Dealing with a Noisy Neighbor

I don’t know what kind of fisher-price planet you live on, but where I’m from none of this nice guy routine works in dealing with noisy neighbors. People that blast their music at all hours of the morning generally have bigger problems and show little empathy or respect for other people. It’s not that they don’t know it’s too loud, they just dont care. It’s true, just ask your mom.

noise?! how about where i live. i’m considered the noise problem. yeah, if you consider it a disturbance to disturb the already distubed. we have wooden floors and plaster walls. we respect ourselves enough to respect our neighbors yet, just padding across the floor in bare feet or pulling out our computer desk chair is enough to send this dingbat straight into a mental rant. HELP us the ones that are being badgered to hellOOO.

There should be laws regarding noise above a certain level disturbing neighbors, and police should monitor this on their routes.

Excellent comment from Chuck!!
Could not have said it better. Real problems require real solutions. This article was not the least bit helpful.
Fisher-price planet………good one.

I agree with Chuck. People who are very noisy don’t respond to niceness. I live under a family that allows one of their kids to run, jump, stomp and gallop from 7 am till 9pm daily and no amount of niceness has helped. If we go to their door to tell them it is too loud they yell at us. The are rude and selfish and the condos are privately owned so there is no recourse through a building manager. We have lived here for over two years and in the five months since they have moved in our lives have gone to s–t and we are being forced to move due to the horrible noise. There should be standard building ordinances for this sort of thing. I would take the noise of a stereo or weekend party over this stuff any day. My windows literally rattle. Going nuts here…

Ha! I am currently living in an apartment where the lady above me tends to walk around very hard and loud consistently back and forth, sounds like she moves furniture all day and night and most importantly she gets up at 3:30am and leaves out at 5:30 am, so within these hours I heard loud and hard footsteps on the hardwood floors. I tried the sliding a letter under her door approach and that did NOTHING! So I called the landlord and they supposedly mailed her a letter in regards to this. Still hear her! I banged on the ceiling. Still hear her, finally, i decided to blast my music everyday when she is sleeping :), now she stopped. Paybacks a mutha

People, come on! Seriously, you have to live next door to these people, do you really think that fighting fire with fire is going to solve anything? Why do you want to make a bad situation even worse? Its just sad that there are people that like to cause problems for others in this world.

Just like I Want Peace, I too have an especially noisy couple above me. The guy literally stomps everywhere and despite a polite letter (which helped temporarily) he is back at it again. The worst thing is when he wears shoes while getting ready for work (very early). I wake up everyday to this. I’m moving because I don’t think anything is going to change. The building is obviously in need of better insulation/sound proofing. And yes, a little “revenge” can do a lot. Nothing truly malicious, but a little LOUD talking when they are going to bed might do the trick.

Try telling the manager of your problem
Asking your neighbor to please hold down the noise will either help for about an hour or get you punched.When the manager does nothing,put your rent money in an escrow account.This is legal
and the owners will not get this money until the problem is taken care of.It usually doesn’t take long as they want their money-LIKE NOW.

Dear I want Peace! I’ve lived in the same apartment for 5 years and the complex was sold recently. Since then the tenants have gone to pot! They lease to anything with two legs. I see eviction notices now-people banging moving in the middle of the night…My upstairs neighbor some I just got a place of my own and moved away from mommy..stomps back and force, drops heavy objects on the floor, from the time he gets home 5:30pm to 2:00am…then he goes to bed and up and banging and stomping again from 8:00am till 9:30am…I changed my job to graveyard so I can sleep from 9:30am to 5:30pm before he comes home and starts his noise…Are these people elephants?Where are you going back and forth in a one room apartment? I spoke to him and he apologized,but never changed. I am finally going to move…Hopefully I can get into a 55 or older complex even though I don’t qualify…Give me old neighbors who sleep all day any day!

I am a private house owner with a legal 2 bedroom apt on a dead end street and have the tenants from hell who live above me they now had a child (infant) and tell us that we now have to be quiet during the times that she naps and when shes up usually between 12am and 2am she screams because her parents dont pick her up We have 2 teenage daughters who the tenants dont like because they stay home and their friends usually are here only one or two friends on the weekend stay and not sleep over we have a 6 month old pom (dog) and she doesnt make a sound except to growl at the celing because the tenants are banging and moving fruniture before 5 am and after 11pm but if the kids are laughing at a movie they are watching in the living room the tenants are banging doors and knocking on the door and telling us to lower the childrens voices so that their child can sleep. These people are nuts they should own their own house and thank god the tenants from hell are leaving soon within a month because i would go out of my way to not go home and stay out so that i didnt have to hear her complain. She also had the nerve to go to my neighbors landscapers at 2 in the afternoon during the summer while the baby was sleeping and ask them to leave because the noise was upsetting her child. im a landlord who has gone out of my way but i have know that the tenant from hell will eventually get what she gives because they are now moving into an apartment complex and i cant wait

I completely agree with Chuck. Sometimes the whole “nice guy” thing gets people to think they can walk all over you. From what I see some people really just DONT comprehend what others are saying to them. Its in one ear out the other. How about this for an upstairs neighbor? Ex con, major druggie, and unemployed. I pray for the day he can’t pay his rent and just gets evicted. Also his noise level is unbelieveable. He stomps around like a child with a temper tantrum, he constantly drops what sounds like a bowling ball, a 3 year old has better motor skills than him. I think that when issues constantly arise with people who live next to you or at times you feel unsafe to talk to your neighbors or unsafe just being around them the law enforncement should help people out more. Not everyone is perfect, but when it is past the point of being an annoyance and interrupts daily life then there should be more options for people to turn to (esp when landlords dont give a damn either)

I agree with everyone here. I’m in an apartment were a lady and her 2 kids live upstairs from me. I’ve been complaining to management about them since I moved in. They tell me, we will give them a 5 day notice to fix the problem and if it keeps up, they get evicted. Well, today is the third time I’m complaining to mangement. Now, it’s a 10 day notice. They are up ALL day and ALL night. Stomping, moving furniture, running, jumping, loud music, slammimg doors, bouncing basket balls in the house. I’m lucky to get one hour of sleep every night.

i have the next door stupid people they have tree dogs and every morning the makes get up about 6 am inthe morning .i talk to the animal control and the tell me i have to have two more familys sign for the complaints why i should be have to do that my self when i think is there job for them to do that.can somebody help me please am going crazy.this is a house is no managers to complaints here what i do.

somebody help me please i have a people next door with a very loud barking everyday and night.i call the police but they say the can do nothing about it, is a animal control job but the animal control need two or three people to call them and make a complaint what i do if these people dont want to do that or they wants to do that.

i have neighbors who don’t like diversity. i am being accosted day and night. these people break all kinds of laws and believe that people should be
enslaved in sex and drug dealing. they constantly use raw and sewage language on me and my family all the time. they
poke and pry in my business day and
night. i should not have to run from these people all the time.

Where do you folks live? What state?
Where we live (Texas) every single property conveyed through sale, lease or rent carries with it the “right of quiet enjoyment” of that property. It does not matter one whit what the lease says, the state law trumps the lease and there ARE laws against loud neighbors. It is the management company’s representative (under the Law of Agency) to enforce compliance with state law. It is NOT your responsibility to confront the neighbors from hell - it is the manager’s job. If management won’t do their job then you have an actionable case against your neighbors and the manager for health concerns from lack of peace and quiet.
In almost every jurisdiction of any size there are Tenant’s Rights organizations who can offer you assistance in working out the problem. Pry ten or fifteen bucks out of your wallet, join the Tenant’s organization and put a stop to rude and uncaring management and neighbors. You’ll be glad when you finally get a good night’s sleep.

I live on the first level. The two on the second level are very loud. She puts on her heels before 6am and walks around like she all alone. I hear her walking til she leaves. Then he walks very hard. I hear him until he leave. The TV is surround sound and we hear that too. After I turn in… 20min later both of them do too. I can’t win. No sleep for me.

i have been living here nice and quiet 4 years till this church puts up 4 blaring bull horns all day everyday all day long starting at 7 am i have asked the Roman Catholic church to cut the noise.i have sent enough letters and made enough phone calls to fill an inch-thick file with no success The church’s bells which aren’t actual bells but a recorded carillon broadcast through 4 bull horn speakers — ring hourly from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day having to “hear 10 minutes of droning megaphone chimes, “They shouldn’t dictate to the neighborhood when to commemorate 9/11 by ringing their bells for a solid hour at 6 a.m. in the morning the church uses an electric carillon system. In other words, the church is automatically broadcasting canned music throughout the day. Its “bell” ringing is not personal and does not mark a human event— indeed, the system would keep broadcasting even if every human being on earth were to perish, at least until the lights went out. broadcasting its recordings every hour— and every 15 minutes In the first place, we feel that hourly broadcasts are excessive in a pluralistic society, particularly when the “bells” are actually just an automatic appliance. But— every 15 minutes on a Saturday Sunday??! “If This is maybe your only day off, would you really want to hear a loudspeaker blast that is as loud as your alarm clock every 15 minutes starting at 7 AM We feel that hourly ringing is excessive especially if the broadcast is not a simple striking of hours but of some musical selection We also feel that trouble is almost inevitable when bells are replaced by broadcasts of automatic appliances If Saturday-Sunday is maybe your only day off, would you really want to hear a loudspeaker blast that is as loud as your alarm clock every 15 minutes starting at 7 AM? If you’re someone that likes to think, likes to read, likes to create art, likes to get into one’s unconscious via some tranquility in the home, then this a major disruption. this blast of loudspeaker waking you up all the time is annoying, and letting you know what time it is every 15 minutes. Plus you have to hear 10 minutes of droning megaphone chimes. i have been recording and measuring the sound level of the bells for the past two months. these levels are as high as 98 decibels, a level i think is too dangerous. This is just a terrible, loud, horrendous noise that we have been subjected to for nearly 8 months It causes ear pain, intense ear pain, and I’ve gone to my doctor and he told me I’ve got a hearing loss in not just the one ear but in both ears as a result, Church’s are exempt from Los Angeles California noise law.

I feel for all of you, I have neighbors upstairs and they have 10 people living in a one bedroom apt. Music loud, water fights at 11pm , screaming brats, gangbangers, drugs, and they have forgot that every neighbor can hear their voices from down the block, plus they curse like seamen….I have told my landlord and he does nothing also the other neighbors have told him and he does nothing, I’m so sick of them already and they have only lived there for 9 months , ” oh hell” when will they leave!!!!

It isn’t just apartments that are noisy these days. I currently live in a single-family home and in the summer we are indundated with noise (although we do get winters “off”). People are so much noiser these days. They can’t work or sit out in their yards without a musical accompaniment. A factory a half mile away had music on a loudspeaker for their outside workers enjoyment until I complained. I am hoping to move to a age 55+ apartment. Hope that will be quieter but you never can be sure.

My next door neighbors and I are separated with about an inch of plaster between us. Surround-sound (sounds like thunder coming through our walls), people slamming each other against the wall, sobbing crying, squatters (people who live there who aren’t paying rent or on the lease). Drugs, loud music, etc.

