My (Crazy) Upstairs Neighbors
You might wonder what I’m doing up so late. The truth is I’m listening to rap music!
It all started when I moved into this place just over a month ago. I went to bed that night amid the boxes only to be kept awake until midnight by the unmistakable sounds of child feet running laps in the apartment above. Running laps and dropping toys. On the hard wood floors. On what is, essentially, my celing. It sounded like gunshots in a bowling alley. The weird part is, the babbling vocalizations accompanying the other noise seemed to indicate that the noisemaker couldn’t be older than two years of age.
Lying there that first night, I thought maybe it was a fluke. Some kid couldn’t get to sleep and everyone had a hard night. It was quiet by midnight, in any case. Not a big deal. But then it happened the next night. And the next. It happened almost every night that week. And the week after.
I want to make clear my own idea about kids making noise: there’s not much you can do about it. You can’t teach a two-year-old to be quiet, nor should you try. But I do think that two-year-olds belong in bed before midnight. Way before. Ordinarily I’d never presume to tell someone how to raise their kids – even someone who desperately needed telling – but when it impacts my ability to get a good night’s sleep for three weeks, I think it understandable that one Thursday night I marched upstairs with a suggestion or two.
“Hey, how about you give me a break and put your kid to bed tonight?” I know I shouldn’t have started the conversation this way. But there I was, tousle-headed, barefooted and hastily dressed at 11:45 in the evening. And I was pissed. I explained to the man who answered the door that the noise of his little one running and playing on the hard floor until midnight every night was keeping me awake; that it was very loud; that it needed to stop. The noise had reached such a crescendo, indeed had caused me to sit involuntarily bolt upright in bed, that I no longer thought it possible that the people upstairs could be ignorant of the level of disturbance they were causing. That is why I felt reality slipping away when the man in the doorway said “what noise?” Reality took another sickening lurch when he followed that up with: “turn down your damn TV!”
That was when my head exploded. Those who know me well probably understand why. For the benefit of everyone else, I shall explain: I don’t watch TV. Yes, I possess one, but I have no cable or satellite service, nor do I have an antenna. I have a DVD player and a Playstation. Neither the Playstation, nor the DVD player, nor the TV itself had been turned on in more than a week.
He shut his door and I went downstairs. The noise eventually stopped and I got some sleep. The next day after work I went upstairs and apologized. Sincerely. I told the man and woman who answered the door that even though there was a lot of noise I should not have come upstairs acting like that and that I was sorry. They seemed to genuinely accept my apology and introduced themselves. They said they would try to be quieter. We all shook hands and I went downstairs again. I felt better about the whole thing.
But the noise has not stopped. The landlord (a terrific fellow who takes a lot of pride in his building) seems to feel he has no authority to do anything about it. Nor does he seem convinced that there is a problem. I went up one other time to complain about the noise. I was much nicer this time. Apologetic, even. This time, in addition to telling me that there was no noise, she suggested that it was moot anyway because they were moving.
Moving? Fine by me. I went downstairs thanking my lucky stars. Soon these horrible people would be gone and anyone would be better. I figured the problem was about to resolve itself. Imagine my surprise the next day when I received a call from my landlord indicating that the poor woman upstairs had called him to say she felt “threatened” by me and that she was going to call the police next time I came up. The landlord seemed to think that we needed to work things out “somehow.” I told him that working things out necessitated talking and that talking would necessitate me going up there. I hoped that this behavior didn’t constitute a threat to anyone.
I decided to risk it: after work I went up to talk about it. “We really need to talk about this noise thing,” I said. The woman did not want to talk. “I don’t want to come up here late at night because of the noise,” I said. “And I know you don’t want me here, either. So we have to talk about this.” But she didn’t want to. She closed the door. “I really don’t know what else to do,” I told the door. “I guess I’ll have to call the police myself next time there’s too much noise.” The door did not seem to care.
I tried to call the landlord but he didn’t answer. A few minutes later he called me. He had been on the phone with her. Naturally. I asked him what he thought I should do. He didn’t know. I invited him to my apartment on any night that was good for him. I told him that I did not think he could hear the noise and tell me that it was reasonable. I do not know if he is going to drop by, but he didn’t seem keen on making plans to do so.
But last night there was noise only for about 15 minutes at 11:30. Nothing before and nothing after. Nice. Nicer, I should say. Tonight? Tonight there are no kid noises. Tonight it is music. I’ve never heard music from their apartment before, at least none that bothered me. I was dimly aware that there was music tonight, but it didn’t really disturb me until I went into my bedroom and realized that it was emanating from the room directly above. Bumping, bass-heavy music. The kind that you hear through walls and floors. Definitely beyond what polite neighbors impose on one another after midnight.
I just finally broke down and went upstairs to complain. Nobody answered. The across-the-hall neighbor opened her door to say that she thought nobody was home. Still the music plays on in the room above my bed. I’d sleep on my couch if I had one.
October 30th, 2005
Go ahead and call the police.
If no one answers then maybe the po po can get the manager to open the door and turn the radio off, gee I sure hope your dildo neighbors don’t have any drugs laying around.
A bong on the coffee table would make a nice fashion statement though.
October 30th, 2005
You have got to be kidding. This kind of behavior is beyond belief. Their response to your request to keep the noise down is appalling.
October 30th, 2005
Yeah, I’m going to recommend that you tell your landlord that you’re not paying rent until he does something about the situation, because his lack of taking any responsibility is also unsettling. He does have the authority to do something, because those tenants are interfering with his ability to make money on those apartments — apartments that HE owns. If your neighbors can’t stay relatively quiet, then you’re not going to pay him, and neither should anyone else who has to live beneath that racket. Thus, he MUST go up there and deal with it. Hands down.
If he won’t deal with it, it’s calling the police or moving. Whichever suits you.
October 30th, 2005
For the record: Chris has been here and he has heard this shit. Was it as bad as I say, Chris?
October 30th, 2005
Being a landlord for about five years, I can provide some insight to this little mess.
1. The landlord should be providing a five day notice for each instance of this noise that he physically hears. It is his job to handle such complaints and go and listen for the alleged noise and put a stop to it.
2. If he does not, the police must be called. This is intolerable, and is a breach of the lease. Because I can guarantee in there it says something to the effect of “quiet consideration” or something like that. Also, if no one is home when the stereo is blaring, the landlord possesses the right to enter and turn the damn thing off. I regularly had to enter a unit on my property and turn off a cell phone alarm that was set because it went off at midnight and rarely were they home to turn it off.
3. Do not go to the neighbor’s door anymore. This is a problem for the landlord–not you. In going there, it can be constrewed as harassment, whereas the landlord would only be doing his job. Which, he is paid very well for.
4. If all else fails, since the landlord seems to be doing nothing about it, the noise could be constrewed as constructive eviction and you could possess the right to leave under your own lease.
Good luck.
October 30th, 2005
I have a month-to-month lease. I can leave with 90 days notice at any time. Still, what you say is helpful. Thanks!
October 30th, 2005
John and I had a similar problem in the last apartment. WE lived on the top floor there, but there were a family of about 8 Latinos who lived below us who loved to throw parties late at night out in the yard. Right under the bedroom window. Loud singing, loud music, beer bottles clanking.. etc. I called the police several times and it finally stopped.
October 31st, 2005
Geeeeee-zus. I’m fortunate to live above very reasonable folk whom I’ve never had a noise complaint with. All my noise complaints (unofficial ones) are about drunks on Brady Street and loud motorcycles in the warmer months.
November 2nd, 2005
Latinos huh, was it you, Archie Bunker or George Jefferson who spit out “There goes the neighborhood” first?
December 7th, 2005
To all the parents of young kids disturbing the peace:
MOVE!!!!
the neighbors upstairs have two kids: a baby we can
barely hear and a very rambunctious 2 year old. for
months, we heard toby the terror dragging furniture
across the hardwood floors, dropping pots and pans on
the floor, and racing from room to room with that
special sound only toddlers can make with their heels.
to me it didn’t matter whether the noise was
happening in the middle of the day or the middle of
the night, it was an awful cacophony we should never
have had to put up with at any time of the day. it
was horrible, but my husband and i didnt want to
complain to our landlords because we loved our
apartment and other neighbors and thought that
complaining would just make US look more like a
nuisance than them. but the noise got so bad, i
decided to write a stern but polite note to the
noisemaking family. i told them what i was hearing
and offered solutions to make it better: pads on the
furniture, etc. they never responded to our note, and
the noise continued for about a week, but then it got
better. no more scraping. no more dropping. but the
running and stomping and jumping continued. one
evening toby the terror kept jumping up and down on
the floor. my husband and i waited for the parents to
stop him, but the jumping continued. my husband,
afraid of what i might do, decided to go up and talk
to them himself. (he’s way nicer than I am.) when he
came back down, he told me the dad was very frustrated
that we were even complaining, told my husband, “the
kid was only two years old and there was nothing he
could do or would do because jumping and running is
how the kid expresses himself.” once my husband told
me the story, I became so exasperated, I screamed at
the top of my lungs toward the ceiling, “THIS IS HOW I
EXPRESS MYSELF!” My luck, they were hippies! One
evening, close to Toby’s bedtime at 8pm, he was up to
no good again, racing from room to room…over and
over again…it drove me crazy…to the point i took
the broom and did what my husband would never let me
do when he was around, I BANGED. I BANGED AND BANGED.
It sounded awful…just about as awful as a little
kids slamming his heels on my ceiling. It was
payback, and while I was doing it, it was sweet, sweet
revenge. Well, Toby’s dad didn’t like that, so he
responded with the pots and the pans on the floor, I
hit back, he hit back, I hit back…Done. Well, then
Pop started walking heavy-footed on the floor. This
went on for an hour, and I finally walked upstairs and
knocked on their door. When the door opened, the zoo
spilled out. cat, kids, dad holding the kid, dad
running after the cat. We had a chat that moved from
one floor to the next as we chased Toby down. They
told me I scared Toby with my banging. That made me
feel bad…for a few minutes. I told them the noise
was driving me crazy and it seemed like the last time
we talked to Dad, they weren’t going to do anything
about it. Mom told me the magic word that made me
feel better: SORRY, she was trying to make it better.
she talked about the pads she got on her furniture,
the way she’s kept Toby away from pots and pans. I
admitted to her it was getting better. I told her as
long as she kept trying to keep Toby quiet…I would
try to be more patient. I told her a young family
wasn’t the best choice for a top floor apartment. She
told me they were looking to buy. (thank god.) I was
glad we didn’t end the night with the broom vs. pan
tournament. I’m glad we chatted, but what still
lingers inside and upsets me is the family’s somewhat
unapologetic tone and unwillingness to restrain her
child. She said things like, “Toby’s young and needs
to run around right now. It wouldn’t be good for him
if we told him to stop.” I bit my tongue, but what I
wanted to say was, “THAT’S NOT MY PROBLEM. My problem
is the noise. Fix it.” We ended the discussion on
diplomatic terms. I probably won’t retaliate again
with brooms and the like, but what is it with some
parents and that sense of entitlement that the world
has to just put up with their kidsbecause they’re
kids? Bottom line: kids who can’t be controlled
should not be living above anyone else. parents
either need to rent a house or find a lower floor
apartment. otherwise, they’re just being
disrespectful to their neighbors, and frankly, it’s
only justice if their disturbed neighbors fire back
with surround sound and broom bangs. I didn’t say it
was a necessarily the most mature response, but it is a
JUSTIFIED RESPONSE.
To all the parents of young kids disturbing the peace:
MOVE!!!!
December 7th, 2005
Wow, can I relate. These folks above me were WORSE though if you can imagine it. The noise went up till midnight at least five or six nights a week. There were times when I just said to myself “this can’t be real, it must be a joke!” Anyway, my neighbors ultimately DID move, thank goodness.
August 28th, 2006
I am totally in the same situation with the upstairs neighbors. They have a crying puppy and 2 children that run back and forth late at night and in the early morning hours. They get up and cry and run to mommy. What a nightmare. I only have 2 more months to go since it is temporary.
September 3rd, 2006
It completely frustrates me how inconciderate some people can be. I live in an apartment with hardwood floors and find it to be common sense to not walk hard on the floor and keep the noise levels down at later hours. A couple who lived above me found it necesary to run around and wrestle whenever they pleased – YOU CANT DO THAT! I’m sorry but when you live in an apartment you are not free to act however you please, get a house and wrestle all day long. They never even opened the door when I went up there to complain. Where do these people come from and why can’t they figure this stuff out. The new neighbors now have to walk around contantly in there clod-hoppers on the hard wood, how hard is it to take your shoes off and spare your neighbors sanity. Are these peoples lives so special that it never occures to them to take these simple steps towards a balanced society. And it also pisses me off when they are upset because you have complained – SOORRRRY for disturbing your precious life with my obviously unimportant concerns. Seriously, are these people stupid or do they just not care. In either case they shouldn’t be getting away with this immature behavior. thanks for letting me vent even though some of these other situations seem even worse.
September 11th, 2006
I stumbled across your blog today while searching for a solution to thundering noise from above. I thought I’d leave my experience, at least out of sympathy.
I live below a Ukrainian family that has two small grandchildren that semi-live with them (one is about 7 and the smaller one about 3 or 4), but often their little friends are over too. These kids run around all day on the weekend, my only days off from work, starting at 7AM and often going on till after 10 PM. The old lady upstairs is very heavy-set and stomps around all the time, the grandkids run laps around the unit like a stampede creating blasts of loud random thudding. Often I hear the kids screaming or singing their horrid little-kid songs on repeat. The old woman runs the damned vaccuum cleaner almost every day in the evening. Their TV is constantly warbling away all day long too. They have company over very frequently so there’s a lot of heavy foot traffic stomping up and down the stairs. All day long is this constant thudding upstairs, and loud BOOMs when things are being dropped. I’m convinced the old lady upstairs must be on some kind of drugs that keep her constantly walking/pacing around. Their phone rings off the hook all day too. They frequently step out on their balcony to smoke and their loud voices blare like they were trying to address an auditorium. I don’t know why they have to bellow at each other, but my god they can easily be heard through the ceiling when they talk. The kids are spoiled brats, they even dress the little girls up like princesses, including cape and tiara!
I own my condo and they own theirs, so packing up and leaving isn’t very easy, and they’re probably not going anywhere nor can they be evicted. I’ve written letter to the homeowner’s association, and ultimately they only say that we should figure it out ourselves. I’ve gone up there several times and politely asked if they would please keep the noise down, and these are the responses I get:
“It is only children, is okay till nine o’clock!” *door gets shut angrily in my face*
“it is only kids, and you make old woman cryink because you complainink about the children” said by another Russian-speaking female friend who was answering the door
After banging on the ceiling one night on a particularly loud Sunday evening, the kids’ father (who doesn’t actually live there, just visiting) actually comes downstairs and yells at me “why you banging on ceiling all the time, huh? It’s just a 7 year old kid, and they run around sometimes! The guy who lived before you didn’t have problem…” (I’ve owned the place for 7 & 1/2 years, so the kid didn’t even EXIST yet by the time he moved and I bought the place)
Just this last Sunday, my girlfriend and I are woken up just before 8AM by the kids. By 9, they were stomping up and down the stairs outside. I put on my bathrobe and yanked the front door open and asked why there was so much noise at 9 on a Sunday morning, and the old man glibly brushed me off with “is not too much noise, they are just kids”. I was furious after that. My girlfriend has the flu and needed rest. No rest for us on the weekends…
One time, they even wrote a very calculated letter to the HOA complaing about MY complaints. They’re very slippery, these people, and their son (the father of the little girls) is actually a used luxury car salesman. I’d call the police, but they’re very careful to keep the most offensive levels of noise to within the regulatory hours. One of my other neighbors (who has since moved away), said they had reason to believe this family is connected to some kind of mafia-like people. Kinda scary to imagine if this is actually true.
It’s always “it’s just kids”. I’d sell my place and move away, but the housing market in Seattle is just too high now for me to afford, and I think it’s BS to be driven from one’s home just because of inconsiderate assholes who know they have near-immunity from consequences. I’m being thudded to death, but why should they care?
