Downstairs neighbors keep complaining about noise

keym

Wed, Feb 07 2018, 2:23 pm

amother wrote:

I am at work and can provide you with sources later.

I am a landlord, and these are the times. Most people don't follow them--I actually think it's 11 pm, I'll check--but it's the law and actionable.

Youre going to tell me that regular walking and regular on the quietish side playing violates the rules? OP writes that she has area rugs to muffle the noise.

amother

Slateblue

Wed, Feb 07 2018, 2:32 pm

keym wrote:

Youre going to tell me that regular walking and regular on the quietish side playing violates the rules? OP writes that she has area rugs to muffle the noise.

I'm going to tell you what the law says, without judgment, when I have the time to do the research instead of between things at work.

As a landlord, I find that parents with young children don't always understand how much noise they create. On the other hand, older adults make noise with loud TVs, often late. My downstairs neighbors asked if I'd take my shoes off when I come in; she, like my mother before her, told me I have the gait of a hippopotamus.

Everyone makes noise, it's a matter of respecting each other.

amother

Azure

Wed, Feb 07 2018, 3:05 pm

There’s nothing more annoying than my upstairs neighbor walking around at 6:30 AM when I have another precious 20 minutes to sleep .

Please op, be considerate.

Walk light, and try to keep the Kids out of the room if you can.

amother

White

Wed, Feb 07 2018, 4:16 pm

amother wrote:

The downstairs neighbors have the same layout as us and use the dining room as a third bedroom so whereever my kids play they are on top of a bedroom. I moved my kids from the bedroom and then they started brooming the dining room which yes has an area rug. I feel like I cant live in my home.

amother

Slateblue

Wed, Feb 07 2018, 4:25 pm

amother wrote:

You should check your lease, see if it says you need a certain percentage of your apartment floors covered. An area rug? Really?

amother

Brown

Wed, Feb 07 2018, 5:14 pm

I'm sorry - this is incredibly frustrating. I also had that situation & was very happy when moved into a place with no one upstairs or downstairs from me. It is normal for kids to walk and even jump around sometimes & unnatural to have to stop them frequently. Truth is even when it was just me & my husband, we lived on top of the super and he heard us walking around & it bothered him. We got rugs which helped somewhat, but not totally. I hated bothering him, but felt it was making me crazy that I couldn't walk around in own home in peace! My bracha to you OP is that I"YH you should be able to move into your own place very soon!

amother

Amber

Wed, Feb 07 2018, 5:38 pm

naturalmom5 wrote:

7 am ????

I wouldn't broom.. I would call an attorney and quite possibly have you evicted..

Yeah good luck with that LOL

that would NEVER happen....

And if by some crazy chance it succeeded, I think you'd find that you'd spent thousands of dollars on an attorney and years of your life, just to have new people move in above you, who, SURPRISE! use the floor to walk on just like the other family LOL

33055

Wed, Feb 07 2018, 5:49 pm

amother wrote:

Yeah good luck with that LOL

I would keep track of the brooming on the ceiling. It is deliberate and aggressive. My guess is that it violates noise laws. OP should note all the dates and times like when she was in her bedroom sleeping alone.

Out of normal consideration, the kids should be trained not to run between 7 and 8. This is reasonable.

OP should make sure she has the proper percentage of the floor covered with rugs.

I have not seen anything in the code that talks about not being allowed to walk in your home during any hours.

Once OP is in compliance, she can contact the landlord about the downstairs neighbor's noise violations. She probably could go to the Police with this. Her neighbor is the aggressor.

OP should see an attorney. And this isn't legal advice, but her neighbor has no rights to deliberately bang on the ceiling.

Boca00

Wed, Feb 07 2018, 6:16 pm

OP- I can so relate. I was living in an apt with my DH and infant and my downstairs neighbor would not only "broom" the floor, but throw things at the ceiling, scream and leave us threatening notes. We were not very noisy at all. It was horrible.
(Though he was always super nice when he saw me outside. Chivalry is still alive, I guess.)

I feel for you. It was so stressful and I couldn't wait to move.

amother

Copper

Wed, Feb 07 2018, 6:43 pm

mha3484 wrote:

Rude is my downstairs neighbor who plays the piano at 9:45 pm. You are doing nothing wrong. If it bothers them they need to move.

I agree. My upstairs neighbor plays a clarinet at 9-11pm and I hate it.