I am doing the nice-guy routine now. The squatter has been really nice, and has tried to be quiet, but the tenant sucks (she’s the sobbing one). Someone mentioned that these people have bigger problems, and you’re absolutely right. I’ve confronted (nicely) twice now… but I’m going to the landlord soon. I should’ve called the cops the other night when I heard a guy yell and slam someone against the wall: “I want MY MONEY.” (It wasn’t the landlord.)

What is hard for me is that I’m SCARED to confront them because the squatter is shady– has had some issues with the previous place he lived (it burned down!!). His niceness belies the fact that he’s got a good thing and doesn’t want to mess it up. Unemployment, etc. is a b****, but living next to all this dysfunction, yelling, slamming is really triggering the stupid s*** of growing up in a crazy household.
Has anyone ever broken a lease successfully because of noise????

Listen up everyone…the missing link your all not seeing here is the lack of LAW ENFORCEMENT. No, I dont mean the cops, I mean an attorney. Now, before you go getting all snippy about how costly they are, theyre not. Check out a company called Pre-Paid Legal. I’ve had it for five years, and used it for everything from pressuring my dry cleaner to successfully replace the $30 shirt they ruined, to getting noisy my noisy neighbors to stop their illicit behavior. Imagine the look on their face and my landlords when they both got a letter from an attorney stating they were both being charged with violating that law. That will scare anyone, also this isnt a winky dink law firm. Pre-paid Legal uses whats called “A” rated firms, I forget who does the ratings, but some company rates law firms like consumer reports rates products. Here in Illinois my law provider law firm is the same law firm that represents the Chicago Bears…and I only pay $35 a month. You cant beat it…seriously check it out. You wont regret it.

what legal recourse do you have if you have signed a lease and have UNBEARABLE neighbors? I mean they have a BAND that practices half the night and/or they play their CD/DVDs at the highest decibel also until 3-4 am. This is a large apartment complex with many people who work and children who need their sleep to go to school. It is hard to distinguish which apartment(s) all this noise is coming from and with 6 months left on the lease and the landlord says he can’t do anything about it. I am ready to call the police!

Unfortunately the only recourse is to move. My neighbors upstairs (father, son and new girlfriend) make constant noise all day and late into the night. We asked them once to try to keep it down. Did they? No. I wrote a letter to landlord. Same response. Nothing. We banged on the ceiling when they made noise and the response was the girlfriend stomping on the ground with her high heels. I really would love to move out ASAP but I’m afraid to break my lease although people do it all the time apparently. I can’t believe people can be such A-holes.

Upstairs neighbors who are obviously going above and beyond with their bulls*** noise need to learn their lesson! Here’s where me and my roommate come in.

We have already successfully forced an upstairs tenant to take his family and move out. We resorted to some of the protocols below and after a few months we secretly filmed a polite confrontation about our noise problems with him (we acted polite and calm). We kept it up and he got angrier and angrier. Then he almost resorted to physical harm to my roommate. Seconds later I told him he was on candid camera and showed him the camera, we got the cops involved and poof! He was outta there. he moved on his own. There was no eviction. No noise for 2 months straight!. Now we have some new rowdy upstairs neighbors who are worse than the people before, so we are gearing up yet again!

If you have a problem with an upstairs neighbor, take our suggestions:
1. WRITE down EVERY occurence of noise. date, time, hour, location of noise, description, etc…

2. After 2 weeks of doing nothing except documenting, write ONE letter and politely state your concern with the tenants’ noise, make a copy for your records, and stick one on their door. DO NOT state anything about speaking to a landlord. DO NOT threaten them with anything. The purpose of the letter is two-fold: To make them either stop immediately, or to tick them off more and let them continue (which is what you want!)

3. Keep track of subsequent noise in your logs for the next few weeks. I know it’s hard to deal with the noise, just push through a few more weeks and don’t get lazy with logging.

4. If you can, record clean sound of their noise during phases 1 thru 3. This can be tough, but if you have a camcorder aimed at a few “hot spots” near your ceiling, just hit record when they start, remain silent and let them do their thing, and then stop when it dies away. Remember to have the date and time on your LCD so it corresponds to your written logs.

5. Write another letter and complain that their noise is out of hand again and that it’s disturbing you and your kitten (just make some sappy BS up). Make a copy and deliver one to them again. Remember not to threaten them, and don’t confront them face to face just yet! And no landlord!

5. You’re now ready for the next step. Make copies of your logs and of your recordings and your letters (may cost a little bit)

6. Pump yourself up a bit and grab an iPod that has recording available AND a camcorder. If the camcorder is not a small hidden camera device, talk with some neighbors and find a way to situate the camera so that it is at a distance zoomed in on your imposter’s front door. Keep that hidden as well as you don’t want the imposters to see it. Get a wireless mic and wire yourself. Make sure the camera gets a clean audio signal. Make sure the iPod gets a clean signal from wherever it is hidden in your clothes.

YOU ARE NOW ABOUT TO PULL AN OSCAR-WINNING PERFORMANCE OUT OF YOUR butt, AND WITH THIS ACT, ONE OF TWO THINGS WILL HAPPEN:

A) YOUR ROWDY NEIGHBOR WILL STOP THE NOISE

B) YOUR ROWDY NEIGHBOR WILL BE EVICTED AND WILL BE SUED BY YOU! HE MAY EVEN HAVE A CRIMINAL OFFENSE ON HIS RECORD.

Before doing the following, you need to prepare mentally and physically. The goal is to remain calm while confronting the noise imposter and at the same time tick him/her off so that a) you can go to the landlord and police and have direct evidence on tape that the imposter needs to be evicted or b) they make the first physical strike against you so you can file a lawsuit and sue their a**.

So grab the copies of your logs, your letters and recordings you made, set a time to approach the imposters when they are at the peak of their noise, and make phone calls to others in the area (neighbors, friends, and cameraman! to let them know that you are going live. That way you have witnesses!)

1) Approach their door and knock LOUDLY. Get their damn attention! When someone opens it, introduce yourself and in a kind, yet stern tone, tell them you’re the person from downstairs who sent two letters about the noise they have been causing over x amount of weeks/months. Tell them you’ve had enough and then, showing the logs and recordings to their face, tell them you have been gathering evidence of their noise and that you are going to the landlord and other authorities. This is where you threaten them (but in a kind, firm way).

The goal here is to get their blood flowing. Scare them and get them visibly ticked off. If they raise their voice, you don’t, at least not to overpower their volume. Tell them that you are not going to tolerate their noise any longer. And let them do the cursing, you keep your cool.

Go straight to the landlord if:

a) they slam the door in your face
b) snatch your evidence, tear it up, or take it and slam the door in your face later (remember you made copies)

If they start getting to the point where it looks as though they might punch you, LET THEM. Push them and push them about the noise, and if they hit you , don’t hit back. You just won! That’s the cue for the cameraman to signal a witness or two to “suddenly” appear as if they witnessed the person assaulting you. This is where one of them will grab their cell and dial the police. In the meantime, your job is to escape the person without enduring any more physical pain then you have to.

The cops will come. You’ll get the landlord involved. Your witnesses will be there telling their story (make sure to give them a few beers later as compensation for helping you out ; ).The neighbor will deny assaulying you. You will show the authorities the video and audio footage of the confrontation along with your documented logs and recordings of the noise you endured. You may win a settlement later on in the coming months. One thing for sure is, you just screwed over your roudy neighbor for the rest of their life. Payback’s a b****, ain’t it?! LOL. Hope you enjoyed this.

I tried everything to get some peace, from politely requesting neighbors to turn the music down, to calling building security, to 3 mediation hearings. They did not care, and then actually threatened violence, but my son doesn’t back down, and so they never threatened that again. We started playing loud music whenever they did. We did it consistently, no matter what time it was, even when it inconvenienced us. Talk about furious! They were. Isn’t that some nerve! It took 3 months, but now, they either turn their music off or leave. Just recently we noticed that they don’t turn it on as loud as they used to. They may never stop completely, but it’s real hard for them, having to take exactly what they dished out. What we don’t do is play the music loud all the time. We don’t want to become the reflection of our “enemies.” It’s a much clearer message than the revenge message. Our message: “If we must listen to loud music, and it seems we must, it will be our own loud music.” Believe it, or not, we’ve actually had some good times. They hate it when we dance and have fun. Each time we do, they turn the music off. They’re abusers, so they get much more out of our pain than our pleasure.

That’s something we all need to remember: The loud music thing goes a lot deeper than is obvious at the outset. These people are usually abusive, making it clear that they’re addicted to chaos. Like all addicts, when it comes to their addiction, they are selfish and are naturally “allergic” to accepting the same flaws in anyone else. So, we do not “punish,” but we make sure there are consequences to invading our space, and they don’t get to do it without a fight. If they have a long history of making noise which disturbs others, they can’t tell anyone. I haven’t been asked to “renegotiate” with them on the music issue. But if I am, I will refuse. You can’t negotiate abuse, like it’s okay twice a week, but not ok on the other five days. That’s like saying your husband/boyfriend/wife/girlfriend can slap you every 3 months, but never in between.

What I will say, however, is that they can do what they want to do, and I will do what I have to do.

hi i have read your comments and they were helpful but i have four children 3 ,5 ,9, all girls and 13 yr old boy i was a nervous wreck when we moved in about moving into an upstairs apt but the landlord did not seem to give a big hoot i try my hardest to keep my little ones out of my livingroom because of course if they crawl it is awful my downstairs neighbors are polite they send their kids or the husband comes up and lets us know i am very apologetic and i do mean it but i have to be honest i cant keep them quiet all of the time my 5 year old has a d d so i want to cry most of the time i dont want to get kicked out i make sure that they are not at all loud before 10 am and for sure after 9 30 pm unfortunately that is the hardest that is when my 5 yr old is hard to calm so am i being fair or do i deserve to be booted thank you

hugcav needs some serious therapy and something else to do with his time

I have been living in nighmare of my own, someone below me has a tv or stereo running 24/7 and all I hear is a thumping sound. It is slowly driving me insane. I have not slept in nights or if I have I had to take a sleeping aid. The property manager and regional manager have heard the sound and agree that it is annoying.Now they want me to move, does any one know if they should pay for the move or does it rest solely on me to absorb the cost.

To doreen; try asking your neighbor to turn the base level down on his/her stereo. I had the same problem and that was the remedy, they didn’t even realize it.
I am now dealing with neighbors who slam doors and make the whole building move! I want to scream at them!

Well i was staying with my sister in Jackson,Ms and we had these noisy neighbors that had about 9 kids staying down there. So 1 day they were beating on something down there, my sister went down there and ask them politely can they calm down the noise because she has to work in the morning. They got an attitude and start making more noise so I went down stairs and told them if they don’t calm the noise down I was gonna call the police and they said so, so I call them and put a restaining order out on them and we had a fight after the police left and that was the end of that.