Sorry for the very long post, I guess I needed to vent. but I truly understand what it’s like to have uncontrollable loud noise ruining your home and sanity.
September 16th, 2006
Noisy upstairs neighbors are something that I have had to contend with, on and off, for the last 10 years in different apartments.
I am dealing with it right now and it’s the worst it’s been in 5 years. A couple moved above me 2 weeks ago. On their very first night, a Thursday, they jolted me out of my sleep by stomping, dropping things, rearranging furniture etc etc etc at about midnight.
I am no longer a very nice person about this. I bypass niceties and go straight for the broom on the ceiling, which is my tamest ploy.
The reason I no longer bother to reason with people is because insenstive loud clods never really care to begin with. That is my experience. The fact that they are that loud and oblivious in the first place is a pretty good indicator of whom you are up against.
About a week ago, I did go upstairs and let my neighbor know–in a straightforward but non-abrasive way that I had not had a good night’s sleep since he moved in. He stays up very late, walks very heavily. Moves things around, and drops things at 1 am–and then has loud conversations with his girlfriend in bed.
I told him to please consider that there is poor insulation and that everything he did was amplified (I refrained from saying that this included the boring, monotonous sex he has with girlfriend that lasts all of 5 minutes from the time he climbs into bed).
He told me that he wasn’t going to walk on eggshells and that the onus was on me to deal with it.
So I have.
I now sleep peacefully in my living room, although it’s an inconvenience. However, I do put on my radio in the bedroom loud and shut the door. I don’t hear it, but they do. I can tell they are not sleeping well because they come home and take naps on a pretty regular basis.
I will keep this up until they break.
I have other tricks up my sleeve as well. Including vacuuming the ceiling with my noisy vacuum cleaner when they are sound asleep. I haven’t done it yet, but I will.
I don’t like being mean. It creates tension and ill will. Furthermore, it means having to inconvenience myself. But…I think actions speak louder than words, and sometimes you have to harass people very badly before they get the message.
I drove another neighbor out through this tactic. I will do it again.
And hopefully get a neighbor who makes a normal amount of noise.
September 17th, 2006
Bravo! I’m all for striking back, especially after what I went through. When you think about it, that’s what I did, too: I inconvenienced them until they moved.
September 21st, 2006
I second that Bravo! I too have had to suffer from noisy upstairs neighbors. I moved into a new apartment a few weeks ago and have had to deal with a child running around above me. It’s sounds like a heard of stampeding buffalo.
After just a few days of this I went upstairs and knocked on there door. I heard a kid tell his dad that someone was at the door. I had to knock a few more times and wait several minutes before papa came to the door. Standing right next to him was none other than ‘Diaper Dan’ himself who looked all of about 2 years old.
I asked politely that the child not run. The father told me that he and his son didn’t even live there! He also told me that he was not aware of the child running around. I frowned on that without showing it overtly. He said he would make an effort to settle him down. We shook hands and I smiled and waved to his little larva.
Not 5 minutes elapsed that I went back to my apartment that I heard him raise his voice for him to ‘stop running!’
However, the noise continued on the next several days of the running, stomping, banging. Some of which had to be the gal who leased the place.
I went and spoke to the apartment manager. I told her that I was surprised to find a child living up there and that when I originally looked at the apartment a month prior to moving in I specifically asked the co-manager if there were any small children living above me. She told me there were not. But, when the mananger looked on her list of tenants she said “well, there is now.”
How about that I thought. A few days after I moved in suddenly she’s with child? well, her boyfriends child moved in. How conveinent.
The manager told me that she was looking to see if she could move them to a downstairs unit (I am on the second floor of a three-story complex.) She also spoke of the gal who leased the apartment like she was a Saint…that she was not the kind to just pay no mind to the courtesy of others. I frowned on that one too.
I told the manager that I would be happy to switch units since they also rent a junior one bedroom. For those not familiar with what that is, it’s pretty much just a glorified studio. About like a one bedroom only there is no door on the bedroom area. So, unlike the above writer I can not close a door to keep the noise in check.
Also, I am six feet tall and the celings in my unit range from 8-9 feet in height. When I first spoke to the boyfriend upstairs he questioned if I had high ceilings. I told him ‘no,’ only the top floor has vaunted ceilings.
I signed a one year lease. So, I am stuck here I suppose. My friend who helped me to locate to this complex didn’t help when he teased that the noise I was experiencing now was a “move in special.”
Don’t get me wrong, I like kids, however…they do NOT belong living in the upstairs units in an apartment complex. It is not fair to the tenants who are single such as myself to have to deal with that chaos. I need some downtime from it.
Iwork from home a good deal of the time and I tried earplugs, but during the day I can’t hear my phone or if someone knocks on my door. Also, I can’t hear my alarm going off in the morning.
I did bang on the ceiling twice this past week out of frustration with my trusty broom handle. I can feel my jaw clench and pressure building up in my chest. I feel helpless.
I wonder…I would like to hear some opinions…am I being a ‘wavemaker,’ or, are they, parent/s being irresponsible for not making the tyke cease running? Who’s wall is it? there floor, or my ceiling?
The Apartment Rules state: “Resident(s) shall not make or allow any disturbing noises in the unit by Resident family or guests, nor permit anything by such persons which will interfere with the rights, comforts or conveniences of other persons. Between the hours of 10 PM and 8 AM no noise must be audible from your apartment.”
When I spoke to the manager she told me that she would tell them not to make noise after 10 PM, but I told her ANY hour where the child is running on the ceiling is disturbing to me. The manager than said I was entitled to ‘my quiet enjoyement.’
She said she would take care of it. But I just don’t see that having happened thus far. It’s been over a week since I spoke to the manager and still ‘Diaper Dan’ is going strong as ever up there.
I feel worn out and defeated. I know, I still have my broom.
But really…who is harassing whom now?
October 1st, 2006
I can seriously relate to all of you. I have a family living above me that have 2 obnoxious young school aged children living there. There are no words to describe what they sound like when they run, jump, and do their “gymnastics” up there. I swear these kids don’t know how to walk, only run. Every morning between 6:30 and 8 they are jumping out of the top bunk of the bunk beds which is directly above my bedroom. It scares the crap out of me on a regular basis to be woken up that way every morning.
The first time I went up to talk to her and get her to keep it down was not related to the kids at all. It was 6:00 in the morning and she had turned up the music in the living room loud enough to hear while she was in the shower (ggggrrrrr for me). She was polite enough and I also mentioned the kids running around. She turned the music down about 1 decibal for about 5 mins then turned it up again. (gggrrrr again).
The second time I went up it was after 2 hours of kids running and jumping and the tv or music blaring. She got po’d at me and slammed the door in my face. I talked to the caretaker/landlord and they didn’t even know that there were kids living there. She said she’d take care of it. Didn’t happen.
Wow this is getting long.
Third time I went up I got yelled at and the upstairs lady yelled at me and said something about there being a “bylaw” that said that she could make as much noise as she wanted during certain hours. No “bylaw” exists. Even if there were specified quiet hours, there is nothing saying that she can make as much noise as she wants without regard for people living around her.
I have taken to keeping notes with specific times, dates, types of noise and durations of the disturbances so I have something to take to the landlord. I also am one of those people who don’t want to stir the pot as I may be the one to be blamed. I’m not bothered by reasonable noise, but this is rediculous. I get so frustrated that I’m looking for a new place even if it means breaking my new lease (signed in May) but I shouldn’t be the one to move because she can’t tell her kids not to run and respect the fact that someone lives below them. These kids are about 8 years old and can fully understand what noise is not like 2 year olds.
Thanks for letting me vent.
October 13th, 2006
you know, I wondered if maybe we were being unreasonable, but after reading all of these comments, i feel better.
it’s really unbearable and when our dog is sitting and shaking on the couch because of the noise…sheesh.
there was also a trail of vomit in the parking lot this morning. don’t know if their little “party” or whatever had to do with that, but sheesh.
October 19th, 2006
Man can my GF and I relate to everyone of these stories!!!!!
We have 2 nieghbors upstairs in our condo complex that are noisy as #$%@… Well actually the girl isn’t that noisy, but her fat a$$ boyfriend thuds his feet back and forth all day everyday. I just don’t understand wtf he could be doing all day long that requires him to walk back and forth in a 500 sq./ft. condo??? I’ve written a letter to the HOA and called them twice. They’ve sent notices to the neighbors, but not much has helped. Actually my GF called them last week and she was telling the HOA guy how much noise they make and he interuppted her right in the middle of it and said “well what do you expect me to do about it?” WOW… That pisses me off…
I’m sure the fact that they have hardwood floors in their condo doesn’t help the fact any. I’ve heard that if you are on the 2nd story or above you are not allowed to have them. I’m gonna check more into this. I know my GF’s brother put tile in his condo on the 2nd floor and the downstairs neighbor complained so much he had to rip it all out and carpet the floor otherwise the HOA would fine him. So i’m kinda thinking if they have the same rules with my HOA then I might go that route. I just don’t know what to do anymore. I’ve went up there and spoke to the guy 3 times, sent a letter to the HOA, and called them twice… He slams his loud a$$ screen door, tromps around so heavy footed, and many of the times is up till 2-3 in the morning doing who knows what, and sometimes has a load of guys over and they go outside on the balcony right above our bedroom window till late LATE at night. My GF goes to work early in the morning and I’m in school. So we both need our sleep. I mean the guy is even hammering away up there installing shelves so he says at 10:00 at night!!!! I’m sooooooo pissed i just want to go up there and kick his a$$ but… on the other hand i hate coming off as just some complaining pain in the a$$ neighbor… so i don’t know what else to do. Thought about calling the cops, but i really doubt that will help any.
We currently have our condo for sell, but the housing market right now is soooooo bad that we aren’t getting any bites. And to be honest, our upstairs neighbors are probably about 80% of the reason we want to move out. Sad isn’t it?
Just don’t know what to do anymore….
November 3rd, 2006
There should be laws against small children living in upstairs apartment. My neighbors, like all our yours, are winners. They have three children, ages 3, 10 months and 1 month. These people apparently never work, and have company over constantly. There are so many people staying upstairs that I swear they could be camping in the yard.
Their floor/my ceiling is about 1 inch thick. I hear them all the time. I hear them rocking in the chair, playing guitar hero all hours of the day and night, and having sex. These people walk more in one day than I’ve walked around my apartment in 5 months.
A few weeks after I moved in, the noise was unbearable. The bass was so loud it was shaking my cabinets and rattling the metal in the doors. I called my landlord who called the people upstairs and said “The neighbor downstairs is complaining about the noise.”
Needless to say, I didn’t know about this and went out to my car. The neighbors also have 3-4 half running vehicles that they park behind the building. The dad was working on one of his cars and when he saw me he banged loudly with a tool and said “Is this too loud for you?” I looked at him, and he did it again!
I want to call the police, but we live in a very small town and he has told other tennants that he can break into all of the apartments with a credit card. I have invested in ear plugs and a fan in my bedroom but they still wake me up. I can’t believe I’m paying money to live here!
I’m a college student, and thank God I am out of this lease on May 1, 2007. I’m counting down the days.
May 16th, 2007
I can relate to all these people, I live on the bottom floor of a three apartment house and the people who live right above us are the worst neighbors ever. From what I have seen it is a mother and at least three kids.
One of the biggest problems I have had with them was them leaving stuff on the bottom floor right in front of my door (Strollers , bikes ,toys etc…) I put a note on my door saying to please not block my door or I was gonna put the stuff outside well that didn’t bode well.
The Morning after I put the note on the door I heard the mother walk by and rip it off the door and then start screaming at the top of her lungs “You don’t need to put up these F**king notes you cracker ass mother f**kers” (shes black , I’m white). well that wasn’t the end she then THREATENED TO LIGHT MY CAR ON FIRE WITH ME AND MY CAT IN IT.
I called my landlord and told him about it he said “Yea, shes like that” but then he wanted my go to up stairs and talk to her and I was like “No way”.
Then just the other day she was arguing with one of her kids and I’ve never heard the F-word spouted more times per sentence in all my life
anyways I also have all the same problems everyone else has with the loud music and kids stomping around. If I could find a better place on my income i would be gone in a heartbeat. My landlord would probably miss having a tenant who pays their rent on time but then again my landlord is an idiot but don’t get me going on him.
Thats a whole other story all together…..
July 5th, 2007
Well I don’t know if you’re still having this problem or not but I can relate to you. My upstairs neighbors walk with lead weights on their feet. I have to sleep during the day and work at night and I told them this when I first moved in here about 3 years ago. To this day they still continue to stomp around upstairs like elephants on meth. Since they do it during the day and they are technically not breaking the law, I can’t do anything about it. I’ve told the management about it and the said “oh well, you’re in an apartment so you’re gonna hear your neighbors whether you want to or not.” What fuckin ever. Ever since then all I can do is bang on the ceiling and yell at them. I’ve tried knocking on their door to confront them but they never answer. And I know they’re home when I knock because I can hear them stomping around up there. It’s been a noise war for the last few years with these ass holes. At first I thought they were pissed at me for staying up really late during the week (I only work the weekend night shift and I keep my sleep schedule during the week) but I can’t imagine what they’re hearing since I’ve always tried to be quiet on those late nights during the week. Granted I know they can hear my toilet flush, my AC kicking on and off, and water running in the bathroom after I use the toilet. But shit….I can’t even match the amount of noise the make with their stomping and their bowling ball dropping. I don’t know what to do anymore. I walked out to my truck one day and found my tire had been slashed. The tried to be clever by popping it on the inside underneath the vehicle. On that day I was pissed and I knocked on their door to ask them about it. Once again I knew the were up their and I could hear them stomping but the wouldn’t answer their door. I realize I’m a pretty big dude (6’3″ and 210lbs” ) and maybe they are afraid of me but if they have something to say I wish they would say it to my face rather than taking the chicken shit way and causing damage to my car. Oh well….what can I do? I wish I could move but I don’t have enough money to do that at this time.
