Q: My husband and I are shopping for a condo apartment. It’s easy to get solid, reliable info about taxes and utility bills, but not about noise — like whether we’d be hearing loud voices, music or televisions from the apartments around us. Are there reliable ways to test this before we buy a place? Any building materials we should look for, or avoid? Are there acoustics professionals whom we should call?
A: There is some information you can gather, but no investigation is likely to be conclusive.
“The only reliable way is to do a long-term test with a calibrated recording,” said Alan Fierstein, an acoustic consultant and owner of Acoustilog, in Manhattan. But it’s an expensive process and typically not allowed by brokers and sellers.
An experienced acoustic consultant can inspect the apartment and offer advice about whether you’re likely to have problems, and what kind of soundproofing can be added. (Be wary of contractors or vendors, who might be more intent on gaining your business than detecting noise.)
Some older buildings have flooring made with wood sleepers, cinder fill and concrete, which is effective at stopping footfall noise. Plain concrete can be just as bad as thin wood ceilings, Mr. Fierstein said.
Condominium policies will show if there’s a carpeting requirement, quiet hours or restrictions on specific noise sources, though enforcement can vary.
Try to make visits at different times of the day so you can hear any neighbors or street noise. Get a sense of where the elevators are, and what the heating and cooling systems sound like.
“Red flags include being limited to when you can visit the apartment to quietly listen for a while,” Mr. Fierstein said. “I could tell you horror stories about deliberate cover-ups.”
You can ask the neighbors and building staff about noise, but their answers might not be forthcoming. You can also approach the condominium or the managing agent and review board minutes to see if there have been noise issues. However, most managing agents will only provide that information to unit owners or buyers with a signed purchase agreement, said Peter A. Schwartz, a partner who has worked on noise issues with Graubard Miller in New York.
Mr. Schwartz recommends that a prospective buyer ask the seller to represent in the contract of sale that there have been no noise issues or complaints relating to this unit for a period of time.
You can see if any complaints have made it to court by checking records involving the unit owner or the condominium. In New York City, buyers can look up complaints filed with 311 or the Department of Environmental Protection.
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