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have you tried a statutory nuisance notice from the council?
We had one served (Wandsworth council) on an upstairs neighbour years ago. it may not directly solve your issue but it would certainly be more ammunition. -
Does she own the lease upstairs? If so you shouldn't be paying for shit imo. And carpet - even cheap crappy carpet - will deaden the sound hugely compared to a laminate flooring.
I think just based on her behaviour she needs a reality check. I would tell the MAs to enforce the lease properly and if she does a poor job you can complain about the dog too. She's on such shaky ground, she doesn't seem to realise what a serious situation she's in.
EDIT: and if your freeholder (via the MA) refuses to enforce the lease, take them to tribunal. You have a great deal of power here and you've been hyper reasonable about it. It may be time to embrace your inner bastard.
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I offered to pay for this in May 2022, and even got the company to visit and discuss it with her, but she still refused and basically ignored all future contact.
WAC
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You're mad trying to engage with her. Anything you pay for might end up being replaced down the line, eg if it gets damaged, with the same as now. Get the lease enforced.
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Fuck paying for anything on not your flat, I’d just kick up fuck.
Go to the council, you’ve been nice enough far nicer than what I’d have been.
Now it’s time to just be a cunt
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You've gone over and above to remedy a situation entirely of their own making.
Many single homes just should never have been converted for this reason, they aren't build the same way a flat out tenement would be.
Laminate flooring is a plague, shouldn't be fitted in thr majority of situations. Full thickness hard wood or even engineered floors are immensely better at absorbing the slap of an inconsiderate neighbours feet, but decent sub floor, then foam rubber then carpet is the best without doubt.
Go the council route, unfortunately you should have in the first place as they will require a decent period, few months maybe, worth of instances where the noise was an issue.
And or just move. No house/flat/view is worth mega issues and fights over, sell up, move on, and absolutely stuff their letter box, car wheel arch liners and anywhere else appropriate with frozen sausages.One of my upstairs neighbors decided 5.30am was the ideal time to drop their entire shoe collection on the floor from a height, then literally throw thrm across room into a pile.
A knock on the door and a stare that could cut through concrete solved it. I'm pretty sure I couldn't actually say anything as it would have just become a sweary rant.
Came home after work to find a sorry note and some wine. -
Enforce the lease, the freeholder would be in its right to pass all costs to them, sollicitors included which would turn out to be huge. direct contact from fH's sollicitors should scare them enough that they put carpet and underlay.
It happened in our block of flats
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@neu
I mentioned this a while ago, but I have had a pretty horrible noise issue with my upstairs neighbour for a year now which finally has the prospect of a resolution but I'm not sure how to proceed. We're both leaseholders with the freehold managed by an agent.
We both moved in similar times last year, but her flat had a newly laid laminate floor which causes ridiculously loud impact noise (her flat was unoccupied when I viewed my flat). I can't sleep if she's awake basically. The lease says floors have to be "covered with carpet and underfelt or with such other effective sound-deadening floor covering material". She also got a dog despite the lease saying no pets are allowed.
Attempts to resolve it with her haven't worked. When I first told her the issue was her floor her boyfriend just screamed in my face saying I should get my ceilings done and that knows better as he's a builder. I got a soundproofing company to confirm that this wouldn't be very effective, as impact noise bypasses the ceiling through the walls.
She then said she wont ever have carpet as she has a dog. Desperate for a solution I asked the company to quote for soundproofing suitable for wood floor. It was 20% more expensive and poorer performing, but much better than the current scenario. I offered to pay for this in May 2022, and even got the company to visit and discuss it with her, but she still refused and basically ignored all future contact.
I escalated it with the managing agent who finally sent a letter before action last week. She replied saying that she will accept having the work done, but only if she can have a laminate floor and I pay for the entire cost (I assume she wants me to pay for the new floor too).
Now the obvious answer is to say no and enforce the lease, however my concern is that it's a cheaply converted Victorian building with shite sound issues regardless. She could get a carpet and underlay laid cheaply and it would still be awful. I think I need this opportunity to get the best quality of work done.
Therefore my thinking is to get two quotes, 1) to soundproof ready for a pet-friendly vinyl/carpet, and 2) to soundproof ready for laminate with comparable performance to option 1. I'll pay for option 1, if she wants laminate then she pays the excess for option 2 (which will be a lot). The problem is that she will just say no and likely result in the worst result for both of us.
I have all the leverage of the lease, but she just will not pay for anything and will insist on the absolute cheapest option so I'm not confident the lease will actually result in "effective sound deadening" that it requires.
I'm also unsure about paying for work in someone else's flat and liability. I've tried to get advice from solicitors but keep getting foisted onto someone else.
I feel stuck even though everything seems in my favour. Sorry to rant.