WSVN — When Martha get’s in bed to go to sleep each night, she knows two things: She needs a good nights rest, she wont get a good nights rest.
Martha Delgado: “When the machine is still running the noise is amazing, so you can’t go to sleep.”
The loud noise is on the other side of the bedroom wall is from the elevator machine room.
Martha Delgado: “Because the machine is very old.”
When Martha and her boyfriend looked at the condo, it was nice and quiet.
Martha Delgado: “Yeah, I went in the bedroom but the realtor and the seller didn’t disclose the information regarding the noise that we will have with the elevator.”
And the first night they found out the quality of life would not be what they expected.
Martha Delgado: “Because it was very, very, very noisy. A lot of noise and we couldn’t sleep.”
When you are in the one bedroom condo an app shows its noisy. But more irritating its almost like the machine room vibrates the walls when the elevator is running up and down.
Martha Delgado: “I have the right to have a quiet apartment, and I have a right to sleep at night.”
The weekends are the worst. People coming in at two and three in the morning. And every work day, the elevator starts vibrating the walls at 5 a.m. when people to to work.
Martha Delgado: “Maybe you sleep between two and five nothing else because all the time the people are going in and out.”
Martha has complained to everyone she can think of. The county did come out and said the elevator itself is working fine. The inspector also wrote, “Unfortunately, the elevator codes do not address noise in the elevator machine room.”
Martha Delgado: “They said that they don’t regulate noise, but who regulate the noise.”
Martha asked the condo association to insulate the machine room and their bedroom. The association said they would do something … that was a year ago.
Martha Delgado: “It is obvious that we can not sleep at night. Who is going to help us?”
Well Howard, the question is who if the code doesn’t cover a noisy elevator room, what can a condo owner do.”
Howard Finkelstein: “The condo association has a legal obligation to maintain the common elements and an elevator is a common element. Since the noise deprives a condo owner of the ability to sleep at night, the association has to fix the problem. It’s that simple.”
We spoke to the City of Doral, they checked out the elevator machine room then issued a courtesy warning to the association asking them to take the necessary steps to further mitigate the noise levels.
The condo president told me they wanted to help but like many associations, they have a lot of bills and not a lot of funds. She did send a contractor over but he told Martha insulating the bedroom wall would not solve the problem.
The association then asked an elevator company to come in and find a way to quiet the machine room.
In the meantime, the condo is still noisy, more sleepless nights for Martha, and Doral has had to send another notice to the Las Vistas Association asking them to act swiftly to calm the noise.
Howard Finkelstein: “An association not having enough money to fix a problem is not a legal excuse. If they don’t have the money they have to pass a special assessment. If they don’t, a judge will probably force them to pass the assessment as well as force them to pay the condo owners legal fees.”
Meaning either the association will silence the elevator room or a judge will force them to. In the meantime, Martha will try to sleep with the noise because she cant wear earplugs to block it out.
Martha Delgado: “I don’t use these because I need to go to work, and I feel less scared that I’m not going to hear the alarm, you know?”
Patrick Fraser: In most Help me Howard’s, someone is right someone is wrong. Sometimes there’s a good guy, sometimes a bad guy. And while the Las Vistas Association has done nothing about the noise for a year, they do have an excuse, they just don’t have the money to fix it. But now Howard says legally that’s not an excuse. They have to raise the money.”
Noise filling the air around you? Ready for a little rest? Contact us. We wont sleep on your problem, we will be wide awake, bright eyed and well, you know the rest.
Contact Help Me Howard:
E-mail: helpmehoward@wsvn.com (please include your contact phone number when e-mailing)
Reporter: Patrick Fraser at pfraser@wsvn.com
Miami-Dade: 305-953-WSVN
Broward: 954-761-WSVN