An apartment complex in Gwangmyeong-si, Gyeonggi-do. Gwangmyeong-si was the lowest among 27 cities and counties (average 0.062%) in Gyeonggi-do with more than 10,000 apartment households in the percentage of applying for visit consultation to the Environment and Environment Corporation’s Neighborhood Center due to interfloor noise (from the second half of 2017 to 2018, 0.042% per household). . Central photo
‘We will fight the couple outside the house. I will not hurt my neighbors any more. If I can’t keep it, I will move.’
It is part of a memorandum between the residents of Apartment A in Gwangmyeong-si, Gyeonggi-do at the end of last year. The couple who wrote the memorandum frequently argued between Goseong and Goseong. The newlyweds who moved to the upper house were troubled by the sound of a couple’s fights from time to time.
My husband, who was just ahead of the company’s promotion test, couldn’t stand it and protested several times through the management office. However, the castle that I hear almost every night was still there. One day, he was angry and went out to protest, kicking his front door and having a fracture in his leg.
The 2020 floor noise conflict in numbers. Graphic = Reporter Kim Young-ok [email protected]
Resident representatives mediate conflict between floor noise
Eventually, the’Inter-floor Noise Management Committee’ of Apartment A was convened. Six management members, including the same representative, and the parties gathered together. When the chairman recommended “Greetings first,” the upper and lower husbands shook hands awkwardly. In front of resident representatives, the couple in the upper house complained of the pain they had suffered from the noise, and the couple in the lower house asked for understanding by revealing the cause of frequent quarrels.
Prevention manual of the interfloor noise management committee of an apartment complex in Gwangmyeong City. Gwangmyeong City Hall
After more than two hours of meetings, the couple at the lower house wrote a memorandum saying, “I understand the pain of the couple at the upper house,” and “I will not cause any damage.” The head of the management, who attended the committee, said, “Since then, residents on the upper floor have not complained of noise damage.”
Floor noise management committee at 80% of Gwangmyeong apartments
In 2013, the city of Gwangmyeong established the’Inter-floor Noise Conflict Resolution Support Center’ for the first time in the country. Taking into account the characteristics of a new city in the metropolitan area with many apartment complexes, the effort was made to prevent and support the resolution of inter-floor noise conflicts.
Gwangmyeong-si Housing and Superintendent Kim Soo-jeong said, “At that time, the news that led to the inter-floor noise conflict continued to be an extreme event, and awareness was increasing.” “Previously, it was considered a conflict between residents and a simple civil complaint, but it became a serious social problem. We started with the purpose of proactively intervening and preventing.”
Thanks to continuous efforts, Gwangmyeong City has fewer inter-floor noise conflicts than other new cities in the metropolitan area. According to Gwangmyeong City, from the second half of 2017 to the end of 2018, the percentage of applying for visit consultation to the Environmental Management Corporation’s Neighborhood Center (0.042% per household) due to inter-floor noise problems (0.062% per household) in Gyeonggi Province (average 0.062%, more than 10,000 apartment dwellings) ) Was the lowest.
Floor noise prevention guidebook published by Gwangmyeong City. Gwangmyeong City Hall
According to the city, the interfloor noise management committee operated by apartment complexes contributes to mediating and preventing inter-floor noise conflicts. The current MDU Act recommends the establishment of a committee composed of resident representatives, but it is not mandatory, so it is difficult to find actual cases installed in other regions.
However, in Gwangmyeong, the city directly induces the installation, and annually conducts training for members and managers. Currently, 79.1% (72) of the 91 apartment complexes in Gwangmyeong city are operating the committee. In fact, about 40% (53 cases) of inter-floor noise conflicts (136 cases) identified by the city last year were mediated by the inter-floor noise management committee.
Gwangmyeong-si, Gyeonggi-do, has been providing education to apartment managers, security guards, and floor noise committees once a year since 2013. In 2020, non-face-to-face training was conducted due to the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19). Gwangmyeong City Hall
“Face-to-face usually relieves”
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The members of the Interfloor Noise Management Committee are usually residents who have lived in apartments for a long time. Apartment A was also composed of 60s to 80s, except for the representative in his late 40s. The chairman, a resident in the 80s, said, “If an older person like me mediates, both the perpetrator and the victim will inevitably hear it.” “Of course, at first, they look like,’What are you talking about?’ He said, “I listen to the situation and finally release my feelings.”
Officials said it was the hardest to bring together the emotionally injured parties. Still, after meeting, he said that most of the time, he could see a clue to the solution. “It’s because it’s difficult to meet your face,” said the head of the apartment management A, “It’s like a gentle sheep when I come to the committee and stand in front of an adult neighbor, no matter how angry I am.” The manager of the neighboring apartment B also said, “It is different from meeting only the parties or talking through the management room. When we meet and talk about problems that seem difficult to solve, we can understand each other.”
Of course, not all conflicts can be resolved. This is especially the case when the conflict is long and the emotions are intensifying. “Even if you do your best, there are cases where the conflict recurs or cannot be resolved,” said the head of apartment management C. “There are people who want to sue the neighbors who have intervened, and some people pretend that’if you can’t resolve it, do it yourself.’ .
On May 4, 2019, a man in his 40s who lived on the 15th floor injured a resident living downstairs with a weapon due to inter-floor noise problems in an apartment in Goundong, Sejong City. Sejong Fire Department
Experts said that the efforts of residents’ autonomy and neighboring communities will play a role in resolving and alleviating the conflict surrounding floor noise. Attorney Seung-tae Lee (Gyeonggi-do Environmental Dispute Mediation Commissioner), who mainly deals with noise disputes, said, “It is good to strengthen the self-government authority in the apartment community or to allow the decision made by the interfloor noise management committee to take effect.
Lee added, “It would be much more helpful to reflect on one’s actions and make them feel sorry for the fact that they were brought to the committee for causing inconvenience to neighbors rather than solving them with a lawsuit.” Cha Sang-gon, director of the Housing Culture Improvement Research Institute, said, “The government tried to resolve the inter-floor noise conflict by establishing a specialized organization (neighborhood center) in 2012, but complaints are on the rise. It is time to explore a new approach.”
Reporters Baek Hee-yeon and Cheon Kwon-pil [email protected]