July 25th, 2007
my upstairs neighbor is black, so is my downstairs neighbor, so is the neighbor upstairs across from me. I get along with all except one. The one next door keeps her kids out in the alcove until 1 in the morning, plays her loud music til 3 in the morning, and allows her kids to throw rocks onto the roof where my bedroom is. I went over to talk to her, she only stared at me, no words. Within 5 minutes she is nocking at my door, calling me white trash, f—–g white girl, get used to it. She had her fists up like she wanted to hit me. She then went on saying she was going to call the police to tell them that I hate black people and I was harassing her. I want to move, but the landlord won’t let me out of my lease. Now what? I have called the police and she has been fined twice already for loud noise. But it still goes on. Can I sue the landlord? thanks susan
September 4th, 2007
I moved into my aprtment on the first floor of a four family house in July. The upstairs was empty – and therefore QUIET! Augst 1st, i left my garage ( to be shared with the upstairs) to drive my daughter to her friends and returned 10 min later to find the new neighbors hogging the garage – their 2nd cart behind the one in the garage too close for me to get in. they said they would move it – I said I’d try again in the morning – they don’t kow how to park! I’m still outside the agarge! And the
September 4th, 2007
I moved into my aprtment on the first floor of a four family house in July. The upstairs was empty – and therefore QUIET! Augst 1st, i left my garage ( to be shared with the upstairs) to drive my daughter to her friends and returned 10 min later to find the new neighbors hogging the garage – their 2nd cart behind the one in the garage too close for me to get in. they said they would move it – I said I’d try again in the morning – they don’t kow how to park! I’m still outside the agarge! And the
September 7th, 2007
I was reading some of these complaints, and I must say when you hear what is happening to me you will think you are in heaven. These welfare bums above me constantly bang on the floor, drag furniture, scream and yell at each other (Mother and her 2 40 year old sons). Nobody likes them in the building as they bother everyone. They stink and have 8 cats and 3 people in a 1 bedroom apartment. They driver their peddle bikes near my car and other peoples and scratch them, and dent them as they are to lazy to go around to park their stolen rusted up bikes. The lady as we call her “Rat Lady” has been sene outside carrying a up-rooted tree at 3 in the morning whil bobbing her head, her son behind her on a scooter bobbing his head while they sand ‘jingle bells’. She, and her sons have also been seen digging through peoples trash cans up the road. These people are extremely sick in the head, and need to be in a mental hospital. They bang so much on the floor constantly all day that my roof is cracked. I work, and go to college, and they are on welfare and are there all day banging around. I have put up with this for a year constantly asking them to stop, but the first time I asked she called the police and claimed “I threatend to kill her”. Everyone, and I meen everyone has called the police on them. The police have been here literly over 100 times. The police hear dthem on a few occasions and the cops around here do nothing to them, no fines, nothing. I have recordings of them screaming and banging, stil they do nothing. I just called them again tonight as I heard a bang on the floor at 2am sounded so loud that I thought it was a bomb, thunder sounds like a faint fart compared to their bangs. Tonight the f***in cop not only did nothing, but he told me that if I call the police again, I would be arrested for mischief! Unbelieveable! I am a tax payer, they are welfare bums harrassing everyone, doing drugs and I am treated like a piece of sh*t criminal for simply calling the police (as I was told to do by them!(the police)). Finally I told the landlord that if he doesnt kick them out Im going to sue him, and move and he will pay all of my moving fees, motel fees, etc. So I am just waiting on them getting evicted, but in the meen time I have to listen to this sh*t and try to cope with day to day life of being constantly disturbed, and not being able to sleep. As I said the cops do nothing about them, so I decided to go out and by a 1000 Watt sub-woofer for my stereo system. I bolted it to the ceiling and simply turn it on full blast when they wake me up for 1/2 hour at a time. The cops came an dgave me a $450 ticket for a noise disturbance! Un f*cking believeable! So 2 things to say, the police are corrupt, and this will be the last time I ever move in a place where people are above me. I am fighting the ticket and have put a complaint about the pig that gave it to me. I have enver put up with so much BS in my life. ANd according to the cops, and by-law, etc there is nothing that can be done, so they have the right to harass me everyday and I have to sit here and put up with it, and when I decided to give them a taste of there own business by blasting my stereo for only 30 minutes, I was fined. I swear I live in the twighlight zone! If anyone has anything they know that can help plz reply or email me. Thanx!
September 11th, 2007
I recently moved into a bottom-floor apartment, and maybe that was my own mistake. It was a good deal and I didn’t have the luxury of waiting for a unit on the highest floor. I should have known better, yet I was surprised when I heard above me the stampede of heavy little feet up and down the hallway on the very night I moved in. My now-ex-boyfriend smirked and said I should have known to ask the landlady about the upstairs neighbors prior to signing the lease. Well, it hadn’t occurred to me, and so I felt dumb for a little while. Fortunately, the guy upstairs only has partial custody of the little brat, but that’s bad enough. All weekend she terrorizes the place with her marathons, jumping, and dropping things. But he’s worse. He’s up late (I go to bed by 11:00 and he’s still awake after that), yet I discovered a new disturbing fact about the bastard — HE GETS UP AT 4:45 EVERY MORNING. And stomps around the bedroom. He could be in the kitchen, filling his fat face. He could be in the living room, vegging out in front of the TV. He could be in the bathroom, getting ready for the day. But no. He chooses to stomp around the bedroom directly above me, from 4:45 until 6:00 every morning. Without stopping for a minute. I don’t think he works out (the guy’s a f###ing lazy sack of s###), so what does he do? The earliest I ever hear him shower or leave the apartment is 7:00. Why on god’s green earth does he feel the need to get up at 4:45? And, being a light sleeper, I wake up with his fat feet hitting the floor every morning at that time, and rarely fall back asleep before my alarm goes off at 6:00. I already think I get up too early, but this is absolutely ridiculous. Does he pace the room spanking it for two-plus hours? I’ve wracked my brain for answers, but haven’t come up with anything logical, so I’ve concluded that the dude is insane. Either way, there’s nothing I can do on my own terms that will solve the problem. Anatomically I can’t wear earplugs because my ear holes are too small (the earplugs hurt to wear and don’t even stay in). I’m not about to swig some NyQuil or pop Benadryl just to sleep solidly. I haven’t confronted the guy yet, but one of these days I’ll probably give in and do so. I don’t remember reading about a noise clause in my lease, but hopefully such a thing is included. The last resort would be to move out myself, but I’d hate to do that since I just moved in and am sick of going from apartment to apartment every year. I need a permanent home for awhile or I’ll go crazy.
As far as the landlady is concerned, I’d probably be wasting my breath to mention the issue to her. She won’t even do anything about my water heater that desperately needs replacing.
October 4th, 2007
Well I have been in a similar situation but I will say this? When you move into an apartment make sure there is a SUB FLOOR! If you can’t take people being inconsiderate you yourself should try living in a house ALL ALONE! This is the state of the nation. People don’t give a rat’s ass about each other. Get on with it. Why don’t you spend your time better and figure out how to keep all the jobs in this country that we outsource overseas. Maybe you can use your awake time for that little conundrum!
October 7th, 2007
After battling with horrendous upstairs neighbors for 2 years, my boyfriend and I exhausted all civil (and not very) tactics: we tried talking politely, writing nice but firm letters, and ofcourse banging the ceiling with a broom. We now got a little more creative: if banging the ceiling doesn’t help, then we blast the sound system on max and it works like magic! Neighbors pack their kids and go outside. The only problem is the collateral damage that other neighbors have to suffer (ofcourse we sound-proofed our apartment with thick rugs, but others shouldn’t have to suffer from our little “war”), so we are still in process of inventing a way to direct the music upstairs only, maybe mount the amplifier to the ceiling or something like that
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October 12th, 2007
I recently bought an upstairs condo. The thing looked beautifully built, everything looked high quality. High quality windows, nice fixtures, concrete floors. I asked about noise and was assured that there was nothing to worry about.
I’ve spent time in cheap wood frame motels and noise from above is irritating but I never heard peoples conversations or tv’s on the same floor.
I’ve also spent time in wood frame apartments. I could hear toilets flushing and the occassional door slam but never conversation.
So anyway I move into the condo and everythings fine. First disappointment is the airconditioning units. They’re on the roof and they create this annoying resonance when they kick on. I learn to live with it and rugs strategically placed seems to cut down on the noise a little.
Then the neighbors move in either side and the hell begins. On the bedroom side of me theres an irritating college age girl and her ham faced boyfriend who seem to have about 5 brain cells between them. Their first night in their condo they are hammering on our adjoining wall at midnight. Welcome to the neighborhood. It goes down from there aided by the paper mache walls. The concrete floors in the condo seem to accelerate the noise, because I can hear their tv in their family room which is not even the room that adjoins my bedroom!
I was in a state of shock when this happened, as you realize you have agreed to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to live a life of torment. You will hear every toilet flush, every sink running, you will hear every bone headed thing they do.
This was traumatic enough, but I resigned myself to the fact that I could spend plenty of time in the entertainment room, and could sleep on the couch if the neighbors were up late.
I thought the entertainment area was safe because I thought the neighbors the otherside had already moved in and I had heard no noise.
I was wrong they hadnt moved in. At about 7 in the evening I hear conversation on the other side of the wall. Can hear dressors being open and closed, and can hear a bath being run. Then after a half hour this subsides as they go to another part of the condo. Only to come back with a vengeance at 10:30pm apparently their bedtime. More conversation, more opening of dressors. These people must have their bed against the same wall that I have my sofa, because I can hear them talking literally inches from where I’m sitting. Not loudly mind you in fact they are close to whispering. Then the whispering turned to upset talk as no doubt the horror of their situation dawned on them as it dawned on me as they no doubt could hear my tv set which despite its reasonable volume was no doubt resonating through these whoresishly thin walls.
I am near a nervous breakdown at this point realizing that every evening in this expensive condo from here on out will be one of unmitigated misery. So I retreat to my bedroom to get away from the noise to be greeted with the other neighbors stereo which despite its reasonable volume is somehow being amplified into a hellish vibration which bounces around my bedroom making sleep totally impossible.
Welcome to hell. I will take a bath on this and will be able to get the hell out. I feel sorry for people trapped in this situation. Its great living in a location where the building codes apparently are somewhere around the level of a brazillian cardboard slum.
October 23rd, 2007
ugh! I wrote a complaint here a little over a year ago…and after driving out that last obnoxious bonehead, I am now saddled with another clueless twerp.
The problem in both of these cases is people who stay up past midnight and refuse to acknowledge that they are sharing their space with others.
I mean, really, do these jackasses behave like this when they are in a house where others are sleeping? I doubt it.
I have left my courtesy first note…and then I will just jump right in to the ol’ broomstick routine. (I don’t do a light tap–I get mean)
I drove the last one into a crazy frenzy with that–where he banged on my door at 2 am and woke all the other neighbors up. Basically looked like a nutter and embarrassed himself.
Anyway….I read through the posts here since my post last year and I was laughing til the tears streamed. Mostly because I can relate and the descriptions of these loud buffoons is so funny.
The problem is that people are transient and they don’t give a crap.
I give up. So I am just going to save my money and try to find a place where there are no neighbors sharing walls or ceilings. I do not want to be at anybody’s mercy anymore.
I doubt it. And this is exactly the same.
November 22nd, 2007
thanks to everyone for posting their problems. we thought we were the only ones. the first year in our apartment, we lived below a single woman who barely made a peep. this was reassuring after my living above a bongo-playing, yappy-dog owning couple. my bf-then-fiance-now husband lived below a weight-lifting, obvious second shift-working single guy. we were in our own private hells. so living below the single woman was a breath of fresh air.
then she moved out. we had already signed a 6-month lease extension, with hopes to move out at the end of those six months. but we were also planning a wedding, so househunting wasn’t the first priority. the quiet lady moved out two months into our lease renewal and two just-out-of-college women moved in. they seemed pretty normal for a while. we thought it was just the two of them but now there’s a guy. not sure about the second girl anymore
at first we just heard them walking around, or should i say stomping around. who needs to walk around that much?? seriously? and does he throw her on the ground? or vice-versa? that’s totally what it sounds like.
oh, and then there’s the sex. at first it was kind of funny… we were sitting on our patio one summer night and heard the “ah oh ah oh” of porn sex. i only wish it was porn. it was our neighbors. it’s not just the sex sounds though – it’s the sound of a rocking chair on a hardwood floor. we don’t have hardwood floors in this building, so we figure it’s just either a really bad bed frame or something like that. but it’s not just during the sex. it’s all the time. we can even hear them opening and closing their dresser drawers.
we talked to the leasing office about the sex. not really as a complaint, but more of a “gee, if it were us we’d really rather know” courtesy sort of thing. it seemed to have worked for the sex. they go into the living room now.
but the stomping! and the wrestling!!! i won’t resort to the broom handle on the ceiling. i’m thinking of investing in a bullhorn (and some ear plugs for us)… for every instance, we’ll let off a loud blast! either that or i’ll just set off my car alarm for a while. but like someone else said, it punishes the whole damn building for one offender. that’s not cool.
sometimes i REALLY feel like they will drive me insane. we’ve only been married for two months, but i find when i’m woken up early in the morning by bed bouncing and drawer opening-closing, that i get really grumpy. and i know i am guilty of taking it out on my darling husband (who’s just as frustrated as me.)
i think we might move to the inside bedroom… but that doesn’t fix the wrestling in the living room… it makes me so sad.
oh, to make matters worse, we haven’t found a house yet, so we need to sign another 6 month lease. i am so sad.
November 29th, 2007
Oh man…It’s crazy to see that so many people have problems with their upstairs neighbors being ****ing loud…I’ve been living below selfish a**holes for the past year now and completely understand how horrible this entire situation is. So here’s my story.
I moved out with my boyfriend about a year ago. The building at first seemed like a great choice. Beautiful apartment, indoor parking, close to downtown + we could actually afford it! The first 2 months were pretty good. That is, no one was actually living above us at the time, so we had peace and quiet. Then, neighbors # 1 move in. Since the very first day, they put on such loud music that our lamps (and pretty much everything else we own) started vibrating. And it was bad music too. It only got worse from there. I’m talking REALLY loud stomping, banging, watching movies on surround sound every night until about 11:45 pm (by the way it actually sounded like the same movie, over and over again) and fighting really loudly about every other day. My boyfriend (who’s much better than me at dealing with this kind of conflict) went up to talk to them once. VERY bad idea. It only got worse afterwards. It actually turns out that the people upstairs were a man-hating lesbian couple in their 40s, of which the loudest was an ex-convict. LOL. We were pretty shocked (about the ex-convict part)! I don’t really know what happened, but after months of ridiculous noise (which even managed to piss offother neighbors), they moved. Apparently, the ex-convict was “called back to prison” as the landlord put it. So we had about 1 month of peace. Then, our current neighbors moved in. These ones like to move furniture every night and get up at 6:30am every day (yes, week-ends included) to incessantly stomp across our apartment for hours on end (without actually stopping anywhere). Our apartment (and theirs) is a 3 1/2. Where are they going?!?! I find it hard to believe that they clean that place every single morning from 6:30 to 8:3o (which by the way is usually the time I get up at). My boyfriend and I are full-time university students who also work a fair amount to be able to afford the apartment. We need quiet time to study and get some quality sleep. We’re quiet people. Often, we’re just sitting by our computers studying. And the truth is, sometimes it’s impossible to tune out noise. : (
We’ve tried everything, the bottom line is: they don’t give a sh**. So we’ve decided to move next summer when the lease expires. We don’t know where yet, but definitely either on the top floor or in a concrete building. This is exhausting, finals are coming up and I can’t wait to get out of here. The only thing that makes me feel better is counting down the seconds until july 1st.
Good luck to all!!! : )
November 30th, 2007
I moved into my dad’s apt at the end of June when my mom went crazy and kicked me out (haha whole nother story). The day I moved in I heard loud banging upstairs and said “WHAT IS THAT?” My dad said it was like that all the time and that he has gone up there before and the man said he had a 2 year old. My dad said he probably chases the 2 year old around the apt. Okay, so I felt kind of bad because I am not going to be an asshole and tell someone to not let their 2 year old run around. But seriously, it is ridiculous. My first month living there, my dad went up there and I eavesdropped into the hallway, and all I Heard was the guy saying he couldn’t help it, that he had little kids. He sounded like an ass and my dad told him he was being a jerk. Knowing my dad can come off as a grumpy man, I went up there and explained that it WAS really bad and it wasn’t just him. The man looked genuinely concerned and said he would try to stop it and I went back downstairs.
Ten minutes later the guy is at MY door and he looks like he is about to cry. He says my dad has told the landlord on them and that he has really tried to be quieter but the landlord keeps saying my dad has complained. So i thought maybe my dad was being unreasonable. UM, NO. It has gotten worse. Constant running back and forth for literally hours at a time, pictures falling off my walls, lamps vibrating. I have now resorted to banging on the ceiling but then I feel bad and stop. Well, my dad BANGS for a solid minute and even though it embarasses me, I don’t know what else we are supposed to do. He told the landlord we were going to move if it didnt stop and she said “oh no no please don’t move, I will talk to them”. Yeah? that was 3 months ago and it is worse than ever. They even now have the nerve to BANG back when we use the ol’ broom tactic. It’s seriously affecting my health as I am a college student and often stay up late doing work. I don’t have class till later in the morning so I really don’t have to get up til at LEAST 9:30 but am woken up by them at about 8am everyday. I wanna go back up there but I hate confrontation. It is not fair. I have a heart problem and being awoken everyday by LOUD BOOMS doesn’t help my heart, as it will go into arrythmias because I am so stunned. It sucks that I have to have hard feelings to a young couple with twin babies and a 2 year old but I AM NOT THE ONE WHO HAD THE CHILDREN. They even had the nerve to tell US TO MOVE!!!!!!! My dad said I AM NOT THE PROBLEM, YOU ARE!! It’s like 5 year olds bickering, I swear.
Okay, long enough. I don’t know what to do. It’s SO FRUSTRATING.
December 9th, 2007
update on my situation (above)…. the people upstairs always say “Well we would move into a bottom floor apartment if we could but there are none available!”
