This question about the body corporate’s obligation to test noise levels has been answered by Frank Higginson, Hynes Legal.
Question: As a lot owner, am I able to get the body corporate to test noise levels to ensure adequate installation is installed in the walls?
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I am an owner of a townhouse with shared walls on both sides. All the townhouses have wooden floorboards and a wooden staircase. I have two issues regarding noise in my townhouse.
The first issue is that rental tenants with an 18 month child have moved into one of the townhouses adjacent to ours.
Every single morning from 4:30 am onward there is constant banging of various degrees, sounds of the child running across the lounge room wooden floors, cupboard doors opening and closing, various items being dragged over walls and jumping up and down on the floor. All sounds vibrate and can be heard very loudly up into my bedroom.
The second issue is the stairs that run up along either side of my unit. You can hear every single step every time someone uses the stairs, to the extent that it sounds as if someone is in my house using my own staircase. Also when people talk on the stairs (which are internal staircases connecting the levels in each townhouse that are tri-level) you can hear word for word in my apartment.
As an owner, am I able to get the body corporate to test noise levels to ensure adequate installation is installed in the walls?
Answer: As evidence, make a log of the times and some degree of measurement of the noise.
Where this one sits is that:
- The body corporate has an obligation to reasonably enforce by-laws; and
- The by-laws will be breached (depending on their wording) if the noise unreasonably interferes with the use and enjoyment of your lot.
So for the body corporate to be able to enforce the by-laws they need evidence. Normally that will need to come from you as the complainant. It is not necessarily the body corporate’s obligation to gather its own evidence on your behalf. Proving that noise unreasonably interferes can be sometimes difficult so it is an easy argument for the body corporate to justify that they aren’t willing to take the risk of trying to enforce the by-laws when they aren’t satisfied they have enough evidence to be successful in the first place.
So what we would suggest is taking a log of the times and some degree of measurement of the noise. You can then send that to the body corporate and ask them to take by-law enforcement action. The alternative is to ask them to send around a note reminding occupiers of the noise that can be created on the stairs and early in the morning.
Read next:
- QLD: Q&A Noisy floorboards upstairs disturb our peace
- How to deal with noise complaints when living in a Strata Community
This post appears in Strata News #148
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Have a question or something to add to the article about testing noise levels in your apartment? Leave a comment below.
We have received this comment from Stuart Clough, NoiseNet:
Determining what constitutes a noise nuisance can be a very personal thing. Some people like things loud, their music, their TV and their life. Others appreciate peace and quiet and any noise they can’t control is an intrusion. Between that, there are some guidelines that have been established in general law to manage noise complaints.
In the Strata space, this hasn’t been carried through and strata managers are left to deal with what “unreasonably interferes with the use and enjoyment of your lot” means. So, when dealing with noise levels, the body corporate has 2 challenges:
1. finding out the facts of the situation (how often and how loud are the noises in question) and
2. then determine if they unreasonably interfere.
Noise diaries are a great first step, as mentioned above, but if you feel your Body Corporate is not responding appropriately you may need to get a 3rd party noise level tester to more effectively prove the facts around your situation.
Noise level testing has traditionally been a very expensive option. Short term testing to prove how loud a problem is may be affordable (but Murphy says it will be quiet while they are there to take the measurements). Proving how often the noise issues are occurring simply multiplies the cost.
Also, because you are (most likely) living in your apartment, telling the difference between the intrusive noise sources and noise created by you going about your business in the apartment is difficult.
We at NoiseNet come across this issue all of the time. We currently operate in South East Queensland and have plans to expand. To carry out noise level tests, we are using a Smart Noise Monitoring technology that uses directional microphones and automated analysis to be able to measure and analyse noise levels over an extended period (a week or two). The system will both tell you how loud a noise source is and where it is coming from (side walls, from the ceiling etc,).
In some cases, it can filter out noise from inside your apartment as well. And, because the process is automatic, it is affordable to carry out long term monitoring.
We are currently looking for buildings to test out the system. Get in touch to see if your building, and noise level problem, may be suitable.