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As stated, this is my first apartment experience. I am on the second floor of a three building apartment and there is also an apartment adjacent to me that shares a wall. The apartment, staff and neighbors (a few of whom I've met in passing) are all very pleasant. My intent with moving here was to be closer to school and to have a (reasonably) quiet place to study. I was told this apartment complex housed a lot of seniors and people who were quiet, considerate and respectful, three things I consider myself to be. I've been here only four days now.
The first day, the whole building was dead silent. This was from 12 to 9 PM Saturday, moving in. Everyday since, however, I've been getting a lot of noise, presumably from my upstairs neighbors. There is stomping sounds and the occasional dropped item, which I understand and accept as a fact of apartment living. The real problem comes with the television watching.
I haven't met them, but I'm pretty sure they are a couple. One of them gets up at 5-6 AM (I'm a light sleeper with sensitive ears) and goes to bed around 11-12 PM. They watch TV basically from 8-9 AM until 9 PM every day since Saturday. One time I even heard the TV at 5 AM, continuing on until, again around 8 PM.
Now I know these are within normal activity hours (save the 5 AM experience), and I do see that they tend to lower the volume when it gets towards 9 PM, but the main problem is the bass from the TV. It's like an ever present mosquito in my ear when they have the volume lowered, and a much more invasive low frequency blaring when they run it at a higher volume.
From about 4 until 7 they have the volume high enough where the bass is readily heard in my living area (directly below their TV), my smaller bedroom (which I intend to use to study in when semester starts in 13 days) and even the bedroom which is on the opposite side of the living area. I cannot drown out the sound.
Today, as an experiment, I turned my own speakers and sub (which is normally never on because I don't want to disrupt my downstairs neighbor) and I had to turn it (240 watt system) up to 25% with sub to drown out their TV. I also has to sit directly in front of he speakers. When I turned it off I discovered that they had turned their sound system up twice as high and were blasting music almost antagonistically (though perhaps I'm just expecting the worst). Right now it's a bother; when school starts this will make doing work in my apartment impossible and living with this for a year or at least until summer when I can move to a different unit will drive me completely insane.
Since they aren't blasting music during "quiet hours" but rather watching TV essentially from 9-9 with a subwoofer on, do I have any recourse? Are they impeding on my right to quiet enjoyment? What are your recommendations on approaching either them or the landlord about the issue? Thanks in advance. I'd also like to note that I don't hear a sound from he neighbor I share a wall with, the downstairs neighbor or the two people across the little hall. It's just the people above me.
You really have to take what the landlord says with a grain of salt. Im not saying that the landlord lied maybe the majority of people living there are older and for the most part it might be quiet. Quiet in terms of no loud parties, or fighting etc. But if its poorly insulated you will hear alot from the surrounding apartments.
You really do have to do your own investigation before moving in to determine if the place will be a good fit for you and your lifestyle. Im in the same boat and I am taking my time and really looking and researching before signing anymore leases because of this.
In the meantime, I agree with the other posters that you should talk to the landlord immediately and let him speak to the tenants. In addition, if you can get a top floor apartment that would also help. Another suggestion is to get earplugs. I sleep in earplugs and even sometimes if I need to study or concentrate on something, I wear them during the day while at home. I have a roommate that can sometimes be very noisy.
That might be an option as well getting wireless headphones for your tv until you can move.
I am SO with you on this. Whenever these neighbor noise issues come up (repetitively, thread after thread) on this forum there are two main factions which opine. The first are those who're suffering from the noise but always say they don't want to be "confrontational" or are not "confrontational" people and the second are those who advise immediately going to management via certified mail return receipt and demanding that this person's actions be stopped immediately.
It is NOT "confrontational" to nicely and quietly approach your neighbor and express your concerns about the volume of their home entertainment system. If they respond antagonistically then you simply walk away and then go to the landlord/manager/owner.
