Condo Association Management Blog

What state are you in?  
 
How old is the unit?  
 
Did you purchase the condo from a previous owner?  
 
How long have you owned the condo? 
 
Was the pump an issue during the day when you first looked at the unit?  
 
Did the previous owner explain to you the sound of the pump can be distracting at night? 
 
Are there any other units near the pump that have the same issue? 
 

You have my sympathy. However, seems to me the caveate emptor doctrine applies 'Let the buyer beware'. 
 
Did the previous owner mention this? Are other owners affected? 
 
I would have thought a sensible 
 
solution would be to install sound-proofing on pump side and try and reach an accommodtaion with the HOA e.g. go 50/50 - better than litigation. 
 
 
 
The following article may help to understand the pitfalls  
 
 
 
http://www.floridaeminentdomain.com/images/An_Overview_of_Noise_Regulation_in_Florida.pdf 
 
 
 
Good luck

You should know that any sound external that comes from something related to the building and interferes with your enjoyment of your home is the responsibility of the HOA. It would be the same if an upstairs neighbor was tap dancing on her floori.e.your ceiling and interferring with your quality and enjoyment of your home. In the afore mentioned case it would be under the nuisance law

Setting aside what may or may not be "legal" or required by HOA documents, it's disappointing that people forget that first and foremost, they are neighbors and a community. We have a similar problem in our condo, and as our HOA's treasurer, it would not have even occurred to me to ask a homeowner to pay for solving this problem. The community should take care of it.

I posted this article.  
In response to some of the questions above:  
 
The condo is in FL. 
 
The building is about 30 years old. 
 
I owned the unit for 3 months. 
 
The previous owner did not disclose the noise problem, nor was it mentioned in the inspection report. 
 
The noise level varies; for some reason it is usually not too bad during the day. I did not notice it when I first looked at the apartment; I might have attributed it to outside landscaping activities. Apparently, there are actually 2 pumps and either or both can be on. One is not as close to my bedroom as the other. 
 
At least one other (current) owner has complained, but I have the only apartment that shares a wall with the pump room. 
 
I have offered to pay to install soundproofing material in the pump room - but the HOA refuses to allow anything to be done in the pump room - they are worried about possible building code issues and accessibility of pipes and wires. 
 
I suspect that the pump has not always been as loud as it is now; it's difficult to believe that any previous owner could have lived with this, but the HOA president insists it has always been this way (of course he lives many floors above the noise). 

Hope this is not a case of the facts getting in the way. The sound emanates from HOA property. No one denies that. Noise is not only annoying, it can be quite unhealthy. So a potentially dangerous form of energy is entering your property. Doesn't matter whether previous owner mentioned it or not. HOA needs to take action to insulate or change the pump.  
I hope you take steps to alter the situation not only for your own good but looking ahead to the liability of owning property that may be hard to sell.  
E.