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 :(

Sell it. You hate it. Just sell it.

@LeonieLondon

P.s it’s a purpose built mansion block so it’s never been converted- built as flats from the start. In 1909

To be honest (and I know this is easy to say) but if you can manage it, move on. A lot those Victorian/Edwardian mansion blocks were slung up to provide housing for the poor and have now found themselves within expensive postcodes but they’re notorious for being poorly soundproofed. You’ll never be able to soundproof it effectively. I always remember my DF telling me to keep away from mansion blocks because they were so often poorly built with massive maintenance costs. When I met my DH he had a 2 bed flat in a Victorian mansion block in W8 and you could pretty much hear everyone’s conversations in the adjacent flat plus the bang of the communal front door shook the whole building and the water pipes and the plumbing noises and the dodgy management company pissing everyone’s money away. By the time I met him he couldn’t wait to get shot of it. Mind you, couldn’t afford to set foot in it now

The helicopters are Kensington Palace I think. I’m also in a mansion block in W8. It was far, far worse when Megan was still in the UK. I can only guess she’s a massive fan of helicopters.

Are there any restrictions on your building regarding flooring/ soundproofing? We have these in our building and noise is minimal.

@Lollipopslollypop

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.

I suspect I am like the OP in that having been used to a flat in central London, you could not not pay me enough to live in a 'multi bedroom house' in a suburb.

If you do intend to work on the acoustics some things to consider. There are two types of issues with sound impact and airborne. The sounds you are describing are airborne. The sounds you tried to avoid by buying a too floor flat are impact, ie the sound of someone walking over a floor. A mansion block from 1909 won't be built to the same acoustic standards as now so it's not unusual for sound issues to occur.

The treatment for both is very different, impact us single its a matter of laying an acoustic quilt under the floor finish. That can help with airborne also, however sound travels through the weakest point so there is no point in just dealing with a floor if sound is transmitting through walls also. Insulating the separating walls and floor may be the solution

But get an acoustician to visit, they can survey amd work out the dB reductions required that will make you feel comfortable and specify the work. Done properly all will go, it's really not a big thing to solve but don't try to do it without an acoustician.

The meter, where is the sound coming from the meter itself? If so get a new meter from whomever supplies your gas. Smart meters are regularly installed and will help reduce requirements for meter readings. If its the pipes out of the meter to your boiler thats clicking, wrap them in insulation. Again easy enough to do.

A bit of time and money spent resolving and the problem will go away. Think of it as part of your moving expenses. But don't mess around do it properly.

@mobear

The helicopters are Kensington Palace I think. I’m also in a mansion block in W8. It was far, far worse when Megan was still in the UK. I can only guess she’s a massive fan of helicopters.

Are there any restrictions on your building regarding flooring/ soundproofing? We have these in our building and noise is minimal.

Or just pre-pandemic?

I live in a flat in Dulwich, near the South Circular, and have done for 20 years. My neighbours are noisy, the road is noisy, and I just want peace...but it's Dulwich, with loads of green space, chic shops and decent state schools, so it's a compromise. You live in Kensington (posher than Dulwich by miles) but you also suffer noise. You have to figure out what your compromise is. If the noise is too much (despite the chic neighbourhood) time to move.

Have you spoken to other flats? They might have some suggestions or at least be willing to turn the music down.

Definitely go with what @Marchitectmummy said, get your own noise consultant in to do an assessment, they could save you time, stress and effort and even money if your own insulation ideas don't work .

My husband struggled twice with new homes, I put it down to the stress of moving

1st time we lived near a train track, a very quiet train track - for months he said he couldn't cope with it, but then we barely noticed it

This year we moved to a beautiful barn conversion, it has very thin walls, next door had building work for the whole summer - he was going crazy, how he hated the house, how he wished we'd never moved there, etc

Look at the practical things you can do

1. Speak to the neighbours about the music, tell them that the bass is coming through the floor and would they mind turning it down - they rent, so they won't be there forever
2. Get someone to look at the boiler, it shouldn't be making that much noise that you can't use the room
3. New flooring with soundproofing sounds like a great idea, this will make a huge difference compared to old carpets

I lived in a similar block to what you describe in same area for a couple of years. I absolutely loved it but when I moved in I remember being driven insane by the sound of the upstairs and next door neighbours. I remember crying myself to sleep (and I’m not a very emotional person) and wondering how quickly I could legitimately get out of there financially. But, like @Grida said I think it’s a combo of anxiety and feeling that you’re now “trapped”, but after a few months I genuinely didn’t notice the noises - in fact I found most of it to be comforting 🤣 It will pass, honest. Take a breath, get some ear plugs or sleep phones and try and focus on what you love about it. I truly believe you’re still in the adjustment phase of a new place and you’ll look back and struggle to remember what sounds used to annoy you.

Well done on the purchase. Fabulous investment :-)

With so much helpful, yet conflicting advice (and the odd rude comment to ignore), I wonder what you will decide to do?