Well, when my dad went to the office to complain AGAIN, the lady said they offered our upstairs neighbors a ground floor apartment and they REFUSED. HOW ANNOYING IS THAT!?!?!???????????
December 13th, 2007
I stumbled upon this while searching for solutions to neighbor noise. Compared to some of your stories, I guess I’m not in the worst situation, but it’s still a pretty bad situation.
I live in a condo and above me is a two-story townhome. When I bought the condo I had no idea what the noise was going to be like. Anyway, without going into too much detail, the upstairs place has been rented out first to a couple, then to a family with two incredibly noisy kids (similar to those stories above), and now three young guys recently graduated from college.
The family was probably the worst. The couple was not bad. The college students can be very noisy, especially when they have parties – which are just unbelievable from a noise perspective. They might as well have it at my place, the noise level would be the same. When the music does get too loud, I tell them and they normally turn it down. Still, that doesn’t stop dozens of people running about like elephants., bothering the hell out of me. Even when they walk normally, it’s just constant thumping. Their kitchen is right above my bedroom. Now that’s a bad thing (no carpet, dropping stuff sounds like airplane taking off), and a good thing (I’m not normally in my bedroom for the evening, which is when they spend the most time in the kitchen). But they often stay in the kitchen chatting with friends till early morning hours – I can hear their entire conversations, and every slight move is like an earthquake in my place. That makes it pretty difficult to sleep at times. I do have a spare bedroom that shields some, but not all, of the noise.
Anyways, you know how it is, and you can relate to the pain I have to go through. I do have a decent relationship with them, so that helps slightly.
But I wanted to address something here that no one has really talked about – alternative solutions (i.e. other than talking to your neighbors).
To help myself sleep, I bought a bookshelf stereo system ($100) and I play white noise all night (downloaded a fan noise from the Internet for about $5). It really helps me out! I can still feel vibrations of the thumping, but the noise gets masked out pretty well. It’s not perfect, but I do get much more sleep now, and I wake up on my own terms rather than on my neighbors schedule. I tried a regular white noise machine but it just didn’t cut it. This bookshelf system has amazing sound and excellent volume levels.
I also leave my kitchen vent fan on most evenings, and that helps mask out just a bit of the general noise from upstairs. Not much, but anything is fine. Anybody else used sound masking effectively? Perhaps around the entire home? Please share any tips.
I have also researched some construction fixes. There seem to be options out there, but I am skeptical of the effectiveness, especially given the high cost of such a project. I wanted to get your advice in case anyone here has tried such measures. Here’s an example from Dr. Bob of Soundproofing America:
http://www.articlecity.com/articles/home_improvement/article_2886.shtml
Any thoughts? Then there’s this guy, who seems to have pretty good credentials.:
http://www.acoustilog.com/bio.html
He comes out and gives you a detailed report on the causes of the noises, and what solutions exist. Bad part – he’s very expensive! $2000 to come out to where I live (an hour’s drive from him) to do a noise assessment! Then he’ll tell you what is wrong, but he has no stake in the actual solution since he is not a contractor at all (note: the solution will likely involve construction to the upstairs unit as well, so it’s not entirely feasible).
Anyone know anything about him, or similar consultants? Or, can you provide my info on other such consultants???
I am willing to put in some money into construction if I know it will make a difference. The alternative is to sell and move, which is not easy. I really like my place. The only reason I would move is for the noise. So if I invest the costs of moving (closing costs, moving costs, etc) into reducing the noise at my current place instead, it’s probably worth it. Plus, I would have an advantage in selling my place at some point. Probably won’t recoup all the money, but it makes my place more attractive to a buyer. Most importantly, I’d be investing in a more comfortable life for myself!
Any comments/thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks!
January 21st, 2008
I love it! Everyone thinks their upstairs neighbors are the worst.
I was excited to learn that our upstairs neighbors were the same age as me and my fiance, but it would never have worked out b/c they work evenings and have people over on Sun & Mon nights.
Nice guys, really they are – they are aware of us and considerate since we’ve spoken with them. Unfortunately, their drunkard friends could care less and will stay up until 4am – now that’s the worst!
Our solution: white noise during the week – we bought a fishtank and lowered the water level so it sounds like a bubbling creek. That covers up footsteps and voices most of the time.
On nights when they have people over we’ve made a deal with them. They either stay out of the bedroom above our bedroom – or one time they were confined to the bedroom and we slept in our living room. There’s no way to sleep through people falling down or chasing each other/the cat.
It also helps if I really try to exercise hard on Mondays so I fall asleep early before their guests arrive Monday nights.
We haven’t had to call the police on them and I really don’t want to b/c the upstairs neighbors have the advantage. If they get angry with us they are capable of annoying us much more than we can keep them awake. (Mostly b/c we’re at work when they sleep).
Our landlord doesn’t own the unit above us and hasn’t done anything except offer to move us to a more expensive unit in a different building. There are no plans to improve the insulation.
My advice is to be civil and considerate. My fiance loves to crank the bass on our stereo just to annoy them, but I would rather hope they realize we’re keeping ours down in hopes that they will keep theirs down.
Treat others as you would want to be treated, it’s always been the best advice – hopefully your upstairs neighbors will!
February 4th, 2008
OMG can I relate to a lot of these horror stories about upstairs neighbors!!! I have had my share of ‘fun’ over the past few years with one or another noisy, inconsiderate thumpers and stompers. I can’t understand why people have to be so d— noisy!!! I hold my cupboard doors when closing them, I hold the outside hallway entry door when going in or out. I open my sliding windows slowly as they have noisy tracks. I don’t start up the vacuum at 11PM, nor do I play loud music or TV. And I live on the bottom floor, so the only people I would annoy are above me, but I wouldn’t think of doing this because I ‘realize’ there are others living very closely to me. However, my upstairs neighbors don’t seem to give us the same courtesy. Even though it is a condo and you own rather than rent, there is big turnover, I believe mainly because they are ‘cheap’ condos and most just come for a while then move on to a real house or higher-end side-by-side condo development. In the past 11 years I have had 4 families above me and all 4 were noisy as hell. Most of the owners regarded the condo as a ‘halfway house’ or leased roommates into the condo, what a nightmare of loud foot steps coming and going all day and into the night. Of course, as luck would have it, if there were roommates, everybody worked different shifts so there was always some commotion and ‘fireworks’ going on above us. I couldn’t even tell you the last time I truly had a restful, peaceful night’s rest, or didn’t feel tired from sleep deprivation.
I believe upstairs neighbors ought to be a medical condition all its own, what with the stress and anxiety of ‘what’s coming next?’ apt to bring on ulcers, migraines, high blood pressure…
February 4th, 2008
Some thoughts on concrete between floors as opposed to standard wood-frame apartment construction…if you think it will be completely quiet with concrete, it really does not help all that much. I live in a wood-frame condo building, BUT I work in a long-term care hospital setting that was built in the 1960′s and is concrete between floors. You STILL hear thumping of heavy footsteps loud and clear as well as furniture moving around, AND concrete is rather porous so you do hear TV and stereo clearer than through wood.
In my estimation, there really is only one safe place to be clear of thumpers and stompers and that is in your own free-standing house or in the top floor of an apartment or condo building…
If I could sell my first floor condo and move to my own house or side-by-side condo I would, but housing market in Michigan is shot right now, for buyers it’s great, but for sellers, well…it stinks, 3 of my neighbors on the same street have had their condos up for sale for well over a year and haven’t sold, so I would guess my chances are pretty slim, and how do you plan an open house or evening showing around upstairs thumpers? The minute somebody heard the racket from above I would expect them to walk right back out the door, I know I would have if there had been anybody living above me right before I moved in…sigh
February 19th, 2008
OMG! I am dealing with this now. I just moved into a studio apartment the beginning of this month. The people upstairs(married couple), are so loud! It’s not super late right now, 10pm – but when you have to get up early in the morning to go to work, it would be nice to read in bed without hearing your neighbors have sex on the balcony right above you! Screaming and moaning. Don’t they have a bedroom for that!
I can’t take it anymore! They are so loud! I hear them stomping around upstairs, and sounds like sometimes running or jumping on the floor! What is up with people like that? Here I am, being careful not to have my music to loud while cleaning house or even talking too loud on the phone while their music is bumping through the walls and shaking my light fixtures and oven hood. I can hear the base moving through the house. Plus, they I guess have karoake night between the two of them, where they are belting out lyrics, and singing to each other.
Ugh! I don’t even know what to do. I feel embarrassed to go upstairs when I’ve only met them once, and tell them they are too loud every single night!
I absolutely hate it! I love my studio, and I have 5 more months on my lease, but these people, I can’t handle it! It absolutely pisses me off.
March 22nd, 2008
MAN!!! I’m so glad that I found this site. I’m now dealing with the noisy upstairs neighbors myself. The thing is, I don’t consider myself unreasonable: the developers designed the place, stupidly, with the living room of the upstairs duplex above the bedroom of my 1 bedroom apartment. Nicely for them, the upstairs of their duplex is carpeted, giving ample soundproofing for the downstairs bedroom (which is above my living room). Apparently, the 80% rule (where you have to cover 80% of your hardwood floors with area carpeting if you live above anyone) doesn’t seem to apply in this area; I learned this a bit late.
I don’t expect them to walk around on eggshells or whatever. I just want them to think before they barrel down the stairs, or come in at 1am, or leave out at 4am, that there is someone sleeping below them who doesn’t effin want to wake up yet!!! So please, take OFF YOUR FREAKIN HIGH HEELS BECAUSE, BELIEVE ME, NO ONE IS RECRUITING YOUR ASS FOR AMERICA’S NEXT TOP MODEL ANY TIME SOON!!!!!
Ok, I feel better
March 25th, 2008
As i’m reading this my upstairs neighbors are stomping on the floor,we moved in 3 days ago,we were assured that it was quiet and peaceful here,we called security,I talked to the manger,the tenant says there is no noise,the manager can’t do anything?
She says she can’t evict her for that,suggested we move into one of thier upstairs apartments.sigh.
April 14th, 2008
I vow to be in a house a year from now, somehow, someway. I’m thinking that I have more options than I previously believed. I can always rent one for now, if I don’t have a downpayment saved yet.
Being in a house is where it’s at. It’s just Peace itself.
I’ve got a beliggerent, delinquent type early twenties or late teens girl living underneath me with an even more belligerent boyfriend. They love to knock against my ceiling, especially in the bedroom area. It increased after I called our security company to tell them to quit the racket.
My adrenaline gets to dangerous territory where I want to literally wait outside the door and put the guy’s head through the wall.. but I know that eventually his luck will run out and someone will flatten the poor clueless idiot. (I just feel the energy and then release via a technique). There are no managers around that will come inside at those hours and investigate. So I can’t just stop rent for inhabitability – I’ll lose in court without proof.
— At the very least, if not a house, it pays to cut as much expenses as possible and choose luxury type apartments where you get more high quality people living there. Every time I’ve paid high rent, I got high quality people.
April 19th, 2008
… by the way, though this blog entry is about upstairs neighbor complaints, I thought I would actually have peace choosing an upstairs unit myself. There’s just no guarantee. You can have a d/s tenant from hell as well. Myself, I’m anyone’s dream upstairs neighbor, having been in apts the last 20 years and learning how to be respectful, including walking on floors. But i’m out of here in 2.5 months, just gotta grin and bear it.
-Steve
April 25th, 2008
I live on the first floor and my upstair neighbors are so ignorant they have one son and two foster children who they let run a muck up and down the hallway. Most of the time they leave them alone to either visit another neighbor or smoke a ciggerett (of which they leave piled outside). So of coarse those moments are worst.
Most of the people are black here so they think they intimidate the few white folks here so no one calls or complains about them. well They mmet the wrong white girl. I happened to have been raised around black people, my two best girlfriends are black and I dont scare easily. I approched them one time about the noise and they told me that it was still early enough for their kids to do what they were doing… So I called the cops the next time they were loud and it was 10 at night so they couldnt use that excuse. I’ve gotten so frustrated that I’ve blown up in the hallways screaming my distaste for thier ignorance and lack of consideration for others.
Matter of fact tonight I called the cops and as soon as the cop left they banged and banged extremely loud. So I called the cops right back up… I don’t care what they think of me, I live here too.
May 2nd, 2008
Never mind the upstairs neighbors. How about the one who live on either side of you? I have a lady in her sixties to the left of me. She plays her TV full blast morning, noon and night! Oh, and she goes to bed at midnight,only to get up a 2am to watch TV, hammer, and do laundry. She moved in last July ( after the loud sex let’s fight and get drunk neighbors moved out!) The only time I’ve slept is
when she didn’t pay her cable bill! So, I go to bed at 10pm,only to be woken every hour on the hour. I told the landlord, she told me she’s old and hard of hearing!
Hello! My toilet is vibrating!
Now, to the right of my is a family of Jehovah’s Witness.
The wife gets up at 4am and walks up and down the sidewalk preaching. Did I mention the drunken brother-in-law, who can’t find the right door, so he knocks on every door at 3am? Then we have the husband. He leaves for a week at a time. Only to come home at 1:00am on a weeknight. He proceeds to honk the horn a dozen times, and slam all 15 doors in his 4 door car. Then he slams the front door. Which shakes the entire building. Then he goes to the basement, out the basement door, around the building, and comes in the front door again. Then stomps up and down the
stairs! And the cooking odors!?! It smells like they fried a
camel! (if that’s possible). The smell lingers in the apartment for days. Did I mention they set off the smoke alarms frequently? How about playing their stereo
so loud they hear it in the building across the street?
I told the landlord about what goes on, she told me they are good people, they just don’t have regular hours!
Tough. I’m self-employed . I don’t have regular hours either, but I don’t make enough noise to wake the dead, either! Oh, and they have a son. He doesn’t goto school, because the world is going to end. So he plays his flute ( badly) at 4:00 am!!! One of these days I going to get an airhorn, and when they are sleeping, I’m going to let them have it!
May 18th, 2008
I have to say that some of the entries made me laugh, as to the fact that I can relate. I have a two and a half year old and another baby on the way, and a hyperactive husband, and I also have severe knee problems. The knee pain keeps us from living anywhere upstairs, and the last apartment we had, we had to move out of due to the stairs. I lived upstairs for several years and always kept quiet out of respect for those living around me. My Mama taught me manners, thank GOD!!! However, sometimes I wish she hadn’t. Three weeks ago we moved into a “restricted income” apartment. Nice enough three bedroom ground level apartment. With in 36 hours of moving in we discovered our leasing agent, her fiance, his brother, and her four year old twin boys lived above us. I thought with her being employed by the apartments, she would realize the thinness of the walls and ceilings, but I thought wrong. I swear it sounds like a heard of elephant between the hours of 4pm and 12am. At the twins bedtime they jump and run for an hour. Their room is directly above my somewhat tame and mild 2 year old. They jump so hard that the light fixtures rattle. My daughter in in bed at nine (due to the time difference in the move) and she is restless all night due to the noise. They go to bed about 10:30pm and are up and stampeeding at 5:30am. Thus waking my little girl. There is a lot of racial tension in our neighborhood and we are one of the very few white people in our large complex. I have no problem with this due to being raised with the ability to see no color difference in people, however, that is not the case with everyone. I have tried hinting about the noise, the energy of 4yr old boys, my daughters bedtime, but they don’t seem to get it. I am not a confrontational person… never have been, and now I don’t know what to do. There are times I wish I could send tranquilizer darts that are long enough through the ceiling, but I really don’t want jail time. I have thought about calling the zoo, and having them contact my upstairs neighbors about adding to the elephant exhibit, but that would be more out of spite than practicality. I am at a loss, and signed a year lease. Any hints that don’t include cuffs would be helpful.
