Moving because of neighbours

[Elephant75]

Morning everyone

We bought our lovely ground floor flat with private garden just over 1.5 years ago. It's a old building converted into 6 flats. Yes... You know where I'm going with this.

We are lucky and don't have a mortgage. Just the usual ground rent and service charge. We love our flat and the location is brilliant. We love it

However since we have been here the noise from upstairs has become unbearable. I appreciate that we will hear noise being on the ground floor and in an old building. We are almost in our 50s so are pretty sensible about things.

We, along with other neighbours, have all complained to the freeholder about the noise. It's not loud music just to be clear. Just their family constantly over, over the weekend we have had about 15 hours of children running over floors, jumping, etc. It was unbearable. This has been happening every couple of days for hours on end. Even before lockdown started
Not sure why the children of the family aren't in school

They rent off the freeholder and she has been extremely sympathetic to us and has told them to stop.she admits there are problems with them. However, it has continued. We have even had plaster come off our walls and bit comes off our radiator where the jumping and shuddering has been severe. Our flat cost us over £400k and to see it being damaged almost daily is heart breaking.

A house along the road has just come up for sale. Obviously we would have to get a mortgage of around £100,000 and the downstairs and garden needs a bit of work. Also parking for 2 cars. We could pay this mortgage off within 3 years.

The question is.... Would you stick it out in our lovely flat and see if the neighbours move on. They also have 3 week old baby so I am sympathetic to them and conscious about her feelings and feel that I can no longer complain. Or go for the house. We are leasehold, the flat is freehold.

I bumped into the son of the freeholder the other day who obviously knew of the complaints. He informed me that his mum and had put them on a shorter lease and that she would like them out before the end of the year but feels she can't move them now because of the baby which is understandable. No sure how true this is but he seems a sensible bloke and works for his mum at the company.

We know the lady who is selling the house. She now lives abroad and won't be coming back so is in rush and is willing to wait until we sell our flat.

Any thoughts. The noise and damage is really getting me down now so appreciate any advice or similar situations.

Some flats are horrendous for noise, particularly if they are converted.

We stay in a flat in my DDs uni town when we visit her and I've been amazed at how much we can hear from the flat above. This is an old regency conversion. Such a beautiful flat but I could never live there.

I just wanted to empathise with your situation. We have similar but in detached houses. We bought our house 10 years ago. A fairly ramshackle 1450's grade 11 cottage in a rural location with a neighbour next door but quite far away. Both our gardens back onto a field and our garden is about 1/2 acre. When we moved in a couple of about the same age lived next door - everything was fine. We spent ££'s renovating our property in the meantime. Then a young couple bought it, no kids. Promptly had two children and spent about £1 million (their estimation) renovating it. The whole back is glass and opens up onto their garden. In this tiny quiet little hamlet surrounded by countryside they obviously feel like they are in the middle of nowhere with neighbours. They installed speakers in their garden (dotted around the whole plot in trees), erected bouncy castles, swimming pools, built a huge brick wall around it which acts like an amphitheatre so the sound really travels. The last 4 or so years we have been subjected to screaming kids, loud music, big show off parties, bellowing (him), performance parenting which involves running after the kids yelling and bellowing your head off.. We can be inside, with triple glazing and the TV on and still hear the kids who are about 100 metres or more away above our TV. It is soooooooo depressing. If we potter out in the evening to perhaps dead head the roses or do a bit of gardening the kids have a post dinner tear up and we have to wear noise cancelling headphones. My husband walked the dog recently and heard them from 3 fields away. I have started to get to the realisation we will have to move but this was literally our dream and forever home. Arrogant arseholes!

Oh Cosmos. That sounds awful and so sad. So selfish as well. Sounds like it was your dream home and beautiful as wellm

I'm still not sure. The week I decide to sell and have offers, in all fairness they've been pretty quiet up there.

I saw the young girl who lives up there yesterday and she was really struggling up the stairs with the baby. I don't know whether to stick it out until they decide to leave (like the free holder's son said), save really hard in the meantime and then see what is around then. It could be that a lovely older semi retired person moves in if they decide to leave. It's such a gamble isn't it.

I can relate! I bought my first flat saved since I was at uni for it and unfortunately had the same problem! So much noise from the family upstairs, no soundproofing at all. I lasted not even one year and decided to put the place up for sale- it was such a lovely place too! Like yourself, I though should I just stick it out and eventually they will move. Honestly I have felt like now I have moved from there, I didn’t actually realise the extent to which it was mentally affecting me at the time- hating coming home and wearing headphones to listen to my tv! definitely not how things should be. It’s so unlucky especially when you own a lovely home. I would move if you have the chance- as one family could move out another move in it’s all just luck. I am so grateful to have found another flat and my neighbours both upstairs and downstairs are no bother. I really feel for you as it just get’s so frustrating living in your own home. I think if you have that opportunity take it and run- even though it always feels like you shouldn’t have to :) and I think going forwards it makes you so super aware when you buy somewhere else of noise and neighbours etc!

Good decision...your new neighbour may be ok on the noise front as i found it travels up and down mostly....I gave up a fabulous council flat in Brixton with right to buy due to the awful neighbour below me...I bought my mums old house off my sister [ was left 50% each ]...and now i am detached with no noise at all and lovely neighbours...I dont know how i managed 7 years in the flat listening to Abba on auto play and the stomping and yelling at the 2 children !!

Glad you found a solution. I know that feeling when you dread coming home!

Thanks again everyone. The neighbour who is attached to me is elderly. I know him very well and I also the family who is attached to him and the people who are attached to them. It's a great community there.

Very conscious that the elderly neighbour won't be around for years to come or have to move because of stairs and that a noisy family or couple could move in. The location here is fantastic though and a detached is well over £1 million.

Thanks Euro. I agree. Noise from upstairs is far more oppressive. Such a shame about your flat.

Empathy from me too. Much much empathy.

Noise insulation is best done from below - you have to create a sort of system of rails. Building control can do a before and after test.

Just thought I’d mention it in case things change.