I agree. I lived in apartments for years and had my share of "interesting" experiences with the neighbors. There was the lady that loved to vacuum at midnight; the college students who didn't get their evenings started until 11pm; the guy who routinely came home wasted and singing Hotel California and I could really go on and on. I never once got the LL/manager involved. Polite conversation and simply "humanizing" yourself to your neighbor can go a long way.
Now, of course, there are those mean crazies in the world that refuse to accept that living in an apartment means that you must make special sound considerations. In that case, sure, get the LL involved. But don't jump to that as a first course of action. That can add tension where there simply doesn't need to be any.
OP, I'm quite excited about you getting into that 3rd floor unit!
Whether or not you ask your LL to talk to the neighbors, I highly suggest you at least let the LL know about the issue. Even if you say, you will handle it but you just wanted the LL to know about it. And this is why:
LLs love to have a unit filled and hate turnover. Your LL would much rather have you stay where you are when that 3rd floor unit comes up. If you move into that 3rd floor unit, now they've got another empty that needs to be painted, blah blah, where they will likely lose some rent until they can get it re-rented.
You don't want your LL to forget about you being first in line for that apt. Nicely and sweetly, remind your LL on a fairly regular basis, that you can't wait to move into that apt. This way the LL won't be able to get away with happening to "forget" you wanted it, and darn, I just rented it to someone else....
Just sayin'. You can be a nice but squeaky wheel. If the LL knows you are waiting on pins and needles and they rent it to someone else, they know they are taking the chance that you may move. Now they've lost you as a tenant.
The owner I worked for used to try and tell me that we needed to make tenants stay where they are, because he didn't want to have to turn over their apts. And they were only on month-to-month agreements lol! I'd have to explain to him that if they want a bigger apartment or one on the quiet side of the building away from the street, etc., they will just end up moving out if we don't accommodate them. If the tenants didn't have me to speak on their behalf with the owner, he wouldn't have accommodated them, and would have lost them.
My point here is just make sure the LL knows you are serious about needing another unit, but of course, you would love to stay...as long as you can get that 3rd floor unit.
So here's an update to my situation, and suggestions are welcome.
I went and visited my landlady about the top floor unit in my building but it had already been rented.
I also spoke to my noisy neighbors and suffice it to say, they were not very amenable to change. In fact I heard them outside talking about me and using some choice words; blood is in the water and now more than ever I need to move out.
As my landlady and I were talking about breaking my lease, she realized that, in another building, there was a tenant moving out. Turns out he's already in NYC and the apartment will be ready for cleaning likely before the end of the month (depends on when his friend picks up remaining furniture).
The building that this unit is in is comprised of senior citizens and a few local professors from my college. My landlady left the door unlocked today so that I could inspect it. Floor plan is the same except smaller window in main living room, extra window in main bedroom and different closet locations and materials. From today's two visits it seems very quiet, and the one old lady blasting her TV is a floor below and across the hall. Definitely ideal in terms of sound. The building is one of their older buildings (about five/six are made of brick, including the one I visited today, while the 3-4 new buildings, like the one I'm in now, have plastic siding).
The landlady is going to repaint the interior and put in new carpeting, along with general cleaning. I could be in this unit 3 to 4 weeks from now.
So now that you have the updated backstory, here's the issue:
Upon inspecting the unit again I noticed that, in the bathroom, there are 3-4 patches of blackish colored mold, presumably because the fan broke and the tenant took showers without it. The walls in the bathroom are wallpapered. The mold is mainly on the wallpaper with some of it reaching the ceiling. The patches are about 6"x7". The mold also accounts for the funky smell I noticed when I first walked in.
I am allergic to mold, plus, allergies aside it's probably unhealthy. I've also read that mold is more or less impossible to get rid of, at least completely (spores remain in the air). Basically, should I move to this new unit, with the knowledge that mold can reoccur?