Thanks, -A Tired Mommy-
July 3rd, 2008
OMG Debbie – that is a horrible scenario. I can imagine you are a tired mommy after listening to that nonsense above you. I have lived in the same condo for quite a while and I have had 4 families above me and each one gets increasingly more noisy. I had 2 sisters and whatever boyfriend they may have had at the time living there, then luckily 1 sister moved out and other was alone. She could be noisy at times, but not nearly as bad as the other sister, and it seemed like that woman would constantly run a daycare center up there, there were always little kids and one adult or another running around and stomping, and it seems like they must have cleaned every other day as I always heard scraping on the floors, vacuum running, etc, etc. And, eerily as it may sound, it was like they just KNEW exactly where I was heading in my place, because I would hear them above my head in the kitchen, then in the living room, then if I went to my bedroom or the bathroom the stomping would follow. When the 1 sister moved out, things were OK for a while, then all of a sudden she decides she wants to have a roommate. Oh, good lord, did the fun begin then. The roommate was a bit of a party girl, and she obviously didn’t require any sleep because she would come in at like 2AM and wake us all up, then up she was at 6AM getting ready for work. And, of course, boyfriend after boyfriend… it was like a bad rerun of before, just without the damn kids. Luck have it, roommate moved out in 2006, and she hasn’t been back. I have caught the girl still living there on occasion, and I kind of try to get information out of her to see what her plans are for ‘future tenants’…I hate to be a nosy neighbor, but I get nervous and anxious EVERY time I hear more than the average amount of noise or she has company over, as it could always be another roommate.
On the few occasions I have complained to the past owners about the noise, it has done no good, most times making the situation worse as they now know what irritates you and they try to retaliate for an innocent neighborly request by ‘pounding’ a little harder. So, I haven’t said anything to the girl who lives there now, I did mention loud music once to the renting roommate, but complaining really does no good, it is a racial issue and I would most certainly not win any favors if I went to battle with them over the noisy walking or whatever you might want to call it. I would certainly sell my condo, but the market is horrible and most condoowners that try to sell end up moving out and sub-leasing their places. I don’t have the money to do this, and even if I could rent it out, I doubt I could secure 2 mortgages at the same time and that would very scary.
It really sucks to live on pins and needles all the time and not enjoying your time at home, which is supposed to be your place of comfort and relaxation, so I know how you feel.
Eric
July 7th, 2008
Perhaps a different kind of venting, that will provide some contrast to the rest of these responses…
In the past, I haven’t found the need to live on the top floor. This was before I had to deal with someone who would play his electric guitar with his amp up to 11 at as late as 4:30am. Needless to say, after I moved a few miles away, there’s no longer anyone living above me, and I can sympathize with a genuine noise problem.
So, imagine my surprise when I’m tip-toeing through my office, and I hear what could only be a broom striking the ceiling beneath me. Granted, the hour was late, but having dealt with inconsiderate neighbors before, I’ve taken great pains to make sure noise wasn’t a problem – I only listen to music with headphones, the TV is rarely on, my shoes are off by 9pm, the floor is already carpeted, and I do whatever I can to tread lightly.
Now, I’m all for being considerate, and go through great lengths to do so, but I run my own business. And the unfortunate consequence is that sometimes I have to work late into the night, or I don’t get paid – no longer an option, as I’m supporting myself and my fiancee. This, much to the apparent disappointment of those who live below me, means actually setting foot inside my office. With all this encouraging people *not* to go up and talk to their neighbors, but rather *retaliate* against something that may not even be intentional to begin with, it’s no wonder you all continue to have problems! Even with new tenants, you assume “damn kids, they’re no different,” and don’t even bother to make an effort. And you know what they assume? “Damn crotchety old wo/man, I can’t even walk barefoot in my apartment without them causing a ruckus.”
For all I know, the floor boards may be so poorly constructed that the slightest footfall causes this deafening cacaphony in the room below me. And any advice on how to stop this would be appreciated – I don’t want to be the inconsiderate neighbor. But I’d encourage those who are having noise troubles to at least go out and talk to the people you’re having a problem with, rather than immediately resort to the broom on the ceiling (which will only serve to drive out any good will that was there to begin with).
July 7th, 2008
I haven’t jumped in on this discussion in many moons, but I wanted to let you know that I have indeed been in your shoes! I have been on the other side of the equation. I once had a downstairs neighbor who banged on her ceiling when we were doing nothing but walking about living our lives. Not walking hard. Not walking late. Just … walking.
I began to bang back. It was giving us a complex. At the time I had two small children (who were in bed timely!), and they couldn’t even play in the apartment anymore. We found ourselves constantly telling them to be quiet, and that’s not healthy.
After a shouting-match confrontation with the woman downstairs, I went to the building manager. She patiently listened to my story and said there was nothing she could do. While we talked, I observed her two children playing in her apartment. “My kids can’t do what yours are doing right now,” I said. “Do you realize that?” I think she heard me on that one, but still felt powerless to do anything.
Eventually we moved.
July 10th, 2008
an update to my situation… finally some peace and quiet (almost). we built a house. out in the boonies, or as boonie as this area gets. finally we have peace. we almost didn’t know what to do with ourselves. then the mating bullfrogs from the pond behind our house started up… it’s almost comical. luckily it’s nothing that a little white noise in the form of a fan can’t cure.
i empathize with all of your stories. i know the pain and frustration you feel, even you top-floor dwellers! the one time i lived on a top floor and the guy below me played bongos. yes, bongos. i hardly believed it myself until i saw them with my own two eyes.
i sincerely wish peace and quiet for each and every one of you. i hope you find it soon.
peacefully yours,
carrie
August 20th, 2008
Cyberbitch, I absolutely worship you.
That is all.
November 14th, 2008
I can really relate to most of the stories here, but Kristen’s story really hits close to home. I live in a 3 story apartment building in a complex. My upstairs neighbors just moved in about 2 months ago & they are the rudest, most obnoxious people I’ve ever met! They have a 4 year old daughter & just had a newborn about a week or so ago. The baby doesn’t make much noise other than crying, but I can handle that. The 4 year old is a MONSTER! She runs around constantly until about 4 or 5am, banging, pounding & thumping on my ceilings nonstop! Every time we run our water or flush our toilet, she runs into that room & starts jumping up & down on the floor above. Her parents do the same thing. I was brushing my teeth the other night before going to bed & as soon as her parents heard me running the water, one of them came into the bathroom & started banging on my ceiling. I pounded back & yelled something nasty at them. These people have loud, obnoxious guests over late at night, stomp through their apartment at all hours, drop heavy shit on the floors, bang, pound, blast their tv. You name it, they do it. As if all of this wasn’t bad enough, they moved their 4 year old into the bedroom directly above mine. What a fun situation that is, let me tell you! She stays up most of the night, banging, pounding & jumping on my bedroom ceiling & her parents don’t even do anything about it! I am forced to sleep with 2 fans running on high & have to use earplugs or I’d never get any sleep. Unfortunately, I’m a very light sleeper so the slightest noise will wake me up. I also have to take sleeping pills so I can drop off every night. Even after doing all of these things to try & get some sleep, I still get woken up because of that spawn of Satan that they call a daughter! I have complained to the property manager, but she’s worthless & won’t do anything. She told me if I’m unhappy here then I should move! Can you believe that crap? I’ve lived here over 5 years & I’m not the one causing these problems, but she tells me I should move?! I’ve also tried calling the cops, but these douchebags won’t answer their door! I think the guy is hiding from the cops because he’s home ALL THE TIME! He never leaves his apartment, which is very strange! I’ve been looking for another place to move but no luck so far. I’m at my wits end here! Any suggestions?
November 14th, 2008
Oh, I forgot to add that these people upstairs also run their vacuum cleaner about 10 times per day. I don’t know if they are clean freaks or just plain nuts! I have 2 cats who are terrified of vacuums, so they are constantly traumatized by the noise. One night at 12:30 am they started vacuuming right over my bedroom, so I banged on the ceiling & it stopped. These people are horrible & have to go! By the way, if any of you reading this happen to know the name of a good hitman who will do a job cheaply & discreetly, let me know! >:)
November 21st, 2008
WOW. Thank you! I often feel I am going insane and am completely unreasonable to want peace in my own space. This is the second time I have had to live under a person who clearly does not CARE about anyone but himself. I thought I might have a different situation here, but the person I was taking over the lease from LIED. I told him I had just endured 9 months of hell under an extremely loud man and continually had to call the police because he was so loud. I was a nervous wrecks so was my cat. He assured me that the person above this apartment was quiet, he never hears a thing. So, here I am stuck again. The boy above me has a dog, a large dog. The dog likes to run. What kind of idiot has a large dog in an apartment above other tenants? He also gets up at 4:30 or 5:00AM most days. His walking actually shakes my dishes and glasses in my kitchen area! I am a grad student in a stressful/emotionally draining program. I tried the pleasant introduction, the letter. The notifications to the manager. He wrote me a letter and even signed “respectfully”. Ya right. Nothing has changed. The only time I have peace is when he is not home. The manager even told me it is ok to blast my ambiant music or watch movies at the loudest setting, all to drown him out-but like others have said, I don’t want to bother the other innocent neighbors. I have turned my speakers to face the ceiling. I am irritated 85% of the time and I pay to live here! It is crazy people can be so inconsiderate and managment/HOA’s do so little to help the innocent people. I wonder what they would do if we all boycotted rent? Form a union? anyone?
I do believe these beings will pay for their actions in the long run…and my job is to be as kind as I can, but really people their is strength in numbers!
December 1st, 2008
I wanted to add the latest fiasco involving my douchebag neighbors. Thanksgiving was several days ago, & from the moment I woke up that day I knew there was going to be problems. First of all, these neighbors of mine are Mexican, which means they have a BIG family. They always have family members running in & out of my building. On Thanksgiving they had a bunch of people up there & there were lots of little brats running & jumping all over, so of course my family had to suffer the consequences. We had to listen to this the entire day & it sounded like the ceiling was going to cave in on top of us. I had had enough so I banged on my wall really hard. Well, they didn’t like this very well & since the guy upstairs is obviously a coward, he sent his gangbanger relative down here to confront me. I think this was done for intimidation, but it didn’t work. I opened my door & asked him what the hell he wanted. He asked if I was banging on the wall & I said yes, I was because of all the noise coming from their apartment! I told him it’s a constant problem & we never get any sleep because of that kid running around up there the whole night, every night! I told him the shit better stop or I’m calling the police! He told me I should have come upstairs to tell them to quiet down & I told him no, I don’t do that anymore. Been there, done that & it never helps the situation. I told him that they should be able to tell when they’re making too much noise without me having to go up there. He said he would tell them to keep it down & he went back upstairs. Well, the noise didn’t stop & it seemed to get louder after that. Their company left a few hours after that & it quieted down a little. I ended up having to call the police on them last night because the noise up there was unreal. The cop was an asshole & was rude to me. He said “What is it you want me to do about this?” I felt like saying “YOUR JOB!” I mean, come on now! I told him to go up there & tell those fucking assholes that I’ve had it with their shit & I want them to STFU! I was so pissed off. The cop went up there & talked to them & they have been quieter, but it won’t last long. I’m so damn sick of this place & want to move but it’s Winter so I can’t right now. Just wait until Spring, though! Then I’m outta here! Can’t wait to finally get away from these nosy bastards!
December 27th, 2008
I’m pretty sure your noisy upstairs neighbors just moved in above me. I feel your pain.
January 1st, 2009
Man, I totally relate, as well. My neighbors have 5 kids in a one BR apartment and their kids run aroun all day and night. Like a goddam stampede. I work from home a lot and it is very disruptive. I am also a light sleeper, so it just makes it that much worse. Their bathroom is above my bedroom and they have repeatedly caused leaks. I went up there and they said they claim they don’t speak English. (They’re Bangledeshi). But I have at least heard the kids speak English and they were right there when I complained. I’ve told the super, but either he doesn’t tell them or they don’t listen. It’s so frustrating. I have also used the broom handle, but to no avail. I want to use the ceiling as target practice. I’m so sick of the “oh they’re just kids” asinine excuse. I grew up living on the third floor, and guess what? My parents did not allow me to run around the house. End of story. Jeez. People are so f***ing inconsiderate.
January 3rd, 2009
Second floor apts should be carpeted to squelch the walking noise. MIL lives in a condo in NY where you must have carpet on the floors or walk with no shoes.
Daughter has a great house for sale on Randall Street – walking distance to downtown Waukesha – great neighborhood and quiet shhhhhhhhh
January 5th, 2009
I too am having, and have had for the past several months, trouble with my upstairs neighbor. There are no kids, in fact it’s just one guy, but man…thumping and banging in the middle of the night like you wouldn’t believe. It sounds like he’s dropping weights…repeatedly!!! My husband and I awoke at 2:30 this morning to three of the loudest bang I’ve ever heard…short of blasting. It was this last straw that prompted me to get up this morning and plug “getting even with upstairs neighbor” into my search engine! 20 years ago I’d have had ass kicked for every night we lost sleep, but at 46 I’ve grown a little and am not as revengeful as I used to be…and thankfully for this guy neither is my husband…who is twice his size.
I spoke to management about him last summer and got “hummm…he’s lived here for three years…always on the top floor…and we’ve never had any problem with him.” All I can think of is that his last neighbors must have been deaf!!! And after they spoke to him he and his friends stomped up & down the stairs for several days. A lot of good the talk did.
So here I am…asking for advice and/or ways to get even with this idiot. I do like the idea of vacuuming the ceiling…definitely a keeper!!
January 24th, 2009
I have the same situation as most people on this site. Like everyone knows, these a$$….. dont care how they impact others and only do it more as soon as you complain. My best advice to anyone is retaliation( just dont get yourself in trouble). Invest in a good sub woofer and speaker system and find music heavy in bass (low frequency) . Push your sub woofer against a wall, turn up the bass . If your system is half way decent you wont have to even turn up your speakers that loud. The vibration from the sub woofer should annoy the $h** out of them especially if they cant complain about the loudness of the music. It sounds crazy but it works. Low frequency noise is really irritating (stomping, running feet are all low frequency impact sounds) . Besides hearing it you feel it and it can drive you nuts. I live underneath a really annoying woman and her little boy. She allows him to jump,stomp, run and drag things across their uncarpeted laminate floor. She has no life and goes to bed around 8:00 am everynight and feels that I should just deal with their noise when they get up 6:00 am on a weekend morning and start their craziness. She stupidly complained about how much she hates “ghetto music” so I make sure I play the nastiest stuff I can find.
June 29th, 2009
I have had a horrible experience where my neighbors above me have at least 2 kids (sounds like 10) and myself and my girlfriend have lived here a lot longer than they have (we had previous people above us with no problems). It started the day they moved in. We couldn’t believe the noise. Everything you could think of, things dragging, kids banging, yelling, etc. We basically let it go because we figured it was the “moving in” process. It wasn’t. The worst thing about it is the noise is spiratic. It goes for 20 minutes straight, “bam bam bam” over and over and over, the door slams, etc. And then it stops, completely. It’s almost too quiet. And then out of nowhere it happens again, for 20 more minutes.
I tried diplomacy. It was around Easter and so I went upstairs, gave the kids candy, and left a kind note to please keep the noise down if at all possible. It was returned with a kind letter which a little girl wrote saying, “I’m sorry my little brother is wild and doesn’t know any better”.
Ok, so we kind of let it go. The noise never stopped but I guess it improved a little. It gradually got worse. And then even worse. And now, because it’s summer time, it’s horrible.
I did my immature loud music playing to get back at them while the noise was bothering me, but we all know this does not solve anything.
I also contacted my management, and sent emails, even a video of the noise. I also called the security and on 2 occasions they showed up, but by the time they arrived the noise had stopped, so now I’m getting it from the security department that I’m the one with the problem.
The management here keeps saying they’re going to do something, but nothing has been done.
I just wish I knew my rights, I want to just move! I told them I would do whatever it takes, we’ll move to another unit, but there’s nothing available. So, I really want to just move out. I think it’s unfair to pay a lease cancellation, I’ll even stay until they can replace us with another tenant, but I would just like to know what my rights are.
Luckily it’s a townhouse style living, we have a garage below us so when it gets real bad I go to my garage one level down and tinker on a project or 2. So, I have an escape route. And, I’m lucky that it’s generally during daylight so I get my sleep, but it’s during the day around dinner time that I enjoy some peace and quiet and just settle in with the tv a little bit.
