Hard floors in townhouses

Hi,

I have  friend (really!) who wants to install floating floorboards in a townhouse. That is, all the dweelings that comprise the strata are side by side, nobody above or below. There is only one common wall on either side.

The strata members agree that the proposed floor construction will be sufficient to prevent noise. However, they are blocking the request for two resons:

–  “something may change and it might get noisy in the future”. 

and

– “a future owner may decide to change the stairs covering to a hard surface”

Are those reasonable objections?

Also, I’ve only seen concerns for flooring with regards to dwellings above/below. Is it common to block requests for dweliings that are side by side?

Cheers,

Peet