I had the same problem of neighbors gathering outside my door at all hours of the day and night at X Apts. The management would not do anything except send the violators notices. The management was very uncooperative. I ended the problem quickly by tape recording 5 nights worth of noise, presenting it to the management and threatening to withhold the rent until the problem was cleared up. It is perfectly legal to withhold rent if a landlord is not enforcing terms of the lease in reference to noisy neighbors. The catch is you still have to pay the rent but you pay it into the court registry to be held until a hearing can be scheduled for a judge to order the management to enforce the lease. The rent continues to be held by the court until the problem is taken care of. Within 2 months the complex evicted the offending parties and all was quiet again.

NOISE AND DISTURBANCES

Under the provisions of most leases, you will agree to keep noise levels to a minimum so as not to disturb your neighbors. If you violate this clause, you could face eviction. If police find you in violation of the city’s noise ordinance, you might be fined $150.00 - $200.00 for each occurrence. Despite the risks, some tenants make a lot of noise. If you have trouble with one of your neighbors making too much noise, try these ideas.

ASK THEM TO BE QUIET. A direct approach is best. Too many tenants suffer through hours of disturbed sleep and then complain the next day to the landlord. Your neighbors may not realize how loud they are or how late it is, so talk to them first. Be polite and ask nicely. If you do not want to go to the door, check the mailbox for the tenants’ names, look them up in the phonebook, and telephone them. Be persistent. If they quiet down after you ask, but then are noisy the next night, call again. This may seem like a hassle, but it’s the best way to deal with the situation.

INVOLVE OTHER NEIGHBORS. If the people next door won’t be quiet after you’ve asked, talk to the other neighbors. Give them the phone number of the noise makers and see if everyone will agree to call and ask them to be quiet.

BUY EARPLUGS: If the noise problem is caused by a baby crying, or thin walls that make you feel like your neighbor’s television is in your home, or the weight of people walking above you — but the neighbors are not really disturbing the peace, the best solution would probably be to buy earplugs.

CALL THE POLICE: If the noise can be heard outside the neighbors’ apartment, they are violating city code. Amplified music and loud parties are usually the type of noise about which it is appropriate to call the police. Call 311, or your local police department non emergency phone number. If they have the music, TV, etc. too loud and it is blaring in your house but it can not be heard outside then it is best if you tell them who you are they will take action.  If you call anonymously and you are in the situation where it can only be heard in your house they can not do a thing about it. You can invite the police in, or tell them who you are. They disturb your peace that is when you can involve them. The non-emergency dispatch number who will dispatch an officer.  If the people quiet down when the police arrive but start up again a half hour later, CALL THE POLICE AGAIN and tell the dispatcher that an officer responded to your earlier call but the noise-makers started up again after the police officer(s) left.

If the problem persists on subsequent nights, be persistent in calling the police. They seldom write a ticket for the first noise offense.

KEEP A LIST OF YOUR CALLS: Sometimes, a police officer who answers a call is not aware that the police have been called to the same apartment in the past. Write down the date and time when you call the police. If you have to call a second time about the same neighbor, ask the dispatcher to please inform the police officer that you had previously called and tell the date and time of the prior call. If you have to call a third or fourth time, tell the dispatcher each time about the previous calls, dates and times. In many cases, you will have to call the police more than twice but less than a dozen times before the message sinks in with your noisy neighbors. Don’t give up. Be persistent.

If you have an ongoing problem that is not resolved by calling the police at the time of each incident, you may wish to call the police station and ask for the Shift Commander.

REPORT THE PROBLEM TO THE LANDLORD: Your landlord should be informed about noise problems with neighbors. Don’t call the landlord in the middle of the night; tell him/her about the problem the next day. Let the landlord know that you are involving the police and ask him/her to please give some type of written notice to the neighbors about the noise problem.

YOUR LANDLORD IS NOT A POLICE OFFICER. When you experience the type of problem for which a homeowner would call the police, you should call the police too. Particularly if you are being bothered by someone you are afraid to confront — an intoxicated person in your hallway or a vandal damaging cars — don’t expect your landlord to replace a police officer. Call the police.

IF YOU RECEIVE AN EVICTION NOTICE FROM YOUR LANDLORD BECAUSE THE NEIGHBORS HAVE COMPLAINED ABOUT YOU MAKING TOO MUCH NOISE — DON’T MOVE OUT! CALL THE TENANT UNION TO FIND OUT ABOUT YOUR OPTIONS AND RISKS. MOVING OUT WILL NOT EXCUSE YOU FROM THE OBLIGATION TO PAY FUTURE RENT.

I live in a garden apartment. I am on the 1st floor. My neighbor upstairs, who lives along, gets up early in the morning 5:30 or so and cleans in the bedroom and wakes me up. I’ve reported this to the Board of Directors and they said “you can walk around your apt. day or night”. But, she is not just walking around the apt. She cleans the bedroom over my head, loudly and with heavy feet and wakes me up early. She goes to work and 7:30 and walks around the whole apt. with her shoes on for about 15 minutes or more and still keeps me awake! What am I supposed to do? I called police a few times and they said she’s an early riser and wants to do her work early. But, who cleans a bedroom at 5:30a.m. when someone is sleeping underneath you! Can’t stop her. Tell me what I can do or who else I can report it to besides the Board of Directors, that will do nothing!

I have been miserable since I’ve moved into my apartment in January…my neighbors play their music so loud you can hear it once you enter the building from the parking lot…..you can party in the hall….that’s how loud it is….I think they seem to forget I’m on the other side of the wall…with the music so loud I just sit in my living room…..since I don’t need to turn anything on since my neighbors are providing the entertainment….I have been advised as to do by call the POLICE…..which is something I didn’t want to do but I had no choice

We have had problems with our downstairs neighbors for months now. We have informed the landlord and management numerous times about their domestic disputes and letting their kids scream and run around after 11pm. The woman cheats on her husband and he comes home drunk and smashes the walls, objects, and even the celing. We have called the cops three times. The last time we called, they suggested we move because as long as they are in their apartment, there’s nothing they can do. Law enforcement is a lost cause when dealing with this. We have contacted the landlord once again and suggested evicting the tenants.

This is why I hate people. I hope the human race will become extinct soon to make room for better living species.

I have been an apt renter for 30yrs! I have the worst neighbors in history! They constantly run large fans day and night, they fight among themselves, they listen to conversations, because of noise level is very bad! I have reported them to the owner who does nothing , because they are paying more rent then I am I am forced to sleep in another room I cannot sleep in my own room! I have no help to move I am 61 yrs old I am just making my rent I have called the police, but they turn every thing off and become quiet their smoke alarm goes off during odd hours of the night, I have one neighbor who has heard the noise and one friend who has heard them fighting! I have asked them to stop, but they told me in a four letter word they pay rent so what! where do I go from here??? I have no help in moving and a lot of things stored that I need to get rid of I have tried for a roommate but am afraid they would not stay long after they heard the neighbors below me!! I need help

I have this same problem do to the thin walls I can hear the people above me tv and also when I go to bed at night the people next door plays there music so loud it sounds like its in my apartment. I gets so mad because it seems like its right in my ear. They do not play the music everyday but when they do they play it at least to the early morning.

I live in an apartment community also, I have a gay man to the right of me with a very loud and annoying bird. Beneath me is a so called “High Priest” of Maricopia county AZ, he and his family are constantly slamming doors to the point that many of my nic naks have fallen off, then next to the priest is a working single mother with two grown boys who think that they live in a club. It’s funny because none of them complain about the other. It’s funny how people will complain but not to the proper people. The police are a joke. And not to be mean to the people of this article but unless YOU ARE SUBJECTED, it’s easy to be objective. Homes are very expensive and sane room mates are scarce. (single white female). I think maybe holding back the rent in escrow as a last resort might work. But that’s just my opinion.

My Husband and I sold our home after the brutal murder of my one and only 15 year old son. I had to leave it to heal.We found a beautiful place in the San Francisco Bay area with a view of the ocean and the Bay area. It is so nice and cozy up here . We have been here 2 years. We are on the second floor. We have had a nurse living in the apartment above us , she was overweight and we never heard a peep out of her. She started an exercise program she came to our door and she exp[lained that she would be exercising at 5:00 am every morning. She said that if she got too loud to come upstairs and let her know. We never heard her make a sound. One week ago A young man and his 17 year old son moved in , all hell began. I work the graveyard shift from midnight to seven in the morning. They stomp all day and hammer all day and evening. I do not know what the hell he is doing it is driving us crazy.They also blast music it starts as soon as I walk in the door. I have only the daytime to sleep,it is impossible. I walk around my place like a zombie. I politely told him my situation ,he will turn the music down and stop hammering for about 15 minutes. As soon as I close my eyes dammit they are back at it.This has been one week of hell. I pay $3000 a month to live here and I have been here 2 years and we are not moving . All of the neighbors have approached him and his son, we have made complaints to the owner of our Complex to no avail. I have searched for 6 months to find this place and it was perfect until this misfit moved in.Why should law abiding people have to disrupt their lives for ***holes ? We are not moving , he is making me wish that it was the wild, wild west days and bust a cap in his -ss. Excuse me. All work and no sleep is making Ann a bad girl.

I have been living in my new apartment in Spokane and the tenents above me moved out. AWW..Peace and Quiet. But now some noisy people have moved in above me and are always moving around, jumping around, and continuously being loud. The land lord has come and spoke to them about how dirty the apartment was but I have been worried about talking to them. They scare me..kinda!! I’m a girl. So what should I do?? DON’T KNOW!!

I live in an apartment where my hisband and I have lived for 4 years.  We have had no complaints whatsoever, until recently when we had a coupld of “kidsL that don’t look any older than 20 move in below us about a month ago.  They started to complain that our TV was too loud in our living room, we turned it down and have kept it down now.  Just last night they called our “courtesty patrol” stating that our TV in our bedroom was too loud.  My husband watches TV before he goes to sleep and I usually go to sleep when he watches TV and I have him turn it down do I can sleep.  What is wrong with these people?  I talked to our apartment manager and we were basically told that we were the problem.  We are a wits end.  We have complied with everything but the people below us are still complaining.  We don’t know what to do and no longer feel comfortable in our apartment.  I don’t want to move and we shouldn’t have to but I hate feeling like we can’t even live.