That’s what’s killing me is it’s ruining my chill time. I’m not crazy, my girlfriend is bothered by it too. I have a illness of migraines and I’m a bit more suceptable to noise than the average person, so I try to not be too picky about the whole thing, but she is equally bothered.
And the noise isn’t just silly background noise, it’s more the vibration like an entire refrigerator fell from space onto their floor (our ceiling). Our fixtures rattle, the walls shake, I swear the MMA fighters are battling up there sometimes.
I even grew up with 2 little brothers. When I started college my oldest brother started Kindergarden, so I grew up with toddlers screaming all the time, it’s what kids do. But my mom would have never allowed it to the extent that they are doing.
I just get so frustrated and built up anxiety because I feel like there’s nothing I can do.
I got a laugh out of reading some of these articles, and after reading some I’m thankful that this is my only problem! But I really would like to know, can I just leave my lease? Can I just say, “I’m moving out” and have evidence of this in court if they ever go after me for my lease agreement? It would be nice to know what renters have as rights with this, because we should have some sort of protection.
Especially because this has been ongoing since April.
Thanks for reading, I feel for everyone who has shared their info here.
July 3rd, 2009
Maybe it isn’t that the upstairs neighbors are so noisy, maybe they’re just average people, it’s the cheap materials they use in these expensive apartments that is the real problem. Rather than use good materials to soundproof the actual living spaces, the expense is reserved for the common areas which no one reall uses, the fancy decoratated offices, pools that are too small for anyone to really use except those who don’t care about being sanitary, yuk, imagine all that urine from all those kids and adults, hot tubs so small you wouldn’t want to share with others, again, yuk, landscaping, and the slick advertising to sucker us in.
July 4th, 2009
Great stories and also terrible at the same time. I can empathize with everyone who has posted on this blog. I myself am in a similar situation. Loud couple upstairs that are completely oblivious, ignorant, unaware of their actions and the consequences of them(and of course, overweight). This issue all comes down to AWARENESS. People have to be aware of their current situation and environment. Its not hard to be aware but, people are just braindead idiots sometimes.
First of all the building i live in is about 90 years old, i understand that im going to hear some of my neighbors every once in a while. But the gait of these people is thunderous on the hardwood floors through carpet!(same as every post here stomping, rolling, wrestling, dog chasing, drawer slamming, HIGH HEELS F***!!, 1-5 minutes of bed squeaking, blubber slapping sex etc.) Im not the quietest person, but my parents raised me with manners. Im quiet when its late, quiet in the morning, simple. Im up at 5am everyday and leave promptly when im done getting ready, im quiet as a ghost in the morning. These people had the audacity to call the cops on me on a Saturday night at midnight for having a few friends over. The cops lied about why they were at my door stating that the music was to loud(a movies was being watched). FYI- the reason i know this is because i have a buddy who is a cop who was on duty that night and overheard the radio dispatch which stated that there was a complaint about a woman screaming(neighbor lied to get cops to respond faster). Proving that those who can give it sometimes can’t take.
Anyway i dont want to bitch about it anymore, so my girlfriend and i brainstormed alittle bit and came up with a few “Tactics” for dealing with noisy neighbors, they range from passive to more agressive actions:
-Complain to landlord(get land lord to empathize with you). See one of the first posts on this blog by “So Lost”. Great advise.
-What i call “attack the ceiling”. Broom stick, baseball, bat, chair, subwoofer etc., used to hit your own ceiling in retaliation to their noise. This ultimately leaves marks on your ceiling and raises everybodys blood pressure.
-Not caring about your own loudness. I find it hard to not be myself, but if you can not care about how loud you are then roll with it.
-White noise. Great passive option, and helps you sleep better and makes the brain work better all the while covering their noise(hopefully). Win Win.
-Inconvience them. Timing and tactic are crucial here:
Call cops.
get roof access put perishable food item, animal etc. in kitchen vent.
Let air out of tires on car(not slashing non malishous, i suggest driver side front or if you really want to fuck with them driverside front, passenger side rear. Nothings better than watching a prissy girl in high heels get upset and cry and call everyone she knows about something that should take less than 15 min to fix)
Flush toilet when they are in the shower. A little juvenille but funny, effective and lasts for only a moment.
Confront them in a public place about their noisiness. Timing is key, on the way to work, on the way from work, you pick it.
Move, or research your apartments and condos more thoughly.
Make copy of the section of the lease that has the noise policy, highlight section, tape to their door, with note saying “Thanks for understanding”. My favorite and more professional.
Hope this helps. I feel better about venting too. You can either take the abuse or do something about it, the choice is yours, but you do have options depending on what kind of person you are. Good luck, be aware, stay positive.
August 2nd, 2009
I have had the worst 5+ months of my life. I along with my fiancé bought a condo unit about 3 years ago. Well new people moved above us, and rent. We are on the second of the three floors. Well they have a 3 year old child. So as you all know, the noises that a three year old cause can drive you crazy. We at first put an FYI note on their door stating they are loud especially between 10pm and 3am…Well this didn’t work and we then went through the Board Association which I am on and we gave them a written letter with the condo doc rules about the noise and to their unit owner. Well this didn’t work either. I then decided to talk to them in person one evening it was happening and they came back with they work 2nd and 3rd shifts and they only have this time to take care of personal things ie laundry, vacuuming, dishwashing…not to mention the child is up and running around as if it were 1pm not 1am…We as the board spoke with the owner and he basically said that they can do what they want and nothing he will do about it…Tomorrow I go to court for them filing a criminal complaint for harassment, go figure….its in the docs people not to mention the police advised them of the quite times…I’ll update tomorrow on the magistrates decision.
August 4th, 2009
All was dropped feel much better and will go forward from here, if you own and they rent you have to stand up for yourself…working with the board and lawyer to possibly have an eviction
September 22nd, 2009
Gotta love these stories. I recently moved away from a 1 br apartment which was actually the basement of a small house. It all went smoothly for the first year. It was just the actual homeowner above me and his GF. They were both small, fit people. They never argued and seemed like graceful people – aka they seemingly hardly ever dropped heavy stuff on the floor, didn’t seem to be clumsy heavy walkers, and I only had them have sex a few times in a year which was, mercifully, pretty short each time.
Then one day they announced they were going to move out and move into another home to renovate. He eventually found a new tenant for the unit above me, a young woman in her late 20′s, early 30′s (like)…maybe 20-25 lbs overweight. I was assured it would just be her and her dog. The landlord (the guy who was living above me originally) arranged a time for me and the new tenant to meet and I got to meet her and chat her (and her bf whom she told me would be there “maybe a couple times a week”) up and she seemed nice and friendly.
Then they moved in and it all went downhill. By they I meant her and her bf (full time, not just a “couple times a week”) and BOTH of their dogs. Her dog, I can’t remember the breed, was large, just a hair under 100 lbs and his dog was a hyperactive little shit who as always kept outdoors and loved to bark at anybody who walked by the front yard, who’s shrill, loud annoying bark would penetrate my little basement window of my living room all hours of the day.
The boyfriend was a big guy like me, tall (6’4) and not overweight..think 200 lbs or so and I couldn’t hear him walking, but the girl was HEAVY FOOTED and loud. She loved to STOMP around back and forth, seemingly for hours on end having me constantly wonder what necessitated having to wander around such a small living space constantly. The thumping was unbelievable sometimes sounding like a bowling ball was being dropped to the floor from waist height. Every door, closet and cabinet has to be SLAMMED shut, not carefully closed.
Moral of the story is some people have no consideration for their surroundings and neighbors. You can complain all you want but they do their routines a certain way and that’s just how they are. It sucks. You can’t, in all fairness, tell people to walk softer. I did tell them to be mindful about how loud they shut doors and cabinets but it didn’t seem to do any good.
Renting an apartment is a crapshoot. You could get quiet neighbors or you could get loud tenants from hell. Like so many other people I just can’t afford a mortgage. Right now I’m in a top floor apartment in a small 12 unit building and it’s much better than before, though there are a few rowdy tenants who like to have dozens of people over and party in the courtyard while they smoke and skateboard at 11+ PM…granted it was a saturday night so whatever. Kids will be kids. No apartment is perfect. You’re sharing a building with other people.
September 27th, 2009
Thank you all so much for helping me to understand that I am not the problem. My upstairs neighbor is the worst. I can’t even go into detail at this time, due to the court standings.
I am counting down until his eviction on Nov 15th.
I am hoping that you all are sleeping better these days.
Take deep breaths and feel relief that we are not alone.
Most people have no idea what we as downstairs tenants go through.
(I’ve recently taken my shotgun (that I keep for protection from the bears, since I live in the Catskill Mtns in NY) back to my fathers house, for fear that I will shoot him through the ceiling.
I need help, and I thank you for all your ideas.
Great Blog Scott!
December 7th, 2009
Wow, I’m glad that I found you all!
I have been living in my apartment for a year and 3 months now. I’m on the second floor, and the guy who used to live upstairs was so quiet I never had a problem with him. I knew when he practiced his guitar (5:30~6:30) and clean the house on Saturday mornings. His girlfriend would come over all the time, but I never heard a peep from them. He had a regular job and it was great to know his timetable.
After the guy moved out, this girl moved in and she’s horrible! First, she would walk around the apartment with highheels (who does she think she is, a super model?). I told my building super to tell her to stop. When she didn’t, I caught her on her way out one morning and told her politely to stop and for a while she did.
After a while, I start hearing banging sounds on the floor. Does she just toss stuff on the floor or something? At first, since that’s in the livingroom, it was o.k. for me. Later, she would have the bang sound in the bedroom, but still, I tried to ignore it.
Then for several nights, I can hear and feel her phone vibrate as an alarm on her floor and through my ceiling! There were times I had to yell at the ceiling to shut it cuz she can go into snooze mode. She doesn’t sleep on a bed, she sleeps on the floor! After telling the super to please tell her to stop and when she didn’t, I wrote a polite letter to her and slide it through her door.
Guess what happened? Last night, I hear her come into the room and can hear her walking around. Fine, it’s an old building and the heater was hissing so it woke me up anyway. But then, I hear my door bell ring at 4a.m.! There’s only 6 apartments in the building and who is up other than the girl who just came home? I haven’t confirmed whether it’s her or not just yet. But that’s just creepy. She could have been drunk or drugged I don’t know.
I’m a full time graduate student who is very dedicated to my studies. And this girl who came to the city with no job and just basically came to party should at least respect others who are living a healthy life and have stuff to do.
It’s December and my lease doesn’t end till August. I am not going to blow my deposit cuz I’m really strapped in cash. And I try to tell myself there are worst cases like written above about children and pets.
So I’ll have to either try and suck it up till next August OR make some money and get ready to move out if the situation gets worst. I’m going to see what will happen in the next few weeks cuz right now I’m going through my finals so I will have to wait until winter break starts.
Thank you everyone for sharing your stories. I’m glad I’m not alone in this stressful situation.
December 11th, 2009
I have a HUGE problem with my upstairs neighbors, that is how I came to your site.
It sounds like they moved out, (or rented a hotel room) and turned on loud music before leaving for the night.
December 20th, 2009
I have the same issues as the rest of you. I have tried everything except for clling the cops. The fat ass black bitch that lives above me is the office manager’s sister and obviously I cannot get anywhere. One day when I said something to here she called me a f….. white honky anf threatened to shoot my daughter. She is an older lady who has grandkids that stay with her aor visit her whatever. They are up very late most of the time like unitl 3:30 or 4:00 A.M. and I have to get up for work at 5:00. I lived here for 3 years now and she just recently mov3d in. I have done the screaming through the ceiling, banging with a broom handle, leave my music blasting all day while I am gone and other things. NOTHING HELPS. I cannot afford to move and cannot find the same deal I have here. Everything else is to expensive and would have less room. At this point, I need to find creative ways to annoy her now. Any ideas please, please let me know. This is just ridiculous…have some dam respect for other people in your building.
December 27th, 2009
Living in San Francisco with neighbors that have noise issues. First, a condo in the bay area is an expensive purchase and not something you can just walk away from. Concrete walls separate everything, but the hardwood is awesome for noise transmission and subs bypass insulation even sending their vibrations through pipes and flooring.
First year perfect. no noises at all. Neighbors were quiet. Occasionally on weekend or early evening, a movie was played too loud, but very rare. Then the recession occured. New neighbors moved in. Renters. I realize that based on the post above, most of the writers here are renters, and I have been a renter most of my life. While some renters are good folks, others don’t give a damn.
Two situations arose that required different methods.
Neighbor 1 is a young guy fresh out of college. He is new to the area and does not have many friends. he works 60 hours a week in the financial district. He is an educated guy. He likes to watch TV through his stereo. This was fine when we watched the same show, but other than Dexter, we really had no similar tastes. I went to his place three times to solve the problem. First time, he did not know he was making too much noise. This may be the case for many, so the first time, people do deserve a friendly request. Unfortunately, he was noisy again the next day. When I came over the second time, he complained that I was unreasonable as he was not playing the TV loud, and that the walls are concrete. I explained to him some basic principles of acoustics. We politely parted ways. A week later, TV blasts again. I walk over and offered to look at his stereo. Knowing a bit about stereos and acoustics, I thought I may have something to offer to allow him to enjoy his TV and music. The problem was that his speakers and subwoofer were on the naked hardwood floor. I explained to him that he needed to get speaker stands and get the subwoofer off the floor. He said that would cost a few hundred dollars. I sympathized and told him that fines for breaking California sound ordinances would cost much more, and in hard economic times, evictions are not good. He does not like me after my comments, but I do not hear him anymore.
Enter upstairs neighbor 2. These are two gay guys. They are gay because the hold hands, and kiss in public, so I do not want to hear people say I am a bigot. They like techno music as well. They like Lady Gaga. If I sound like I am stereotyping, well remember that all stereotypes have some truth to it, or they would not be stereotypes, and if I have to hear Lovegame one more time… OK, back to the problem. They actually play their music on Saturday and Sunday morning and work out to it. They wake and play music at 8AM and then do aerobics. This is very loud. I told them they should get a gym membership. They asked me if I was paying for it. They also said that at 8AM, quiet hours were over and it was my problem. So I checked the HOA rules. Quiet hours 10PM to 8 AM. I called the HOA to let them know that California Noise ordinances do not have time considerations. Well, the HOA ignored me. So I called the police the next time. Police ignored me basically which is common in big cities where there aren’t appropriate funds for police. Next weekend, called again. Ignored. Called again a week later. This time, I asked the dispatched if I called before. She had records that I called. Woot. So, I took the guys above me to small claims court, and they were fined and I hear no more music.
Rules for dealing with noisy neighbors.
(1) Be polite and professional at all time.
(2) First time, courtesy visit. Assume they have no idea they are bothering you.
(3) Second time, Call landord/HOA. Talk to neighbor and try to work out a solution.
(4) If above fails, stop visiting, and call police. Hopefully, they will come out. If not, make sure dispatched documents complaint.
(5) Write formal letter of complaint to HOA or landlord. You can file this with your city offices as well. Does not have to be long. If you are reading this blog, you already are spending lots of time on neighbor issues, so file the complaint with the city too.
(6) Learn your local laws. It may turn out that noise that is audible at any time of the day is illegal.
(7) Gather your documentation. Your notes help, but really don’t mean anything. Dispatcher notes, formal letters of complaint to the building and city do. Got to court, and file a complaint. You may say you do not have time for this, but your sleep is being irritated, so it is worth a few hours off. Most likely the neighbor will not come to court, as mine did not, so it was my word against no ones. Because of the documented complaints, the judge did not need to delay judgement. Also, I did not ask for cash reward. I just wanted the music stopped. Two other neighbors thanked me.
(8) Talk to other neighbors. I learned this after the fact. When the neighbors thanked me, it turned out that they just thought that they were the only ones being bothered, and they did not want to complain. Strength in numbers is always a good strategy and I wish I had spoken to them earlier.
