A New Westminster condo owner has failed in his attempt to get an order to “have the children stop running and jumping in all areas” in the unit above him.
Jake Schmidt, who owns an apartment at Berkley Place on Princess Street in Uptown New West, has been complaining to the strata since June 2021 about noise he says in coming from the unit above his, according to a May 12 ruling by the province’s Civil Resolution Tribunal.
After the strata allowed a previous owner to remove all carpet and install laminate flooring in the upstairs unit, Schmidt first complained about furniture dragging at “all hours of the night,” music or TV noise from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. and people walking in shoes.
Things only got worse when the unit was sold and a family of four moved in in March 2022.
“He said he heard noise from the time the family awoke (as early as 5 a.m.) until the time they went to bed, but particularly between 8 and 10 p.m.,” states the ruling. “The noise was mostly children running, jumping, screaming and crying. There was also door-slamming, furniture-dragging and item-dropping noise. He said the noise caused things in (his unit) to rattle. He also heard music or TV noise in the primary bedroom on weekend evenings.”
Schmidt took his complaints to the province’s Civil Resolution Tribunal on July 3, 2022.
The strata told Schmidt the flooring in the unit above his complied with its bylaws, but Schmidt said, as far as he is aware, nobody confirmed the owner had actually installed the required underlay.
But tribunal member Micah Carmody ruled the strata was entitled to take the upstairs owner’s information as correct and there was no evidence the information provided was false.
“I find the strata did not have to supervise every step of the renovation,” Carmody wrote.
He also ruled the strata was “slow to get started” on its investigation of Schmidt’s noise complaints but that it had ultimately been “reasonably thorough.”
Strata council members attended six nearby units and Schmidt’s unit several times but didn’t locate “any likely noise source,” according to the ruling.
The strata members told Schmidt they hear “murmuring” while they were in his unit but said it was not unreasonable noise.
Carmody agreed Schmidt had not proven the noise in his apartment was “objectively intolerable.”
“Although I accept that the noise bothers Mr. Schmidt, I do not agree with him that he should never be able to hear a voice that originates outside his strata lot ‘no matter how loud or quiet,’” Carmody said. “Living in a strata building involves some degree of give and take among neighbours when it comes to noise and other potential nuisances.”
He dismissed Schmidt’s complaint.
Follow Cornelia Naylor on Twitter @CorNaylor
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