Am I a bad neighbour? :/

[GM99]

I have recently bought a top floor flat in a victorian conversion in London. When I moved in, the previous owners left me a lovely note with really useful information including that the original floorboards were still in tact if I wanted to rip the carpet up. There was carpet in the hallway, on the stairs, on the landing and in the study. The carpet was pretty gross so I made the decision to have the floorboards reclaimed and someone came to rip out the carpets.

In the meantime, I met the neighbours downstairs - a couple in their 30s, no kids, he works from home full time and she works in an office full time. I've only had conversations with him. He's taken a couple of parcels in for me while I have been at work. He came across fairly relaxed and relatively friendly but I noticed he kept asking questions about what I was planning to do with the flat...which I did find a bit annoying because I got the feeling he was only talking to me to see, basically, how annoying a neighbour I was going to be rather than genuinely being friendly. He told me that the previous owners were a couple with a son with learning difficulties and the son used to bang and stamp really loudly on the floor which they found very difficult so they liaised with the neighbours who agreed to get carpet and some kind of soundproofing. I only found this out after getting the carpets ripped out. I asked him if I was noisy and he was like 'oh no no, everything is fine'. I said I didn't want anyone to feel uncomfortable and that he should let me know if there were any issues.

Anyway, this morning I got a text message from him and his partner asking me to come round for drinks to discuss the flooring as they said they had noticed that it was much more noisy since I ripped the carpet out. I've agreed to go over but I'm not sure how I feel about the whole situation.

Firstly, I'm single, in my late 30s and live by myself and live a quiet lifestyle. I'm not running around having a rave every night so even though I understand they can probably hear me when I'm walking around, is it unreasonable of them to start interfering in how I decide to go my flat up - ie getting the floorboards reclaimed? What is a reasonable amount of noise for them to deal with? Given the nature of the flats and how they have been built, it's highly doubtful that all noise can be eliminated. I'm concerned they are going to try and persuade me into getting soundproofing which I can't afford. I work from home 2-3 days a week. I can understand it may have been a bit noisy recently as I have just moved in and have been getting people over to provide quotes on flooring, painting and decorating etc.

Any thoughts/opinions would be greatly appreciated :)

This in fairness you need to ‘reclaim’ your carpet.

I owned a flat for a decade and there were absolutely no stipulations of how we could decorate. It was freehold. I’ve never heard of a purchased property having any stipulations.

Similarly, when I rented a flat we could do what we want decor wise (it actually already had wooden flooring) - but the one landlord owned the full block, so possibly not relevant.

I’ve never had any issue with noise in either of the flats I’ve lived with - actually, the only noise issue we had was from through the wall.

You need carpet in a flat or possibly laminate with decent underlay.

We converted our loft for ds and put vinyl down, never heard his footsteps at all although our bedroom was underneath.
After he left home dd had the loft bedroom, she is very petite and light but it was like having an elephant above us. I think some people can be heavy footed.
You need soft slippers and perhaps some rugs if you don’t want a carpet.

In England? It would be extremely rare for a flat to be freehold, unless you personally owned the freehold to the whole building.
Share of freehold flats (which are common) still have a lease, so you're both a (shared) freeholder and a leaseholder. You still have to abide by the terms of the lease.

Scotland.

Lived in a rented tenement for years with a wooden floor, never had any issues with noise.
OP don't let this neighbour walk over you and don't pay for sound proofing. He and his other half only noticed the 'noise' since you told him you got the carpet ripped out, I think he's talking pish. If he wants to pay for it fine, but I find it really hard to believe someone walking about would cause that much disturbance. The only time I've noticed noise from flats above in newer builds with small ceilings and f all insulation.

OP is in London though, it's different here.

NRFT as everyone pretty much in consensus. Floorboards look nicer, but the noise travels really badly, and not just footsteps. TV, phones, music, bath, sex all involve noise that travels. Lived in a ground floor flat with floorboard neighbour above, Saturday night, without fail, friends over for drinks and to get ready to raucous laughter, out for few hours, back at 2 am for dancing and singing to ABBA, followed by noisy sex, either with someone else or alone, then snoring. Very quiet next morning though.

So, unless you want them to know all your habits and to know theirs, I suggest very good underlay and carpet/ rugs.

You are not a bad neighbour

I have done a renovation on a top floor flat. To be considerate (and I didn't want any more complaints from the painful neighbours), I carpeted with underlay throughout, other than the kitchen which had acoustic underlay, and then laminate. Bathroom floor tiled but it's not in a position that would annoy them.

If you want wooden floors, I would suggest getting acoustic underlay, then putting laminate on top. But carpet is probably still better.

I don't think you are 'a bad neighbour' per se - but perhaps you simply don't realise just how much sound carries from your flat to theirs. DP and I live in a downstairs flat and the couple who live upstairs are nice, considerate people. Even so, I can clearly hear when they are walking about on the rug-free areas above us. Luckily, I'm quite good at screening out background noises, and DP's hearing isn't great anyway, so it isn't a big problem for us. But obviously not everyone is the same as us, and other people will be much more affected by similar sounds. Your neighbours might be picking up on a lot more noise than you expect, so it's definitely worth having a chat/listening to what they say. If both you and they are reasonable people, I'm sure you can arrive at a reasonable solution!

Then you need to avoid buying a flat that isn't on the ground floor.

Soundroofing a ceiling is close to impossible. You need access to the floor above to create a soundproof barrier.

Agree. Wood flooring is much cleaner, more attractive and easier to maintain than carpeting.

They can do one if they don't like it. Anyone buying a flat below other residents has to expect some noise. As a solo working person, I doubt you are creating an anti-social amount of noise.

Let them put noise-proofingo on their celing if they are so bothered.

How come people in every other European country manage to have solid floors with no issue then?

Throw some rugs down in the high traffic areas and be done.

And yep, I was loaned a friend's flat for a week last month. The friend (away for a few months) warned me that there were new upstairs neighbours in a flat that had been vacant for a long time, and asked me to let them know if there were any issues. I heard the neighbours' every single footfall, and almost every word of many of their conversations. My poor friend.

No. People who have a problem with noise need to avoid buying a flat that is beneath others.

God knows how many threads there have been on Mumsnet justifying the running, screeching, screaming and stomping of children. But now a single woman who leads a quiet life is supposed to endure nasty dusty carpeting because the snowflakes beneath her expect total silence? I think not.

Stand your ground, OP.

I'm confused by all the poster saying to check your lease, when you wrote that you bought the flat.
I would be a considerate neighbour, but not to extend of buying carpets and soundproofing that you don't want and cant afford! I'd get some rugs and wear slippers.

Not in UK here but flats have rules that you can have non carpeted flooring BUT there must be acoustic underlay to certain specs. So basically if you have timber flooring as the structural floor it would be near impossible to rip up so most people would just have the acoustic stuff on top and then another lot of floorboards on that. Most people then go for timber laminate in that situation which you get around 10 years out of before having to replace.

Thats not true.

We own a Victorian house and when we moved in all floors were wooden. My sons originally had to share a room above our living room and within a day I had bought rugs to cover the main area as their wheeled chairs were deafening. The rugs made a big difference. But as it was our house we accept that some noise was inevitable.

before this though, we owned a ground floor flat and there were definitely rules about first Floor and above having to have carpet in areas other than kitchen and bathroom.

I have a beautiful wooden floor in my first floor flat.

I come home and put slippers on. Nobody complains.

As a woman living alone I would feel intimidated by a guy getting on my case as soon as I moved in.

The vast majority of flats in London are leasehold.

The majority of flats in England will be leasehold.

Surely it’s common sense not to have hard floors in a flat above others?