Am I at fault? Normal day to day apartment noise?

Question

I recently moved into an apartment on the 3rd floor, I have a 7 yr old, 4 yr old and 5 month old. Things were fine for about 3 months no problems, even through my baby's colicky period. Now however I cannot run my dishwasher, my washer/dryer, walk across my living room, take a shower, set my baby in her playpen or watch tv without my downstairs neighbor pounding the walls and ceiling so hard the whole apartment shakes. I understand that kids can be loud and I try desperately to keep my kids reasonably quiet. However from 9pm until 8am there is relatively no noise coming from my apartment. Am I supposed to walk on eggshells or is she just being unreasonable. FYI I have spoken to the manager who seems to side with me.

Oh I forgot that the manager spoke to her for me and she had the audacity to hang up on her! I do bang back especially when there is no cause for her banging but I am really getting upset by this.

I have also tried the nice approach by bringing her a houseplant and having my children apologize for being too noisy at times. She has a family of her own, single mom with 2 kids. Thanks for all the replies I am going to talk to the manager again tomorrow and start documenting incidences to report to the property manager. Its to the point now I will say hello or something when I see her and she simply rolls her eyes and ignores me. Oh well some people just suck!

Answer 1

Without living next door to you I don't know for sure. But.....

Children are allowed where you live. Children make noise. Appliances make noise. You try to minimize it as much as you can. Your neighbor KNEW when she moved in there was an apartment above hers. You do not do things that make noise after 9. You have gone to the manager to talk about this.

Unless I am missing something all you are doing is living your life, in fact bending over backwards to try to please your neighbor, and all she does is rudely pound on the ceiling. I would tell her (or have your manager tell her) KNOCK IT OFF with the pounding, you are doing nothing wrong, and if it continues YOU will report HER for "disturbing the peace".

Answer 2

Sounds like you just have a cranky neighbor who's displeased with having neighbors above her. You pay your rent for the use of the dishwasher, and you need to vacuum from time to time. If you've already spoken to the property manager about it and you are making a reasonable effort to be courteous, you have done all you can. However, you can lodge a formal complaint to the manager. Document every time grumpy bangs, the time, what was going on in your apt., the date, everything you can. Once it's happened several times, write a letter outlining the harassment from your neighbor and send a copy to the neighbor and the rental company, and the on site manager along with the suggestion that if a reasonable resolution cannot be found, all further communications will come from your attorney. You won't have to go that far but you have every right to as long as you are fulfilling your obligations in your lease. Some may suggest talking to the neighbor yourself but that isn't always safe. It's best to let management handle it. Good luck.

Answer 3

Tell them too bad. I lived in an apartment as well and noise is a common thing. Buildings these days are made of nothing but wood and drywall so there is no way sound could not be herd by any one else. Just kindly tell them your doing your best and if that isn't good enought then they can leave. FYI. When I said your can hear noise, I meant everything. Unless your an exabitionist, make sure to keep the noise level low as well unless your wanna give the other tenants a free verbal show, if you know what I mean.

Answer 4

I don't think you are at fault at all, you just live upstairs from a jerk. I don't know about you but my lease actually says I need to have some sort of carpeting/rug in most of the rooms to cut down on the footstep noise. Not like you should have to pay for rugs just to make your downstairs neighbor happier, but if you don't have any maybe you should try it. All you can do is keep complaining that the person is banging on everything for basically no good reason. If the manager sides with you, you shouldn't worry about it. Good luck!

Answer 5

I would suggest that you nicely write your down stairs neighbor a letter telling that if they have a problem with you then feel free to document and send this to your landlord. Other then that would they stop pounding on their ceiling and your floor. .

If they continue the pounding you will be force to call the police as you are finding this disruptive and a harassment.

Explain to this person that you are aloud in your lease the freedom to run which ever appliance in your apartment that you want as this neighbor is also aloud to.

If the neighbor continue to harass you then I would get the biggest heaviest shoes I could find and buy one of my children a drum set and them the have a go at leaning them at 4am. Give your neighbor something to complain about.

Good Luck.

Answer 6

Simply ignore her and continue to document every incident with the property management. If she threatens you in ANY way, have a police report filed. I know it seems like a lot of work on your part but you've got to demonstrate by your actions that you will not be bullied. This also shows your children how to deal with problems in life.

Some people are a few cards short a deck, so documenting only protects you and your family.

Remember.. don't fight, argue, or give her any fuel. Simply document and demonstrate how "unstable" this person is by her own actions.

Good luck

Answer 7

Ask the manager if you can move to another unit on the first floor, so your kids can run around as much as they want to . I know what you are going through, my next door neighbor also pounds on the walls when I run the dishwasher,washer and dryer. I am stuck here for another 6 months.

Answer 8

Apartment suck beyond belief. I live in an apt. and have since 1996. I really hate it. I would say that if you don't play your music really loud, the lady should be happy. Of course kid's are going to make noise. I would do this, tell my kid's not to run in the apt. i would use my dishwasher, and washer, and dryer. The Apt complex i live in you're lucky if you don't get shot. I don't mind the kid's noise, or normal activity. But when I hear my neighbors loud vibrating music it turns me into an animal.

Answer 9

I had a similar problem. I guess just document it. Send your landlord a letter explaining the problem and ask that something be done. Give a copy to your neighbor. Or...at the same time, write the neighbor a letter stating your issues and asking for her help with suggestions about how things can be improved. Give landlord a copy of that too. Aside from that, not much you can do. Ignore it

Answer 10

If the manager sides with you, they should tell the down stairs neighbors to stop harrassing you. If that doesn't work, and it is that bad for you, call the cops. I say that because they most likely wouldn't talk to you in a civilized manner if they pound. Just try to get through it until it is time for thier lease to end. They most likey will move out.