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 :(

@Thadhiya You have NO IDEA what sort of property I live in!

She's paid millions for a flat in Kensington, she's not 'oh poor dear stuck in a flat'. She could probably buy your entire street for the cost of one of her parking spaces.

She paid £1.25 million which is less than the cost of a house/flat on our road in North Yorkshire

@GrannytoaUnicorn a Kensington flat's value is equivalent to a house in many areas of zone 3/4. From what it sounds, it may be close to a million pounds. if you are not bound to school catchments as OP is, its very possible to buy a 3 bed house for 700k even in zone 3, its the school catchments that really inflate the value as people are comparing it against the costs of sending 2 kids to private school (it can be cheaper to send 1 kid to private school than buy a house in a sought after catchment in London but not for 2, according to a telegraph report). in my area however (zone 3 north london with good school catchment), a 3 bed flat is 650k-750k

I own a london flat. My flat is much more quiet than my MIL's victorian terrace. My flat was built in the 1930s so maybe its because its older; the older the building is, the worse the soundproofing. And when you buy in London, you aren't just buying the flat/house, you are buying the location. Like my MIL stayed in a 1 bed flat with 3 kids for 7 years even in the 1990s until she could afford to upgrade because she was orthodox Jewish and she felt she needed to stay in her area to practice her religion, It sounds like a similar to OP's DP, he really wants to stay in Kensington for personal reasons and compromises will be made. Given that 2 bed apartments in Kensington can easily go up to £11 million, I guess there would always be some compromises to be made...At the same time, the average london property is £500k+ so yes there is also lots in the middle, but Kensington is not the place for a budget buy!

People are so rude and judgey on here.

Be nice people.

@Westfacing the location of the property is irrelevant to the question of noise from within the building. It can be very easy to unintentionally give too much info over a few posts and before you know it some poster will be posting a link to @LeonieLondons flat. Eg; calculating the price of the flat by the stamp duty, noting the proximity to the river. It’s a good idea to change the odd detail.

@Wauden

I haven't rtft, I don't know the story of the flat, but it is worth checking whether the Building Regulations were complied with for any flat conversion work.

It’s a mansion block - so there would not have been any conversion work.

You can’t change details about London without Londoners noticing. And you can’t really change one detail but not others.

Then you need to learn to put up with neighbour noise if living in a house isn’t for you

Not necessarily. I've lived in a 1990-purpose-built flat in London for 23 years, and year after year goes by without me hearing a single sound from inside neighbouring flats. (In summer when everyone's windows are open I might hear noises from other flats, not necessarily immediate neighbours, in the same way that if I was in a house I'd hear a party going on five houses away. The flat next door is rented out, there was one year in the 23 when the occupant played music loud enough for me to be aware of it, the rest of the time I've had zero sound from that flat.)

Soundproofing the floors will benefit your neighbours below, not you.

I can only offer my sympathy. I had to sell due to a noisy neighbour.

I haven't rtft, just your posts...

A couple of points:
You'd be surprised how quickly you can get used to noise that shakes the house. I used to live practically on a railway line and after a couple of months or so the trains were barely noticeable. A bit like getting used to a ticking clock...

Also, your flat still sounds relatively empty. Having all your furniture in will make a difference, as will your choice of furnishings on walls and floors. Things like wall hangings/tapestries, rugs, bookcases with books etc are all good at absorbing sound.

If moving out instantly isn't an option (and sounds like it isnt) then you need to give yourselves time to settle. You'll desensitise to much of it and the you'll be able to prioritise what needs dealing with.

In the meantime, focus on mindfulness. When you find yourself getting wound up by a noise, direct your focus to something else - the view, for example, or make a coffee, put some calming music on etc.

Given that the noisy neighbours rent you should be able to deal with them because you'll be able to reach out to their ll if they don't compromise.

Approach sensitively and remember that your neighbours will have adapted to the building noises so might not get how much its putting you on edge.

@TheHoptimist
www.thetimes.co.uk/money-mentor/answer/claim-back-stamp-duty/

Here’s my top tip: if it’s genuinely desirable, the value will have already increased. Do some quick modernisation wins and sell.

