Advice required re type of solicitor...

bobbysands81

Hi all,

I'm having some difficulties with builders. I don't want to give too much away but I have recently moved into an apartment but can hear every single thing my neighbours do. I expected some noise but not to be able to hear them do absolutely everything, at times I can hear their conversations! I feel that the sound proofing of the apartment is not up the scratch.

Anyway as someone who has no legal background (or knowledge) I would like to go and discuss these problems with a solicitor to see what steps may be taken.

I believe the builders to be at fault and not my neighbours by the way.

Has anyone been in a similar situation and if so can they recommend a lawyer, or type of lawyer to go and have a discussion about this with. I don't mind having to pay for the discussion by the way but would obviously prefer a free consultation!

Many thanks in advance!

johnnysmurfman

First things first. You should write to the builder and tell him what's happening and ask him what he proposes to do about it, he may be prepared to fix it for you or he may not. Should you have no success there then attending a solicitor might be a good idea, before that however I would seek the services of a construction industry professional, e.g. a chartered surveyor. The bottom line is that a solicitor won't be able to tell you if your apartment has been constructed negligently or in breach of statute, you'll need an architect/surveyor etc for that, the solicitor will come into play when there has been a breach which needs to be pursued. If the surveyor says that the apartment is soundproofed up to the appropriate standards then you have no case against any builder and you're wasting your time going to a solicitor. There are lots of places to go for free legal advice, citizen's advice centers etc, and example is www.nclc.ie. You should also review the building regulations, they are available on www.irishstatutebook.ie and are useful. I'd write to the builder and then consider getting a surveyor in to check the place out. Have you discussed the problem with the neighbours? If you can hear them then can they hear you? They might just be noisy.

seamus

As the man above says, there are certain legal minimum requirements in terms of noise and the amount that can be heard.
There are specific tests which can be undertaken to determine the level of noise and whether or not the building complies with regulations.

Power in numbers. It's never too soon to start a resident's association. All get together and bring your grievance to the builder.

Stirling

Again this is hypothetical but as it's an apartment I doubt you were the one who actually employed the builder to build your particular hypothetical apartment. Whoever did that probably did so on the basis of a contract which provided for arbitration to take place in the event of problems during or after construction. The builder will probably raise this in the event that you decide to take action and seek to get a "sympathetic" arbitrator appointed. Just be sure that in the event that it comes to this that you're satisfied with the choice of arbitrator as any decision made by them is very difficult to have set aside.

Just a heads up as to what might hypothetically happen if you decide to pursue any action further on down the hypothetical line

Overheal

bobbysands81 wrote:

I don't want to give too much away but I have recently moved into an apartment but can hear every single thing my neighbours do. I expected some noise but not to be able to hear them do absolutely everything

That must get annoying at bed-time :eek:

I'll also chime in that you should go find any original documents, such as builder contracts and blueprints:

Wouldn't it be great if they did the insulation with toilet paper and plywood, over foamboard and concrete :mad:

bobbysands81

Firstly I just want to say a big thanks to all for your responses, they have been helpful.

As already stated I don't want to give away too much but I have been in touch with the builders who gave me assurrances but have not followed up on them, a substantial amount of time has passed since this happened. They won't return any attempted communications that I have with them, they are completely ignoring me. Many others are having the same problems in the units as well and the same promise was actually made to another owner (that they'd improve the sound proofing) which they reneged on as well.

Any kind of arbitration is unlikely! Letters from legal folk have already been ignored! The Resident's Committee have been ignored!

There are people who specialise in these sound tests that are mentioned above. I have rung a couple of them already and one of them said that he knows the company involved well and he has previously done business on their behalf. This was the reason that I was going to a new solicitor, I was hoping to get a specialist solicitor who deals with this kind of thing who could put me in touch with someone who is 100% straight up bona fide.

How would I go about getting the original blueprints?

Overheal

My first off hand guess would be you local Council office. Also, maybe they will answer better to a Summons than what they consider petty threats by solicitors

bobbysands81

Overheal wrote:

My first off hand guess would be you local Council office. Also, maybe they will answer better to a Summons than what they consider petty threats by solicitors

Already been to the Council as well, the builders agreed to carry out tests months ago but they've done nothing about it so far...

I've really exhausted every avenue and feel that legal recourse is my only way forward... although I am very reluctant to go down this route.

Apologies about being vague about the whole thing but I am reluctant to give out too much information on the topic over an internet message board.

Any more advice etc... would be much appreciated.

johnnysmurfman

You're suing in negligence/possible breach of building regulation statutory duty. Any solicitor worth his salt would be able to do it for you. I'll pm you the name of a good firm anyway. What you could do is get a survey done and then get estimates from other builders about how much it would cost to fix the problem. Then you could get it fixed and sue the original builder for the cost of the repair, it may even fall within the remit of the small claims court (2 grand) and you may be able to fill in the forms yourself. The bottom line is that you're entitled to live in peace and quiet. I'd get my evidence by getting the survey done and then get it fixed and sue him for the amount it cost you. I did the very same thing recently regarding a different transaction and it turned out very well.

bobbysands81

johnnysmurfman wrote:

You're suing in negligence/possible breach of building regulation statutory duty. Any solicitor worth his salt would be able to do it for you. I'll pm you the name of a good firm anyway. What you could do is get a survey done and then get estimates from other builders about how much it would cost to fix the problem. Then you could get it fixed and sue the original builder for the cost of the repair, it may even fall within the remit of the small claims court (2 grand) and you may be able to fill in the forms yourself. The bottom line is that you're entitled to live in peace and quiet. I'd get my evidence by getting the survey done and then get it fixed and sue him for the amount it cost you. I did the very same thing recently regarding a different transaction and it turned out very well.

Cheers mate, much appreciated.