I was sad to move because i did really love our landlord in the apartment but it just got to be too much!
When we first moved in in oct 2005, it was great my downstairs neighbor was nice and quiet and my next door neighbors was cool, then the guy below my next door neighbors moved out and 2 VERY young people moved in 2 Navy guys 22 and 23 (only one was on the lease) and a 19 year old girl (who was on the lease) who we found out a couple weeks later was really only 16!
we had assigned parking places and guests had to park across the street, our parking lot was small and we own a big dodge ram 1500, so our landlord assigned up the space behind us too so we could back out otherwise it was almost impossible to do! each apartment had 2 spaces, anyways these kids knew the space behind us was ours because the size of our truck but still kept parking there and would smile when they did it or have their friends park there even after the land lord came and told them to MOVE!
they had parties all the time! they didnt even live under me and i could hear it! wed call the cops nothing would happen, the land lord showed up unannounced and their place was horrible you could smell it with the door closed if you walked by….they half a$$ed cleaned it up in the end our land lord gave them the boot!
then my next door neighbors whod id never once heard a peep out of and were good friends moved out and a new Navy couple moved in the girl was Navy the husband was a civilian(i dont think he had a job he never left the house) the first week they lived there they had a party! when i nicely asked them to keep it down cause it was past 12! they wanted to get mad and tell me they were haven a party for a friend that just came back from iraq, ok were military we can understand that BUT were also adults and dont need to have a full blown club party to welcome someone back they have bars for that, well that because their regular excuse every weekend they supposely had a friend back from iraq…but it was always the same cars! the land lord even asked them to keep it down nothing worked.
It got to the point i think they would be loud on purpose! again cops didnt help anything! and they could go in the bedroom knowing our bedroom was right against theirs have i swear 4 or 5 people in there being loud just to be loud! my husbands in the Navy he gets up at 4:30 every morning i mean grrr so finally we moved enough was enough and we got our house house.
I guess it was all partly because we had lived on base in base housing for years before getting stationed here and there wasnt any places open in housing so we had to take a place in town, on base the MAs drove around every 15 mins there was a quiet time for housing 10 weekdays 11 weekends, and they enforced it so i guess i just got used to the normal quiet of base housing living.

I have lived in my beautiful apartment for 7 months. In January 2 young women moved into a one room apartment above me. They had traffic in and out, loud music, stomping at all hours of the night or day. I have no idea what they are doing. Anyway I complained to landlord, he sent them a notice that they needed to apologize to me. Whatever, it did no good. I am woke up every nite. I am exhausted. the one girl is a felon. She has mouthed off to me. My apartment has had a bobbypin broke off in it, which leads me to think they tried to break in. I tried the nice guy aproach to begin with. After I complained to landlord he turned it on me and told me I was to complaining. I am not a complainer, just need some rest. Again another stomp rite now. Help, what can I do. I finally called police and landlord told me he will get involved only if police contact him. He is a slum lord and I was told only mature people allowed to live here. I can’t afford to move out or break lease. Please, need some advice. I just can’t imagine why a person would walk back and forth for hours unless they are on drugs.

Take the advice from the person who lives in Texas. We all have the right to peace and quiet within our homes/
appartments. If you now live next to
good neighbors send them a note or just
tell them how much you appreciate them
being good neighbors.

We have a sewage problem, there is feces and toilet tissue, everywhere. when you walk out you door you get hit in the face with this ungodly smell, not first time this has happen how can I get out of this hell hole?

I live on the top floor of an apartment house with five units on one side back to back with five units on the other side. Recently, someone from the other side (which is actually a different address) has been coming through the common basement ranting and raving about someone complaining about his dog barking. Yesterday he came over to our side and began knocking on doors complaining about his laundry being removed from the dryer when it was wet. Then came back again knocking on our doors asking for money to dry his wet clothes. There is no reason for anyone to be on this top floor unless they live here or are visiting. He is frightening because of his loud abusive cursing and his demeanor. I told the landlord but he says he cannot control other people’s behavior. What should I do? This is not the city of brotherly love…this is a nasty city…thugs, nuts and sluts abound Philadlephia.

All I can say, for those of you dealing with these inconsiderate, rude neighbors, and their loud, obnoxious, children is, SUE! You can you know. Find the law in your community that governs nuisance, and of course show them the rental agreement as well. Charge about ask for about $100.00 per day, for the loud neighbor, or the loud little child they have.

No one forced them to have children. And it’s not anyone else’s fault that they aren’t educated enough to find a job that affords them a house, where their loud children can only disturb them.

SUE!! Trust me, it works.

First off, I had to deal with many problems. Yes I am a manager.
If anyone is confused about what their rights are, you may request a “right of landlords and tenants” book from you attorney general’s office. May things are pointed out in there.
Furthermore, I would like to point out, that a noisy child you may not sue over. Familial status is a protected class and any lawsuit would be more than likely thrown out.

My last point is, for those who are going to look elsewhere to rent, please do your homework. There is a website called apartment ratings, you may google that and find the site. Also make sure they use a reputable screening agency. Most places have guidelines set, such as felony activity. Most people with one is automatically denied.

I feel sorry for those who can’t get any relief from noise. But contact your local Multi Housing Agency and find some solutions.
There are people out there to help.
Best regards to all.

This comment page is frightning. I’m 19 years old, live in HOUSTON and fixing to move to San Diego and get an apartment with my boyfriend when he gets back from Iraq in October. I just read a Navy Wife’s story and a few others and lets just say i’m going to try to be the nicest little neighbor ever and take the advice on inviting all my neighbors to get drunk whenever we throw a party. Best idea i read. Other than that good luck to everybody and the noise.

I believe he found the most efficient and MATURE way to handle the situation. You dont cause a fuss or piss off any other neighbors or “fight fire with fire”, you simply handle the situation in a SMART way…. so yeh KUDOS TO HUGCAV!

Seems like an opportunity a person could profit from, handling these matters as a third party kind of like a lawyer but not as expensive. My upstairs neighbors are very loud, all hours, and I have tried everything. The mgmnt comp. is moving me to another unit in 14 days so i am doing my time now. One tactic that has worked is banging very loudly on ceiling (I tapped a socket to the end of a broom handle} this pisses them off and they call the cops on me. Other than a few knocks on the door a while later which i easily ignore I sleep in peace. Since they are calling the cops on themselves they stay very quiet, it makes sense when you think about it. Works best at night.

I moved into a new apartment in March of ‘06′, everything was so peaceful at first,until I had my third child in July. Not but, that first night out of the hospital the loud music started. We approached the girl, and asked her as nicely as possible to turn it down, because we have children and a newborn trying to sleep. It seems like when we did that, she turned it up even louder. It was so loud, we couldn’t even sleep in our bedroom all the time we lived there, are had to sleep in the living room, which sometimes didn’t make a difference, because you could still hear it and the bass, shook the whole ceiling. We’ll this continued for days and I got feed up and called the police. A lot of good that did, because she wouldn’t answer the door, so they couldn’t write a ticket(they claimed). I was advised to talk to the landlord about the situation, because it’s a rules in my contract that said it was unlawful to play to your music, so loud at different times of the day. But, what did that matter, because she played it all day and night like she was a crack head. Can you believe the landlord told me the girl had been staying there four years before me, and the had never got any complaints about her music, how could they if no ones lived in the apartment I was staying in for four years or more. The lady that lives next to her won’t complain because she older, and she’s scared she my get bet up, if the girl find out she complained. We’ll for months and months after that I took ever resort I could take. I kept calling the police, courtesy patrol, and my landlord , no help. I called my public housing worker and he told me there was nothing he could do. I videotaped the music, I had witnesses, alot of witnesses. Still no one would. It even got to the point where she had some one come to my door and threaten to hit me in the face, and threw syrup at my front door and eggs at my windows, too. To my suprise the neighbor called the police about this incident, but couldn’t call about the noise. Still nothing worked. I didn’t one last final thing. I called the city and made a report of the incident, they sent her a letter threatning to investigate and fine her, if she didn’t keep the noise down. No change. I called the city again and told them, I was still having the same problem. They called my apartment office and called me back and told me that they would not come into a hostile environment, because I guess someone in the office told them that we were at war. Which I couldn’t understand, I just wanted her to turn her music down. I later found out that she lied and said that I was only picking on her, because I thought she was trying to steal my boyfriend. We’ll it all came down to were we had to move, in order to get some peace. But, after we moved they still wanted some money from us, which I think is unfair, because we went through alot of hell at those apartments, and I think that I was treated badly.Till this day I wish it was something I could do. But, form the stories I read I’m out of luck. I hope someone has better luck than me.

I understand about noisey inconsiterate neighbors. I have been in my apartment for three years now, and have dealt with the constant slamming of doors, loud music at all hours of the night, and pot heads constantly yelling. I myself am the mother of a BEAUTIFUL little girl, of whom i’ve always tried to make sure she doesn’t disturb people. I will take her out of the bedroom and into the livingroom where we won’t disturb people if she decides to fuss. But, the one night that it was of the utmost importance, I spoke with my neighbor, and told him the urgency of his being quiet that night as my daughter had to get a c.t. scan the next morning very early. But, again, was loud. I called him, at two in the morning, told him to be quiet or I was going to be getting the cops involved. In utah, there is a standard 10 pm to 10 am quiet time. So, after getting told to “ef” off, I called the cops, moved my sleeping angel to the couch, and slept with her on my lap.

Now, we have a lovely beefcake up stairs, who thinks because his muscles “ripple” and that he is a personal trainer that he can’t control a door from slamming… he has over flowed the tub several times, causing our ceilings to leak , and completely destroyed several items of mine.

Worst part of it is, the landlords don’t care. They are in it for the money. Thank god we are buying a house at the moment, i can’t take apartment living anymore .

I have lived in apartments now for about 15 years. I have always been on the first floor and have neighbors from hell. One apartment I lived in for 5 years, we had upstairs neigbors who were prostituting out their home, dealing drugs out of their home, parties every single night, kids that would jumo off the couches, etc. We also had private parking and their friends would park in our spots and we would have to park far away and walk with the two kids in the freezing cold to our apartment. Granted, they did not own a car so one night, instead of walking, we parked in their spot as their friend was in ours. They had nerve to come down and ask me to move my car. called the police on average of 6 times a week and some were multiply days. One cop told them it was us and they destroyed my lawn furniture.

I believe that when you live in an apartment setting, one needs to get used to living in an apartment lifestyle. There is no way it is going to be noise free. Now, the loud music at all hours and banging in the middle of the night it considered annoying and should be reported. Kids walking heavy, cars beeping, tv’s, music to a degree, kids running in the hall ways or screaming outside is going to happen. That is the price we pay for living in an environment where 1 inch seperates us from another family.

I live in a complex where there are a lot of college kids. They are normally not bad but they are college kids and they do party and that is to be expected. I put up with it because when I moved in, I already knew college kids lived in my area and I actually thought things would be worse. They are young, in college and as long as things do not get out of control, I leave them alone.

The people below me are always on their balconies and talking loud, have music blaring and they do laundry at like 4 or 5 am but doesn’t bother me. They are now trying to turn us in for noise they claim we are doing purposely. Knowing how it is to be on the bottom floor, I continuely keep my kids quiet, with no running, jumping, etc. They are not allowed to slam doors and I make them walk in the halls like normal people and not kids. LOL. One of my kids us ADHD and the other one is bipolar. It is hard to keep them quiet but for the most part, they are. For these people downstairs to want to turn us in, well, I have news for them. I cannot change my kids illnesses and I cannnot retrain them to walk quieter. My mother is 72 lbs and 4′10. She sounds like she weighs 600 lbs. Can you see her changing? She is 60 years old and would tell someone to get bent. LOL.

