Noisy Upstairs Neighbours? Lot Owner Ordered by the Tribunal to Remove or Replace Their Flooring
In the decision of Ciric v The Owners - Strata Plan No. 67113 and Blanch [2025] NSWCATCD 12, the Tribunal made orders for the owner of a lot (the “Respondent”) to restore or replace the carpet or floor coverings that they had installed throughout their lot due to the excessive noise this renovation caused to the lot below (the “Applicant”). The Respondent was also required to arrange for acoustic testing to be carried out to ensure that the new flooring they installed complied with the Scheme’s by-laws.
Determination
The Tribunal made this decision based on its review of the following two (2) documents:
A copy of the Scheme’s by-laws. The Scheme’s by-laws contained a special by-law that the Applicant argued that the Respondent had breached. This special by-law (“Special By-Law 8”) provided that prior to carrying out works to their floor, a lot owner must provide to the owners corporation a report from a qualified acoustic engineer regarding the effect of sound transmission resulting from the installation.
An “Impact Sound Insulation Field Test Summary Report” (the “Sound Report”) that the owners corporation had obtained. To prepare the Sound Report, the sound expert carried out a field test which resulted in a reading of “51 L’nT, w.” A “L’nT, w” reading is a “Weighted standardised field impact sound pressure level” pursuant to the Australian Building Code. This reading is a measure of the noise impact performance of a floor (in this case, the floor of the Respondent’s lot), characterised by how much sound reaches the receiving room (in this case, the Applicant’s lot) from a standard tapping machine.
Special By-Law 8 provided that weighted standardised impact sound pressure level could not exceed the level of 40. As such the Tribunal was satisfied that the Respondent was in breach of this by-law.
It can be incredibly frustrating to live beneath a unit that does not have the necessary noise suppressing measures in place. As such, it is important that acoustic testing is carried out prior to and after new floorings are installed in multi-storey strata schemes.
A full version of this article is available here on the Bannermans website. Should you wish to install new flooring or if you are experiencing excess noise coming from the unit above yours, please contact Bannermans for assistance.
Bannermans Lawyers provides high quality specialist legal services to the strata, development, construction, and insurance industries. The firm acts primarily for owners corporations and strata managers, but also has many builder, developer and insurer clients too. The firm’s focus is solely on NSW, and prides itself on being at the forefront of education and innovation
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Disclaimer:
This article is intended for general educational purposes only and does not constitute legal or financial advice. Readers should seek independent legal and professional guidance relevant to their specific circumstances and jurisdiction.