Condo Noise Problem

[FlameOn]

Hoping the CP braintrust can help out here. My girlfriend is dealing with from common building elements in her condo apartment unit. At the beginning of the year she bought a unit in the complex, got it inspected with no issues and moved in. Two months in, the make up air unit that serves the entire building, which is located right above her unit, started making vibrating mechanical noises, rattling and becoming really loud on days where there are temperature swings. It gets so bad that some of her kitchen cabinets and plates start shaking. This wasn’t an issue when it was bought and inspected, and now has gotten louder. We’ve recorded noise levels exceeding 55dB on our cell phones at night and we are in the process of getting a better sound meter to record the noise.

We made a complaint to the condo board and management company, Gateway, back in March noting the issue. They were really slow to respond to all communications (sometimes a week in between despite having called and leaving multiple emails). In the couple of weeks it took them to respond we found an independent HVAC guy out to look at it and he compiled a list of deficiencies that were sent to the management company and board. Eventually they sent out an HVAC guy once to look at it in June. The rattling and the noise got a little bit better for a month but started up again a month later and we let the management company and condo board know again in July.

They sent a different HVAC company to look at the issue the second time, who found exactly the same problems that our independent guy found, and the Gateway rep tells us that ‘some’ of the problems have been addressed but that did not reduce the intensity nor frequency of the shaking and rattling coming from the ventilation shaft/make up air unit. By October, Gateway informed us that this would be a matter for the new Condo board to address once they were elected. The election happened with an almost identical board from the previous. We’ve requested reports that the management company received from the HVAC companies and a meeting with the ‘new’ board and the management company on this to try to get the problem fixed (since it’s been a well over seven months now) but it’s been over two weeks and still radio silence from the board and the management company. The board has not responded once to our emails at any point, it has now been over eight months and the management company almost doesn’t seem like they want to deal with the issue.

Has anyone dealt with a problem like this before? What would be the recommended next steps be to try to get this resolved sooner? Are there any external entities we could approach to try to get to management company to actually get this fixed?

[Drummer]

She should have volunteered to be a board member since there was an AGM.... being on the board would have made it easier to get this issue dealt with.

[FlameOn]

Originally Posted by Drummer

She should have volunteered to be a board member since there was an AGM.... being on the board would have made it easier to get this issue dealt with.

She tried but was not elected. There were two other former board members that volunteered again and they got elected instead for the vacancies. All other incumbents got re-elected.

[AcGold]

Squeaky wheel gets the grease my friend. You have to hound them, be so damn annoying and persistent that they give in to get you to go away. Call and email every day until it's fixed.

I had a nearly identical problem, the power regulator for the parking stall power was on my wall and made loud banging noises every 30 minutes. Took 2 months and a few hundred phone calls, everyday calling until they relented and said oh wow, all the power regulators are broken. Most people will not care about arduous problems unless it effects them thus you must become a problem for them, don't stop until they fix it.

[Harry Lime]

Also, any reports by inspectors, or work done, should be available to owners. Have her ask for any paperwork based on what they have 'done' so far.

Condo management companies are one of the biggest scams going in terms of money in vs. production. I would love to get into that business. Anyone on CP want to open the shutters on a condo management company with me?

[FlameOn]

Yea, we did ask for all the paperwork from the beginning. They haven't responded at all with the documents just some emails with a summary that they 'tightened some belts'.

It's not available where the AGM notes are either. It's a scam for sure, we'll hound them more frequently for sure as this is getting extremely irritating.

[longsuffering]

Originally Posted by FlameOn

Yea, we did ask for all the paperwork from the beginning. They haven't responded at all with the documents just some emails with a summary that they 'tightened some belts'.

It's not available where the AGM notes are either. It's a scam for sure, we'll hound them more frequently for sure as this is getting extremely irritating.

As a former member of my condo associations board I can tell you condo boards hate spending money in part because condo owners hate paying high monthly condo fees. You haven't mentioned what the cost to repair the problem would be but it's likely the board doesn't want to dip into the reserve or make a special assessment if the repair work in very expensive.

They will stall and ignore you in the hope you give up and go away, so remain persistant.

In addition to contacting the management company and condo board by email, I suggest you step it up. Start knocking on the doors of the board members beginning with the President. Invite them to your apartment to listen to the issue first hand. You might also try bringing other owners onside with you. If the noise is as bad as you say, then you probably aren't the only owner being affected.

If they continue to ignore you, you'll have to consider making a legal claim against your own condo association for failing to act.

[darklord700]

Show up at the AGM and raise this question so it'll get included in the minutes. And this will legitimise your problem so the board can't just ignore you and hope you'll go away.

[OMG!WTF!]

Originally Posted by longsuffering

As a former member of my condo associations board I can tell you condo boards hate spending money in part because condo owners hate paying high monthly condo fees. You haven't mentioned what the cost to repair the problem would be but it's likely the board doesn't want to dip into the reserve or make a special assessment if the repair work in very expensive.

They will stall and ignore you in the hope you give up and go away, so remain persistant.