People in apartments have to learn that there are certain things they have to accept like children. If someone moves in and has an infant, they need to know that there will be noise and the baby is going to have to just adjust like everyone else. Other tenants cannot be expected to change thier lifestyle because an infant needs a nap. If noise is out of control, that is fine but if someone is cutting thier grass, what can ya do? Move the child to another room or change his nap time or perhaps he will just have to adapt to it.

Adjust people or get out and buy a house or mobile home but remember, you may not live below a noisy neighbor but you may live next door to someone who is hard of hearing and may have to yell instead of talk normally? What would you do then? Cannot call the landlord and what can the police do? That neighbor cannot get their hearing back. We call that tolerating people and that is what the world is all about. We are all human so please, do not come off as if you are all perfect. No one is.

Just my thoughts.

Our neighbors are parents to the monster from Hell. We have tried everything, but they just don’t care. We have complained to our board, but they have no spines, and stopped helping us after they sent this evil family a letter telling them they need to heed the rules of the co-op or face consequences. The monsters threatened harassment suit. Now, all we have is the choice to leave our home:

we have the monsters from hell next to us. Nothing works!

We have it all: noise, floods and pieces of ceiling plaster falling when their children jump from their bunk beds that make our ceiling vibrate and the chandelier lights flicker. And we have tried everything: the nice approach, writing letters to management to talking to other neighbors. Our neighbors from hell are being SUED and, hopefully, the judge will throw the book at them. The “being nice” approach definitely does not work with a psychopath, who is shameless and has no feelings or concern about anyone but himself.

Living in College Town USA

You must be one of those annoying people yourself. But, no one I mean no one has to live with other people noise. Not, when it being done because of jealousy. You must remember they do have laws. It’s just that the people who make the laws, only enforce the one they want to. Where I live now it is a lot more peaceful. I’ve already been told if I ever have that problem again, there will be one warning, and that’s it. I know because there was a lady in my complex, who got put out because her kids were disturbing people, running up and down the stair all night. So for me there was a better solution. Okay, the lady under me plays her music, but she doesn’t play it loud enough to irritate someone else, and me and my kids get plenty of rest and she’s not trying to steal my boyfriend.I know that there are a lot of noises everywhere, it’s just some of them don’t have to disturb and put other people’s live in jeporady.

My opinion

Okay, I understand the problems of noisy neighbors, but please try and make sure you are reasonable. I lived in an apartment full of old people, and the crazy guy beneath me would call the cops all the time, for nothing. Once I was acutally just talking on the phone, quietly, at 1 am. He would call because I was talking when I had friends over, and he called when he knew I had just moved in and was trying to get my bed set up (quite difficult for 2 girly girls). I was dumb and didn’t know I could ignore the cops… So I got a ticket, and had to go to court, which was kind of amusing as I CAN’T handle public speaking and broke down in hysterical tears and had to have my mother explain. The ticket was thrown out, and I was told to move. I was on housing, so I had to give up my housing assistance and move immediatly because they wouldn’t throw out another ticket. One of this man’s complaints had been I was running my bathroom fan! Another lady complained (just to me) that I was showering too late (10 pm when I got home from work).

Now either everyone around me in this building was either silent or had insanely good hearing, because I never heard ANYTHING except a phone ring a couple times!

Oh!

If you DO have crazy loud neighbors then do as my mother did when I was little and lived in apartments - get bagpipe music and blast it from a boombox (she had a shelf over her cabinets in the kitchen, since it was the upstairs neighbors that were so loud) pointed at where the noise is coming from. Most people do NOT like bag pipe music, especially forcibly! They never played there music loud again.

She had asked them repeatedly to try and keep it quiet when it was late, since I had nightmares and a hard time sleeping, and they would have parties that lasted all night on a regular basis.

What if you are the VICTIM of a neighbor who thinks you are too noisy, but in actuality you are just living!!! I am being harassed by my neighbor DAILY! If I drop anything on the floor she is at my door asking me to quiet down!! I really feel she is CRAZY and is trying to drive me out of my apartment. She has called the property manager on me, which found her complaints were unwarranted, but she still harasses me! What do I do??

I live in a single story apartment home. And my ajoining neighbors are rather reasonable. The most I’ve heard is the soft hum of their wash machine or garbage disposal in the kitchen.

I really appreciate what the “College Town” person had to say. I am the apt manager of three complexes and it is a huge problem when residents are having trouble between themselves. It seems that no one is willing to talk to their neighbor! The complaints always come STRAIGHT to me with no effort on the part of the residents to solve their issues themselves. Sometimes we just feel like glorified babysitters in this profession. Of course we want you to be happy in your home… but an apartment is an apartment. They are in close proximity to neighbors and with that comes noise. Everyday noise and excessive noise. My only suggestion would be PLEASE residents, try at least once to speak to your neighbor before you call the manager! It makes us so happy to know that we are not your babysitters. But dont shoot the messenger!

HELP i am being harassed daily by my neighbor i live upstairs and she lives underneath me we both have families of 4 with 2 children and she bangs on my ceiling and my front door daily she curses and says to stop the noise all we are doing is walking around….my advice is DO NOT LIVE IN A FIRST FLOOR APARTMENT IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO HEAR PEOPLE ABOVE YOU….OR MOVE OUT if you cant take the noise MOVE…..

We live in an appartment block and are dealing with the people in the appartment above us. The only thing they do is walk heavily on their heels and we dont think they realise what they are doing. They have just moved in and the cracks in the wall that are forming are frightening. Sometimes they run and it creates static on our television. We’ve informed the landlady and she isnt very helpful. Can anyone suggest what we can do other than move? Playing country music loud into the wee hours perhaps? Help…

I am living in 12 unit apartment.We have 12 spot parking spaces without any number on it.

My landlord told me I cant park 2 cars.Since that time one of my car I am parking outside.

MY LANDLORD STILL PARKING HIS 2 CARS

What should I do? He is telling me not to park 2 cars but himself parking 2 cars?

To janine, the person that posted ‘dont live in a bottom apt’ did you ever think that this person may have a disability and is unable to live anywhere else? Some people with children think that its ok to let your kids do what ever they want, well no it is not ok. I have children and no one has ever complained about us making excessive noise, we have lived in apts all of our lives. I teach my kids to be considerate of others, to take rough housing and banging outside…many apts these days are built very cheaply and noise can carry a long way. Put yourself in your neighbor’s shoes for a change. Quit being so selfish and self centered.

In my opinion, the incidents reported here are symbolic of a breakdown of civility in this country.

Unfortunately, thanks to the misguided character of “political corectness,” any discussion of the role of certain socio-economic groups in the deterioration of manners and politeness is impossible.

I grew up in the 1940s and 1950s, when civility was commonplace. Sadly, we will never witness such calmness again.

What we have now is a national calamity to be discussed only behind closed doors.

What do you do when you live in a house and you have bad neighbor’s ? They have motorbikes, car repair, drinking, yelling, reving engines, they just don’t care. it’s almost 24/7. I have called the local Sheriff (I live in a city that does not have it’s own Police department) they quited them down for a few weeks, but they are back at it again. I was told by the Sheriff that the tennants (renters) feel they are being harrassed, the Sheriff Office where I live is under staffed and probably underpaid. The city I live in is small, and is only interested in doing things that generate taxes. Not enforcing health and noise ordinances. It a nice place to live most of the time except I have neighbors from hell, everyone is afraid of them also

Why should I have to move? My rent is very affordable and the school my girls attend is a very good school. My oldest, after repeating third grade, has gone on to be on the honor roll three years in a row. There should be something lawfull and through the courts that we could do. I’ve done everything that was suggested, aside from moving, and nothing. My landlord acts as if I am the problem. And it’s just not fair! I am a sinlge mom working mom, who pays the rent. If I were not being true to the lease I signed, the landlord can take steps, through the courts, to evict me. Why, Can’t I do SOMETHING, as well?

I live in a neighborhood where Harley’s (Hog Bikes) and loud reverberating music from passing cars is a common occurence. The Harley’s rev-up their engines sometimes in the middle of night and drive down the streets of my neighborhood like they own the place setting off car alarms as they drive by. Sometimes, the noise from these Harley’s is so deafening, I can hardly hear myself talk!!! The problems people discuss on this board live in “Heaven” compared to where I live!!!

The noise from Harley’s (Hog bikes) and loud reverberating music from cars is a common occurence in my neighborhood where I live. The Harley’s rev-up their engines and drive down the streets of my neighborhood like they own the place setting off car alarms. The noise is so deafening that I cannot even hear myself talk sometimes. The people discussing noise problems on this discussion board live in “Heaven” compared to where I live!!!

I had a nice mobile home in a park for years that I sold for convenience’s sake, and got a middle apt.We can’t bathe (mold, paint peels) just shower; neighbors below smoke dope so I’ve called cops twice when it came up through floors/in halls; neighbors above stamp around and fall out of bed often it sounds like. I’ve called the landlord, sent them three complaint letters already, and had the police come by twice. Sorry for others troubles, but glad to know I’m not alone. Even rich folks can have bad neighbors it seems. I try to be a good neighbor anyway. Landlords have a special hell awaiting them.

yeah i understand where all of u people are coming from because where i used to stay these people that used to stay above me had a son and boy did he used to jump and stomp like crazy, so finally one day i went up there and told him that he needed to stop.They decided that they were not going to stop, so the dad had to get up at 6 everymorning so when ever my boyfriend used to get off work at 2 in the morning we would blast the music as loud as it would go and after we did that for about two weeks no more stomping occured.

YES I READ A LOT IG THE COMMENTS ON HERE AND WOULD JUST LIKE TO STATE THAT MOVING IS NOT THE OPTION! IF YOUR MOVING JUST BECAUSE THERE IS TOO MUCH NOISE THEN YOUR A P~~~~~Y! I LIVED IN AN APPARTMENT BUILDING WHERE EVERY NIGHT A NEW WINDOW WAS BROKE AND SOMEONE HAD THE RADIO UP TO LOUD AND THERE WAS 20 TO 30 PPL IN THE COMMONS! THE GIRL NEXT TO ME GOT HER DOOR KICKED IN BY A DRUNK. BUT HELL BECOME A MILITARY WIFE AND SEE HOW EASY IT IS TO UP AND MOVE CAUSE THERES NOISE! OR TRY BEING IN THE MILITARY WHERE YOU HAVE BOMBS GOING OFF EVRY 15MIN TRY POLITELY SLIDING A NOTE TO THE ENEMY”WERE SLEEPIN BE QUITE”YANEEDTOGETOVERIT

i read your comments and i feel for ya but dude you are gonna have that no matter where ya go! the ones i feel sorry for are the military who cant tell the enemy to stop bombing they are sleeping!!! lol so just think about that the next time you hear foot dteps or music just be glad you are in a place where you have those as irritants and not gun shots! i live in an appt where ppl party all week long and fight and break glass and bang on doors! but i just turn up my favorite radio station and bury my head and pass smooth the f~~k out!!!! so chill out if you cant beat em join em!or take all that money you have lyin round mov

Here’s a bit of fact no one, not even the very complete rant above, mentions. This is real renter’s-ammo that will tilt the scale of justice your way:

Go to nearest public library and look up your town’s ordinances, in specific, noise. You’ll find a lot of joy!

