Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Poor conversion - floorboards and freeholders
My downstairs neighbour and I are having problems with the floor 'boards' in the poorly converted house we live in - they're incredibly noisy. I say 'boards' because they're essentially chipboard on top of beams and insulation - and little else. I know this from having redone my bathroom.
My neighbour and I are both leaseholders.
Is there any responsibility on the freeholder to do anything about what have become unbearable living conditions, particularly for my neighbour?
As I say, the house was poorly converted 30-odd years ago. But all three leaseholders are being charged outrageous buildings insurance fees each year via the freeholder's agents.
Although my girlfriend and I creep around our flat to avoid unnecessary floorboard creaking, the noise is still causing serious ongoing disturbance to my downstairs neighbour. I've heard it myself, and it's very annoying. It's like torture for her.
The floorboards seem to have become worse/noisier recently - I've no idea why given the house was converted in 1985! It's annoying for us to hear too - and inconvenient (and just about impossible) to avoid.
Short of my neighbour sound-proofing her ceiling, or me moving out and completely re-flooring the whole flat, we're not sure what we can do about it. Extra insulation and thicker carpets would seem to be the equivalent of putting a plaster over an axe wound.
If the freeholder was legally responsible for ensuring basic living conditions were upheld, we might have a starting point for resolving this problem somehow. In the past I've struggled to get anywhere near the freeholder to discuss anything - there are a line of agents separating us.
Any advice much appreciated.
Thanks,
Rich H
Tags for Forum Posts: buildings insurance, conversion, floorboards, freeholder, leaseholders, neighbours, noise, noisy neighbours
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by pamish on
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Of course it's cheaper to buy a bag of screws and DIY the repairs, but I would encourage everyone who can to buy the freehold of their own property. Not least because the shorter the length of lease, the more valuable the F/H becomes. When it expires, your property is worth nothing, as it reverts to the freeholder (not a lot of people know this). Under 50 years, you'll never get a mortgage, as the lenders want there to be at least 25 years left at the end of a mortgage. In practice, 60+ years gets iffy.
You have the right to buy. The freeholders have to sell to you. If they resist it will cost them a lot in tribunal fees, so they may well be willing to negotiate. Of course you may already know all this; it's knowledge that took me 1 1/2 years to acquire between making an offer on my flat,. and moving in - time wasted while the ^&£$&^%s who owned our freehold left months between replying to letters. Cost us £1000 in fees but I was using a specialist solicitor as I'd anticipated problems.
Ownership of freehold should never be separated from the property concerned. It gets vaguely looked at by political parties from time to time - this was part of the 2001 LP manifesto IIRC - then it goes back to the long grass.
*rant over/*
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Permalink Reply by Heather Herbert on
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I had some issues recently, financial rather than what you are experiencing and I went to the Citizens Advice Service. They seem to have a team that deal with most things so before putting your hand in your pocket and paying someone who may not help I would go to them. We are three freeholders in one house of converted flats, if you all work together you have a better chance of survival!! Good luck.
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Hi Rich i sympathise with your plight. I went mad with squeaky floorboards from the flat above. There was a particularly bad section in their kitchen. When they were cooking i had to go outside.
The flats where i live were converted in the 80s. I ended putting in suspended ceilings. When i took down my ceilings i found that slots for water pipes etc for flat above cut into beams meant boards weren't properly supported. Just screwing down boards wouldnt have helped. Of course it might work for you but be prepared for possible extra work : )
i also put in acoustilay tiles on the floorboards when flat above was empty.
Good luck!
jp
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Permalink Reply by Rich H on
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Cheers for this Jez - only just seen your reply.
We're 'going in' to have a look at a decent area of the floor - and do some experimentation - next month. I'll bear the acoustilay tiles in mind in case they're suitable.
My neighbour downstairs has offered to pay a bit towards some kind of proofing, but I don't think she has the level of finance for suspended ceilings. The initial exploration will hopefully give us more knowledge anyway.
Rich
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