Noisy upstairs kitchen in shared house

[Deactivated] on 19/03/2019 - 21:16

Hi ozb,

I recently moved to a two-storey townhouse that has about 16 tenants (16 rooms). As it happened I realised after moving in (and signing a 1-year contract) that I'm directly under the upstairs kitchen and that the room is very noisy due to being in that location.

The noise is mostly from the top floor slab and much less (insignificant) from the people talking. Basically every step they take, say from the fridge to dishwashing basin to oven, etc. the floor makes a very annoying bass sound (bang..bang…bang…).

It is so severe that most nights I get headache at about 8 pm (now!).

I referred this to the management (student accommodation), who happen to be very unhelpful folks with Google reviews of about 1 out of 5. All they did they install a 'keep noise down' sign on the wall but nothing has really changed.

I am looking for a way to move from the house and they keep telling me that I have to find tenant or pay rent until they find one.

My question from ozb community is basically in the line that wouldn't such room be considered inhabitable? Is it a good idea if I ask tenants to walk slowly (I'm not actually sure if they are responsible or if the floor design is bad)?

Home & Garden

Comments

  • trustnoone on 19/03/2019 - 21:20
    +7

    Can you buy one of those rubber things you see in kitchens? Like
    https://imgur.com/NVklmPV
    https://imgur.com/cUjeMrT

    You can claim that you saw someone nearly slip and wanted to do something nice or something. But in reality it'll hopefully take up all the fwump fwump fwump noise away.

    • [Deactivated] on 19/03/2019 - 21:23

      Seems to be an excellent solution. I'll try to tell them to buy either directly for the noise or to prevent slippage

  • Melb69 on 19/03/2019 - 21:29
    +1

    Try ear plugs when sleeping. The matts a good idea to offer. Just tell them its for the noise and if they could use it over the dishwasher area. If they are reasonable tenants they'll understand.

  • [Deactivated] on 19/03/2019 - 22:37
    +2

    Can they move you to another room ? Not that I know anything about student accomodation but I am surprised you had to sign a 1 year lease.

    I would imagine a 16 bedroom house with 16+ people living in it is going to have a lot of problems and would give it a wide birth.

    • Almost Banned on 20/03/2019 - 00:26

      You are definitely going to need an episiotomy then.

    • HighAndDry on 20/03/2019 - 09:38
      +1

      There's probably a reason why the room directly under the kitchen was available.

  • Illian on 20/03/2019 - 00:29

    They've all already gone this long without learning how to step correctly/quietly, they can't change now. There's really nothing you can do without putting something on the floor as mentioned above.

  • djones145 on 20/03/2019 - 08:43

    try sleeping with headphones, nosiy reducing ones
    cause after u sleep u tend to move and the headphones fall out

  • Ryanek on 20/03/2019 - 09:25

    That land lord is making a killing!

    • orangetrain on 20/03/2019 - 19:49

      1 year lease in a shared house with your own room? Wow.. that's like the committing to the possibility of living the worst of the rent life.

      Someone gets assaulted near you? Tis fine, your room is unaffected. No rent reduction applies, also for many other reasons (except noise past a certain time and both kitchens unusable).

  • HighAndDry on 20/03/2019 - 09:38

    My question from ozb community is basically in the line that wouldn't such room be considered inhabitable?

    Nope.

    Is it a good idea if I ask tenants to walk slowly (I'm not actually sure if they are responsible or if the floor design is bad)?

    You can try. Be prepared to be laughed at though.

  • Beanvee on 20/03/2019 - 13:03

    Sleep with ear plugs, that's what I had to do for upstairs neighbours in an old apartment building. You get used it to fairly quickly.

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