P.S. Included in these ordinances will usually be bits on smoke - that applies to things like barbecuing - and myriad other little goodies (hee, hee…). And they’re all backed by the law, as in claims court.

This is what you can expect living in a appartment. For peace of mind buy your own home. I sleep good every night.

I’ve been here for a year. Very nice,clean,quiet until we got a new manager. She lets everyone move in. Now, all I hear is loud bass coming from cars, people not picking up after their dog, people loitering,children harrassing people and just haninging out in the parking lot, people speeding too, & just ONE person using every single washer at one time.I have complained several x’s & really nothing has happend. I could move but why should I, I rather have the manager fired & people kicked out who have no respect for others. Soon enough these very nice apartments will be just trash.

OMG if you people don’t like apartment living and want to have peace then buy a house in the woods with no neighbors..B——g will get you no where just makes things worse and now landlords don’t care as long as they get there rent.

call the cops, its called disturbance of peace.

I have been disturbed by a wanna be DJ for over a year. I own my condo. The bass noise from her stereo vibrates my furniture, sometimes so bad I can’t backup my laptop or play my DVD for the TV. AND our Strata Counil that oversees these issues are clueless. The President is a pervert that brings in underage prostitues I never read the Bylaws before buying into this building. There is no noise bylaw. My puppy runs and hides under the bed as we are often starteled by a sudden booming of the stereo. You never know if she will play it for 5 minutes for 5 hours. I am documenting and will sue. Cops 10x & 6 emails later.

I’m moving into a third floor apartment in about a week. I’ve never been an upstairs neighbor before, except in college dorms where anyone who wasn’t in a band was quiet by comparison, and I’ve also never lived below an occupied unit, so I’m not really sure what all not to do. I mean I know about no loud obnoxious music or dance parties, but there must be things I just wouldn’t think of.

Can any downstairs people or successful upstairs neighbors give me some advice on this?

Thank you!

Hello, just wanted to add my own story here. I have lived in apartments from Seattle to Austin, Texas. Also in London, Germany and Amsterdam. In all my experience and the many awakenings from footsteps, music, etc. what worked best for me is to make a *connection* with my neighbor. Not a “nice guy routine”, but to just make a connection to another human being.

The hard thing about this is, that when you plunk down good hard earned money for an apartment and you get your basic needs like sleep and quiet time disturbed, the last thing you want to do is to be forced to make a “connection” with your neighbor. But guess what, tough luck, because that is EXACTLY what we are called to do and in my experiences living in various levels or flats and apartments it is the best way. What stands in the way is the HUGE discomfort of knocking on your neighbor’s door. There is nothing but nervousness in that, and its also not fair, because why should you do that when all you want is quiet ? Well, its not about fairness or comfort, its about being human and making a connection.

So, when you are faced with loud neighbors from upstairs, the first thing to do is to HUMBLE yourself, knock on their door and meet them ! I have been able to meet actors, singers, accountants, producers, retirees, all kinds of people who initially bothered me and who I made a connection with.

Getting to know people takes a bit of time, schedule a couple of weeks but after a while you can start telling them : ” You know, sorry to bring this up, but I I am on a different schedule from you and I kind of get woken up in the mornings by your TV. would it be at all possible to lower the volume ? I don’t care after 9 am, but before that I’ve been kind of been woken up.”

Now, the specifics of what you say is up to you. Also, the negotiation won’t be done with just one reminder, it usually takes three or four noise conversations, but NONE of this will work if you have not made a connection with your neighbor beforehand. I find most people are not thinking about you, when they are being noisy. They are not malicious, but trying to get to work, relax, think about their problems. Its not about you, so don’t take it personal. Yes, there are sociopaths, but I believe those are very, very rare. Most people no matter how wild or roudy or artistic or crazy appreciate a connection. Then after a genuine connection has been made it takes another couple of noise related conversation to find a compromise. Even then it won’t be perfect, you’ll still be woken up once in a while, but you made a connection, you will have actively managed both the noise level and your relationship with your neighbor and you will have much more control.

Finally, a bit of irony. For a while in Seattle, I lived in one of these corporate apartments. Very sterile and hotel like, but brother oh so quiet ! I knew none of my neighbors, the atmosphere was rather grey and cold, but it was a modern building with great insulation. Cut to a few years later and I’m in one of those trendy flats in London in a beautifully renovated apartment. I love my upstairs neighbors, we hang out often, but guess what, I get woken up almost every morning because the insulation sucks. Same in Amsterdam. Love the neighbors, they are very friendly, but my stylish turn of the century apartment building has wooden floors that would make you pray for some nice sterile insulation !

Anyway, the main problem and challenge is making a connection with your neighbor. That is hard, no question. Its hard not because you rneighbor is crazy and mean, chances are they are not. Its hard, because you are being forced into an interaction and in these modern times, we find that oh so uncomfortable and inconvenient. We hate inconvenient. To have to make a connection to another human being, oh the horror !

When the “quieter” crowd goes about their day, it doesn’t in anyway disturb the “noisy” neighbor.
Hell, the noisy neighbor probably has no idea if the quieter neighbor is home or not. What a deal!
NOONE has a right to disturb others.House or apartment. Day or night.My apt. mgr sent my former noisy neighbor a beautiful note to cut his s*** out or move out!Sweet peace since then!Thank God my apts. has a “no noise” tolerance you have to sign in order to rent here!

Wow! All of you have made my situation seem very small in comparison.

I live on a nice street, one of the nicest in my town, in a very quiet town in Atlantic Canada. This is one of the quietest areas of North America. My rich, stupid, drunk, Doctor neighbor bought a second house on my street across from me so that his 24 and 26-year-old son’s can party all night. They don’t do it in the house like most people. They do it on the front veranda with their car stereo blasting out music in the driveway.

A year ago I asked the older boy to try and tone it down. I asked him nicely. He didn’t even answer but has since increased the noise levels.

I called the cops and they responded last Sunday morning night at 1:00 am. After 3 successive police visits and the boy threatening to kill me while standing on the street calling me every name in the book (most ending in “r”) He was arrested and taken away. He spent the night in Jail.

I didn’t have to confront him or leave my home. It was the funniest thing I ever saw. The police were not happy. After the first visit, the police assumed they had a deal from him and that he would be quiet. They were not gentle with him.

The repercussions are:
Everyone on our street is afraid of this family
They are “Good old Boys”,
The doctor has many friends
We expect our house to be torched

But all these other stories make me feel like my problems are maybe not the worst. Maybe they will get me yet!

Thanks

Wow reading these comments made me feel my problem is small.. I just moved in a 10 apt building. I live on the 2nd floor and have an upstair neighbor with a kid.. I understand that when you live in an apartment you will hear noise.. but children should not be running or jumping in an apartment AT ANYTIME OF THE DAY.. the home is not a playground.. parents should discipline their children and have common courtsey for others..I did approach the parents and was told that oh well he has been home all day and needs to vent.. OK so watch tv ..play video games or take your rug rat out for a bit..that is not my problem

I am so sorry that those of you tolerating the noisy and incompetent neighbors have to tolerate them, I feel your anguish. I am especially sickened to hear all of you who think this can be resolved by peaceful measures or even better yet… the law. Ha, I say. Noisy neighbors live in a world of denial and disrespect and their behavior only emits discourse and chaos.

I have been living in the same apartment for over a year. I have called the landlord, done the “nice girl” thing, put my complaints in writing to the landlord, and called the police. Nothing has helped!! Should I take this up with the town? Any other suggestions?

I’ve not commented before but have a difficult situation. I’ve lived in my apt. for 7 yrs- am 60yrs old, respectful, quite-a good tenant & neighbor.

4 mos ago, an older woman moved in next door. 3 wks after that I opened my door to a strong smell of cigarette smoke. It is coming thru the ceiling vents. Now my whole apt-furn- bedding,& clothes, reek. It is unhealthy and I can’t afford to move or buy air purifiers.Landlord will do nothing. I need help pls.

Thanks for the tips. I’ve had new neighbors for a couple of months now that have 3 small kids and I don’t have any so it has been an adjustment with the noise that children make and the family as a whole. They need a house, not an apartment. No one else in the 4 unit duplex has any kids and it has been like that for the year I have lived there. I keep wondering what my landlord was thinking? Can’t discriminate. Right?

Live next to a guy who uses his stereo as a weapon…just loud enough….anyway i am planning on a fight with him. TO THE FINISH! you people fail to appreciate one thing … these may be jerks. or they may be pawns in a battle who could be related to the Landloards or even the police and other city officials. After i drive him out i plan on moving to his next location and beginning round 2. Tomorrow i am renting every movie that may benefit and inspire me. My opening barrage will be police scanners (2) mimmicing (sp) his volumn and duration + 10 mins but there are other methods. bugs odor mold.

Ever live next to no-talent musicians? Its bad enough they thought they can play, but the whole world has to listen to them practice; like posting to YouTube. I gave it a month, listening to moron jump down the stairs and thump up the stairs. What I find interesting is noise I have no control over (washing machine, creeking wood floors, etc.) is not my fault but the building association fault. So I wash before 10pm and avoid the noisy parts of the floor by walking around it or step over it. But these idiots continue. So since they set the precidence, then I will adhere to it, their way. Fair? Out comes my arsenal.

Ok, so my upstairs neighbors are actually really nice, and quiet for the most part…until it gets later in the evening and their love life starts to heat up…if you know what I mean. It’s really awkward to sit there and listen to how much fun they’re having when I just want to sleep! I’m all for the polite aproach, but I’m also really shy. Any ideas on polite ways of asking them to keep their passions in the lower noise levels?

ok, I live on the bottom floor and our topside neighbors seem really cool. they do make a good deal of noise however, at night when their love life heats up, if you know what I mean. i plan on sending them a short note, but dont exaclty know how to phrase it. anyone have ideas on how to express the fact that they need to keep their passionate vocalizations to themselves?

I have moved in my first apartment with my family I have a 1 year old girl and a 2 year old son and we are on the 2nd floor cause they apartment complex didn’t have any on the first floor. So now the neighbors below us are constantly complaining cause my kids want to run and play like what kids are suppose to do. I explained to them I can’t force them to stop playing so now what they do is blast there music loud where my apartment is vibrating and I complain to the landlord and they say there going to talk to them but they don’t cause it’s not with in 10pm - 10am but it’s disturbing us. anyone has any suggestions?

yes i can relate to everyone comments cause i live next door to a neighbor from hell she does everything she can to make my life a living hell every since i went to the landlord.she is up all night bumping and slamming doors her 2 year old is screaming all day and night i am thinking about moving out.if i talk to the landlord one more time and she don,t do anything. it not fair that people have to live like this people like her and other like her should get a house not an apartment.

Oct 30
I have lived in my apt complex for 13 years. I never had a problem until now. Some woman and her daughter are supposed to live there. I have only seen a teenage boy and his girlfriend. I guess this is the daughter. Make a long story short, they have played loud music since day one. I approached them twice and the apt manager approached them twice. It stops for a day or two and then starts back up. Last night they played loud music until 1am. I called the police but it stopped by the time they got there. The mgmt said they would handle it. I dont think they will. what can I do?

