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Original poster

upstairs neighbour constantly complaining about noise..

14 replies

howdidthishappenthen · 31/10/2009 19:43

We live in a basement flat in a converted Victorian house in central London. The floors are rather thin and flats have hard flooring so you can hear some light noise from other flats - I take the view 'such is life if you want to live in a high-density city centre' .

Our upstairs neighbour however does not take this view, and shares her displeasure at hearing noises by stomping on her wooden floors or even dropping furniture items (which makes the floor shake and the dog cower). We do make an effort to be quiet - no radio during the day, TV on as quietly as we can hear it, speak in low voices pre 8am and post 10pm but really - an a-home family with a 2 year old cannot be silent. She even had a stomping fit last week because my husband had a cold was coughing at 11pm. I've been up there a few times to ask her to stop stomping and to say we'll be as quiet as we reasonably can, but she's not approachable and I really don't want to go up every week. DH is getting antagonistic and a few times has yelled up for her to shut up and get over it,which leads to a quite hysterical fit of stomping for 20mins. New baby arriving in Feb so noise levels are going up,not down. We both rent our apartments from the same landlord. WWYD?

OP posts:

AvengingGerbil · 31/10/2009 19:48

Can you approach the landlord and ask him to install soundproofing?

Suggest that carpeting upstairs will also help insulate her from noise, rather than bare wooden floors (which are the invention of the devil, IMO).

choufleur · 31/10/2009 19:50

I'd keep a diary and report any really unreasonable noise to environmental health.

Hassled · 31/10/2009 19:51

She sounds like a complete loon. I think approaching the landlord is your best option - although he/she is under no obligation to do anything. My only other suggestion is to move - sorry.

CarGirl · 31/10/2009 19:51

I would be tempted to tell your landlord that the sound installation is insufficient and he need to carpet both flats, it would also decrease the volume of the noise you make if you carpet and have more furnishings to absorb the noise IYSWIM.

Biobytes · 31/10/2009 19:52

Report her, your noise is just the noise of everydays life, she is going the extra mile to annoy you.

Just keep DS reasonable for a while so she can't say that he shouts at her.

Biobytes · 31/10/2009 19:53

I mean, DH not DS

sunburntats · 31/10/2009 19:53

Move,
Seriously, this will make you ill and the after effects last for years, i know, it happened to me.

It will affect your life and not in a good way.

Original poster

howdidthishappenthen · 31/10/2009 19:55

I know,I have pointed out to DH that I can't be smug on my moral him ground if he winds her up. Landlord has said it was a prob with the last family that rented our flat too, so perhaps he'll be amenable to some carpets..

OP posts:

jobhuntersrus · 31/10/2009 19:55

I would really consider moving tbh. Like you say with a new baby on the way it is not going to get better and as children grow they make more noise too. The stress of constantly trying to be silent would be unbearable.

She is being very unrealsitic and sounds not very nice.

Biobytes · 31/10/2009 19:56

Well, it is not fair that you have to move when she is the unreasonable one, but I agree, it is hell to be walking on eggshells all day long.

SCARYspicemonster · 31/10/2009 19:59

Blimey - as the person living downstairs from someone with wooden floors, why aren't you complaining about her noise? I live in a similar place to you and the people upstairs are always waking my DS up by banging things around and dropping stuff on the floor and it irritates me. And it sounds like you're incredibly considerate - I am much less so. She sounds like a loon.

Your landlord needs to sort this out I think. I own my flat so no hope with that for me!

CarGirl · 31/10/2009 20:04

Actually I'd be tempted to stop trying so hard and live normally. She is banging on the floor and making a huge fuss anyway. If she actually speaks to you about it tell her to get the landlord to install better soundproofing.

Perhaps the more you pander to her unreasonableness the higher her expectations are?

Arsed · 31/10/2009 20:05

If I were you I'd tell her to sort her attitude out or you'll go out of her way to name as much noise as you possibly can all day everyday.

happysmiley · 03/11/2009 15:04

We had a similar problem with our upstairs neighbour. We tried to speak to her about various issues around the communal areas, bins and stuff and her reaction rather than dealing with it or trying to talk about it was to start stomping round and making life unbearable for us with her noise.

We didn't have as much patience as you and consulted a solicitor and were advised that that kind of purposeful noise (rather than just the kind of every day noise most of us make) was actually against the terms of the lease and we could pursue it legally.

But rather than write a solicitor's letter straight away (and get charged) he suggested we write her a polite email or note and say, look this noise isn't every day noise that can't be helped, you're outside the terms of your lease, and we have consulted our solicitor and been advised that we have legal recourse, obviously we don't want to go down that route as it would be difficult and unpleasant not to mention costly for all of us but if we have to we will. For us, that hasn't put a total stop to it but it is at least bearable now and we can live with it.

We own, rather than rent, so didn't go into the situation for tenants when I spoke to the solicitor, but I would think it highly likely that your landlord has a duty to sort this out. But it may be worth speaking to a solicitor to see where you stand with the landlord. Know this seems like it is going to cost a fortune and be a nightmare once you get solicitors involved, but ours gave his advice for free and will only charge if we ever get him to have to write a letter or otherwise pursue it (so far, fingers x'ed, we haven't spent a penny and are so much happier).

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