To think having people live above you is awful

I live in an apartment with people above me and it’s great. No noise. Good sound proofing (I cannot even hear my loud door buzzer from
the bedroom.)

I cannot even hear very muffled sounds but that’s it. And I only hear that when sitting in silence in my apartment. I am also the Ground Floor right next to the entrance and it’s fine.

But if you are ultra sensitive to noise, apartment living may not be for you.

I lived in a basement flat and had issues with one upstairs neighbour who seemingly was up and stomping around from 5am then never seemed to be in bed until midnight. There were lots of tears as it disturbed my sleep much. I ended up getting used to it… it was a rental so occupancy changed a lot. Next up was someone in bed a lot and there was a noticeably huge improvement in the noise levels. He lived there until I moved and i forget how bad it was with the stomper. I probably wouldn’t live somewhere with someone living above me again, it feels too risky. Of course, we don’t always have a choice… but I wouldn’t choose to as the impact in your life with a stomper above you is significant.

I live in an old house and my daughter paces in her bedroom above my preferred sitting room.....check out the noise level carefully.

I would bring someone with me and ask them to knock on the door above to ask can you check it out.

Its too important to leave to chance.
Being at the mercy of others reasonable activity is no way to live.

After a few times living with people above me, I switched to top-floor only. People below and at the sides can be awful too, but above is the worst I find

Which is why it will become even more of a struggle to sell flats People dont want all the extra costs

I've always lived in flats. People used to be a lot more considerate of others though, ie no hoovering/washing machine/other noisy things past 8pm. We were also always told to keep it down as kids, no thumping around on the floor/someone else's ceiling, carpets down to try and dampen down any noise. Now a lot people don't seem to care about the noise they make and how it disturbs others.

It applies to any flat with a door that opens onto an internal communal area, regardless of what floor it's on or whether it's a conversion or not.

Unless they have flowers in their windows, which makes it ok, apparently 😂

I agree with OP and as a result I will only go for top floor no matter what.

Thank you. Not sure why irrelevent doors are being discussed in this thread at all, OP said quite quickly it's a Victorian garden flat, converted house. Oh well.

There is no problem with the doors in the photo you've posted as they lead onto the street. The new fire door regulations apply to front doors that open onto internal communal areas within blocks of flats, e.g. a corridor or a stairway.

What are you going on about? Why would these doors be a problem?

I’d be very surprised if they weren’t required to make adjustments to the existing front doors at the very least. Assuming they’ve actually been inspected. If they aren’t being inspected then the Responsible Person could get into a lot of trouble in the event of a fire.

I have lived in new build flat with neighbours above and it was such a dark time in my life! Washing machine spinning at all hours, footsteps banging across my bedroom, even knowing when they've used the loo as it would flush through the down pipe in the walls. Hearing them cough or sneeze, or argue. Awful experience. I felt like I was living with them.

I have also lived in a top floor Victorian conversion and didn't hear any noise from below then. But could somehow smell cooking smells and cigarette smells filtering through from the flat below. Which was almost as bad.

I would never live in a flat again - just felt I couldn't read this without sharing my experience

I've had a mixed bunch of upstairs neighbours in the last 35 years. From a virtually silent old lady to constantly changing crowds of airbnb tourists who clattered around the flat, vastly over occupied it, and shrieked on the stair. Fortunately covid put an end to that. Since then there has been a very quiet middle aged gent and long may he stay!

Good luck. Hope they're nice, quiet and never move out. I would knock on their door and ask them how the soundproofing is before offering.

I used to live in a ground floor house (converted house). As annoying as people upstairs were it was nothing compared to people slamming the front door all day and night. It drove me to distraction

ours has the self closer on the top and self closes straight away. Also fire retardent letter box. Still not good enough Still has to be replaced.

Which proves the point ive been making. Its about £££££££ not safety.

@RogueFemale Told ya so!!

The ££££££££ health and safety exploitation industry.

I’ve lived above people twice and both times they complained about noise - just the noise of walking about in slippers. Similarly, I lived below someone and the noise drove me mad - walking about, dining chairs being pulled out etc etc. I could even hear sockets being used in the walls and cutlery being dragged on plates. I lasted five months then moved out - luckily it was a 6 month rental. A friend bought a flat which was a Victorian house conversion and the noise from above made her move out. However, in some flats which are purpose built, they are soundproofed and you don’t hear anything. I think the main issue is houses converted into two flats.

We live in London suburbs in a detached house now and it's amazing! 30 minutes commute to work too.

Any chance you could move out and not get a flat if neighbour noise is important to you? I think you'll always get noises with flats - I hate it, always made me feel hemmed in.

I couldn't live in a flat now unless it was the top floor but I am very noise sensitive.

Why is it cheap?

This would be my concern.

Noise could be a reason.