DO NOT SLEEP in OTHER ROOMS. I here this, and can’t believe it. Those neighbors are bullies and you should not cave into them. You may rent/mortgage and have a right to sleep in your own bed in your bedroom. Your neighbors can get headphones. If they want to party, they can go to a bar or nightclub. No excuses period. Sleeping in another room because of your neighbors signifies a real problem and you need to deal with the neighbors, even if it means taking legal action.
Epilogue: Neighbor 1 is doing better with his speaker stands, and actually said the sound is better now for him too. Neighbor(s) 2 moved out as they were rented and the owner of the unit was very upset as they got the nasty letter. I believe they kicked them out. Remember, the owner, not the renter takes the legal heat. I hope my experiences help.
When and if the recession ends, I hope to sell my condo, as more and more people will move in and out over time. Single family home will be the next home for me. If you say you can’t buy right now, consider renting a house instead of an apartment. You get yardwork, but you also get a good night of sleep.
January 2nd, 2010
I really enjoyed reading everyone’s noisy neighbor encounters – it makes me realize that we’re not alone in this.
Most people seem to have the biggest problem with upstairs neighbors. Well get this – we live in a 3 story townhouse, in the end unit (so we only share one side with neighbors), and they are still driving me mad! We bought this townhouse about 1.5 years ago and even looked at it several times to get an idea of the noise level (I had really noisy neighbors in my apt, so I was cautious to buy something with shared walls). The neighbors were a nice, professional, 30-something couple with a young toddler. We very rarely heard a peep from them – usually just some slight noise from the kitchen cupboards. Such bliss!
Well, fast forward to June of this year- the old neighbors moved out and a new couple buys the place – a grungy just-out-of-college couple. The very first night I knew we were in for it. Our bedroom wall is shared – however we have closets on our side of the wall and our bed is on the outside (non-shared) wall, which provides a decent buffer zone. I never once heard a single noise from the old neighbors while in our bedroom. Well, that first night we were lying in bed and hear, ‘clomp clomp clomp…. boom. clomp clomp clomp….’ Great. The new neighbor is a stomper. We can literally hear every step this girl takes throughout the townhouse. And they are BESIDE us! The worst part is that she is at home all day (she has no car) while he goes to work. And she clomps and slams the cupboards for hours on end. Seriously, what can she be doing in her cupboards ALL DAY AND EVENING? Not only that, they slam them shut with so much force that they bounce several times and our walls shake.
They have loud parties sometimes, which I can handle because they usually keep them on the bottom floor (family room). They have some sort of contraption down there that makes the strangest noises. It’s sounds like a ball dropping, then follows with loud thuds and booms. Doink doink doink BOOOOOM!!! I have racked my brain trying to figure out what it is. And it also goes on for hours on end. Then they lock their dog in the bathroom when they leave, and he scratches at the door to get out. What results is a loud vibration on the top 2 floors of our house from the door shaking. Fun!
Everything mentioned above is annoying, but I could probably deal with it if it ended there. I don’t expect to have complete silence in a townhouse. But the part that truly makes my blood pressure spike is the noise that comes from their bedroom late at night. It sounds like they are dropping a 10 pound weight on the floor every few minutes, followed by the clomp-foot walking back and forth. The sonic boom rattles the wall behind our heads (again, non-shared wall), and this happens for hours sometimes. A few weekends ago it kept me up from 2:30-6:30am (they had a party that night and I guess all of their guests ended up in their bedroom??) It was one boom after another. My husband and I get so tense lying there waiting for the next thud. Ugh. I mean, I understand how these booms can happen from people above you, but how can someone beside you be this loud?
I have just resorted to making as many thuds and bangs as I can when we wake up around 6 or 7 while they are still sleeping off their hangovers. I slam our closet doors as I’m pretty sure their bed backs up to them. I know its the petty way to go about it, but they are about as unfriendly as they come. I am fairly certain that talking to them about the noise would only make it worse, and since we both own our homes there is no landlord to notify. Our HOA is completely useless – they do not enforce any rules, which is apparent by the 3-foot tall weeds that have taken over the front of this new neighbors landscaping – I’m sure that will really help our property value when we go to sell. I mean, this lazy b**ch is home all day and can’t even pull a freaking weed!!
Anyhow, it felt good to rant about my annoying neighbors. Good luck to everyone (I know many of these posts are old, so hopefully you aren’t dealing with the horrid neighbors anymore). I love our townhouse but hate our neighbors- we hope to be selling soon! I never imagined we would be dealing with SO much noise in an end unit townhome…
January 3rd, 2010
My girlfriend and I have a downstairs apartment with the usual noisy upstairs neighbors. I tend to be a very confrontational guy, and thus like to avoid personal contact with the neighbors, as it may very well turn into a physical dispute (id like nothing more than to beat somebody’s a** to solve the noise dilemma), but part of growing up is realizing that fighting usually solves nothing, and only complicates problems.
We live in a town in NJ where the police are crooked as hell. I’ve talked to our landlord, who owns our apartment, and she claims there is nothing she can do. We are on very good terms with her, and it would be troubling to us to ruin that. The upstairs neighbors are owners, not renters, so we have to complain to the housing association. As expected, no change at all. They (to our knowledge) never even bothered to send a notice or to notify in any other means the upstairs neighbors. Back to the police- I personally have called them three times. The first two times they came out, spoke with the people, and basically did nothing. Third time I went over to their apartment (first and only contact with them) and told them (yes, politely), that they were being loud and could they just tone it down a bit? I got a “its not our problem” response, and the door slammed in my face. I called the police, yet again, and when the officer went to talk to them, they apparently told him that I threatened to do something to them (the details are a bit fuzzy, since i didnt threaten them at all). So the officer comes back to me and tells me hes going to arrest me for threatening them. I reply with the usual “f*** you, prove it” and he agrees there is no solid proof and its a waste of time, so he leaves, but not without telling me that if I call the police again, for ANYTHING, he will personally see to it that I am arrested. Very verbally abusive, even before I had to get loud with him.
Which brings me to the fun part- I am as slick as all of these upstairs terrors combined. My plans are to purchase a high quality camcorder, with good audio recording quality, and record their noisemaking night after night (it goes on all night sometimes, no joke, from the afternoon until 8am the next morning). After about two weeks of these recordings, i’ll then write a note of complaint to the housing association (sent via certified mail and notarized), and then a note to the neighbors (sent via certified mail, and notarized). Both will be in strict legal terms, probably written by my attorney (like $300, its worth it). Then, I will call the police once more. However, this time I will have my mini recording device hidden in my jacket, so when the officer threatens me, or his conduct may be deemed inappropriate, ill have it on tape. If nobody decides to take action on this, I’ll bring it to my local newspaper, and they will run a story on it. I’ll also sue my neighbors, sue the housing association, AND sue the police department, if need be. Then i’ll sit back on my reclining sofa and watch all hell break loose.
I know, its a lot of work. But this is the one way to truly beat these a**holes at their own game. If they like to lie and exaggerate, to tell the cops there is no noise, etc. just get em on tape. And make sure you have copies, you dont want to go stirring up a bunch of crap only to have your single copy of ur recordings go missing. Cover your a** every step of the way, and you can beat them! If im lucky, ill get the cop threatening to beat me up again, or something good, and maybe ill get a nice settlement out of it, either way, since it isnt reasonable to move out now, for less than $1000 ill have to solve this problem. And its a lot less than moving somewhere else.
Good luck to all who face this problem, think in strict legal terms and you’ll figure it out!
January 7th, 2010
I can relate to the horror of dealing with nightmare neighbors and their unruly offspring. We have lived happily in a townhouse for five years until the new neighbors moved in upstairs with their WWE trained toddler. He runs, crashes, jumps, slams up and down and back and forth from one end of the apartment to the other starting at 5:30 am until his nap time at 3–with his nanny chasing him and then it starts all over at 4 until 9 pm. My husband works 12 hour days and really does not groove on getting up two hours earlier than necessary because of some out of control kid with lazy parents.
I don’t happen to agree that you can’t or shouldn’t restrain a toddler. That is a myth that gets propagated by the current generation of narcissistic entitlement parents who think their kids crap gold encrusted animal figurines. To be frank, I could not be less indifferent to their child’s needs. I have friends with young children and they absolutely believe that you should PARENT your children so they are well behaved and don’t disturb others. If you actually make an effort to engage the child in play he will sit down and play rather than run around. It you can’t be bothered then he run around like a demon until he wears himself out. If you believe that he needs to run around there are any number of places to take a child to do that which requires an effort and some inconvenience, but that’s the price you pay if you don’t want to buy/rent a house or live on a bottom floor–and it’s not my concern.
If what takes place in your apartment disturbs my peace then all bets are off, whether it’s a child, a trained monkey or an adult practicing clog dancing–don’t care, don’t want to know about why it’s happening. There was an apartment glut when our neighbors moved in. I know that there were ground floor apartments available and mid/high rises with play rooms on the ground floor for kids because we’ve been apartment hunting since they moved in. The fact is they wanted to live in a historic building in a neighborhood near a park (which they never take their kid to play in). We tried working with them–were gracious, welcomed them to the building, introduced ourselves, explained about the very old, hardwood floors, wrote them a nice note, talked to them in person twice–all we got the smiles and apologies and no change. The excuse we got was, “he’s just learning–he’ll get better. Uh, what he’s learning is that can run and jump up and down and leap off of the furniture and his ultra-permissive parents aren’t going to set any boundaries because then he might not grow up to be the next president of the United States.
It got so bad that my husband and I would spend every spare moment apartment hunting in the evening and on weekends and/or would leave the apartment and go sit in a diner for hours until we knew the kid was in bed. Then we sort of just snapped and decided we shouldn’t move–they should move. So we started a campaign with our landlord–who we have an excellent relationship with. We’ve been polite and professional in our communications–documenting everything, every day and it has worked. They got a letter from the landlord telling them that they need to start making concerted efforts to manage their child, or the next complaint they get will be met with a notice of eviction proceedings. Thank you, jesus! It suddenly got very quiet upstairs. I guess it must have dawned on them that they are not alone in the universe. The truth is some people just don’t give a cat’s ass about being considerate until they are faced with consequences that affect their lives. Hey, we can work with with jackass contingent too, but at the end of the day it’s not going to be pretty or pleasant. If we have to suffer someone else is going to suffer. Say hello to the karma boomerang.
Honestly, I don’t get why people have kids if they can’t be bothered to parent them. Concept–turn off the jumbo flat screen and play with little Johnny or don’t expect your neighbors to warmly embrace you and your child when you’ve turned their home into a torture chamber.
January 10th, 2010
I have my horror story to add and share. Own a condo in Orange County, California. Lived there for 10 yeas. First 5 yeras were OK. Last 5 very bad.
We have a couple upstairs since one year. The woman does not know how to walk in a civilized way. Her “walking” means stomping, pounding. Every step she takes is lound and heavy. She stomps like an elephant.The guy is OK but woman is terrible. The noisy woman is guy’s girlfriend. The guy upstairs owns the condo. They are a young couple 25-27 years. Upstairs people ar absolutely inconsiderate people. They don’t give a crap.
I kept quite for 6 months. But that’s it. Couldn’t bear it. I started pounding on the ceiling. This happened many times. I am not the one who starts the noisy nightmare. I respond furiously now. The response? Upstairs people wrote a letter to HOA cmplaining about me. I wrote back that they are noisy and I get sick and forced to retaliate. When I pound the ceiling, for half an hour, the noise still goes on. To let me know they don’t care. But finally, some quite comes. The noise happens in evening, anywhere between 4pm to 9 pm. But it can happen anytime.
Tired of thismental agony. In the past for different neighbors, I tried police.
Would like to know your opinions.
Andy
I do not know local noise laws. Don’t know wat to do next.
3 yeras back I had upstairs renters, even worst people. A woman with 2 children doing gymnastics on my ceiling. I called police several times. Ulimately and fortunately, they moved.
January 10th, 2010
My wife and I live downstairs from this lady and her 2 boys (15 & 17 i think). We talked to her when she first moved in and she said that her and her boys wouldn’t cause any trouble. She knew of the problems we had with our last neighbor and assured us that no such thing would occur. Well, about 2 weeks after they move in we hear the loud thumping sound of bass. I go upstairs to tell the lady that the music is too loud and the bass was vibrating our living room. She admits that she had her surround sound too loud and agrees to turn it down.
My Wife and I are nice people so we ignore a lot of the noise because the lady upstairs is not a problem to deal with and we make some noise ourselves. We have a 2 and 8 year old. We also made sure that we live downstairs in any apartment situation.
Lately the noise has gotten out of control with her kids. They run up and down the stairs every single time they come or go. Their mom told us that she has trouble with them sometimes because they like to wrestle and they won’t stop when she tells them to. Yet my Wife talks to her about a week ago and she is a pain and completely blows her off. My Wife spoke with her again a few days later and the lady said that she was mad at herself for being too loud. Sounds odd, right? Well, tonight her and her boys come home and they are running up and down the stairs again. I finally opened the door and said, “Hey, could you please stop running up and down the stairs”? “My Daughter’s room is right next to the stairs and it’s really loud”! The boy says “sorry” and then his mom comes in and asks what the problem is. I told her that I asked her son to stop running up and down the stairs. She gives me major attitude and says “We can’t bring our groceries in now”? I told her the problem was with running, not groceries. She then tells me that they will try harder to not make so much noise and then proceeded to make a bunch of smart remarks as she left. I actually liked this lady because you could talk to her if there was a problem. Now she is like every other neighbor we have had a problem with. Can’t talk to her without smart remarks, and of course, they aren’t being loud!!!
PLEASE DO NOT MOVE ABOVE SOMEBODY IF YOU HAVE KIDS OR LEAD THE PARTY LIFESTYLE! I have kids and I would never put anyone through that.
January 15th, 2010
WOW! I’ve read the stories, they are my nightmares, only I am awake, I can’t sleep. I am afraid to go up stairs. I just moved in a nice one bedroom apartment with my boyfriend. I thought it was going to be just complete loveliness. I came straight out of chaos not to long ago. I thought I was on my way to a new begining. I believed this apartment would give me some rest and relaxation. NOT. I believe it to be true that the upstairs people have a roller rink, or maybe a bowling alley. It hasn’t even been a month yet, and this loveliness I wanted is complete craziness. My boyfriend is to reserved to say anything, I have epilepsy and can’t handle confrontation. I guess I’ll wait until someone falls through the roof.
January 23rd, 2010
I can sympathize with everyone here. I have just transferred to a college to continue my education, and I thought I was moving into a nice peaceful one bedroom apartment off campus. I am 24, so I figured by this point in my life I was a little too old to be living in the dorms and that I would have peace and quiet if I lived off campus. The complex I currently live in requires a one year lease, and there is absolutely no way of breaking it…i have read and re-read the lease over and over again about the daily situation that has been going on above me since day one. It was fine the first two days since summer had not yet ended, but since classes started there has been constant noise daily and not too mention I also get the vibrational noise from the people diagonally above me also. I am not a confrontational person what-so-ever, but something had to be done. I tried the best I could of being polite, curteous, and explain the situation at hand. What should have been red flag for me was, when i said “If I ever bother you in any way please let me know” and the response to that “We wouldn’t have anything to complain about since you live below us”. I may have taken that comment the wrong way, but I look at it as a sign of being rude by just how he stated it. So noise continued to go on and on and on and eventually after many many weeks of disturbed sleep I filled out a noise complaint with the Leasing office. But nothing has been followed up with and I can only complain about the situation so much, and plus I have things I need to be doing for school and sometimes can not go running to the office each time the situation arises again and again. At this point, I am just frustrated and feel like I can get nothing done or much less feel I can enjoy the relaxation of my apartment. I just cant understand the fact of people being so inconsiderate of others. Sometimes it feels like they do certain things (stomping, running, wrestling, dropping things, moving furniture, slamming cabinets and doors, etc.) because they are able to do it and think it is fun to get a rise out of the downstairs neighbors. I am a very laid back relaxed person and I do not get frustrated or upset easily, but I feel like my “sasquatch” neighbors have ruined that quality. I am constantly frustrated and upset whenever I have to return to my apartment, but I guess I am stuck and have to just “deal with it” until the expiration of my lease. But the main question for anyone with noisy neighbors is, “when is enough, enough?”. Thank you for taking the time if you are reading this, I know it is a long tangent but I am at my wits end with my nosiy upstairs neighbors.
