Hi OzBargainers,
I’m reaching out in desperation, hoping someone here might have advice or insights. Since buying a pre-owned apartment in Mascot Central last November, our lives have become a nightmare. Every single day, we’re exposed to intense industrial noise from the Woolworths loading dock, from 7:00 am until 11:30 pm.
Despite trying everything we can, nothing has changed, and the issue is seriously impacting our wellbeing.
How the Noise Reaches Us:
Thanks to Meriton’s brilliant design, our apartment is physically connected to the Woolworths loading dock, a detail we only discovered a month after moving in. The dock floor sits on the same horizontal level as the ceiling of our apartment. This means any impact on the loading dock floor is transmitted straight into our unit. The noise is clearly structural-borne, not airborne.
I made two images here hopefully they explain better than my wording above.
Typical daily noise includes:
- Trolleys rolling
- Manual/electric pallet jacks moving loads
- Pallets or heavy items dropping — sometimes like a bomb going off
And other industrial-level thuds and crashes
How Bad Is It?
The noise is relentless. My wife and I both feel like our home is uninhabitable. We’re often woken at 7am, can’t nap, can’t relax, and can’t sleep until midnight. Sometimes it literally gives us heart palpitations.
If you're curious (or skeptical), please listen to the recordings we’ve collected: I’m confident you'll be shocked at how bad it is.
What We’ve Tried So Far:
- Reported to building management (Meriton): No action taken.
- Reported to strata manager: They pushed it back to building management.
- Reported to Meriton's commercial manager: He visited for 2 minutes (no noise during that time), then commissioned a noise test from a Meriton-associated company. The report claimed “no issue”; it was literally one line and completely misleading.
- Reported to EPA: They referred us to Bayside Council.
- Contacted Bayside Council: A kind officer is assisting us. He contacted Woolworths to request noise limits (7am–10pm), but WWS is ignoring it, and noise still goes until 11:30pm. Even if they stuck to hours, it wouldn’t fix the intensity and frequency of the noise.
- Paid over $2,000 for a proper acoustic report: The independent engineer monitored our apartment over two days and confirmed the noise is severe. The findings completely contradict the Meriton-commissioned report. I’ve submitted this report to the council, hoping it will add pressure.
Where We Stand:
Despite all this, nothing has improved. We’re exhausted. Meriton and Woolworths continue to dodge responsibility. I’ve started considering filing a complaint with NSW Fair Trading or even escalating to the Local Justice Court; though I’m not sure how effective that would be.
Please Help!
Has anyone experienced something similar or know how to escalate this further? Any legal, technical, or even media-related advice would be incredibly appreciated.
Thank you so much in advance for reading and for any help you can offer!
Update 22/06/2025
Firstly, I want to say thank you to everyone for all the advice&support. I didn't expect so many comments to a point where I am busy reading them all and replying as many as I can. I love you all!
I made two images here hopefully they explain better than my wording above. Despite we are suffering from the issue, the issue itself is somewhat interesting.
Purchased beeswax earplugs and let's see how it goes tomorrow morning.
Update 23/06/2025
To the many OzBargainers who suggested "sell and move": I sincerely appreciate the advice just as I appreciate the advice which helps with fighting against the issue. As a matter of fact, I appreciate all comments which inevitably help bumping this post and leading to more visibility. Sell and move is probably the most practical path on the table. But we will not sell/rent it out in the near future and we will keep fighting. At the end of the day, some people are just more stubborn than others.
I don't think there is anything related to heroism here; if there is, then I have to play that hero for my family(which is just my wife and me) needs. In the last few months, we received many support from friends, friends' friends, people I know, people I don't know; there is no way for us to forfeit now.
We don't deserve to live in such condition, so do the potential buyers on the market if we decide to sell it.
Just sharing a quote from Interstellar
"It's not possible". "No, it's necessary".
Now back to the topic:
As I mentioned in some of the comment threads, we are not sensitive to noise at all. Instead we are quite insensitive to noise. I know this statement is quite subjective, but we lived near Mascot(renting) earlier, and we still decided to buy a property here despite the high population density and the notorious airplane noise which should add some weight to the statement. And in my entire life(I am at my early 30s), I lived in many places: beside busy road; right above busy bus stop; near construction site; having neighbors playing instrument a lot; none of these bothered me.
I highly suspect that the issue might be newly introduced. Because the 1st owner owned the place for 8 years(they lived here for a couple years and then rent it out in the last few years), and everything(the loading dock, WWS, the residential block) is there for 8 years. I talked to strata, talked to WWS store manager, they said I am the first one to complain about it(they might be lying tho, but let's assume they are telling the truth first). Due to the severeness of the noise, I don't think there is any chance that people just bear with it for years. Could it be there was some good insulation in place but fell off or went broken due to time goes by? or due to a few renovation work from WWS recently? IMO, the biggest blocker for now is the people in charge probably think it's just we have sensitive ears and refuse to acknowledge the issue, then no investigation is initiated. But we really need some professional to figure out the exact reason for the noise. If we can get to know that, there could be an comparatively easy fix or at least start to think about potential mitigation ways.
Sorry about your situation. lots of advice but one thing I noticed in your photo was that there was no physical measures taken on woolworths side to reduce the noise … rubber bumpers, floor covering, maybe some noise absorbing wall material… maybe its an admission of guilt on their part but the space doesnt look massive … it doesnt feel cost prohibative at least on their side … ?