Reducing the Noise - Letters from Readers Answered

Dear Apartment.com
My husband and I moved into an apartment that we thought would be in the perfect out of the way, quiet area. However, not to shortly after moving in, we found that our neighbors are quite fond of playing their sterio with the bass turned up. Now I don’t mind the sterio being played but when you factor in the bass, it is quite intrussive into our apartment and our time either after a long day of work or on the weekend. They are a married couple and I have gone over when this has happened and asked calmly if they could turn it down because the bass was clear as day in our apartment. They angryly did it but the situation keeps happening over and over again. I have called the police when they were playing it late at night and that still did not do anything to help matters. I am at a loss. We do like the area we are in but I have had it with the neighbors. Any suggestions?

Dear Crabby Construction,

Compared to the Space Shuttles launching which is worse? If it was me I would not mind the construction as the noise of the shuttle at night or during the afternoon. But anyways if you can go talk to the construction company and see if they can help a little bit.

I already have my forever friend. He’s a cat and his name is Sweetie Pie. He’s a fixed, declawed male who listens to his Mommy. I love him with my whole heart.

Andrea,

Quit being a bitch. That should solve the problem.

Quit complaining, then there should be no more problems with awesome music.

Dear Losing it;
From one pet lover to another, it isn’t easy living with animals or even with individuals who act like animals. As a pet owner myself, it’s hard for us to find an apartment complex that even allow pets, so when we do find one, we are grateful. Try this, let the neighbor know that you hear the dogs nightly, and because of such,you just wanted to check and see if she were alright. She’ll think you care so much about her and her pets to beckon at her door, she’ll try to keep them quiet, so you won’t worry. It won’t even matter that you just want the mutts to shut-up. Just be careful, you might end up with a friend you can’t get rid of.
sweet dreams.

We lived in these really nice apartments until we actually moved in. We moved in and on our first night there the neighbor from downstairs came up to tell us we were being too loud. We weren’t doing anything unusual. He has complained to the office three times and got us kicked out. We met with the manager and the neighbor and tried to come up with another solution besides moving out and breaking our lease. The manager insisted that we had to get rid of our dog or leave. The guy downstairs didn’t even tell us his name and he complains every thirty days about this so called noise. He says the dog barks too much and claims he cannot work and is losing money. The dog is a small shihzu and doesn’t bark that much. We recorded it on tape but the management refused to listen to us and they refused to investigate the situation. They gave us a two weeks notice to leave the property. Is there anything else we could have done? They say they have made reasonable attempts to resolve the situation and we did not resolve it, but we: · We kept our dog calm by giving him Benadryl tablets twice a day;
· We did not allow him to jump on or off the bed;
· We did not allow him to jump on or off the couch;
· We did not allow him to play;
· We did not allow him to run;
· We constantly told him to be quiet;
· We constantly took him to play outside so that he could expand his energy;
· We agreed to transfer to a different apartment similar to ours, but you did not have one available within the time we were allotted to stay at the Ashborough;
· We tried to come up with another reasonable plan to be able to stay in our apartment but the only solution you could come up with is to leave.

Hello Andrea and “losing it”,
I am a property manager. Please read closely your rules and regulations and the bi-laws according to your lease agreement. I am near positive it will say something about excessive noise and or disturbing surrounding neighbprs with excessive noise. These are grounds for eviction. Ask your landlord to serve your neighbors with a 7-day notice to “cure”. The notice should state the if the same conduct occurs again in the next 12 months, eviction proceedings can and will begin. Many advisors say speak to the offenders, I say do not. The is why there is a manager. It is his/her job to see that you have as pleasant a home environment as possible.
Hope this helps.

Andrea,

I live in an apartment with my family, and our nieghbors next door use to have parties late at night and blare their stereo too. One weeknight it was so loud in my room and I got so mad, I ended up pounding om my wall with my fist. Not only did I end up with a bruised hand the next morning, but the nieghbors ended up knocking on our front door at 2 am, not because they were pissed at me for pounding on the wall, it was because they were drunk off their arses and thought there was “something wrong” at our apartment.

Yeah, there was something wrong alright…it was them idiots, that’s what was wrong.

But anyway, you did the right thing and DIDN’T fly off the handle like I did. If the police aint getting through to them, tell the apartment manager. Like stated earlier, they do have noise ordinances set up in most apartments, and they may even have an agreement about noise stated on the lease. If they’re in violation of this, they can be evicted. You’ve been polite and you’ve done what you could, so don’t feel bad or anything about it. You and many others live in their too, and everyone has to respect eachother’s boundries.

And Deerod, since I don’t live in the same apartment as you, I can freely say this…

You’re a dick.

Thankyou.