January 24th, 2010
This has certainly been eye-opening! I moved to a three-unit complex in August 2008 and was the first tenant in a complete remodel. By complete remodel, I didn’t think the landlord meant paper-thin walls/insulation and ceilings.
A couple with a toddler daughter moved in above me about a month later. You can imagine the problems I’ve had, as their living room is directly over my bedroom. I’m getting my PhD and need my rest, and it has been interrupted on more than one occasion.
I can hear the dog snoring through the ceiling! The husband sleeps on the sofa because he gets up for work at 5 or 6 a.m. and I hear his cell phone alarm go off.
To top it off, the mother just had another baby in October. The kid rarely cries, but if I have to hear a breast pump at 3 a.m. again, I’m going to go insane.
Landlord has a policy that 80 percent of the floors (hardwood) have to be covered by rugs; I’ve been to their apartment and the only rug they have is about 5 x 7. I have complained before, but it obviously didn’t help.
I will either get a noise reduction machine or whatever, or I will say something AGAIN.
January 25th, 2010
I too have been through the hole “kids upstairs making to much noise” crap. And I know how frusterating it can be, that the hole broom on the ceiling is the only option.
But i am now dealing with being underneith grown people. A very heavy set couple (the girl who just so happends to be my husbands step cousin). They drink every night, they have small parties just about every night. They play their wii with surround sound IN A DAMN APARTMENT FOR GOD SAKES! And to top everything off we have to hear them have sex. Now it wouldnt be so bad, if I didnt have a 1 1/2 year old daughter. Last night I yelled at the top of my lungs “SHUT UP!” cause frankly i didnt know what else to do. Think that would stop them right? WRONG! They laughed. LAUGHED! And to top things off, started back up again, except louder. Im at my wits end, I cant take anymore. And im just tempted to call the cops right now even though they arent really that loud at the moment. My landlord never comes around , its been 2 months plus since ive been able to say a word to him. Next time i see him i will be complaining and will be threatening to call the police next time i hear it. Its not that bad if our daughter didnt hear it. But what the hell do i do when she starts asking questions? Im furiated (spelling?) It needs to stop!
January 25th, 2010
P.s. Some people have no respect at all
January 29th, 2010
This same type crap with kids is really disapointing to keep hearing repeatedly. I just can’t get past the fact that people can really not get what they’re allowing a child to do in an apartment building. Let’s face it, as annoying as they are you really can’t expect some kids who may not be able to control or contain themselves if they may some kind of an emotional or physical issue that affects them. It’s up to the parents or whoever is taking care of them to keep them from getting out of hand. I live in an apartment where a young couple that seem pretty much like foreigners moved in with, you guessed it, a rambunctious rug rat who apparently seems to be allowed free rein to become an athlete within the building. Seriously, it sounds like the kid has iron feet or something and it’s a wonder how he wouldn’t hurt himself the way things in the building actually shake! People come and go in this apartment fairly regularly and I’d say about a quarter to maybe a third of the them that move in do something weird or unreasonable like blasting music or whatever you can imagine. I seriously doubt that having or attempting to have a conversation about the situation at hand with some people is really going to help much, other than maybe just befriending them. In fact it might even backfire on you sometimes. Obviously it really depends on the person and the particular situation.
February 7th, 2010
I’ve read this page from top to bottom, and I am in the same boat, just different level. In my case, the new tenant with rambunctious kids moved into the apartment TWO LEVELS ABOVE ME!!! That’s right, I am hearing constant thumping running across the entire floor and I am not even directly below them!
I went up a few days ago and told the mother that I could hear the noise 2 levels below, she said sorry and quickly closed the door. The noise stopped for that night, but only that night. They are at it as early as 6am until after midnight, and the kids can’t be more than 5 years old.
The tenant in the unit in between us told me that the news is really bothering him as well, but he wasn’t going to approach her directly. He said that he would wait a week and then call the rental office. I told him that if he decided to do that, he could also tell them that I was also complaining.
I am often away from home, so during the few times I am home, I would really want my peace and tranquility. I’ve lived here 7 years, and only had a noise problem once before. A visit took care of it. I’ve already sent a note to my rental office, we will see if that helps. Normally the office is quite responsive as I am one of their longest-tenured tenants and occupancies are quite low right now in this area. I don’t even have the option of the broom on the ceiling tactic, since it wouldn’t affect the offending apt.
I agree with the folks who question why a parent can’t train their child. That makes no sense to me. I may not be a parent, but I was a child who was trained properly, having lived in a high-rise apartment from birth until I went to college. How are these people going to keep their children from crossing the street against traffic if they can’t train them in their own apartments?
February 7th, 2010
Thanks, everyone, for sharing your stories. This problem is pretty universal, it seems.
I want to make one thing clear, however. I do understand that children make noise and that one cannot teach them to tiptoe. One should not even try. And if that means there’s noise, there’s noise. But here’s the thing: It should not be going on at 10, 11, or 12 at night. Or at 4am. See what I’m saying? For most people this isn’t really an issue, I imagine. But some people simply do not believe in bedtime or something.
February 11th, 2010
Misery loves company…I, too, am in the same boat as the others..I live in a downstairs apartment in an older building and have been here for almost a year. The girl above me has an eighteen month old son who hits the floor running between 6 and 7 a.m. seven days a week and does not stop until sometimes midnight! To top it off her boyfriend stays on occasion and wakes everyone in the building up at 4 a.m. when he is leaving for work. I have spoken with her on several occasions and asked her politely to teach her child how to walk not run and her response is that it is impossible to teach an eighteen month old how to walk…but yet she has him potty trained already. I think that if he is smart enough to use the bathroom by instruction, he is definitely smart enough to understand the difference between walking and running. I have six children of my own, although they are all grown now…but could someone please tell me if it is indeed possible for a child of this age to be taught how to walk instead of run everywhere?? I am in the process of requesting a transfer to an upstairs apartment…please help me pray that I get to move soon!!!
February 11th, 2010
No, I don’t think it’s possible or desirable to make small children tiptoe in their homes. What I do believe, however, is in rugs, carpets and above all: BEDTIME.
February 15th, 2010
I think whether or not a kid can be controlled depends on which parent you talk to. My sister has three kids–lives in an apt and has never had one noise complaint in ten years. That is because she takes the kids outside to do their running around and teaches them how to play quietly indoors. She also uses child gates so they don’t have free reign in the apartment. To expect downstairs neighbors to not have any single room where they can go to get away from noise is ridiculous. Tenants have rights AND responsibilities. Almost every lease in the U.S. contains a “quiet enjoyment” clause. No one who chooses to live in a multiple family dwelling should do so with the assumption that they can live their as if they were in their own private home. If everyone made as much noise as they wanted to, every single apartment building would devolve into chaos.
Rugs and carpets provide limited buffering for the high impact noise that is kid stomping. You cannot mask that sound with a tv or stereo. As the article in the New York Times Real Estate section said, people with kids are always concerned about outside noise disturbing their children but rarely think of the disturbance that their children create for their neighbors. In a very noisy city noise from kids is the number one source for complaints. I have as much right to peace in my home as anyone else and your rights to make noise end where my rights begin.
February 15th, 2010
Here I must confess. I lived on the second floor of a solid and well-built apartment complex. (Coincidentally, I live there again now, some 15 years later!) At the time I had small children. 3-5 years old. The woman who lived below us banged on her celing with a broom handle. I consulted the manager one day. Upon entering her apartment I looked her children and said “my children can’t do what yours are doing right now.” And it was perfectly true. Just kids being kids. Not banging things, not jumping, not impacting the floor in any way other than just the enthusiastic way that small children get around in their homes. Meanwhile, I’d spent the last months trying to get my kids not to do that–in vain.
Of course, my kids had a bedtime. Nobody heard a peep from them after 9pm. Probably more like 8pm.
All of this was in my mind when I lived on Chicago ave many years later and had thie problems outlined in the original post. First, the apartment complexes were radically different. Hardwood floors, not nearly as insulated. Second, the kid in question appeared to have no bedtime at all. Most nights I heard him well beyond 11pm, often to midnight. Third, it wasn’t just walking or running. It was the banging and dropping of hard objects–pans? toys? I don’t know–right on the hardwood floors at these hours.
And even if that incredible noise had ceased by 9pm, I would not have complained. I would have chalked it up to apartment living. And, knowing from experience that kids that small can’t be made to tiptoe in their own homes, I would have sucked it up and moved on.
Alas, it was the lateness of it that finally drove me to the measures outlined in the original post.
February 23rd, 2010
I have posted before. It doesn’t work to tell the landlords. In fact it has gotten worse. Sometimes I feel like staying in a hotel just to have a peaceful nights sleep. This is crazy. Not nice at all. I don’t know what to do! Do I have to call the police!? This is how bad my situation has made me feel. I am lost for words, I think you all know to well how this feels:(
February 23rd, 2010
If it was just children making noise, happy playful children, I wouldn’t have a care in the world. It’s not! It’s terrible inconsiderate adults.
February 23rd, 2010
I feel your pain, Monique. There were times at night when I just felt like my life had gone to hell in a handbasket. Somehow being kept awake at night under these circumstances makes a person feel that all the sunshine, puppies and rainbows have been removed from the world.
February 23rd, 2010
Scott, I still see rainbows and puppies. I see the sun come out in the morning. They haven’t corrupted me yet.
February 24th, 2010
I asked the Manager if she would come over watch a movie and make popcorn just so she could hear for real what I go through. She knew I was joking, but seriously, landlords have to hear this S##T. I have been up since 4:00 this morning. I have a day off and it is miserable.
February 24th, 2010
Yeah, i tried that, too! Tried to get my guy over any evening for a beer. 10 or 11pm, I said. We’ll sit and have one beer and you can tell me what YOU think of the noise. But he wouldn’t come.
March 11th, 2010
I’m going through a similar noisy neighbor situation, and it’s pretty awful. I’ve lived here for about 3 years now, and we have a middle aged gay couple living upstairs, who i think are either Filipino or something else…they scream at eachother constantly and seem to fight a lot….they also enjoy having very very long and wall-shaking love sessions between the hours of 2am-5am. They appear to sleep in the daytime, because we never hear them then…but start to argue and yell at eachother about 10pm…this continues until we both leave for work in the morning about 8am….seriously. I sleep with earplugs now…which helps, but sometimes I do wake up to an occassional scream from one. It sounds like a very abusive relationship, and we suspect drugs are involved. They are very erratic and sometimes we hear laughter, yelling and love noises all at the same 5 minute time frame. They also seem to enjoy moving bookcases across the room around 3am, then vacumming and giving eachother some sort of fashion show with high heels at 4am…and I know what high heels sound like on hard wood floors. I’ve complained in the past, ran into the younger one in the hallway and he looked shocked and frightened…and said ‘oh’….and ran up the stairs….then I told my landlord only a little bit of the story, because I did not want to embarass anyone to which he told me ‘oh that’s funny to hear that they are awake so late, they both work for the school district’…after he confronted them, he told me that they said me and my roomate play our music super loud and late at night and bring home lots of random guys into the building all the time…..both not true at all, my roomate was going through a lesbian phase at the time and I had a boyfriend who rarely came over….so that just made me angry…..we are just kind of scared to confront them now being two young girls and they sound like drug maniacs who could get violent? I never see them anymore in the hallway, and they don’t answer in the day, so the only option is to go up at night while they are high….Anyways, my roomate and I are just ready to move out now because it’s just ridiculous and my landlord doesn’t seem to care or think it’s a problem…
March 19th, 2010
Wow really not to be insensitive to people living underneath people, I understand the there are neighbors who just don’t care. But I had no place else to live I’m 25 the age someone should live in an apartment. I have a 2 year old and wasn’t given a choice on upstairs or down. I have lived under people before horribly loud people who really didnt give a shit. I moved in and tryed to start a good relationship with my neighbor under me who decided while I was still in the process of moving in uhhh day frickin one that she was going to make it obvious she just didnt want neighbors. She was rude from the get go and had pushed out several other neighbors. I tryed to keep my son quiet and was really really getting tired of every fucking time I turned around yelling at my son and making him think he was being bad for being a little boy. Just for her to come up stair and literally harrass me and telling me that I don’t respect my neighbors when every fucking night I was trying my best. So after her rudeness and her not showing me an once of respect nothing but vulgarity from the get go. I got pissed and am so over trying to please someone who could give a fuck less whether I’ve been trying. She is 4o something years old and if she fucking wants total peace and quiet she is the one who should be getting a fucking house out in the country. Apartments are obviously going to be rented by young famlilies dumb asses we dont have a choice were young college students. And something tells me most people bitching on here are older get a fucking house. I have lived in quite a few apartments and every one I was underneath someone until now. One apartment they fought all the time even physically which was loud. And everyone one I lived in I had the joys of hearing every couple I ever lived by having sex. I realized though no matter how mad and crazy it made me that I lived in a apartment. Because I my neighbor bitch me and my husband have only had sex 1 time ever since living here because the one time we tried she banged up at us till we stopped. It was even felt underneath my husband who couldnt keep going. Hmmmm funny thing is she never fucking gets laid I sure that would piss you off. If your a dead beat who has lived in the same apartment 10 and have kicked all your neighbors out uhhh theory fucking move you obviously just need to anyway if your neighbors are totally unreasonable thats what I did. I didnt bitch all the time about things that are inevitable!!!
March 19th, 2010
Tracie, as I have said many times here, I really feel for young families with small children. I was there once. And I do NOT believe children should (or can) be kept quiet. But you know what? So long as they have a bedtime earlier than my own, I’m ok. The folks above me who prompted the original post… they were something else altogether.
Me, I defend children and their right not to tiptoe in their own homes. Good for you. And fuck that old witch living below you.
April 3rd, 2010
I can relate with everyone. Neighbors upstairs have one 3 year old, 8 year old and infant. We all have the hard wood floors.You tell me what kind of parents allows their kids to run around and bounce their basketball on my ceiling. The noise is excessive, rude and disrespectful. I did the whole thing with talking to them politely about the noise but the idiots said “kids will be kids”…What i suggest to everybody with this problem is to stop the complaining and to move out to a single story home. The noisy people are not going anywhere. A second suggestion is to buy some ear plugs they do work well to sleep.
April 6th, 2010
WOW and WOW again.
Only lived apt lifestyle briefly, FORTUNATLEY, i realize to have always been able to live in a home ..ALTHOUGH neighbors can also be a pain!! believe me…things apt dwellers havent had to think about. Such as: Mowing (leaving a strip in the middle because THAT is YOURS to mow) Not trimming trees that overhang , then being charged if the child gets scratched , Running into your yard and suing for stepping in a hole, fence lines, loud music,,etc. MY neigbor calls me at 3AM , Its lovely let me tell ya!
When I DID have to live apt/condo/townhome…with my small children, teen children..not ONCE did I ever have a complaint and I always lived beside 2 other people and on above ground apts that required buzz up (to spare my ex from being able to walk in).
What and how you treat others and how you teach your children will come back on you.
YES , children do get rowdy at times, ALL children…but never to the point should they be punching holes, bowling and tap dancing and allowed to run a parent..whos the parent??
Last nite someone pounded on my door and ran away at 2am. Thats scary, Its scary when someone pulls in your lane at wee hours and shines a light at your door..etc. No matter what or where you live, life can be hard and scary and frustrating. Living in your own home has great advantages..but it also comes with no handyman, no built in gardener, mower, painter, etc… Weighing the balance of life is tough, hopefully you apt dwellers get BETTER neighbors in the near future!
April 7th, 2010
About the pounding on the door thing. Sometimes if may be that they just stumbled into to door or something. Had stuff like that here too in my apartment. There was a turning or fiddling with the doorknob phase we went through when certain individuals walked by every so often. The welcome mat seems to be moving around also and it usually happens when this same family with their loud child walks by. I mean it’s all over the place sometmes. But it’s not surprising coming from people who have a child behaving the way they allow him to whether is was the kid or the parent that does it.