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 :(

@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.

You don’t sound snobby, their comment was irrelevant.

I've lived in flats and terraces in London and never heard anything. It sounds like your neighbor is inconsiderate.

Some people only respond to being told so you could mention it to her. I soundproofed one of my homes and it worked well. But I would be concerned about the apartment shaking.

I would sell up.

Some noises you end up just filtering out when they are regular established noises that belong to your home. It takes a while for that to happen so right now you're still in the phase where all the noises are new and grab your attention constantly, made infinitely worse by the anxiety of 'what have I done moving here?!'.

I agree with the advice to wait it out a bit. A lot of the noises can be dealt with to some extent (even helping the neighbours out with costs to make something quieter is cheaper than moving!) but you may want to take the time to get to the bottom of which are worst and most in need of tackling - don't make that call in panic.

@LeonieLondon

The old neighbours were a family of 3 and lived here for 10 years. From the outside (and the communal staircase) the block looks really well kept and clean.

Forgot to mention- the neighbours do seem to have the movie sound system. So lot’s of bass, lots of shooting in the movies.etc. Not sure they would stop using their expensive sound woofer during normal hours because i complained.

I still have some furniture to be delivered as not everything was available immediately.
My boiler doesn’t look too old, but their boiler is making a racket. From what i have investigated online the flat below is very freshly refurbished to a modern standart and it’s a rental.

Are there any building rules?

If it's a rental, can you complain to their landlord? I'm in a place with good insulation but if they're using film sound systems, not sure any flat can cope with that.

A friend moved into a flat with little sound proofing and they ended up moving again a year later into a house. They're much happier now. I don't think they tried any soundproofing, they just cut their losses.

@driftcompatible - when i came to view it, it was a warm, sunny day in August (so no boilers or clicking gas meter), and the neighbours must have been out, so it seemed like an oasis of quietness. Having lived in other part of Kensington for years i never even thought about the helicopter noise, but that is probably the least annoying one that my ear will get used to. I am now probably sensitive to a sound of silence at this point.

You have my sympathies OP. Once the noise gets to you it's impossible to live with.

You could spend a fortune on soundproofing floors and walls without much improvement and having put up with a similar situation for many years, in hindsight I wish I'd just moved.

I'd wait it out and sell in the next year or so. In the meantime invest in some Quies wax earplugs. They are the best on the market and if need be you can mould two together for each ear and you'll hear nothing through that!

Oh, not sure if I'd bother speaking to neighbours. From my own experience and several threads on MN, it only gets peoples backs up.

Honestly? Sell. Don’t throw good money after bad. Put it down to experience.

@LeonieLondon what are the good bits about the flat?

Ivecc BC stayed in the hotel under the heliport and couldn’t hear a peep. Their soundproofing must have been amazing!!

OP walk around with earplugs, if you lihh my et he place then go never in sound proofing. If nothing else it might get you a higher price if you sell

Sell, sell, sell.

OP, you'll get a stamp duty refund if you sell within a certain timeframe.

Just eat the loss and sell. Life is too short to live like this

We sold our last house within 6 months of buying. People were telling us that the buyers mortgage company would have an issue.

They didn’t so just sell up if you want to!

We got the floor professionally done in our old flat: floorboards up, sound insulation material underneath, acoustic sealing of the floorboards then special acoustic underlay under the carpet.

It did make a difference but honestly not a huge one. In your position, and given how much it’s bothering you, I’d probably sell up if you haven’t got used to it in a few months.

I lived in one preciously. I share your pain. I could hear people seeing. I moved to a new build one.

Carpets and expensive underlay would absorb a lot of noise and I believe you can sound proof walls etc which would help with boiler noises.
Secondary glazing could help with helicopter noise. Depends on whether you want to invest money to try and sort the problem. Drum and bass may be covered under the management or lease conditions.

I’m currently selling my modern terrace only been here a couple of years but it’s made me unwell and I can never relax, constant noise banging drawers shut, banging front doors, loud TV, next doors son jumping the last three steps of the stairs and the cherry on top was when they purchased a sex pond (hot tub). I’ve managed to turn a profit on my house so all wasn’t lost but my advice is get out as my mental and physical health has been trashed.

I would second getting an acoustic engineer in to give suggestions on how to improve the sound proofing.
We had issues with sound from below us and putting acoustics Cork/Rubber Underlay under good quality underlay and then carpet, made a big difference. Also made the carpet really comfortable to walk on.
If you have floor boards, get one floor board lifted in sections, to push insulation under each section. That helps deaden the sound.
I would also move your boiler.

Oops!

*previously

*peeing

Bloody phone

Depending on when it was converted may have an effect on the sound insulation that was used - building regulations are constantly changing and being updated. Newer conversions will have better insulation. Honestly, I’d get rid. It’s very unlikely You’re going to be able to retro fit enough insulation be it wall or floor to make enough difference. Houses are a bit different as you can have a go at external walls as well as joists to improve the issue. If you do decide to try, look at building regs part E to see current minimum standards

I think you might be anxious over the new flat, it’s such a big purchase it’s understandable. I was so depressed when we moved into our first house, I honestly thought my life was over. I couldn’t even bring myself to buy a sofa a year lol. I really do think getting some nice furniture in there and starting to make it feel your own will make you feel so much better. Then if the noise still bothers you in 6 months get some experts round to discuss your options. When we moved in the bells from the cathedral 100m away we’re so loud they were literally waking me up every hour in the night when they were chiming, now I don’t even notice them I never hear them. Same with planes when I lived in London - never ever heard them the. When we considered buying in the flat wet we’re renting in London I became hyper sensitive and couldn’t believe how loud they were.

PS if you do buy again visit as many times as you can at different times of the day to get a rounded picture of the noise levels xx

I would definitely get an acoustician in if possible and see what they recommend. If it can't be fixed, I would give up and sell.

We had terrible noise issues in our old flat. It was a converted house with no proper sound insulation. The neighbour above us had the same landline handset as us, and honestly, when the phone rang we were often not sure if it was ours or theirs.

We asked if we could pay to put accoustic underlay down when they were renewing their carpets, which they agreed to. It made a dramatic difference. For us it money well spent. I literally never heard their phone ring again.