Two 2 year olds moved in upstairs from me. I know little kids run but I hate having my furniture and windows rattle when they do. What can I do about this situation?
2006-08-25 02:05:16 · 21 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Etiquette
As a retired 25 year career in apartment management, you have a situation. When you experience this type of problem with someone's children it is very touchy. It is touchy because the parents are aware of the problem. They just can't remedy it.
Young children do not understand the noise factor and they should not have to understand. They are children............
I always talked to the young parents with children. I explained the noise situation that they would face on an upper floor. Some times when people come out of a house to an apartment they don't realize these things. I would suggest a lower floor to them so the children could run, jump and whatever and not bother anyone else. Some times playing in the hallways can create a host of problems too.
It is a no-win situation. I know if the parents of the young children knew in advance the problem they would make a different decision. Apartments are just not made for the little people. They should be able to make all the noise they want. (within reason!)
I would begin with the apartment manager. You neighbor is going to take it badly from you or her. It is the responsibility of the manager to handle it. It an be done in an acceptable way.........
2006-08-27 05:19:19 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I think I might live upstairs from you. Are you in apartment 522? lol
I have a 2 1/2 year old and a 13 month old, and nothing my husband and I do or say makes them stop. The 13 month old isn't so bad, but my 2 1/2 year old is sometimes wild. We don't have a playground in our complex, and it's entirely too hot to take the kids to the park (we live in GA), so we're stuck. We can't exactly take them into the parking lot and let them run around on the asphalt to burn off their energy, you know?
I would start by figuring out the times they're most active. If it's between 7 and 8 p.m., but they're usually quiet the rest of the time, go knock on their door and talk with their parents about it. Tell them it's incredibly annoying/frustrating and see if they can please try to keep their children calm. Be warned: You'll probably be known as the b*tch who lives downstairs from now on. (*I* don't feel this way, but some people are very protective of their children, and think that the kids can do no wrong, blah blah blah). I know my kids are little monsters sometimes, but there really is nothing I can do to get them to calm down. Anyone who has toddlers knows that they're like this. Kids have a boatload of energy, and if it's too hot/raining, etc. to go outside, you can't expect a 2 year old to just sit and play quietly.
Since your actual furniture is rattling, maybe if you told the parents this, and said that you understand that kids need to run and get rid of their excess energy, but if they could at least let them run quietly, or put some rugs down (if they have hard wood floors) or let them run in a different area of the house, you would appreciate it?
Our complex has a rule...no amount of noise is acceptable after 10:00 p.m., but no ridiculously loud noise is acceptable at any time. If talking to the parents doesn't work, file a formal complaint with the leasing office or your landlord.
2006-08-25 03:55:26 · answer #2 · answered by brevejunkie 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Being a person that lives upstairs with a child, I have to say that you should say something to the parents, just make sure you make a joke out of it so they don't think your saying something bad about thier precious children lol. Maybe something along the lines of " I don't see how you keep up with all that energy, I had a picture frame fall off the wall yesterday when they were running ha ha " If the neighbors are any sorts of polite they will take the hint, or even take the lead and ask you if it is really bad. I have had 2 neighbors below me and I always ask if my 5 yr old and her dog make too much noise. They have always said no, they don't ever hear anything, so thank goodness we have a strong floor. Hopefully they arn't lying, so if those parents ever ask you, make sure you tell the truth right away, I'm sure they will try to keep the noise down to a minimum. Just don't expect complete silence becase kids will be kids and they like to run and play, they fall down alot and bump into things. Having 2 of them makes it twice as much noise. But hopefully, just a small talk with the parents will make it where they will try to be more aware of the situation. If they act like they don't care or they are rude about it, then go to the apt complex and tell them that you have tried to talk to the upstairs people and because the apts are so porely built, they need to help you come up with a solution, even if the people upstairs do try to tone it down and it just isn't enough for you. You have just as much right as anyone else as long as your expectations are reachable. As for calling the police, I don't see what that is going to do except make a big fight within your apts because needless to say a police officer isn't going to make those kids stop playing and falling anymore than the president or God. =) Good Luck!
2006-08-25 03:10:53 · answer #3 · answered by Becki 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Kids Running Around
2016-11-10 22:11:35 · answer #4 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Honey, situations like this are unavoidable and irreparable. They can't help it because rattling noise is not much of a sign that the kids are noisy, but rather that the ceiling is not very reinforced. The only thing I've seen done in these cases is wait each other out: hopefully they'll move out soon OR you could move somewhere else (think 2nd floor).
2006-08-25 02:46:12 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
I can feel your pain. That's a downside to apartment living. I've never met a landlord (especially of an apt. complex) that would do a thing about it.
Police will just tell you that children naturally make noise and run around.
So, I guess you only have 2 options, live with it or move.
I opted for the latter. I just couldn't take it anymore.
Good luck!
2006-08-28 21:41:50 · answer #6 · answered by Cookie 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I would politely bring it up to the parents. They may not even realize that it is affecting you so they hopefully will take action on their own when you bring it up to them. Otherwise you may have to ask your landlord about moving you to a different apt. or somewhere else. I have two young ones and that happened to me, the neighbor brought it up to me, I now make a conscious effort to keep the kids from running around. Good Luck!
2006-08-25 02:15:06 · answer #7 · answered by JenJen 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
woah! that must be some fat 2 year olds! Get your self a tape recording of a monster growling and play it real loud every time they run. Before long they'll be tip-toeing to not wake it. Maybe you can let the parents know what your doing if you think they will work with you.
2006-08-25 02:13:30 · answer #8 · answered by Love is the principle thing 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Oh man, I had this same problem! It drove me insane! I never said anything about it, because I was moving in a couple months anyway, but you might want to say something to the landlord/manager, and they can tell the parents. They may not realize that it is such a problem. If it doesn't get resolved, move to another unit. Or, you can bang on the walls when it happens....maybe that will teach them!
2006-08-25 03:41:17 · answer #9 · answered by alwaysright 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Politely ask the parents if they can put some rugs down, as this will help damper the sound a bit. Some apartments actually state in the lease agreement that upper floor tenants should be prepared to put down rugs to help with the noise.
2006-08-25 03:35:40 · answer #10 · answered by Krista D 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