You'd be surprised what you can get used to in terms of noise. We used to live in a flat overlooking the Thames. We bought it in the depths of winter and got a nasty surprise when summer came along and the party boats started up. They were really loud, especially when it was hot and we had the windows open. I thought we had made a dreadful mistake buying the flat, but after a few weeks we just slept through it. We lived there for 10 years and had two small children while living there and everybody just slept through it. It was my favourite place I've lived so far.

[quote doublemonkey]@TheHoptimist
www.thetimes.co.uk/money-mentor/answer/claim-back-stamp-duty/[/quote]
Not relevant in any way
The OP has not bought a holiday or 2nd home
This is a primary residence.

@ArchibaldsDaddy

Here’s my top tip: if it’s genuinely desirable, the value will have already increased. Do some quick modernisation wins and sell.

London flat prices are falling mostly- not rising though There has been a small end of year uplift but generally they are struggling to sell and subject to reductions and then going through the land registry substantially lower than asking

The OPs area may be an exception but generally it is a buyer market.

OP I totally feel your pain. I am very sensitive to noise. The problem with leaving one place due to noise, is that you never know if a new place will be any better. As PP have noted, however, if you are remotely considering selling, do not raise the issue of noise, as you will need to declare that when selling. (Although new buyers will discover it soon enough, so in some ways it's best to be upfront about it. When we moved from a noisy flat, we obviously declared the noise, but we also detailed the steps that we and the neighbours had taken to mitigate the problem, which allowed buyers a transparent and honest assessment of the property.)

@ginandgarlands

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!)

You don't have to declare discussions about noise with the neighbours 😂 it's only if you have an official dispute.

@TheHoptimist to be fair, if OP stays for a few years and overpays her mortgage, she may be in a good position to upgrade to a bigger flat in Kensington with no noise problems. if she is in a flat moving to another flat, overall falls in price would mean stamp duty for the next property is less etc and the jump isn't as great. thats what i am planning to do anyway.If Kensingon prices were rising and OP wanted to move to a kensington flat, that would be dreadful for her as she would need to pay even more stamp duty for a flat which has increased in value since she bought the initial one and the increase in her own flat wouldn't cover that.

Just one more comment - if you have moved in so recently - just give it a while . You may well find that the noise bothers you less as time goes on - fix the things in your flat and then just see. - I once bought a house by a main road and thought I would have to move - 10 years later when we moved I wept a tear when we left it.

Moving is stressful. I would give it a try & just think you could move if you had to but give it a go for now - that might make you less concerned about things.

Oh dear, I'm sorry. You sound v miserable. The flat sounds lovely though (despite the noise!).

There are a few plus points. At least the gas meter is within your control. That is good news. It means you will be able to do something about it.

Your d&b neighbours are renting. That is also good news. It means they won't be there for ever. I would really investigate soundproofing. It does work.

Is there a management agency for the block? If so, could you mention the noisy boiler to them? We had something similar in our flat. A neighbour noticed and called the agents who were able to tell us and we fixed it.

I am in Pimlico so also near the helicopters and I am so so sure that after a while you really won't notice the noise. In fact I didn't even realise that was a heliport in Battersea! (All makes sense now!)

My suggestion would be to bear with it 2-3 years until the price of the property rises by at least half of the stamp duty you paid so you don't feel you lost it all and sell and move.

My suggestion would be to bear with it 2-3 years until the price of the property rises by at least half of the stamp duty you paid so you don't feel you lost it all and sell and move.
I don't think I'd risk it once/if covid ends the real trouble will surface, maybe I'm a doom merchant, my Dsis a landlord, her property value has shot up in 5 years.
She bought one for 158,000 in 2016 today's market value is 260 selling for over 300,000.

@Igneo - I think that is a good point - stress can make anything seem worse & moving is stressful - I used to live in battersea & thought noise was dreadful - it actually wasn't I think it was the stress of moving. After a while I didn't notice it. I would give it 6 months and see how you feel OP .

My parents live in a fairly rural area - v quiet but they occasionally get tornadoes on test flights overhead - now that is noisy & one more point I rather miss in a nostalgic way - Concorde going over at 10 pm - you could set your watch by it.

friend has mansion flat in small block in holborn....its very solid and quiet....has the block been chopped up to make more flats....using flimsy partition walls etc...??

I wouldn’t be surprised if once that you stop focusing on the noise you will start filtering it out.

They put an ambulance depot a few blocks from my house, the first weeks I could hear them going around all the time. Now I hardly ever notice them.