The landlady is really a stellar person. I'm thinking when I show her the pictures she will have it removed. I'm just not sure if I should ask for a professional company to come in and make sure that it isn't in the drywall/fan/whatever. If I don't take this unit I'll end up breaking my lease as the next top floor unit won't be available for 3 months.
Is mold a show stopper? Should I throw away an otherwise ideal unit and break my lease and commute instead? I know you can't answer this for me but opinions/suggestions are welcome. Thanks.
Your neighbors are pissed at you because you're asking them to accommodate you and your needs. Asking them to keep quiet so you can study is just plain silly and I'd laugh in your face if you came to my door asking me to sit on my couch and not move so you could study. If you need total silence, go the library, but be aware...there are people there and they still make noise there too.
They aren't throwing wild parties, they aren't killing each other, they aren't blasting rap music shaking the whole building....they are watching TV. Your issue is with the construction of your building and not your neighbor. What you're complaining about is daily living noise...and quite frankly, it's not against the law nor is it a lease violation.
When you had your system on and they turned their system up louder goes to show you that they can hear YOU just as much as you hear them. The problem is with your building....not your neighbor and I have a feeling moving to another unit isn't going to solve your problem (mold issue aside)
Your neighbors are pissed at you because you're asking them to accommodate you and your needs. Asking them to keep quiet so you can study is just plain silly and I'd laugh in your face if you came to my door asking me to sit on my couch and not move so you could study. If you need total silence, go the library, but be aware...there are people there and they still make noise there too.
They aren't throwing wild parties, they aren't killing each other, they aren't blasting rap music shaking the whole building....they are watching TV. Your issue is with the construction of your building and not your neighbor. What you're complaining about is daily living noise...and quite frankly, it's not against the law nor is it a lease violation.
When you had your system on and they turned their system up louder goes to show you that they can hear YOU just as much as you hear them. The problem is with your building....not your neighbor and I have a feeling moving to another unit isn't going to solve your problem (mold issue aside)
But they have been blasting their TV, which includes a subwoofer (which does cause enough vibration so that none of the three rooms in the apartment are ever even close to quiet between 9-9 (roughly)). I asked them politely if they could turn down their sub, not their TV itself, and they told me to "**** off". Nothing silly about asking for a little courtesy and you're late to the party. I'm changing units, the issue is about mold. If you don't have anything to say about that specifically, then there is really no point in commenting as that part of the discussion is over. Thanks.
I asked them politely if they could turn down their sub, not their TV itself, and they told me to "**** off".
I'm with you on that one, using a subwoofer in an appartment setting just makes you an a-hole. There's no two ways around it. You can have a subwoofer, just turn it down, way down so that you don't torture your neighbors with deep frequencies that can drive anybody crazy.
I live in an appartment, and I have a big home stereo system. My sub is turned to maybe 5% power. I also have a dual-woofer system in my bedroom, with those woofers being totally off.
We did have an issue with a neighbor blasting his stereo and not caring about anybody else, late into the night. I showed him how annoying it was, by using my own systems. His behavior stopped right away, once I was fed up and treated him to some Sublime from my dual-woofer system at 3am in the morning on a work night. He realized this is not a war worth fighting.
Im considering adding a clause to my lease that prevents people from using a subwoofer, but I'm not sure how I would word that.
But they have been blasting their TV, which includes a subwoofer (which does cause enough vibration so that none of the three rooms in the apartment are ever even close to quiet between 9-9 (roughly)). I asked them politely if they could turn down their sub, not their TV itself, and they told me to "**** off". Nothing silly about asking for a little courtesy and you're late to the party. I'm changing units, the issue is about mold. If you don't have anything to say about that specifically, then there is really no point in commenting as that part of the discussion is over. Thanks.
You need to learn that on these forums you're going to get opinions you don't like or agree with.....if you dont' want opinions, don't ask for them.
I also know you're changing units..good for you, but I doubt your issues with the unit stop at the mold. And as someone already said..if you truly have an issue with mold (and you know this is mold for a fact) then don't move there.
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