Condo Q&A: What Can We Do About Noisy Neighbors Upstairs?

Have an understanding of how your apartment docs deal with nuisances. Then ship your neighbor a composed detect on how their noise is impacting you – and duplicate your residence manager.

STUART, Fla. – Issue: We are possessing a really complicated trouble with noise produced by the apartment unit situated immediately above us. We have evidence that the above unit has not been outfitted with a sound-barrier layer beneath the tiled floor. This circumstance has currently brought about us two a long time of terrible worry. The occupant is unfriendly and the precise proprietors are ignoring us. Our administration company has failed to just take any action. What can we do? – B.B. Stuart

Answer: The first issue that you must do is to just take a seem at your condominium’s governing documents, which include the declaration and bylaws. It is possible that the documents precisely deal with nuisances and give that proprietors cannot produce a nuisance. A nuisance happens when there is a considerable, unreasonable interference with one more person’s use or pleasure of their residence.

In other words and phrases, a single residence owner merely cannot use their residence in a way that interferes with one more residence owner’s suitable to use their residence. In that regard, noise can absolutely be thought of a nuisance. But with a caveat. Florida legislation will safeguard men and women under what is recognized as a fair individual standard. In limited, would a “reasonable” individual be bothered by the nuisance, in your case, the noise?

Sound is a subjective issue – what is unreasonable noise to a single individual might not be so to one more who is equally positioned. Hence, the legislation was not made to automatically safeguard someone who might be “supersensitive” to noise. Some individuals have a tendency to be extra delicate or allergic to items this kind of as noise, smoke, mildew, mild, and so forth. When someone is hypersensitive, they might feel that the non-delicate individuals dwelling about them should legally accommodate their sensitivity. This is merely not the case.

That becoming explained, condominium associations should implement nuisance provisions in their documents when an precise legal nuisance occurs. If the noise from your upstairs neighbor is demonstrably a nuisance, the residence manager and the board must act on it. You have the absolute suitable to legally complain if the conduct of your upstairs neighbor is impacting your use and pleasure of your unit.

I have an understanding of from your concern that your neighbor is a complicated particular person and is ignoring you. But, if you have not completed so currently, my guidance is that your first step is to put them on detect in composing and to duplicate your residence manager on the letter. Considering the fact that they are unfriendly and/or not responsive, perhaps they are not aware the extent to which the noise is impacting you. You must also talk to your other neighbors to see if they hear the noise and are unreasonably impacted. Regretably, it can sometimes be complicated to get an association to intervene in this type of circumstance, specifically the place there is only a single neighbor who complains. The extra aid you have for your grievances, the better situation you will be if or when you make a formal criticism to the residence manager and, eventually the board.

Recall, the operative concern is whether the sound that other people are generating is unreasonable? When the noise might result in you a disturbance, are your neighbors executing some thing that most individuals in your advancement would or would not look at to be a trouble?

You also outlined the concern of soundproofing concerning the floors. If that is a trouble, your concern might not be with the neighbors, but with the level of sound transmission concerning the units. If that is the case and the building was just made in this kind of a way that it allows sound to travel concerning the units, you possible do not have a declare from the association and you must talk to an engineer or a general contractor about taking actions to decrease the decibels concerning your unit and the unit above. You might be able to have some type of sound insulation set up to decrease the sound transmission influence.

Regretably, at the end of the working day, there are all sorts of noises that individuals will need to live with when they live in a building, whether it is an condominium building or a condominium building. As a resident in a building, there are just specified items that you have to put up with as regular noises and the legislation is not made to safeguard people from noises that are basically a part of ordinary building dwelling.

Even so, if you definitely think that your concern rises to a level that is not thought of “reasonable” or “normal,” then you might have an actionable legal declare. There are just so many variables that will need to be thought of before you embark on that highway that you must look at talking to a experienced lawyer if your personal endeavours establish to be unsuccessful.

Harris B. Katz, Esq., is handling lover of the Law Company Goede, Adamczyk, DeBoest & Cross, PLLC, in Boca Raton. The details offered herein is for informational needs only and must not be construed as legal guidance. The publication of this posting does not produce an lawyer-customer marriage concerning the reader and Goede, Adamczyk, DeBoest & Cross or any of our attorneys. Audience must not act or refrain from performing dependent on the details contained in this posting devoid of first contacting an lawyer, if you have thoughts about any of the challenges raised herein. The employing of an lawyer is a decision that must not be dependent entirely on advertisements or this column.