How noisy are the flats in London?

[uluvbs]

As you may know, we in NYC (Manhattan) often have to deal with noisy neighbors (next door, above, down the hall) etc. You hear people fighting, watching TV, slamming doors...

Excluding outside noise in areas like Oxford Circus etc, can I ask if most flats in London are constructed so that you have a decent amount of noise insulation, or not really? (In other words, do you often hear stories of people complaining about noisy neighbors?)

(I am undecided as to where I will live right now and what I can afford (!), but definitely somewhere in central London.)

Thank you!

[Suenneil]

Originally Posted by uluvbs

As you may know, we in NYC (Manhattan) often have to deal with noisy neighbors (next door, above, down the hall) etc. You hear people fighting, watching TV, slamming doors...

Excluding outside noise in areas like Oxford Circus etc, can I ask if most flats in London are constructed so that you have a decent amount of noise insulation, or not really? (In other words, do you often hear stories of people complaining about noisy neighbors?)

(I am undecided as to where I will live right now and what I can afford (!), but definitely somewhere in central London.)

Thank you!

Hiya - I no longer live in the UK, I live in Spain - and I live here in an apartment. I would think that it all depends on the construction standard! the same in any country - usually the more expensive or new the development, the better soundproofing will be - also area will be important - I dont want to sound rude to anyone, but there will be areas where the type of people living there will have no , or very little consideration for neighbours! so no matter how good the soundproofing they could be a pain in the butt!

Our latest apartment is pretty good - although we suffer in Spain as no one really has carpets or soft flooring so scraping chairs and clip clopping high heels on tiled floors can be heard most days ....

We visited this apartment more than once - daytime and evening to see if we could get a feel for the noise levels ... I would also do that in the UK too.

[jlms]

I have lived in both an old construction and a very new one, in both cases the most important factors where to be in a quiet street with little or no traffic.

Neighbours of mine in the same state or building complained bitterly about noise, but it was obvious from the start that if you buy/rent a flat overlooking a bus stop you are bound to have lots of noise, no matter how much insulation you use.

If you get a noisy neighbour then having effective management in your building is key. Ask to talk to the company or organization that is doing the state management to see if they get involved at all with dealing with noisy people, a good state should have rules regarding this that are actually enforced.

Failing that you can lunch complaints with the council, who will come to your place to measure the noise if enough of you complain about it often enough.

So my advice would be to look for a place in a quiet street, you can sort your neighbours later.