Liability for historic flat conversion under building regs part E ?

[CraigHB]

Hi,

I live in a Victorian-era terraced house and the adjoining property was converted into an upstairs and downstairs flat at least 10 years ago. These flats are both now owned by the same person, who lets them via an agency (he is remote/overseas). As a result of the conversion the upstairs flat's primary living space/living room is now directly through the party wall from my master bedroom - it is the same on the other side. New tenants are now in that flat and I can hear music and conversations through the bedroom wall. There is a nuisance question regarding how loud they are being, but I believe inadeduate sound insulation and a violation of current building regs is a factor.

Given it appears building regs part E was issued in 2010, I expect they were not in force when the house was originally converted to flats - I can't find any applicable planning docs via the council website, which includes some records back to 1987. I have only lived in this house for 2years, so don't have the full history.

Are there any grounds/means to pursue the current owner to address the sound insulation in the flats ? It's primarily upstairs which is the issue due to the mismatch of usage/timings, i.e. bedrooms/upstairs/night-use typically quieter.

Thanks,

Craig

[CraigHB]

....I've answered my own question by reading the FAQs on the gov.uk website alongside the document itself...rather than relying on a random google copy. The answer is that I cannot pursue any retrospective action as the regs would not have applied.