In addition to contacting the management company and condo board by email, I suggest you step it up. Start knocking on the doors of the board members beginning with the President. Invite them to your apartment to listen to the issue first hand. You might also try bringing other owners onside with you. If the noise is as bad as you say, then you probably aren't the only owner being affected.

If they continue to ignore you, you'll have to consider making a legal claim against your own condo association for failing to act.

Yes, the only thing scarier to the typical condo board than spending unscheduled money is getting sued. I've had a lawyer send letters twice and both times the board solved the problems literally over night.

[PaperBagger'14]

Originally Posted by FlameOn

Yea, we did ask for all the paperwork from the beginning. They haven't responded at all with the documents just some emails with a summary that they 'tightened some belts'.

It's not available where the AGM notes are either. It's a scam for sure, we'll hound them more frequently for sure as this is getting extremely irritating.

I guess they didn't tighten some belts or the rumbling would have stopped.

[topfiverecords]

I'd get a lawyer involved too, at least to send a letter of some sort. You've gone through all the proper channels and still no result.

[Fuzz]

Are any other suites affected? Maybe she needs reinforcements...

[FlameOn]

Originally Posted by darklord700

Show up at the AGM and raise this question so it'll get included in the minutes. And this will legitimise your problem so the board can't just ignore you and hope you'll go away.

She was going to go to the AGM but just got called out of city on work that week. One thing though she was trying to get on the board to get something done faster but there was only one vacancy and two other former board members volunteered so she didn't get voted in.

Originally Posted by longsuffering

As a former member of my condo associations board I can tell you condo boards hate spending money in part because condo owners hate paying high monthly condo fees. You haven't mentioned what the cost to repair the problem would be but it's likely the board doesn't want to dip into the reserve or make a special assessment if the repair work in very expensive.

They will stall and ignore you in the hope you give up and go away, so remain persistant.

In addition to contacting the management company and condo board by email, I suggest you step it up. Start knocking on the doors of the board members beginning with the President. Invite them to your apartment to listen to the issue first hand. You might also try bringing other owners onside with you. If the noise is as bad as you say, then you probably aren't the only owner being affected.

If they continue to ignore you, you'll have to consider making a legal claim against your own condo association for failing to act.

Originally Posted by topfiverecords

I'd get a lawyer involved too, at least to send a letter of some sort. You've gone through all the proper channels and still no result.

Thanks for the responses! This is why she's getting a noise meter to try to record when the noise levels spike up and record levels and frequencies to try to force to board to do something and so she has records of it to hit the board and management company over the head with. She's trying to hound them more but having trouble getting in touch with them and they are ignoring a lot of the requests and stalling it seems.

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Are any other suites affected? Maybe she needs reinforcements...

She has talked to one of her neighbours before and they were irritated that there was some noise, but it is a lot more faint in their unit because they are further away from the make up air unit. That thing is almost right over her bedroom and there is a hallway on both sides in between that and the next unit over. I'll get her to try to push her neighbour to file a complaint.

[Nufy]

Get a steel pole and connect the ceiling to the floor...
Transfer the vibrations to the neighbor below her.

Get as many people involved as necessary.


Then...If you can find another use for the steel pole in your girlfriends bedroom well then...

[Travis Munroe]

time to sell

on a more serious note, just become the most annoying person and make a daily phone call. You can then escalate it to someone above that specific property manager. Also, do not forget to remind them with each phone call how long it has been an issue for you and how they have failed to do anything other than send some trades people out which is costing your condo corporation money but easy for the PM to do and make it look like something is being done about it.

Also, email your condo board every couple of weeks to give them an update as to where things are. Even though you did not get on the board, looking for an alternative PM might be something they are considering and your story just adds fuel to the fire.

PM companies are so tough to deal with. The company means very little compared to who is actually in charge. I have dealt with terrible (review wise) companies but had fantastic managers and vice versa.

[bizaro86]

This building wouldn't be recent construction in the Inglewood area by any chance would it?

[Cappy]

Never really had trouble with noise. Although, i guess in certain circumstances there is a "suction"-type sound.

[SeeGeeWhy]

What is the make and model of the make up air unit? What were the deficiencies?

Sounds like the fan base is missing vibration isolators.

[Stealth22]

Originally Posted by longsuffering

As a former member of my condo associations board I can tell you condo boards hate spending money in part because condo owners hate paying high monthly condo fees. You haven't mentioned what the cost to repair the problem would be but it's likely the board doesn't want to dip into the reserve or make a special assessment if the repair work in very expensive.

They will stall and ignore you in the hope you give up and go away, so remain persistant.

In addition to contacting the management company and condo board by email, I suggest you step it up. Start knocking on the doors of the board members beginning with the President. Invite them to your apartment to listen to the issue first hand. You might also try bringing other owners onside with you. If the noise is as bad as you say, then you probably aren't the only owner being affected.

If they continue to ignore you, you'll have to consider making a legal claim against your own condo association for failing to act.

This. May want to see if one of those consumer reporters at CTV or Global are willing to do a story on it as well. Lawyers and the press are these people's worst enemies.

[rbochan]

Nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.