Do keep us posted on what happens. Good luck.

Sympathies We bought in a beautiful red brick mansion block about 15 years ago. Middle floor apartment. Gorgeous light, high ceilings, key garden, stunning views, fabulous location... Absolute bloody nightmare from a sound perspective!!

We never heard anything from either side, but above and below were awful. Upstairs was an elderly lady, who used to set a radio alarm for 5:45am every day beeping and blaring 😭 Then she'd use a zimmerframe to walk around, so it was clunk, shuffle shuffle, clunk, shuffle shuffle for hours. Then we'd have the radio droning all evening too. Downstairs had 3 young children who would scoot up and down the hallway from 6am till about 9am... scoooot, bang (into the skirting board), scoooot, bang, scooooot, bang and so on.

It drove us both potty!! We brought in sound proofing consultants. We added acoustic underlay, recarpeted throughout. It didn't help. We decided not to invest in soundproofing under floorboards or adding fake ceilings, as it wasn't going to be a long term place by the point.

We took the approach of asking politely so many times for both upstairs and downstairs to please be aware of their noise during unsocial hours. Then when that didn't work, we took the approach that we'd be the ones to play late night music to demonstrate how dreadful the soundproofing was. That worked a little, because it soon became clear that their very early morning disruption meant we'd be disruptive at 10/11pm that night.

For 3 years we wore earplugs from snore store to sleep 😂 Then we thankfully sold the property!!

Noise pollution is awful and puts you on edge all the time. Hope you find a solution!!

If you’re both currently working from home, obviously the noise issues will be hugely magnified. When everyone is back to the office / going out and about normally, then there will be a much lower occupancy at any one time to bother you with your noise.

@TheHoptimist I don’t think so. I’ve lived here long enough to notice the difference.

I agree with others that you will get used to it. My husband and I hated our house for the first month we lived here, and were ready to go straight back to our rented flat. Now we really like it

Sounds like somewhere round Queens Gate- that's Kensington

I lived in Queen’s Gate for years, and it doesn’t sound like Queen’s Gate at all!

I still don’t understand how Kensington can be ‘near the river’. Chelsea is near the river, not Kensington.

@AtillatheHun

If you’re both currently working from home, obviously the noise issues will be hugely magnified. When everyone is back to the office / going out and about normally, then there will be a much lower occupancy at any one time to bother you with your noise.

When everyone is back to the office?

I don't think we'll ever be back to the office really. Maybe one day per week for some people?

This is the issue for OP!

@mobear

The helicopters are Kensington Palace I think. I’m also in a mansion block in W8. It was far, far worse when Megan was still in the UK. I can only guess she’s a massive fan of helicopters.

Are there any restrictions on your building regarding flooring/ soundproofing? We have these in our building and noise is minimal.

What has it got to do with Meghan?! 😂

@PoshWatchShitShoes

We took the approach of asking politely so many times for both upstairs and downstairs to please be aware of their noise during unsocial hours.

You asked an elderly woman to be aware of noise from her Zimmer frame? OK... 🤣

@Rosenborg OP mentioned helicopter noise. It may be from Battersea, although that seems rather far away, and helicopters also take off from Kensington Palace. There was a lot of helicopter noise when Megan was in the country. Less so now, although I still hear helicopters from time to time. I’m not making a judgement just stating a fact.

Why are people being so weird about it being near the river? Compared to most of London, a portion of Kensington is near the river. The south end reaches to the bottom of Brompton cemetery and that's only a short walk to the river. Sure it's through Chelsea but still, Chelsea isn't vast. I reckon if the river is on the same page of the A-Z as your home, you can say you're near the river. You don't have to have a river view or pass some imaginary proximity test to avoid being deemed a river fantasist.

On the bigger issue, I'm with those who say do it up and sell it. Life's too short and with that kind of budget, you can do a lot better. I used to have a DP who insisted on living in swanky bits of West London too - he was in a (serenely quiet) Kensington mansion block when we met funnily enough - but it's very life limiting and there are loads of other lovely places that still give access to all the things you need with less aggro.

I saw this programme before and Fran Lebowitz was saying she was at a dinner party and was sitting next to a physiatrist, and she said to him ‘I cannot imagine a worse job’ and he said ‘I trained for 7 years to do this job and New York, every single patient just gives out about the noise’

My first reaction was to SELL UP, but I think maybe the more experienced people on this thread are correct, give it 6 months. There is a lot of anxiety with moving, buying a property and your senses are probably on high alert right now. Give it a few months to settle, you don’t have to decide anything today. All the very best to you.

[quote mobear]@Rosenborg OP mentioned helicopter noise. It may be from Battersea, although that seems rather far away, and helicopters also take off from Kensington Palace. There was a lot of helicopter noise when Megan was in the country. Less so now, although I still hear helicopters from time to time. I’m not making a judgement just stating a fact.[/quote]
Okkkkkkkkkayyyy

@Rosenborg Indeed