Bought a flat from hell. What now?

[LeonieLondon]

I changed name and posting here to get more advice. Sorry long post
I recently bought what I thought was my dream flat in Kensington. For the past 14 years i have worked hard and saved most of my money. finally got on a property ladder with my dp (soon to be dh). We were renting a very similar type of place for the past 3 years (a flat in a mansion block) and had a very good experience- no noise from neighbours, no disasters in the flat, no leaks, generally no problems.
Turns out my new dream flat in a ‘sought after and prestigious mansion block’ has got zero sound insulation, there are not only every day neighbour noises (tv, chatter, laughing) coming from right, left and below (we are top floor, i insisted on a top floor flat because i thought i wouldn’t hear the neighbours…)

• I can hear my neighbours boilers from every direction, imagine constant very loud amplified humming in your ear
• below neighbours are fans what seems to be drum and bass and i hear bass noise coming from their place every day
• said neighbours make my floor and walls shake when they walk- is this a structural fault? I can be sitting in my bed or on a sofa and it literally shakes
• i am pretty sure they can also hear us stomp even though we are quiet

-there is a gas meter in a cupboard of one of the bedrooms which makes a very loud ticking/clicking sound every 2 seconds, again so loud and amplified. It would be impossible to sleep there or work while heating is on or someone turns hot water on (never even noticed this when viewing, but having lived in a bedroom with a boiler cupboard in it i wouldn’t even suspect that would be a problem) I am not even THAT sensitive to noise but i feel i am spiralling into paranoia.

• the fucking helicopters?!?! There is a heliport in battersea over the other side of the river…

We are meant to be putting new floor with sound proofing but given that neighbours play drum and bass i think the sound will travel through walls and chimneys anyway?
I don’t want to be here, it’s a complete disaster. I am now paranoid about every sound and movement
Any advice please? Move? Wait? Do i even bother changing the floors, spending £15k+ on new floors only to discover no noise change?
I feel like this mansion block compared with the one i lived is so flimsy.
I feel no joy from buying anything new for the house- it shouldn’t be like this :(

Speak to your new neighbours, ask them how much noise they hear from others around them. If they have it just as bad I wouldn't invest loads of money and get rid ASAP.

Your flat shouldnt shake when downstairs walk around, did you have a survey. Is there a freeholder, residents association or lease that states noise clauses. My gas meter doesnt tick, you could ask the gas board to check it. Nothing you can do about the heliport. Can you link the flat to,see a picture.

Speak to your neighbors, but if you can afford a multi bedroom flat in desirable mansion block in Kensington I'd suggest selling up and moving out to a nice commuter town, sounds like you can take the financial hit. I'm honestly staggered that if you can afford a place like that you wouldn't want a house after experiencing lockdown.

Not helpful but I don’t suppose your building is managed by Spencer Lewis or Chelsea property management??

Sorry don’t want to link the flat but it’s your typical 3 storey mansion block in Kensington. Yes we had survey, the street is lined with the same kind of mansion blocks and apparently it’s so sought after.
We paid a fortune for it, stamp duty alone was £68k because although i am a first time buyer my dp wasn’t.
The months of stress buying this place, paying for the stamp duty (and loosing it if we sell) feel like it was all for nothing?

Really don’t want this to sound snobby- a mutli bedroom house in a commuter town is no use for us- we are a couple with no children and won’t be having any. Our life and jobs are here.

I’d investigate some high powered sound proofing suggestions but if they don’t work, move.

I'd cut your losses and sell, life is too short. I wouldn't spend the money on insulation.

Well, I think you should try the insulated flooring and sound proofing first. It must have cost you 1.2 million or so, so i wouldn't move lightly

What type of flooring do you have? And are you fully furnished yet? Get an acoustic consultant over to look at what measures you can take to reduce all the building noises. The helicopters they can’t help unless you can put double / triple glazing in.
Are the D&b neighbours making an unreasonable amount of noise / at unreasonable times or is it normal levels transmitted effectively? If the former, check whether they’re tenants or owners - you may be able to complain via the management Co and a landlord owner may take action. Speak to the managing agent to ask if any other noise complaints / issues have been raised and look at past meeting minutes - of your vendor has not properly disclosed disputes you may have a claim against them which could cover costs associated with sound proofing/ acoustic insulation.

Speak to the neighbours and ask if they’ve had the same issues and ask how they’ve resolved it. It would also be a not so subtle hint to them

I think you need to make the most of it considering you've spent so much in stamp duty, fees etc. Can you get a builder/expert in and take some advice on the best soundproofing and what you can expect to achieve? Decent carpets and curtains can make a small difference.

Yikes a flat in Kensington which you feel is hell? You have to sell it. Kensington is way too much money to be living in hell! If you have that sort of money, you should be able to afford basic peace and quiet.

