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 :(

@AtillatheHun

I am v curious to know which part of Kensington is on the river and near the heliport. (it's hammersmith, isn't it OP?)

We had very noisy neighbours in a semi - they sound proofed and it was much improved but we could still hear them . You sound very noise sensitive so you may find soundproofing still doesn’t sort the issue . We vowed to only ever buy detached subsequently

@VelvetChairGirl

is it a new build?

also where were you living before? of course theres helicopters theres tonnes in london and a heliport along the river a round batersea. I see tonnes including apatche gunships flying over head from RAF Northolt.

No, OP says it is Edwardian.

Look to move. Sound proofing would have to be on all sides and floor by the sound of it, so quite expensive and might not work.

Is funny, my first place with DH was like this, it was a house but it was near a busy road and railway line (although not actually directly on either).

The first few weeks after we moved in, I was overwhelmed with the noises from the road and the overnight trains, the heavy freight train at 4am woke me up almost every day to start with.

The , your brain adjust, the noise becomes more normal, you adjust. I agree with some others that investing in better sound proofing would be well spent ie triple glazing, flooring, noise proofing however the key area that feels needs tackled is the drum/bass noise, would take legal advice on how best to approach given you are new owners ie is it reason flat was up for sale?

@SeasonFinale, where does she say her DP owns another property? Did I miss it? She says he wasn’t a first time buyer but that isn’t the same thing.

YANBU but

You have got buyer's remorse. The worry over your purchase being a disaster is causing you to spiral down. 🙁

Somehow you need to get a perspective, before it starts to maje your thoughts and behaviour irrational.

Firstly I would try to get away for a few days. Noise can feel claustrophobic when you're tuned in to it. It might sound weird but maybe go somewhere else that's noisy, so you don't have the contrast of quiet/noisy to exacerbate your concerns.

Secondly, try to write yourself an action plan of immediate stuff you can do to maje it more bearable (for your own sanity) :

• different, softer flooring - carpets are noise absorbers
• different wall coverings - maybe sound proofing, maybe wallpaper
• other soft furnishings like curtains, cushions can all make a room less sonorous
• noise cancelling headphones
• asking neighbours to turn music down if it's unsociable hours
• change the gas meter for another one

Maybe put dates in your plan for when each of these things take effect so you can see when things will get better

It will likely pass. Eventually (and this may not be any consolation), your brain will tune out or block out the sound. This happens for people who live near a railway or road.

If you talk to your neighbours I would suggest inviting them to your flat to hear. I had an old neighbour who complained about the elephants in my flat and thought she was batty. However when I heard the noise it was terrible when just walking across a room. We took up the carpet and screwed down some boards and it was much better! Best of luck

@SamSoSer

I can’t believe some people suggest renting it out. That’s a shitty thing to do to someone else if it’s really that bad. We were caught out like that by a private landlord who rented us her semi but neglected to tell us that the neighbour was a violent alcoholic who played loud music till 4am...... the same 3 album on repeat for 13 hours solid everyday. I was pregnant at the time and that was hell! We had to find somewhere else AND pay her the rent for the whole contract period. I can’t imagine what sort of person would rent to someone and take their money knowing their are awful noise issues.

Agree totally A landlord I know left their flat because of noise And asked the upstairs tenants to be quiet when there were viewings to rent it out It does seem very unfair. So say there was a ghost, too Of a Nurse in old style nurse’s uniform with cap Every woman tenant became pregnant- We joked the Nurse those was a midwife. The original house was bombed in WW2 And rebuilt Was the Nurse killed ? Who knows I never saw her, but only visited the flat for short times- didn’t live there.

OP. you say you don't have children and don't plan on any. Imagine living with an adult child who thumps around the place at random hours, dancing to some barely audible tune. You are awoken so abruptly you swipe out at you husband, shouting "burglar!!" Happens regularly at ours...
As others have said. You will get used to the noise. Well, most of it.

My daughter and some friends rented a flat in a mansion block in Kensington when she was at music college in south Ken. . They lived on the ground floor. The block seemed quite solid though and as they were all musicians it was probably them making the noise. You do get a lot of musicians staying in that area as it’s so close to the RCM. but it wasn’t very noisy from the other flats.
Maybe you could rent your flat out and live somewhere else? Or if not I’d sell your flat. I’m sure you’d easily get a buyer as lots of landlords buy them.

Jesus h Christ

Did you pay more than £1.1 mil? For a flat?

Rent it out. Rent somewhere else. A modern building instead?

Leave, it sounds like there’s far too much wrong and you’d waste a lot of money trying to fix it but will still need to leave in the end. So sorry for you x

@alienalan

Jesus h Christ

Did you pay more than £1.1 mil? For a flat?

Rent it out. Rent somewhere else. A modern building instead?

This. I really can’t believe that you can’t get a taxi to wherever you want to go to

I live in a mid floor Victorian mansion block and in ours the only way to get good insulation is to go through the ceiling of the flats below. We’ve all done ours but it’s a lot of disruption and you all have to agree.
If I were in your situation I’d move. It’s prime london property - must have cost you a fortune but it will sell.

@LeonieLondon

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.

It doesn't sound snobby at all but 66k stamp duty is insane. Can only think how much the apartment was, I can understand why you're annoyed! This is why I think twice about an apartment

Rent it out right away and then rent somewhere eg in a quiet forest outside London and commute in as needed (I live in London zone 5 for a detached house with garden) and then when it makes financial sense sell it and buy where you have chosen to live.

@SpiderinaWingMirror

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

Agree. Check out all the options, and speak to all neighbours in an information gathering type way, rather than like u are complaining. I'm Sure they'd be only too happy to fill you in, they may have invested in sound proofing themselves, especially if the properties cost that much

@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 also, I was loving under a flight path and after a while I didn't even notice the planes go over even though my friends who visited commented every time and on my lack of awareness 😂

@Samara26
Must have been all that loving making you unaware of anything else. Bliss!

@Saradegrey

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.

I heard that sound proofing only works one way. For example if you were sound proofing a wall, you'd do so to block noise coming into you, not to stop your neighbour hearing noise. I don't think it works both ways unless I've been misled. I think it could be effective for general white noise but not so much drum and bass!

The difference being you’d have to declare the issues if you sell. Renters you can con into a contract right?
Yeah.... why not pass the misery to someone else as long as you’re ok.... ugh

I bought my first home and cried every night for the first two weeks. Hated it from day 1 and do not know how or why I bought it.

Car was broken into was the last straw.

I sold at a loss, and honestly was the best thing I have ever done. I then rented and bought a lovely home that made me smile.

Word of warning, your home is your safe space, if you do not feel happy there, then life gets tough.

Look at selling if you can.

Why are you on mumsnet if you don’t have or want kids?