Hi, new to this site so hope my post is in the right place. Really need some help if possible, thank you.
Info:
Myself and my partner purchased a property from a developer 11 months ago in a development of 23 flats. We were one of the first residents to move in.
The first day we moved in we heard a whirring, pumping noise coming through the walls. We could hear it in the whole flat (it's a three bedroom flat) but particular in the main bedroom and bathroom. At first we thought it was an upstairs neighbour drilling something, however we very quickly discovered that the developer has situated the plant room for the centralised heating network directly behind the wall that backs onto our flat. In the room there is an enormous water tank system that creates a huge amount of noise every time the water is used by any of the residents in the building.
We immediately emailed the developer and asked for something to be done and one of their team who assists with general maintenance visited the site and said the room would need to be insulated to prevent the noise travelling.
A few weeks later we chased up as nothing had been done and we explained that it was impacting our sleep. They told us "the directors have agreed in principal to some sort of insulation".
After that, months went by with them saying that it "hadn't been actioned yet". We then went away for two months, during which time we emailed asking for an update, and they said it was going to get done very soon.
We came back home and more people had moved into the flats, making the noise so much worse than before we left as it’s far more frequent. If anyone in any of the 23 flats is using a tap or shower, the water pump is making the noise.
We emailed again asking what's happening and explained our distress further, they said they'd "been round to have been round to look at the spacing between the wall and the tank, to see what they can do". We continued emailing and waiting, and during this time our neighbour approached me outside, asking if I could hear the water pump room, as he couldn’t sleep due to the noise even with ear plugs in as his bedroom is directly above it.
Eventually someone came round and started ‘soundproofing’ the room, which involved putting several small blocks of rockwool pads on the floor. We were told they were coming back to finish it later in the week.
They never came back and we were then told that they had to contact an engineer instead of finishing the soundproofing.
This was back in early March, since then we have been emailing constantly asking for an update and they are refusing to provide any information on it whatsoever. They have been flat out ignoring all emails or avoiding the subject entirely and replying regarding more general snagging issues. Our upstairs neighbour (who is a on a shared ownership so he has to go through the management company) is also having the same experience, hearing that it's been 'passed onto the directors'.
The warranty is the Build Zone Consumer Code.
We’re really devastated and are being driven crazy by this. We can't sleep without ear plugs and we can't concentrate when working from home. We've explained this to them multiple times.
Any help or advice hugely appreciated.
