The Tribunal recently made orders for a lot owner to remove or replace their flooring because of the excessive noise coming through to the lot below. In Ciric v The Owners – Strata Plan No. 67113 and Blanch [2025] NSWCATCD 12, a lot owner (the “Applicant”) filed proceedings against the owners corporation and the owner of the lot directly above their lot (the “Respondent”). The background details are as follows:

1. On 11 July 2022, the previous owner of the Respondent’s lot installed new flooring.
   
   
2. On 15 July 2022, the Applicant made a complaint about noise emanating from the Respondent’s lot.
   
   
3. On 29 May 2024, the parties engaged in mediation. The Respondent installed soft door closes and laid rugs in the living room of the Respondent’s lot following the mediation.
   
   
4. On 24 November 2024, the Applicant filed proceedings in the Tribunal.
   
   
5. At the final hearing, the Applicant dropped her claim against the owners corporation, and only sought orders against the Respondent.
   

The Applicant provided a suite of documents in her evidence that included a copy of the Scheme’s by-laws and an “Impact Sound Insulation Field Test Summary Report” (the “Sound Report”) that the owners corporation had obtained.

Special By-Law 8: Need to Obtain Acoustic Testing

Contained within the Scheme’s by-laws was a special by-law that the Applicant argued 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. Please see the relevant part of Special By-Law 8 extracted below:

1.6 Unless prior written approval is granted by the Owners Corporation, the following conditions apply as relevant:

…

(b) Where Works involve the installation of a floor finish other than carpet:

1. before commencement of Works, the Owner must provide to the Owners Corporation or strata committee a report from a qualified acoustic engineer that analyses the proposed floor finish, method of installation and the effect of sound transmission including impact noise following installation. The report must state that the proposed floor finish after installation to the Lot will comply with clause 3.3(b)(ii)(II) below;
   
   
2. the Owner must:
   
   i. Ensure that all floor space within the Lot is covered or otherwise treated to an extent sufficient to prevent the transmission from the floor space of noise likely to disturb the peaceful enjoyment of an Owner or occupier of another Lot;
   
   ii. Ensure that the flooring is insulated with soundproofing underlay as specified by the Owners Corporation from time to time and shall not have a weighted standardised impact sound pressure level L’nT,w exceeding 40 when measured in situ in accordance with Australian Standard “AS ISO 140.7-2006 Field measurements of impact sound insulation of floors” and rated to AS ISO 717.2-2004 Acoustics – Rating of sound insulation in buildings and of building elements. Part 2: Impact sound insulation;”

The Sound Report

To prepare the Sound Report, the 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 40. As such the Tribunal was satisfied that the Respondent was in breach of this by-law.

Accordingly, the Tribunal made an order for the Respondent to restore or replace the carpet or floor coverings of the floors in several areas of the Respondent’s Lot. The Respondent was also required to arrange for acoustic testing to be carried out to ensure that the new flooring complied with Special By-Law 8.

It can be incredibly frustrating to live beneath a unit that does not have the necessary noise suppressing measures in place. The constant noise pelting down from above can be infuriating to live with. For these reasons, it is important that acoustic testing is carried out prior to and after new floorings are installed in multi-storey strata schemes.

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.