Orchid

Thu, Feb 08 2018, 9:43 am

amother wrote:

Landlord, did you catch the part where the neighbors complained about noise when they walked (not stomped or ran) to their bathroom at 2:00 am? How are they not "respecting" their neighbors - by not using adult diapers?

ceebee

Thu, Feb 08 2018, 10:13 am

I've dealt with this in several apartments, one with a really crazy downstairs neighbor who I just started to ignore every time they banged on the door. I couldnt walk to my bathroom in middle of the night or god forbid drop something on the floor without them running to my door and banging like a maniac. My advice is to ignore them. Your downstairs neighbor is unreasonable. You are allowed to live. Your kids are allowed to be kids. 7am is a normal time to be up to get ready for school and work. If they want total silence they can move to a private home. The posts saying you can have an eviction or lawsuit against you are just empty threats; you are doing nothing wrong. Welcome to apartment living.

amother

Slateblue

Thu, Feb 08 2018, 10:39 am

Orchid wrote:

Ok, so I wasn't vicious to you, so perhaps you won't be vicious to me? How about we start there? Calling me "Landlord" and making the diaper remark, not helpful and kinda mean. Walking to the bathroom in the middle of the night, unless you're in heels, is FINE. I never said otherwise.

amother

Slateblue

Thu, Feb 08 2018, 10:47 am

I was incorrect, it's 10-7. I'm still not happy if I'm awakened before 8, but that's me. I do think we all need to work together and make sure we are not upsetting others, no matter what the law is. That means carpeting with padding underneath and shoes off. WHy common courtesy seems too much here, I don't know

https://untappedcities.com/201.....s-it/

FranticFrummie

Thu, Feb 08 2018, 10:52 am

Jean-Paul Sartre famously said "Hell is other people."

I once had neighbors who complained to the landlord that I had a bunch of friends over and we stayed up late all weekend "drinking and listening to loud music and laughing too loud."

Which was very interesting, considering I was in a different part of the country that weekend, and had the time stamped train tickets to prove it. My place was completely empty. I didn't even have a cat at the time.

These were the same elderly, nearly deaf neighbors who pushed their TV against the common wall and cranked up the volume full blast. Rolling Eyes

I moved out the day my lease was up, and not a minute too soon.

oliveoil

Thu, Feb 08 2018, 2:57 pm

I'm currently the downstairs neighbor, and while I understand that the people upstairs are for the most part not doing anything outrageous, they have NO IDEA what it sounds like downstairs.

I've only broomed very occasionally when it was legitimately unreasonable - ie. furniture moving after midnight. The rest of the time I just tell myself it's part of living with neighbors, but don't kid yourself - it absolutely affects quality of life, probably more for us than for you. I am constantly woken at night (yes, even with noise machines). My sleeping hours are tied to theirs, so if one of them is up late and another one is up early, well, I have no hope of getting a decent night's sleep.

I use white noise and earplugs, AND they have carpeting, but it's an old house, and I hear people walking/running two floors up as well.

At the moment moving is not practical, but you can be sure it is the very first thing I will do when it is.

sima

Thu, Feb 08 2018, 3:09 pm

7 am is not that early...... That's pretty much standard waking up time for most people.
She said her kids were just walking/playing normally nothing noisy and she already has rugs.

What else is the OP supposed to do? People need to lighten up and of course also be respectful. Obviously they shouldn't be noisy or whatever but this situation describes "normal"living.

I once had an opera singer neighbor LOL

I actually enjoyed it, but I'm just saying that's part of apt./city living

amother

Slateblue

Thu, Feb 08 2018, 3:45 pm

sima wrote:

I actually enjoyed it, but I'm just saying that's part of apt./city living

Honestly, it's like the upstairs people don't actually even care about the downstairs ones. Have you read what the downstairs' people are saying? Maybe not make assumptions about when people wake up, put down real rugs (not area rugs). Is it so much to ask for people to be mindful of the noise they make? All of this sounds very much like "Too bad, suck it up, not a big deal." Yet the people below are telling you it is a big deal. As a landord I tell you it's a big deal.

My experiences, honestly, are that people very often say "part of city living" till they're living below a screaming toddler who's running around in shoes.

amother

Sienna

Thu, Feb 08 2018, 3:57 pm

Sounds like the snowflakes who can't tolerate the noise that comes from basic daily living didn't grow up in apartments. I grew up in a 9th floor apartment in a 20 floor building, so I was both an upstairs and a downstairs neighbor. I know what it's like from both sides. We had over half our apartment carpeted, that was the rule of the building. But yeah, you heard all sorts of stuff, both above and below. Sometimes it was annoying, but that's city life. Maybe because I grew up this way I just don't understand why hearing footsteps above you is so awful and robbing you of sleep etc.