A MILLIONAIRE couple whose lives were made a misery by noisy neighbours have beaten them in a huge legal battle.
Kids playing cricket, constant crying and footsteps left Sergey Grazhdankin, 42, and his wife Maria suffering sleepless nights.
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They said the activity also caused newly installed floorboards to creak which woke them up “daily” between 5.30am and 7.30am.
The ordeal became so much the pair sued City banker neighbour Medhi Guissi and his wife Meriem El Harouchi.
On Monday, following a long-running dispute, Judge Tracey Bloom handed victory to Sergey and his wife at Central London County Court.
Mr Guissi and his wife now have to cough up £16,087 in compensation and pay a substantial portion of the £250,000 lawyers’ bills.
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The court heard how the Grazhdankins moved into their £1m-plus fourth floor apartment in a gated art deco development in West Kensington, London, in 2011.
They enjoyed peace and quiet in North End House, Fitz-James Avenue, with an elderly lady living above them for years.
But their tranquillity was smashed when the Giussis bought the apartment above for £1.1m in 2018 and began gutting it.
They tore out walls, changed the layout of the rooms and replaced carpet with a wooden floor, including a floating acoustic barrier in an attempt to alleviate any noise.
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But the Grazhdankins said this was fitted incorrectly, with nails driven through and into joists, against the instructions of manufacturers.
The “incorrect” installation of the floor resulted in the creaking, they said.
Sergey told the court: “Walking, banging, jumping sounds, children running and voices, creaking floor, dropping things on the floor, children crying, shouting and voices.
“This is experienced especially between 2pm and 10pm. Living with this every day since we moved is torture.”
The couple said the noise from the Guissis made them feel as if they were in a flat-share, leaving them suffering “insomnia” and afraid in bed.
Mr Guissi accused the pair of complaining about everyday sounds and alleged they had become oversensitive to sounds of family life.
His barrister Tom Morris said the sound was made by acts of “ordinary residential occupation” of a family home.
Sergey, who runs an insurance services company, then asked Judge Bloom to order the Guissis to tear up the floor and lay it again in a way which eliminated the noise from creaking joists.
Following complaints and a previous court hearing, Mr Guissi installed carpets, but the noise is still present and continues to affect the Grazhdankins, he said.
Ruling in Mr Grazhdankin’s favour, Judge Bloom said the couple had been “plainly distressed” by the noise, even after the carpet was laid.
Judge Bloom said: “I conclude that there was noise nuisance from 2019 when the works completed until the carpet was laid.”
They awarded Mr Grazhdankin £16,087.50 in damages for four months in 2020 and five months in 2021 but said the noise they experience now does not amount to “actionable nuisance”.
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They rejected nuisance and breach of covenant claims which they had additionally brought against the freeholder of the building, North End House Ltd.
The case will return to court at a later date to decide what portion of the lawyers’ bills for the case the parties will have to pay.
