Noise nuisance from upstairs neighbors and neighborhood mediation does not work

Questioner

We experience a lot of noise pollution from our upstairs neighbor and certainly now that she also has a little one, who only runs around the house. She likes to walk in heels and if she doesn't, she walks on her heels. We hear the washing machine running and spinning and when she talks, the conversations can almost literally be followed. This starts in the morning around 6:00 and stops at 19:00 in the evening when peace has returned. We have spoken to her about the nuisance and asked if she would like to do something about her floor. The answer to that was short and sweet 'no, I won't do that because I'm in love with that floor'. She lives on the plank construction floor from 1938 which she had sanded and varnished. Zero insulation. We found out 3 years ago, when we renovated, that she had no insulation, because we could see through the cracks in her floor into her apartment. We have placed rock wool between her floor and our ceiling but this is not sufficient. In the meantime, neighbourhood mediation has been called in, but so far they have not been successful. She is holding off on discussions and is postponing it. Can you advise us what to do. We would love to hear from you.

Lawyer

Dear questioner, Nuisance from upstairs neighbours is a common problem. It is not clear from your message whether you have already approached your landlord about this. Tenants must adhere to certain requirements with regard to, among other things, laying a floor. If this is not the case, then your upstairs neighbours are obliged to lay the floor in accordance with the requirements. If the upstairs neighbours also rent the property from the same landlord, then I think it would be wise to point this out to your landlord and to keep a close eye on the nuisance reports. You can then forward the reports to your landlord. They are obliged to address your upstairs neighbours about the nuisance or to summon them to lay the floor in accordance with the rules. Another option is to start a procedure and enforce one or the other via the court. But for now, my advice is to first try to resolve it via your landlord.