To want to scream at these neighbours

[AMAZINWOMAN]

My neighbours who live above me, moved in a few months ago and put in a new carpet. However, they moved the underlay and every time they walk it sounds like a herd of elephants and it wakes me up and prevents me from going asleep. The noise is driving me mad. If they drop something, I nearly have a heart attack.

The noise also affects another tenant as their property is also above hers.

I have spoken to them on many occassions calmly and have written a letter. Their response was aggressive, using capital letters, saying I am messy and noisy and just denied all responsibility.

The other neighbour has spoken to them and got nowehere.

The landlord eventually came over and listeneed to the noise and said that it was a problem and asked them to change the carpet. He also told me that they were moving out and told the other tenant that if she complained any more he would kick her out.

However, I have spoken to them again. They said they are not going to move out and have never had any intention of doing so, that the landlord asked him to put in new carpets but he is too busy.

So far I have been calm and reasonable but got nowhere. I feel like screaming at them as I have been so irritable lately as I can''t relax in my own home.
Their bloody kid aged about 8 is just running and jumping around now.

If two sets of neighbours and landlord have said there is a problem with noise, wouldn't you ask a kid not to jump around and put in a few rugs.
The landlord did say he is wary of being called racist.

He told the other tenant WHAT?

That's shocking.

Can you and the other neighbour go to environmental health instead?

Bugger being wary of being called racist. It's a noise issue pure and simple. He's got no right to say to a tenant that you either shut up or get out! If the first thing that comes to his mind is race then I would suggest that he is racist. Normal people would not make that leap.

I think you should keep records, make recordings, get environmental health round and see their race as the irrelevance it is.

If it's normal noise i don't see what you can do about it tbh. it is the landlords problem to sort out - he needs to recarpet it & say that's what they have to use!

I feel for you. My upstairs neighbours are exactly the same, he has his kids every weekend who stay up till the early hours, running around with their dog and jumping which wakes me,dp & dd up. I really wouldn't mind if it was just during the day. Horrible isn't it!

I feel for you too. We had neighbours with laminate flooring. The wife always wore high heels and would stomp, stomp, stomp all over the place all evening.

They'd also hoover at 7am at the weekend which would make an absolute racket over the laminate flooring.

Quite often I'd hear massive bumps and scraping sounds at around 3am and thought they must be moving furniture round or something

They were also unpleasant people who it was pointless trying to reason with.

The landlord needs to recarpet. It's his responsibility, not the neighbors.

YANBU, it's the Landlord's job to deal with the carpet. He is just using the 'racist' thing as an excuse because asking someone to renew carpet is not racist.

You need to contact him again. It's bad that he's making you & the other downstairs tenant feel that you can't complain.

I feel for you, i had the same problem in a previous property and will never again live below someone. My ex neighbour worked shifts so would come in at midnight and stay up till morning, their lounge was above my bedroom and the constant walking around/very squeaky floorboards drove me insane. Not to mention the 2 hour phone calls to Canada at 2am where i could hear every word. I moved as soon as the tenancy ended, it was the only solution as far as i could see.

I'm in a similar position and I hate my life! I was up til pat 3 last night with TV noise and a noisy phone call, went bed soon as the TV went off then was awakened at 6 by the horrific snoring! I'm woken by snoring at least 3 nights a week. It's killing me. I've spoken to my landlady and to his landlady but it just gets worse. And the contract doesn't end til next summer so I'm stuck in Hell!

Urgh, roll on next summer. Can't wait to move!

Noise in flats ALWAYs travels through ceiling and floors...

For this reason there is often a part of the lease belonging to the leasehold (the communial lease) that stipulates that there is adequate soundproofing. With carpets this would include underlay and with laminate this includes the thick soundproof boards...

If its a split house then its less clear I would say and depends on the paperwork.

It is the landlords responsibility IF he replaced the carpet. If he didnt and the tenant did it either without permission or with permission and failed to replace the underlay then its the tenants... though if the landlord did not stipulate underlay then I would say the landlord.

Really tricky.

It's not 'normal' noise at all and it can be prevented. My downstairs neighbour was partially deaf and he said the weekend I lifted the hall flooring to lay laminate was so bad he moved out to family. Luckily I had warned him and once the soundproofing & laminate was down the problem went.

Environment health is your best bet. Being accused of discrimination is a real risk and large bunch of us in student accommodation were accused of exactly that despite numerous reports from surrounding neighbours, the police and onsite security. Even our placement mentors got involved as we were being kept awake before early shifts until 4-5am with music so loud it was keeping whole blocks of flats awake... uni wouldnt touch it because the tenants said we were complaining because they were African and we weren't appreciating their cultural needs.
When they moved into private rent my poor friend found herself living on the same cul-de-sac but round the corner... their noise kept her awake for another year. Strangely enough their new neighbours were 'racists' too but their environmental health process saw them evicted.

This happened to us. Our flat was the ground floor and the woman who owned the one above ripped out carpets and put down laminate. Cue night after night of broken sleep for us...

Luckily, we read through the lease with a fine tooth comb and there was a clause that said all flats had to have underlay and carpet. So, we requested that the freehold management company enforce the terms of the lease as she had breached them and - granted it took six months - carpet was restored.

This was easier as we owned and there was a legal precedent (someone else in the block had had the same problem previously and did what we did). The owner of the flat hated us from that day forward though, which was awkward as she was the one who'd broken the rules, not us.

Environmental health will be of no use whatsoever to you if this is considered to be normal, everyday noise that travels due to poor insulation etc.

Your landlord sounds like an idiot and I'd be looking to move if I were you (and I say that as a landlord - said flat is now rented out). You need to be able to live in your own home and you clearly are not able to do that right now. How much notice do you have to give to move?

Forgot to say - laminate can be fine with adequate soundproofing, as another of our neighbours found. It just costs more...

My other neighbour lost it yesterday and just banged on the floor with a brush and was screaming "how do you like it".....

They just called the police on her.It is about the fourth time they have done it, but she is never charged.

The landlord has asked then to change the carpet, but they said they are too busy. The landlord is very difficult to get hold of, but i will keep on trying.

I have contacted the environmental health and see where that takes me.

As for moving, my kids are taking exams in the next few months so will be staying here until then. Also, I have anemia at the minute, so moving house is just too much for me. Although hopefully I will be better by the time the exams are over.