NATIONAL NOISE ADVICE LINE

Under the Housing Act 2004 exposure to unusually loud or continuous noise inside a dwelling or within its curtilage is deemed to be a threat to the physical and mental health of the occupants.

THE NATIONAL NOISE ADVICE LINE

The following case studies provide examples of some of the ways in which Noisedirect has been able to assist individuals with their noise problems. For reasons of data protection and client confidentiality, all personal and identifiable details have been omitted.

London

An owner occupier was regularly disturbed from noise of day to day activities including footfall, banging, crashing and loud music from the occupant of the flat above. The occupant had removed the carpet and installed laminate flooring. Informal approaches by the noise sufferer to the occupant failed to resolve the problem. We were contacted by the noise sufferer and wrote to the private owner of the flat and the occupant, reminding each party of their legal obligations not to cause a noise nuisance. It transpired that the occupant, a tenant, had installed laminate flooring without the owners knowledge. The owner made the tenant remove the flooring and sought possession of his property.

East of England

A Housing Association tenant had endured 3 years of interrupted sleep due to the occupants of a neighbouring flat installing badly fitted laminate/wooden flooring in their bedroom. The noise makers also had quite a nocturnal lifestyle and held regular social gatherings at their flat. The Housing Association failed to acknowledge the concerns of the noise sufferer or take any steps to investigate the problem. We contacted the Housing Association and with the threat of legal action under Section 82 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, the Association made their tenant remove the defective flooring.

West Midlands

The owner occupier of a flat had spent a year trying to reason with the Managing Agent of the flat above to replace the floor covering which the tenants had removed. The noise from footfall and regular social events at the property prevented the noise sufferer from sleeping and using her home in a reasonable manner. As the terms of the lease expressly required carpet to be fitted to all rooms, halls and landing areas the noise sufferer even sought assistance from a Solicitor, all to no avail. We wrote to the managing agent and owner of the rented property reminding them of their statutory obligations and contractual duties, pointing out that our Client would be entitled to instigate a number of legal remedies. The owner of the tenanted flat arranged for carpet with a suitable acoustic underlay to be fitted within three weeks of our involvement.

South East

A group of leaseholders and tenants from a block of flats had complained to the Managing Agent and Freeholder about loud persistent noise particularly late at night from the use of the uncarpeted communal staircase. The Managing Agent refused to acknowledge the concerns of the occupants. We wrote to the Freeholder and Managing Agent reminding them of their legal obligations under the Housing Act 2004 resulting in the Managing Agent arranging for carpet to installed

Wales

The owner occupier of a flat in a newly built block was suffering daily from extreme levels of unreasonable noise transmission, from the privately owned and tenanted flat above. The owner of the affected flat had tried writing and speaking to the other owner to try and resolve the problem without much success. We wrote to the owner of the flat, giving rise to the noise, advising them of the legal remedies available to our Client. As a result, the owner allowed access for a sound insulation test, enabling remedial works under the NHBC guarantee scheme to be carried out to resolve the problem.

Solve your wooden and laminate flooring problems by discussing your case under a fixed rate scheme with an experienced Environmental Health Professional.

THE NATIONAL NOISE ADVICE LINE