The nagging issue when buying a flat - sound.

[Orchidblues]

I'm buying a garden flat, as I have for a long time wanted a garden. It's in a period conversion in a beautiful area of SE London, and I briefly met the upstairs tenant who was very friendly and said she works as a teacher. I asked her about the neighbourhood and she said the neighbours are lovely too.

When I visited with my parents on a weekend, it sounded peaceful. We heard a faint tap on the ceiling briefly, but after talking to the upstairs neighbour she apologised for any noise as she was cleaning and playing some music. We hadn't heard the music, or really anything other than that light noise so I'm assuming the conversion of the flats has been done well, and the noise we heard was probably the hoover or something. In my current flat, which is a second floor period conversion, I can hear the downstairs and next door neighbours slamming the windows and doors, when they hoover it sounds like it's happening in my flat. Kids running up and down the stairs. Loud music. Smell their cigarettes smoke. It's a combination of being in a grittier area, and bad sound insulation - I really want to live somewhere with a sense of peace now. I'm not expecting complete silence, but I'm sick of feeling like I live in a house share with my neighbours.

I've asked the solicitor to check in the lease if it says anything about carpets upstairs being mandatory. I've visited at different times, evenings and weekends etc to try and gauge things and all has seemed well. Obviously viewings are so brief though, there's only so many times you can circle a 1 bedroom flat trying to stretch it out. The stairway to the upstairs flat is on one side of my living room, so I am not directly connected to the NDN's house. I have my own front door through an alley way on the other side, which again separates the other NDN a fair amount, so it's really just upstairs I am directly connected to .... What other tricks could I be missing to see if it's well insulated? I've stayed in friends garden period conversions and they've been fine, I've also stayed in flats (upper and lower) that haven't been. Sadly as I'm London based I can't afford a detached house, so a flat is my only option. Grateful to hear how others have approached this :)

If you are unhappy with the level of sound insulation then you pull out and look for a flat that is either newer and/or one with a different design e.g. one at the end of a row (though maybe colder), one in a detached house.

In regards to smells unfortunately there is no law against the smell of cigarette smoke and BBQs.

Sure - my question was how have others approached inspecting levels of sound insulation :)

The honest answer is it is always a risk.

Some modern flats are better soundproofed, some are awful. Some period conversions are better than others. A quiet neighbour could leave and be replaced with a noisy one or vice versa.

We lived in a period conversion and only heard upstairs for a few months when there was a party-minded tenant. Otherwise all peaceful.

If the area is full of young professionals it’s probably going to be quieter as everyone is at work or wfh. But you might get weekend parties. If it’s full of young families it may be noisier but in the day. It’s not just about whether your neighbours are lovely but what hours they keep.

I’d say the lease carpet question is important so try to chase that down. Other than that I’m not sure there is much more you can do.

I've asked the solicitor to check in the lease if it says anything about carpets upstairs being mandatory.

They won't be able to tell you what's in that person's lease as they won't have a copy of it.

However the freeholder may have a standard policy that means they have to have carpets so your solicitor will need to ask the freeholder.

I know people who own and sold flats where they didn't have to have carpets. However they were in more modern buildings.

You can't.

Find out who all your neighbours are and what they do. Then presume in 2-3 years one/two may move on, die, or have a baby. Also be aware if they are elderly they may develop hearing problems so turn their TV/radio up.

Check if there are any local developments going on nearby by going on the council's website. There may be someone planning on doing extensive building works though to be fair some building works that shouldn't take years e.g. build an extension do.

Finally there are infrastructure works that can end up being repeated 2-3 summers in a row for months at a time. For example my road has been dug up by Thames Water for the last couple of years. Drilling into the road is a special type of noise.

The property is share of the freehold.

It's always a bit of a gamble, especially with conversions. A friend of mine had one of her ceilings fitted with soundproofing, which may be an option later on? It only works if you have relatively high ceilings and it won't be perfect. But you may find you don't need it in any case.