Am i unreasonable to want my upstairs neighbor to take up his laminate flooring

[lemonlucy]

It states in our tenancy:
"You are not allowed to lay laminate or wood flooring if you have someone living below you, if you do this and it causes noise issues we will take legal action against you"

Despite this he laid laminate flooring. He has been here 8 years.

since i moved in 8months ago, the noise from above has been horrendous, his washing machine, his phone vibrating through the night, his tv, him walking in boots, dropping things, moving things, ect
There is also 0 sound proofing in here in general.

I constantly use to leave my flat just to get work done when i was suppose to be working from home because i couldnt consecrate.
I did briefly mention to him there is no sound proofing and he said nobody else has complained.

eventually i complained to the HA since then he has been saying to the management how he has been here 8 years with no complaints, which makes no sense considering he also told me this flat has been vacant most part and also who is to say when he laid the laminate?
he lied and said he works and leaves the house at 6am and came back at 11pm
this isnt true either and say he has tried to be nice to me by signing for my parcels which is a normal thing to do and either way because he signs for my parcels it doesnt mean he can make as much noise as he likes.

what he was trying to do was devalue my complaint.

He did eventually admit to the manager he had laminate which i was saying from the start, it was obvious with hearing things rolling across the floor.

He has knocked on my door to say how im making his life unbearable as he now needs to tiptoe around and wear headphones.
I told him i didnt ask him to do this and i didnt ask him to lay laminate flooring, its in the tenancy for a reason and he said now i have complained he may get evicted.

am i wrong for this?
He was proper trying to make me feel bad about it but why lay laminate flooring?

[LaLyra]

Do you think he genuinely doesn't think he's making noise? maybe ask him to put his washing machine on and leave his phone there while he comes into your flat and you can ring him and let him hear the noise? Sounds like he just doesn't believe he is disturbing you.

You are not wrong to complain if he's disturbing you. People should be considerate of their neighbours, especially in flats.

[honeysucklejasmine]

Oh dear. I don't think you need to feel bad. He has violated the terms of the tenancy. That's not your fault. Too bad for him. Although why someone would choose to lay expensive flooring in a home they don't own is beyond me. Unless you mean it's just in the leasehold agreement for the flats?

That's academic though. He shouldn't have done it and YANBU to complain about it.

[Berthatydfil]

His lease says no laminate he has laminate - by his own admission - therefore he is in breach.
Everything else is a distraction and irrelevant.
He takes it up or you take action against the HA and him and that's what you tell the HA.

[Binkybix]

YANBU. He knew the rules and didn't care about your being put out, so why should you care about him now?

[RedBlu]

Are you sure "he" laid it and it wasn't already there when he moved in? Just when we first got our HA flat (first floor) like you, the tenancy states no wooden or laminate flooring, yet every room apart from the bathroom and kitchen had laminate!!

We just kept it, lived there seven years and never had any complaints but maybe the flats were better soundproofed than yours?

You could ask him to either lay carpet or put down some thick rugs. Carpets are expensive and I doubt many people could afford to carpet an entire flat just like that.

[lemonlucy]

He told the manager he put the laminate down and he might of not thought he was disturbing me but when i mentioned to him about no soundproofing, i didnt exactly say his footsteps ect but he replied with well nobody else complained in 8years so, just dismissed what i said and i didnt want to go into it to not cause issues, this was within the first month i moved in. I tried to just get use to it but i couldnt, he wasnt even making effort walking around in boots.

When he knocked today i did say about putting down rugs, slippers and he said why should he, he has been here 8 years and he cannot afford to get carpets
I just let him speak and shut the door, he just had an excuse for everything.

[SecretBondGirl]

I would stop speaking to him now as he has shown he is unwilling to resolve the issue himself. I would ask the HA what course of action they will now take as your neighbour has admitted he has laminate flooring which is contravenes his tenancy and it is causing you considerable noise problems and affecting the quality of your life.

[OnlyLovers]

Yes, why have you even got into arguments with him? It's clearly a breach of his tenancy and for the HA to deal with.

[WhereYouLeftIt]

" he said now i have complained he may get evicted. "
Or he could lift the laminate flooring. If he is evicted, it won't be because you complained, it will be because he has broken his tenancy agreement. And if he cannot afford carpets, how much less can he afford to be evicted? I often see rugs on offer on my local Freegle site, maybe he could pick up some for free there?

"maybe ask him to put his washing machine on and leave his phone there while he comes into your flat and you can ring him and let him hear the noise?"
Excellent suggestion from LaLyra.

[PurpleGreenAvocado]

Maybe he has laminate flooring for good reason? We have all laminate flooring because DH and the DCs have asthma. However, YANBU because he should have requested a ground floor flat if he knew he needed laminate flooring for whatever reason.

[WhatTheHellDoIDoNoww]

So he had a laminate floor before you lived under him with no complaints (as the HA would have a log I should imagine) and now he gets a new neighbour (you) and you even complain about the sound of his phone vibrating!

Poor bloke having to live above you.

[WhatTheHellDoIDoNoww]

If he's been there for 8 years, perhaps the no-laminate condition is not in his tenancy agreement.

[IfNotNowThenWhenever]

honeysuckle regarding why someone would lay a floor in a flat they don't own; I dont know about HA, but in council places you get them with no carpets, just the concrete or floorboards, so you have to lay something. It's different from private let-you get the walls, and that's it, no white goods, no floors etc.

[honeysucklejasmine]

Thanks for explaining IfNot. Didn't realise that, what a pain! Paying for flooring throughout the residence is a pretty big ask all at once.

[LittlestLightOnTheTree]

whatthehell so you'd be fine with that kind of noise?

[Cliffdiver]

It may not be in his tenancy but I bet it will be in the Lease that no laminate can be laid.

lucy is there a property manager for the block/building as opposed to just the flats? If so contact them and they will contact the owner and inform them they are in breach of the Lease.

[Leelu6]

YANBU.

[Princessfrog]

Perhaps he suffers from allergy and taking out the carpet has helped?

[kaitlinktm]

What do people have in their kitchens and bathrooms then?

[IfNotNowThenWhenever]

It is that honeysuckle . I have recently moved into a new council house, and have had to do all the floors. Costs £££, but I see it as being offset by the lower rent and the secure tenancy.
It's really hard for families who don't have the cash or credit to do it though. There used to be grants from the council for decorating and white good, but the cuts have stopped that, so there are tons of people who are living with no cooker, bare floorboards etc for months and months.
Sorry for derail!

[BibiBlocksberg]

YADNBU OP, no useful advice, just wanted to say i feel your pain. Ate my lunch sat in my car today thanks to horrendous noises from upstairs flat (no sound proofing here either)

Not trying to be flippant but came across this while 'car googling' noisy upstairs neighbour issue and it genuinly & unexpectedly made me laugh through the white hot fury:

m.youtube.com/?v=4IRB0sxw-YU

[AntiHop]

Yanbu. Sounds very stressful being able to hear that much noise from your neighbour's flat.

[Dameshazaba]

Yanbu. With bells on.

[cardibach]

YANBU to want him t shut up. However, my house is 'upside down' with the living areas above my bedroom. I used to have carpet then laid laminate a couple of years ago. There has been no increase in noise in the bedroom - footsteps, machines, no difference. So YmayBU in blaming his flooring.

[hibbleddible]

I get that the noise is annoying, but it sounds like it is mostly due to the lack of soundproofing, rather than the flooring. Perhaps you have unrealistic expectations of how carpets will change the situation?