The installed parquet floor at the neighbor's place is cracking loudly! What to do?

Dear Sir or Madam,

I would like to ask for your advice. I moved into an apartment one month ago that I purchased.

This apartment is located in a multi-family house (all apartments are condominiums) that was built in 1979. There is carpet installed in my apartment. Above me lives a nice neighbor who had parquet flooring installed throughout her apartment 1.5 years ago.

I constantly hear various noises coming from above (i.e., from my neighbor’s apartment). For example, when she gets up at night and walks through the bedroom over the living room to the toilet; loud noises when something falls on the floor; opening and closing her closet in the bedroom; when she lies down on her bed in the bedroom; when she cleans the floor, etc. All the noises sound very hollow.

For your information: a very old lady lived in my apartment before me, and she certainly did not hear these hollow noises from above.

Before I went to my neighbor, I asked the neighbors who live below me whether they also hear my movements loudly in their apartment. They told me that they do not notice anything that happens in my apartment.

Then I went to a neighbor who lives next to me on my floor and asked if she hears her neighbors above. She also said that she hardly hears any noises from neighbors above.

For your information: the upper walls of my apartment are very hard; I broke many drill bits until I installed the lights on the ceiling. So the building is very stable.

All apartments are not soundproof. When I went to my neighbor and told her that I hear all movements in her apartment very loudly, she told me that she has parquet throughout her entire apartment. This parquet was very expensive and was installed 1.5 years ago. When it was laid, the workers did not install an additional protective layer under the parquet because there was already a protective layer on the floor.

I asked her to arrange an appointment with the company that installed the parquet to demonstrate the noises in my apartment so they can see that one can really hear all movements from above very loudly in my apartment. The company is coming tomorrow. Let's see what they say.

For this matter, I have a few questions for you:

[*]Can I defend myself legally against this? Whom could I sue?

(I would rather not sue my neighbor because she is a very nice woman and basically is not responsible if the company that installed the parquet did not do it properly.)

[*]Could my neighbor sue the company and claim that the installed parquet is too loud for the neighbor below (i.e., for me)?

[*]What would you recommend? What could I do about it?

Thank you in advance!

Best regards

Irwin

Hello Irwin,

in advance - the language of the i-Net is the informal "you"

[*]Can I legally defend myself against this? Whom could I sue?

(I would rather not sue my neighbor because she is a very nice woman and basically not responsible if the company that installed the parquet did not do it properly.)

[*]Could my neighbor sue the company and say that the installed parquet is too loud for the neighbor below (that is, for me)?

[*]What would you recommend to me? What could I do about it?

Legal advice in Germany is exclusively the responsibility of the consulting professions; that is, lawyers. Therefore, we are not allowed to give legal advice!

However, I dare to doubt that you will have any legal claim at all and that you are dependent on the goodwill of your neighbor living above you.

When you bought the apartment, you surely inspected it? At that time the parquet was already installed, so you bought it "as is."

If, contrary to expectations (my subjective opinion), you do have a legal claim to eliminate the probably noise from the upper apartment, then exclusively against your neighbor.

You should consult a lawyer; in this way you will gain legal certainty – those guys and girls studied for this – and can try to maintain the apparently good neighborly relationship with your neighbor living above you. A lawyer also always forms a buffer.

Kind regards

The topic once appeared on television with a few models who "glided" over the parquet floor in high heels and practiced for the runway. If I remember correctly, there was no way to handle it.

*Off-Toppic*
If she is so nice, invite her downstairs, it’s quiet from above. Maybe it will work out with the female neighbor.

What came out of the appointment?

However, I dare to doubt that you will have any legal claim at all and that you are dependent on the goodwill of your neighbor living above you.

Hello. This is a pretty unpleasant situation in which the original poster finds themselves. On the one hand, the disturbance is quite significant; on the other hand, of course one does not want to "go hard" on the neighbor. However, there is indeed a legal basis for the elimination of the disturbance to one’s own property caused here by the owner of the upper apartment. Thus, the original poster may possibly have a claim for injunction and removal under § 1004 of the Building Code. In the worst case, the owner of the upper apartment would have to implement soundproofing measures that eliminate the disturbance caused by mere use of the upper apartment.

In this context, it is completely irrelevant whether one bought "as seen," since this legal relationship exists only between the apartment seller and the apartment buyer. Liability of the apartment seller is probably excluded here, since they do not cause the disturbance and its cause could not be remedied by them anyway. But that is not what matters here.

I would— as is always the case with communication—talk to the neighbor. The only downside is that soundproofing measures involve considerable expenses and the owner of the upper apartment probably will not want to carry them out just like that. From my point of view, then, the only option left is legal action, but only if the disturbance is so significant that one might even risk the good neighborliness with the other owners, since there is certainly a certain kind of "sympathy for the victim," and the "victim" does not mean the original poster here.

You saw that the thread is from 2012, right?