Sorry though. It's awful when your dream property turns out to be a nightmare

I think it might be anxiety over buying a new place and spending so much money. I had the same thing when I bought a property(totally stressed about tube noise, neighbours etc.) I didn’t notice any noise when I was renting. I would give it 6months to a year before spending any money on soundproofing. I researched loads of sound proofing solutions and got people to quote but delayed going ahead with it. After a while I stopped noticing the noise and now I think it is pretty quiet and that it was largely a reaction to the stress of moving and parting with all that money.

Thank you all for replies
@AtillatheHun it’s an old carpet throughout and some tiles in the kitchen and bathroom. The neighbours are making i would say a normal amount of noise, except for the drum and bass music, they don’t party till 2am, but not sure if anyone ever had a bass noise getting to their flat- it’s nerve wrecking any time of day or night unfortunately.
They are renting. I will ask other neighbours about the noise situation and i am planning to approach my downstairs neighbours too, in a kind manner (to begin with anyway…)

We had it like that in one of the rented flats we lived in.
We were in the 1st floor so there were flats above and below us.
Below is they had a sound movie system and watched action movies nonstop so all I heard was shooting and cars chasing and above was a single bachelor type bloke who had every weeken pd different lady in.
Their floor was wooden so if she wore heels and most of them I could hear every step!
I was getting a absolutely mad there and in the end I kept outside walking the streets as I did not want stay in.
We moved in 6 months out..

If you think you’re going to sell - be really careful with what you say to neighbours! You have to disclose any issues when selling and it’s illegal not to, so if you discuss noise with them and don’t declare it you can get into loads of trouble with potential buyers/sales can fall through/their may be legal trouble.

(Haven’t RTFT so sorry if other people have mentioned this!)

@Grida you are giving me some hope there!

@LuisaMadrigal- yes the dream place in Kensington is at the moment making me a nervous wreck.

Rent it out for a bit then sell?

@Grida

I think it might be anxiety over buying a new place and spending so much money. I had the same thing when I bought a property(totally stressed about tube noise, neighbours etc.) I didn’t notice any noise when I was renting. I would give it 6months to a year before spending any money on soundproofing. I researched loads of sound proofing solutions and got people to quote but delayed going ahead with it. After a while I stopped noticing the noise and now I think it is pretty quiet and that it was largely a reaction to the stress of moving and parting with all that money.

I agree with this. I moved in 2020 and for the first six months all I could see were the faults in the house and all the things we needed to fix. Other people would point out the good points to me but I was only going through the motions when I said I agreed with them. In my head the whole move was a disaster! Time passed and we did some work on the place and I started to see it in a more positive light.

@Grida

I think it might be anxiety over buying a new place and spending so much money. I had the same thing when I bought a property(totally stressed about tube noise, neighbours etc.) I didn’t notice any noise when I was renting. I would give it 6months to a year before spending any money on soundproofing. I researched loads of sound proofing solutions and got people to quote but delayed going ahead with it. After a while I stopped noticing the noise and now I think it is pretty quiet and that it was largely a reaction to the stress of moving and parting with all that money.

I had exactly the same, but the noise was due to living next to a busy road - I was an anxious mess due to the amount of money I'd spent on it. I was so overwhelmed, I lived for 4/5 months wearing earplugs and noise cancelling headphones until I felt settled then started step by step with improvements. I'm glad I waited because I could work out what was really important and what to prioritise.

Focus on what you can control.

How old is the boiler? Have you had it serviced. Maybe worth replacing. Get a boiler which is more powerful than you need so it never works or strains. Should be much quieter (and will last longer too).

I've been in that position i a beautiful ancient mansion house in York.
The noise was terrible, but you culd even hear people downstairs switching their kettle on in the morning, coughing etc and the music fro the side neighbours was 24/7. I looked into sound proofing to find out that is ti very very expensive and frankly doesn't work. I now live in a terrace and my new neighbour paid over £25,000 to soundproof her wall. It doesn't work, I can hear radio 4 on in her kitchen.

My advice would be - sell it. Don't spend a penny on it - just sell it and learn from this.

Just to say that I’ve had soundproofing done on my walls in a terraced house in London due to a bad experience in a previous terrace with constant noise. It works very well. Ditto acoustic glass double glazing. I’m extremely sensitive to noise and I’m very happy with the soundproofing we’ve had done. Bloody costly but if the flat is otherwise ideal it might be worth it (and certainly cheaper than moving).

Did you have a survey? Is everything ok structurally?

Agree with other posters and speak to neighbours. Maybe ask if you can Bob your head into their hall and listen if your partner walks around upstairs.

Things that will significantly reduce the noise at a relatively low cost - wool carpet throughout a a lino floor in kitchen and bathroom and fitted with thick underlay.

Heavy blinds and curtains at the window. Roman blinds would help immensely.

Hang art work on the walls to juggle the sound a little.

Fix any plaster cracks and on top of that fabric wallpaper.

Failing that get the sound proofers in… it can be a relatively low cost job, they will either install soundboards within the existing walk or place a soundboard stud wall over the wall.

Is there a management company who own the building? Who is responsible for upkeep?