B.C. condo owner loses legal fight after neighbour removes carpet

A B.C. condo owner plagued by noise after his upstairs neighbours replaced their carpet with new flooring has lost his case against the strata.

Condo owner Stephen Ross never had any issues with noise from his upstairs neighbours in almost 20 years until they ripped out the carpet and replaced it with laminate flooring, according to a May 4 B.C. Civil Resolution Tribunal decision.

Ross argued his family has lived with constant noise since the new flooring was installed and the strata failed to enforce its flooring and noise bylaws.

The condo owner then took the Burnaby strata to the Tribunal saying it should not have allowed the laminate flooring to be installed and asking for an order that the strata either remove the laminate flooring and fix the subfloor or soundproof his ceiling. He also asked for $8,000 in compensation.

And it appears the strata weren't confident they'd win, as it promptly filed a counterclaim against the upstairs neighbour who'd installed the flooring. The strata said if it lost, the upstairs neighbour would have to contribute to the penalty.

According to the decision, once the flooring was installed, Ross complained the "acoustics doubled overnight" and he could hear "a lot of cracking, thumping, running, jumping and creeping sounds."

He then complained to the strata and an acoustic engineering test was done.

READ MORE: B.C. strata forces owner to carpet their condo

The acoustic engineer confirmed the flooring and sound insulation met the minimum requirements of the Building Code, although admitted the requirements were "clearly not adequate in many circumstances."

Ross argued the floor didn't comply with the bylaws because the acoustic tests had shown the soundproof ratings were lower than the strata's bylaw required.

However, the Tribunal dismissed the argument.

"I find (the) bylaw... does not require the floor-ceiling assembly to have a certain (soundproof) rating. Rather, I find (the) bylaw only required that the underlay itself have a (soundproof rating)," the Tribunal ruled.

The Tribunal ruled that as the underlays soundproof rating was in line with the bylaw no infraction had been made.

Ross then argued the noise from his upstairs neighbours breached the noise bylaw by causing his family a nuisance. He submitted video evidence and sound recordings of the noise.

He also pointed to the two acoustic reports to show the noise was unreasonable.

However, the strata argued the acoustic reports showed the noise was reasonable.

Through a lengthy analysis of the acoustic reports, the Tribunal sided with the strata.

The Tribunal pointed in part to a piece in the report that said the results were typical for wood-joist floor-ceiling assemblies in residential buildings of that age.

Ross also provided seven witness statements as evidence that the noise is far worse since the flooring was changed.

However, the Tribunal dismissed his submissions.

"While observations from neutral parties can be helpful evidence in determining whether noise is unreasonable, I find that these statements are not enough to prove that the noise was intolerable to an ordinary person," the Tribunal ruled.

Ultimately, the Tribunal dismissed Ross's claim.

READ MORE: Three emotional support cats: Shuswap couple win legal fight with strata

To contact a reporter for this story, email Ben Bulmer or call (250) 309-5230 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.