As long as you rent, loud noise is inevitable no matter what you do. Get your neighbor evicted somehow and your new neighbor will be just as noisy. Move to another apartment and your new neighbor will be just as noisy. Do nothing and your old neighbor stays just as noisy. It is the rare individual that actually heeds another’s complaints. 99.99% of the people on this planet react with a “you can’t tell me what to do, go screw yourself” attitude. If you call the landlord, then your neighbor will get even by making more noise. I’m too poor to buy a house now, but that above all else is my number 1 priority.

To the morons that say to just buy a house if you can’t deal with apartment style living. Did you ever think that some people can’t afford a house or like most don’t have mommy and daddy practically buying one for them!
Why can’t people just be considerate of one another, is that too much to ask??!!!

My wife and I are bombarded with noise, especially between 12 midnight and 7am. The New Jersey Division of Youth and Family services (DYFS) has been taking mentally disturged children and adolescents out of mental institutions and placing them with people who renta apartments. It has become an unbearable situation that neither the State or the apartment management want to get involved with. Since New Jersey has the highest rate of mentally disturbed people of any state in its care, the apartment complexes are becoming inundated with out-of-control young people who are allowed to harass day and night.

I have lived in the same apartment for 12 years. Unfortunately, the management decided to rent to 2 male students in their early 20’s and place them directly over my head (I am a retired 61 year old single female). They pound and walk heavy, play music, have parties, pound some more, day and night. I have had little sleep since they moved in. I took myself upstairs and introduced myself and told them the problem. They said, “tough, get used to it old lady”. The manager has talked with them 4 times. Nothing has changed. Tonite they told me to go f— myself. It’s horrible. What to do?

Here’s a solution: DON’T RENT, BUY A HOUSE. Save your money, get a second job, whatever. Renting sucks.

My upstairs neighbor is just the same. I don’t know what they are doing but they seem to hammering/banging all day…I live here for 2 years. It’s unbelievable. I don’t understand why they have so much to do…I have called cops and went to confront them…I got yelled at! It is insane. People who live in the coop should be considerate of others living with you. I think everyone should buy a house.

it is very easy
since the landlord doesn’t care
doccument all the events of disturbances and if you called the police get a report.
you can simply stop paying because the landlord broke the agreement by not providing you with a calm and safe enviroment.take this doccument to small courts that they have in police departement.

Look, has anyone discovered a way to “SOUNDPROOF” the ceiling without it costing a truckload of money?

Why be nice? They aren’t.
I lived under a couple with 4 kids under age 6 that either had ADD or were on crack. Nonstop running, jumping, screaming on TILE floors.
Dad didn’t work or care to move furniture at 2am, mom wore heels all the time. When landlord, cops & speaking w/tenants did nothing, I consulted w/Charles Bronson character of Death Wish.
The weekend I was out of town, I posted flyers w/their address on it saying they are having a moving sale starting 5am-midnight. And when kids screamed, I called Child Services anonymously to say they were being beaten. They don’t live here anymore.

I wish talking to the neighbors did work. I live upstairs in a 4-plex and the neighbor next to me is awesome. A mother and daughter live in the downstairs units and don’t have any common courtesy. The mom lives beneath me and has her TV on so loud I can hear which channel she is on and all of the dialogue. They also slam doors. I have asked her three times to please keep it down and each time I was indignantly rebuffed. My landlord told me there was nothing she could do; I should call the cops. They just laugh at calls like this. Unfortunately, even though I was here first, I have to move.

I have a loud boozing neighbor who has been making noise and yelling at his live in girlfriend at wee hours of night for past year. I talked to him a few times and he started to calm down and now he is back at it. Then I have complained twice to the apartment complex landlord and nothing was done. Next step is to call the cops and file a lawsuit against him and his girl friend in small claims court for nuisance. Thats all you can really do.

I am on a 1 year lease so I cannot move out yet.

The wisest thing to do is to alert the leasing office in your complex about a consistently unruly neighbor. If possible, try to remain “anonymous”. That way you’ll have peace of mind avoiding possible retailiation, or bad feelings.

Hi all:

I have lived on the bottom floor in general for 10 years (different places). It has rarely been enjoyable due to overhead noise, and can get into your head and become a stress in your life that you do not need.

What I have found since is, to try to get to know the person(s) making the issues. If you can make a connection between the human being and you, you will be less likely to react and let, at least the smaller issues, bother you. This does work-but you have to try. Of course an ***hole is an ***hole and when it comes to that, you just need to ask them once, your landlord once, then hire a lawyer.

I actually had a neighbor say they didnt know what a pound on the ceiling meant when they were blasting thier music….My revenge…they got evicted & fined. Other people have been issues in my building AND my landlord strait up LIED about sound insulation.
My revenge - leaving a review on apartment ratings and slumlord sites. A good tenant lost..He can keep the roaches,(also lied about) scum that runs out in the middle of the night on him and teh trash starts screaming fights in the hall at midnight.

I don’t have problems with music or fighting, I have to listen to every neighbor thats been renting upstairs, having sex, at all hours. Try calling the police on that. No carpeting either. Drop a penny, move a chair, sneezing, I hear it all. Landlord states I have to put up with some noises in a apartment. I understand that, but listening to someone having relations at 3 in the morning? I almost got into a fist fight trying the nice way. Enough already.

I feel all your pain here people! I just moved in a new apartment and I’m quiet. Its only me, and I listen to music with head phones. I have downstairs neighbors that play their base too loud. So I complained to the office, and got a response that I have to call the cops and file a complaint for any action or eviction. Fun! Now they thump the ceiling and play music even louder so its worst, but I got this place so I can get some sleep! I don’t mind noise on the weekend, but at 12:00 at night, on saturday and sunday and then all weekdays?! Any comments will be helpful, or if anyone knows how to file a complaint.

I used to live on the 2nd floor of 3 story apartment building. Right above my unit, the family had 3 kids who liked jumping till 2 am. Now, I’m out of that hell, but I’m having another problem. I’m paying $1300 for my current one bedroom top edge unit. Yes, expensive. I really wanted to get out of from the HELL. That’s why I decided to pay this much. However, my neighbor doesn’t like my walking at home. I can’t get a sleep at night usually, so I usually watch tv (low volume less than 5), go to bathroom and play some games with headset.

I’m sorry everyone is having such an awful time with neighbors, but thanks for posting. I don’t feel so alone. I have a person above me with a Chihuahua that spends hours running back and forth through their apartment at all hours. I’m mocked when I complain as everyone says it’s a 5 lb dog and I basically get accused of being a witch. Any suggestions on the best way to record the noise? Any of you sue the noise makers with any luck? Police are pretty much not able to do anything.

Thanks!

I feel better now. Reading about these other neighbours puts mine into perspective. I’m a shift worker and am careful not to disturb my neighbours when I am relaxing after work at two in the morning, but, at eleven in the morning my neighbours do not show similar respect and are not responsive to reason. It turns out broadcasting the BBC World service through the offending wall is the best method to curb the thumping - turns out to be somewhat of a clash on their side. But I know if I do this too much the novelty will wear off.

I just wahted make sure some one is not living there in the location,have had trouble because of old girl fiend.His name is David stroud

Right now I am dealing with really noisy neighbors for over a year now. I have talked to two managements and both told me the same thing; you are living in apt and expect noise. I understand that there is going to be noise but when the kids are running so hard and it feels like the roof is going fall in and there is stomping. We got a new management and they came to my apt and only heard the quiet noise. They told me that you are going to hear running, walking and screaming. They told me that kids you cannot expect kids to remain quiet. I have the clause in my lease stating that there should be no noisy noise at all.

get their phone number and put up fliers that their car/dog/furniture is for sale…. have fun. or can call and be the mistress/other man.. have yo0ur own party

I am a newer manager and I want to find a solution. I have a 4 floor senior / disabled - low income building and an upstairs tenant is complaining everyday about the downstairs tenant slamming doors, slamming her recliner open and closed, slamming her toilet lid closed to hard, TV being too loud. Bottom tenant says she does not make this noise. I have sent letters, I had maintenance install a door sweep, tighten the door hinges, install bumper pads on her cabinets and interviewed her adjoining neighbors who have no complaints. What is the next step?

reading all these comments makes me wonder why there’s so many people awake all night every night!! i see this in nearly every apartment complex in my area as well..so many are up all night and it’s not likely that these people are working odd hours and getting off because there’s way too many people hanging out for that to be a possibility.alot of these people MUST be drug dealing or doing something else that’s not on the up and up/.

I went through a situation for over 2 years dealing with a fellow tenant who was crazy,with a dirty smelly apt. I made several complaints to the landlord–by certified mail & kept the letters in a file. I complained to the police when things became personal, and they told me to maintain a file of all incidents with tenant. The police said to do this to break my lease & protect myself from any retaliation, plus the LANDLORD IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY INCIDENTS THAT OCCURS ON HIS/HER PROPERTY, ESPECIALLY IF HE’S BEEN MADE AWARE THERE IS A PROBLEM. Keeping a file protects YOU, because no one else will.

So what do you do if your neighbors don’t speak english? How can I tell them how much the noise bothers me if they can’t understand what I am saying? Suggestions?

IF NO ENGLISH USE SIGN . LIKE BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM YO !

We have teenagers living next door. Party’s go on every weekend all night long. It’s the weekend so we don’t mind but when it goes until daylight hits then that is ridiculous. Landlord says it’s our responsibility to confront them with it. I don’t own the apartment. I pay rent to the landlord not the neighbors. Why is it my responsibility?

I have a question. In my lease it states that if I were to leave before my lease is up I have to pay untill the landlord finds someone to rent it to. I’ve been living in this apartment with my daughter for about three years now, about two years ago a woman moved in with her two kids and that is when the banging on the walls started, the door slamming, and many other things. I’ve spoke with her about 6 times and everytime it gets worse and I’ve been nice about it. There are other kids in the building and their not even close to as loud as they are. I spoke with my landlord a couple times and it still continues. ?

