Decision report 201103787

Summary

Ms C lives in a block of four flats managed by the association. She and other tenants raised a number of complaints about the level of sound insulation between upper and lower properties. Although Ms C had raised concerns about the sound insulation since the properties were built in 2007, she told us that it took four years before any action was taken. The association agreed to lay an additional soundproofing layer between the properties, but Ms C complained that this was ineffective as it was laid incorrectly. After pursuing her complaint with the association's management committee, Ms C found that, although they accepted that noise levels were excessive, they would not spend the money required to resolve the situation.

We found that the association took too long to begin investigations into the cause of the poor sound insulation. Once these started, they were actively progressed, but we found that the association took too long to address the problem. We were, however, satisfied that the association listened to Ms C's complaints that the new sound-proof flooring was laid incorrectly. They were able to demonstrate that it had been laid in line with the manufacturer's guidelines. We found no evidence to suggest that their management committee found the noise levels at the flat to be excessive and were satisfied that they only decided not to carry out further remedial works after carefully considering a range of relevant information from a number of sources.

We upheld Ms C's complaint that, after an appeal panel hearing, the association's director failed to comply with the chairman's request to meet with tenants to discuss what other options might exist to help improve or solve the matter.

Recommendations

We recommended that the association:

• apologise to Ms C for the failures identified by our investigation.