I live in an apartment complex and our downstairs neighbor is a real aXXhole. These apartments are tiny and aren’t built real well between top and bottom floors. So when this jackaXX starts blasting his surround sound, we can hear it. My wife and I have gone down several times to ask him to turn it down. We have even called the police but he’s turns it down they come. I think he has a police scanner. Anyway, I was reading our lease and our property manager actually has written in it that they will not handle any problems between neighbors, even noise. What a cop out!!!!

The neighbors on the floor above mine tend to express themselves excessively when it comes to intimacy. They have awoken me in the middle of the night with ridiculous screams, yells, moans, and grunts! What can I do? It’s embarrassing. It’s annoying and uncomfortable when I pass them in the stairs. I can’t sleep because they are so loud. What can I do? Shouldn’t they practice more self control and be more considerate to their neighbors? Please help!I am sleep deprived!

I found this on a google search since i’m also going crazy with my downstairs neighbors. However I think my situation is a little bit different. I have a 15 month old baby that just started walking today but she rather crawl around the house and my downstairs neighbor is always hitting my floor really really hard whenever I let the baby crawl since she says her crawling is too loud. It’s not my fault this apt. are built like this where you can hear everything your neighbor does but I’ve come to take is as normal apt. living. Well I can’t take it anymore this is every day and i’m a stay at home mom so I have to live like this feeling harassed by this person that wants my baby to float in the air. I tried talking to the leasing center and they told me to ignore her, but how can I do that when my baby starts screaming like crazy every time she starts hitting my floor. Please tell me what to do!.. it’s a baby, not a dog and i’m not going to move just because she’s like that. Oh, and I put her to sleep at 10pm and she wakes up at 9:30a.m but I don’t let her make any noise before 12 or after 930.

At least other people can get their neighbor to answer the door! I moved into a second floor apartment a couple of months ago and faced noise from both above and below. My downstairs neighbor wasn’t aware that anyone was living in my apartment (it apparently had been deserted for about 6 months), but quieted down when I asked. My UPSTAIRS neighbors however, are a different story. I went up and knocked but no one answered. I ended up leaving a note. The noise continued and after maybe 15-20 times going up and not getting an answer, I called management. I feel like a bit of a skunk, but what else can I do?

Hi,

Me and my husband just bought a condo and we need to do some remodeling, where is some noise involved as well. I really would like to inform other people in the building and ask them for understanding for about a month. How should I write it, please?
Thank You so much,
Jana S.,Bethesda,MD

Zyre,

I know exactly what you’re going through! My husband and our 4 and 7 year-old recently moved into a second story apartment, and the other morning our downstairs neighbor pounded on our door to let us know that our kids running around in the morning was driving them nuts. Apparently her husband works a graveyard shift and sleeps during the day, and their bedroom is directly underneath our children’s. I am truly at a loss because the kids aren’t jumping up and down and screaming all day. I want to be respectful, but why should my kids have to tiptoe around all day because they have an odd schedule.

I have lived in the same apartment for almost 2 1/2 years. Most of my time is spent studying in the apartment since I am a full time college student. I have seen my share of bad neighbors over the years and just recently got new neighbors who have one child. I don’t mind children, but since he moved in the kids next door to us seem to think our front porch is a playground. They also scream alot and I’ve very nicely,told them to play in the backyard, but of course I am not their parent and they did not listen. How can I go about this w/out seeming like a grouch? I luv kids but I need to study…
bummed out Viv

i am 68 and if i did not have my 2 very smasll dogw i would just die i love them andd they love me so much.They ar4 my babys
i will never move in a plafce that will never let me have my pets.i listen to loud footbasll allweekend ane grandchildren all the time what is the different???
we pay for our dogs i try to keep them quite and i do.so tell them to move to a place that does not alow pets.sonja

Bass drives me up the F” In Wall. It’s almost pointless to ask someone to turn it down. They really don’t care. They will do it again the next day, or night and so forth. They will turn it down once or twice and thats it. Cops are absolutely POINTLESS. Like an Apt manager said “BI-Laws” are your only SALVATION. However some States and Counties are realizing the abuse of BASS so they are cracking down on it. Google your county if your curious. Fight these a-holes the smart way. Don’t risk going to jail by going postal on them. Don’t give them the satisfaction of getting pissed. Bi-Laws are a strong tool use it!

Dear Apartments.com,
I live by a elder neighbor who is real nasty. She wants total quiet and it is impossible in a condo. I have moved to a new state & rented out my unit.The elder lady hated my renter.I do all backround checks & pick responsible mid aged women. The elder lady likes to lie to the property manager about my renter makeing up negative stories. She has went so far as to tell my renter she hates her.My renter is very beautiful,neat & clean.I think she doesnt want any renters near her unit. I will eventually move back and I dont want to sell.What can you do with a nasty elderly lady like this?

hi i have been in custody for 8 years and when i finally turned 18 the judge decided he was gonna let me go post custody.so when i exited custody i got my own place and got a good payin job and began to get stable the onley thing i am having trouble with now is being by myself due to my past history do u have any suggestions.