I said, then slammed the door, I went back downstairs and considered calling the housing association in the morning... DH then went out to pop to the shops and take the rubbish bin out and there was NDN stood on the landing outside our front door with his toddler in his arms and started getting confrontational "so my baby can't play in his walker" DH knew better than to react aggressively and walked away, about 5 minutes after that the noise level became extreme, so we ended up calling the police on 101 and they visited and told them they were being unreasonable with the noise level... Then contacted us and told us that they have laminate flooring throughout!!!!! In a flat!!! When the first thing the housing manager says when someone moves in is "laminate flooring is not allowed above ground floor!!!!

Fast forward to Monday and I speak to the housing manager, she goes out to visit, recommends that they remove the laminate and replace with carpet and says because it counts as statutory noise, there's nothing she can do...

The best they can do is recommend that they move to a bigger property and warn them not to hand out access codes once they get changed again (other neighbours have complained about this btw...) and has offered to move us to another apartment in the complex but the only one becoming vacant is another 2 sets of stairs up... Which wouldn't be a problem if I didn't have health needs....

Am I being unreasonable in thinking that there must be something I can do or they can at least do to enforce these neighbours from keeping the laminate down? It's making my life a misery, I'd just got to the point where my son was sleeping in his own room through the night and now he gets woken up by one of those morons upstairs coming in at 11pm and practically skipping around....

Rant over!!!

[Coldwatebay]

If the housing association says no laminate, and the tenancy agreement says no laminate then it means no laminate. I would suggest you contact your housing association again and escalate this complaint.

[BenguinsMummy]

I think I'm gonna have to, I really feel as if I'm being fobbed off.... This housing manager has form for not really doing anything and expecting neighbours to sort things out themselves....

[RiverTam]

Yes, keep on at that housing association. No laminate, carpet only means exactly that.

It's selfish twats like this that have resulted in this being written in to many HA and lease agreements, because so many people can't work it out for themselves. Now they have written it in, the least they can do is enforce it!

[Coldwatebay]

Is it the housing manager that you are speaking to or your housing officer? Does your HA have an anti social behaviour officer you could formally log this with?

[GnomeDePlume]

Back to housing manager I think. Is the 'no laminate' rule actually a rule?

Problem will be that they probably arent being noisy in the sense that they are galumphing around. The problem is that it is the tapping noise goes straight through to the floor below ie you. Even if they wore slippers the noise might continue if the noise is the tapping of the laminate on the sub floor rather than the feet on the laminate IYSWIM.

If there isnt an actual 'no laminate' rule then they were thoughtless to fit it but are not necessarily being unreasonable in their day to day activities.

[BenguinsMummy]

I feel that they're taking liberties, I'm not a serial complainer either, I fully get that they want to keep their floors hygienic for the baby, but surly that can be achieved by not wearing she's indoors (who does that?!) and regularly vacuuming and washing carpets... I'm gonna call the housing association again in a minute, why should I be offered to move? I'm not the problem...

[BenguinsMummy]

I'm keeping a noise diary, the laminate rule is mentioned under the section that says "home improvemnets that require written permission" the housing officer and manager are the same person, the ndn contacted her the next day stating that I'm persecuting them... Luckily enough housing officer knows me fairly well and knows that I'm not the kind to go mouthing off or causing trouble, I just want a peaceful life...

[thelittleredhen]

I'd be filing a complaint to be honest. You reported the problem, you do not feel that it has been dealt with in a satisfactory manner.

The estates manager or whoever will have someone to answer to. Find out who it is and speak to them.

My HA have a website with an online "praise or grumble" form - doesn't take two minutes to fill out.

[Momamum]

Copy in all your correspondence/meetings with the h.o. + highlighting all the relevant bumph in your tenancy agreement to your CEO.

And an offer of an alternative flat for you, even were it suitable, won't be solving the problem for the next tenant, either, another point which needs to be made.

[cestlavielife]

they could have laminate if they fit proper noise reduction underlay....

[BenguinsMummy]

I'm going to email the housing officer, that way there's a paper trail,

Cestlavie- the laminate is refused unless the flat is a ground floor flat...

I think the best option would be formal action now... I might ask the clerk at the local magistrates what I would need to do....

[RiverTam]

I don't think the underlay or lack of it is the whole issue - carpets, curtains etc absorb noise. A room with no carpets and blinds instead of curtains will be far noisier than one with those things.

Stick to your guns OP. My aunty has this problem, years of having families live above her with no noise problems at all, new family moves in, installs laminate flooring (against the rules) and now every sound, not just footsteps, is magnified. Awful for her.

[specialsubject]

babies do not explode if brought up on carpet, what a load of total nonsense.

which part of 'no laminate except on ground floor' is so hard to understand? This nonsense proves why that rule has been made.

escalate this. The way they have brought up their son shows you exactly how arrogant they are.

[Coldwatebay]

Escalate to your housing manager's manager. There will be a procedure in place.

[LifeofI]

Op put in a complaint for them to enforce the tenancy. Then go to the ombudsome.
It really is horrible and selfish when people put laminate in.