What can be done if you’ve asked your neighbor a few times to stop the banging on the walls and slamming doors it continues.I did speak to the LL one day at 5am because her kids were banging on walls again. Her excuss is “kids make noise”, but this isnt just kid noise. I have a child and there are other kids in the bldg and you hardly ever hear them. The people below us stomp, bang on walls, slam doors, throw balls at windows and have no respect. Probably because the mother has no respect because her dad was a lawyer. she informed all of us that she will sue if we say another thing about it and it scared the others

Use this trick if you know your neighbor is not very educated: Using big words, create a fake document from your building managent office noting the number of complaints about the noise or any other issue you have with them. State multiple tenants have complained. Then note the apartment is now under review & if management continues to receive complaints they will be forced to terminate the lease and evict them. I know people who have done this. When the idiots received the documents they wised up. Don’t pull this trick on those whom you know will go running to management after getting one of these

I wish I knew what to do to have my downstairs neighbor leave me alone! He is constantly accusing me and my boyfriend of running up and down the hallway and what he describes as “bowling.” I have no idea what he is talking about. We are constantly making accommodations for him: we take off our shoes at the front door, we walk on the balls of our feet, and we open and shut all the doors as if we were trying not to wake someone…and yet, he still catches me almost every time I go to my car and screams that he is going to call the cops. I don’t want to move. I know he feels victimized, but so do I. Who wins here?

it seems that every time i have a noise problem,that it’s people in their twenties that are being the problem.college age,but not necessarily college students.i live in an apartment complex and it seems to me that just enough people have jobs with odd hours that many people get home late from work and then for some reason ,believing that they have the right to crank up their msuic,do just that! and many seem to wind up hanging outside all hours of the night,on their fron steps ritht outside their door yakking it up like it’s the middle of the afternoon.where do these people get the idea that this is scceptable

Lets face the truth here for a second about renting or leasing an apartment or condo. Sooner or later one is faced with the problem of a “bad neighbor”. Meaning a neighbor who is the kind of self-styled “pragmatist” a person who is oriented towards becoming an advocate to cause problems.Not only does this “bad neighbor” causes problems for everyone but eventually becomes bent out on revenge on you if they are reported to the police or the landlord for disturbing you or your things.
The only solution you have before reporting or confronting your “bad neighbor ” is not renew your lease again.

I want a ticket & passport to the land the writers of this article live in. It must be really nice living there. LOL CALL THE POLICE u don’t have to be contacted. Put your complaints in writing to the landlord/management & keep copies. They’re supposed to handle these discretely. I’ve lived in apts since 1993 & the majority of the time having face 2 face contact with or leaving a letter for your noisy & inconsideration neighbors will get you 1. more noise 2. exposure to their even ruder behavior 3. get your car tires slashed, 4. get you stocked or worse. Apts.com u need a reality ck.

I had to put up with foot-stomping harrassing a-holes at one apartment and the lazy landlord wouldn’t do anything about them. I left the apartment because of this and filed complaint after complaint until the jerk finally got fired. It was 13 years, but it was worth it.

I’ve found there to be two types of neighbours in apartments - the intolerant who will complain about the slightest sound or ordinary living noise and the downright inconsiderate who just don’t give a toss and make continual excessive noise. Both deserve to roast in tenant hell. At the moment I have a 46 yr old druggie psycho neighbour stalking me and I will probably have to move after I file a complaint with the cops. This is the result of approaching someone and asking them to cease doing housework at 1 am in the morning. Complaints should be handled by a third party to prevent such situations.

Amen to all of the comments. I think we are all living below the same neighbor. Mine sounds like there is an earthquake occurring. I am convinced my neighbor has OCD, becasue she is stomping around until 2 am (which starts at 6am), meaning she only sleeps 4 hours a night if that. If anyone has reverse behavior to implement, I would appreciate the comments (remember, she lives above me).

Here is interesting saga: a lesbian living above me who is cheating on her current girlfriend. No I am not nosy..no soundproofing here. She had fight with her lover..then lover left..she then cranked up stereo and some other lover showed up. I cranked mine up.she got message, turned hers down, only for me to have to listen to two lesbians making out!
Other gf returns next day. I wrote landlord, no response yet. I don’t feel it’s my job to contact neighbor. We have more guests living here than tenants! Vermont apt..hicksville for sure!

here’s an idea,
I have these really noisy cuban neighbors that like to play dominos outside(our small patio is separated just by a wooden fence), smacking them on tables, rantting nonsence…instead of calling the cops or knocking on their door (and confronting a bunch of drunks a-holes) i decided to roll my trash can, full of smelly baby dipers and rotten odors, next to the fence where they were playing, and open it. It took like 15 mins for these people to realize that it was getting funky outside and they took their mongolic game inside their house.
my advice is: be creative.
peace!

Well I am familiar with all your emails. I do believe going to the neighbor directly just isn’t safe anymore, and if you complain to the landlord then you become a nuisance to them and they begin to think of you as having a “problem”. So call the police and keep a diary of it. Police do not like it when you have notes that they didnt show up, but gives you recourse with the landlord. I have lived next to crazies, and idiots who thought live band practice was acceptable because “they were so good.” Now a movie theatre next door has just become a 24 hour strip club. I call them,they call me names I call the police

I live in a low income apt. bldg. I receive the Pioneer Press newspaper 7 days a week. After finishing reading the newspaper I put it on the free table so other people who can’t afford the paper can have mine. Almost my Sunday paper is gone. I’ve put several signs saying DON’T TAKE THE SUNDAY PAPER CUZ YOU ARE WASTING MY MONEY. Once in a great while they leave the paper alone so I can read it.
After I finish reading it n cut out some coupons I put it almost the whole paper on the free table so people who can’t afford a Sunday paper can read it.

Unfortunely the paper is stolen. What should I do to prevent the thift?

Americans must demand laws that protect their living environment. Otherwise the standard of what is “reasonable” noise will continue to be corrupted by the practices of lawless and shameless individuals. Fight these people as hard as you can, with everything you’ve got. The US is not supposed to be a barrio.

I currently have been living in a downstairs apt. for the last nine months. This married couple with their bratty baby and annoying dog moved in a few months ago in the upstairs apt.
They seriously sound like they are about to come through the ceiling most days. They stomp very very loudly and their baby constantly screams as well as the dog barking it’s head off. I’ve complained once and will be complaining once more tomorrow. They drop stuff on the floor that goes “BOOM” and they let their brat roll across the floor all day long in a toy, sounds like “rolling thunder”.

there is a feud between me and the people that live above me. i am in college and i think i pissed them off last week because i took revenge on their loudness by being loud too. now they wont stop yelling and slamming things right above me because im in my room right now. they keep on repeatedly counting LOUD from 1-30. i tried settling peace between BOTH sides by counting out loud with them so that they could hear me as a joke, and by switching the numbers arouand. they heard me and kind of died down but they still wont stop…i dont know how to fix this problem -___-;;

I live in a duplex. When I checked out the place before signing a lease, the neighborhood appeared quiet. Then I moved in. My neighbors don’t work. They never leave. They don’t do anything but smoke pot and sit on the porch all day. They play rap music 24/7, which as you would expect, has a lot of bass. This bass rattles everything in my house, including my nerves. I have politely asked them to turn it down, called the landlord, even the police. I resorted to buying wirless headphones to watch tv and drown out there noise. I’m going crazy losing sleep. Any suggestions? (ps I do like rap btw)

OMG I have lived at my “luxury” apartment for 3 months. Pay $2050.00 a month to listen to the person upstairs stomp at all hour of the night. I know her entire schedule. When she gets up, comes home. What night she likes to stay out late, etc. Plus at time i am awoken at 12:30 a.m. or 2:30 a.m. with loud bass pounding through my walls. I am on a 3rd floor of 4 floors. I have been complaining since the end of month 1. They have talked to her supposedly. Now I AM MOVING and bearing the cost of it ALL. It SUCKS. Why am I having to pay to MOVE when I am not causing this mess????

the bad news is - there will always be families with children who could care less that their children run and jump early in the mornings and late in the evenings. People who are nice and calm turn into bundle of nerves who want revenge. you can slam your cupboards doors or turn up your TV to get back at them but nothing will truly help. the landlords call it “apartment living” and the cops consider it a civil matter. all you can do is move when your lease is up. the world is full of low-lifes who only care about themselves. they will also be the one who move out and leave their trash and coackroaches behind.

Can’t stand my neighbors, The first neighbors had 4 kids in a two bedroom and the parents had there parents staying there also. I total of 8 people on a two bedroom. They took up the carpets off of the floors,t they all had allergies they never let them outside. The inside was there outside. They rode bikes roller skated, played ball all inside of the house. They had two boys and two girls and all of under the eight of eight. Finally they had to move after all called the police home inspectors. Today there is an old lady up there with grandchildren running in and out all day long. I guess i,m going to have to

Luckily my noisy neighbors are moving but for months I’ve literally been tormented by the noise. I hear the kids after work and the mother starts up fromt 11 p.m. - 5 a.m. then it’s back to work I go stressed and tired. I’ve reported them to the landlord, spoken to them, and called security. They live in a 3 bedroom and their horders so I hear it will take a few weeks for them to move. The other night I woke up at 11 p.m. to them moving out with a Uhual. I called security and at about 1 a.m. I drove to my relatives house to sleep over. I haven’t been home for two whole nights! Tonight I’ll call non-emergency cops!

I’m a Brit here living in a converted apartment in an old country house.

One thing I find odd about many of your comments is that you always blame the neighbour instead of blaming inadequate construction with wood floors and so on that does not adequately suppress noise. You all like to see your neighbour as the nightmare but from the commonality of your comments its obvious the real enemy is the builder of your apartment who did not soundproof it adequately.

When I move from here it will be to a small detached house with no neighbours. That is the only solution to the problem.

I have been living in our apartment complex for some time now, it recently changed owners. The people next door let there kids run up and down the steps and they have even tried to get in our apartment while we were there by coming to the door and trying to open it. The mother turns on her stereo around 2:00 pm until whenever and it vibrates the walls she plays it so loud. I too agree with Lisa’s comment above; tenants should never approach a neighbor if there are issues. That is what the landlord or the manager is there for. It only causes trouble for the tenants to try and deal with it themselves.

An all-encompassing reason for noise problems is the “culture of rude” that prevails across the U.S.

There are just too many self-absorbed, sleazy people with no respect for the “right to quiet enjoyment” and other legal clauses based on common courtesy and fair play. These things now must be enforced.

Moving yourself is no sure solution, as you may end up paying a higher rent or mortgage and dealing with even worse neighbors!

It comes down to the prevalence of stupid, worthless people and there really is no long-term solution except gaining the means to isolate yourself on a hilltop.

I don’t know if anyone can respond to this but I moved in over a month ago and, literally, almost every night I’m woken up after 11p.m. to loud banging and slamming from the apartment below me. I thought it might go away but, when it didn’t, I contacted the building manager. She clearly wasn’t too interested and never got back to me with any follow-up. The noise lessened slightly but I’m still woken up almost every night. It’s awful & a nightmare. I have a year lease and don’t know what my options are. Does anyone have any viable suggestions? If so, please tell me! Thanks.

After reading these comments, I am so lucky for living in my apt. with my neighbors. I am on the 3rd floor and hope they never hear anything I do as I try to be considerate. But no one is perfect. We have a very quiet building and I feel blessed. Good luck in finding as nice a place as I have, they do exist.

I know what was posted is how things perhaps ideally “should” work, but it’s most certainly not how they do work. Like others, I’ve had trouble of all sorts from neighbors I approached myself - no matter how nicely - to ask them to turn down their stereo or to take care of whatever the source of the noise might be.

What I’ve found works is to report them to the cops as applicable under local noise ordinances, then report that to the precinct as a nuisance source. That sics the cops on the landlord with details of how many calls to which apartment - and things stop quickly.