RESIDENTS OF Ongar village in west Dublin say they will continue a campaign to have what they say are problems with the soundproofing of their apartments remedied.
Fingal County Council and the firm that built the units, Manor Park Homes, say all apartments conform to building regulations for noise pollution and they plan to take no further action.
The council says it has received 11 complaints about sound-proofing levels in the apartments from residents, who have also filed a complaint to Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly.
Up to 50 mostly ground-floor residents of Ongar have experienced chronic problems with excessive noise since they moved in five years ago, according to Ongar Community Council.
Despite a number of tests, some remedial work and extensive correspondence with the council and the builders, Manor Park Homes, affected residents are still unhappy with the noise levels experienced in their homes.
The case shows the difficulty of resolving noise-related disputes in apartment complexes, with the council and the builder saying the apartments conform to regulations and the occupants saying they still suffer excessive noise levels.
Tests were carried out on a number of apartments in the estate in 2008 but only one, owned by community council chairwoman Samantha Dooley, failed. Manor Park subsequently carried out remedial work and the council says a subsequent test showed that transmitted sound levels were within the levels permitted by building control regulations.
It has offered to have another independent test carried out on the property but says there is no basis for enforcement proceedings against the builder.
Manor Park last month wrote to another affected owner, John Lavelle, saying that since his apartment had passed all sound tests and was in compliance with building regulations, his issue with noise was “a private issue between you and your adjoining neighbour”.
“Occupiers in any apartment/ duplex will understand that they are living in the company of a number of other occupants in the one large building,” Manor Park chief executive John Moran stated in the letter. “There will always be a level of sound transfer between adjoining dwellings.”
Ms Dooley says the problems with noise had divided neighbours and forced some residents to leave. She blames the fact that she is currently unemployed on the stress caused by noise and the work involved in trying to get her home fixed.
She says she wears ear plugs and takes sleeping tablets to minimise the effects of night-time noise. Vibrations from above have caused dinner plates to slide off the table and on to the floor.
“These are clearly insane living conditions. We are not living in the 16th century.”
Mr Lavelle says he can hear everything his upstairs neighbours do in his own apartment and because their kitchen is directly above his bedroom. The noise often continues when he is trying to sleep.
The council says that the statutory limits for sound are minimum standards and it may be possible to hear “ambient noise” in a neighbouring property even when it has passed tests.
