Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Having lived in an apartment with paper thin walls and hardwood floors, I can relate. Since the primary offender seems to have quieted down, I'd go down and introduce myself to the neighbor below and tell him to turn his music down. Even better if you could bring him up to your place to hear for himself. Most of the time apartment dwellers have no clue how noise travelers and that their music/footsteps could sound louder in another place.
I would keep complaining to the landlord/property manager, and try to get other tenants involved. After you have a few people continuously complaining the landlord/property manager will no option but to evict the ahole. Good luck.
It's the bass that rumbles your house that is my problem.
You would just think this is a given that you wouldn't need to complain about this type of disturbance.
Who the **** blasts a subwoofer in a building with like 10 apartments all sharing walls?
I've lived in apartments all my life, it's usually just common courtouesy that you don't blast a subwoofer, and if somebody is, it's usually dealt with swiftly by management.
I leased the apartment from hell surrounded by two thugs who like to blast subwoofers. Totally my mistake. I will never make assumptions based off the reputation of an area again.
This is what you do....
Put your complaints to management on paper/email for a month... note when the disturbances happen.
After a month, contact the police (or noise ordinance dept.). Provide them with a copy of what you have.
Keep complaining to management... call cops... post noise ordinance copy on your neighbor's door once. Note when you do it. Avoid confrontation with this individual... he might be really crazy.
Then after three months or so, see if management will allow you to break your lease without penalty. If not, take to court or see if police will correct the situation.
I had someone below me for a time with loud music... I got them out in three months. They would come in drunk at 1 am and blast music until 4 am. Crazy people.
That would drive me batty! My sincere sympathy. Really.
You shouldn't have to tolerate that, and I'd follow the sage advice to document, get legal counsel, and start building a case to get out of there ASAP.
Keep complaining to management... call cops... post noise ordinance copy on your neighbor's door once.
... If not, take to court or see if police will correct the situation.
Will not work. The noise is from bass and is vibration - the neighbor isn't blasting out loud music but has the bass turned up. It's not a jurisdictional noise ordinance issue and neither the police nor the court system can do anything about it. Either the OP talks to the neighbor (the point made about inviting him up to feel the effect for himself is a good one) or speaks to management. Not everything is a litigation issue.
Thank you again for all of the sound advice. You guys have helped me through a really difficult issue, and things have gradually improved overtime as a result.
I wanted to chime in with another update and let you know where things stand with the neighbors as of 8-11-2014.
My neighbor directly next door to me, has been silent as a cat since I sent a formal letter into the leasing office. *Knock on wood* I don't know how long this will last.
My neighbor below me, although his bass is MUCH heavier, he chooses his spots much more selectively. E.g. he goes days without using his bass, and when he does, it is louder, but for shorter periods of time. This is FAR more tolerable than my neighbor next door, who just continuously around the clock had his bass/subwoofer up really high when watching TV (and since he's home all day, it was on all day long, with continuous thumping sounds).
This neighbor below me, did have a loud domestic issue over the weekend, but that is far more tolerable than constant floor rumbling subwoofer-producing bass.
As of right now, this apartment has become 100% more tolerable to live in.
Thank you again for all of the sound advice. You guys have helped me through a really difficult issue, and things have gradually improved overtime as a result.
I wanted to chime in with another update and let you know where things stand with the neighbors as of 8-11-2014.
My neighbor directly next door to me, has been silent as a cat since I sent a formal letter into the leasing office. *Knock on wood* I don't know how long this will last.
My neighbor below me, although his bass is MUCH heavier, he chooses his spots much more selectively. E.g. he goes days without using his bass, and when he does, it is louder, but for shorter periods of time. This is FAR more tolerable than my neighbor next door, who just continuously around the clock had his bass/subwoofer up really high when watching TV (and since he's home all day, it was on all day long, with continuous thumping sounds).
This neighbor below me, did have a loud domestic issue over the weekend, but that is far more tolerable than constant floor rumbling subwoofer-producing bass.
As of right now, this apartment has become 100% more tolerable to live in.
that's wonderful news..I hope they stay quiet for you. Don't hesitate to contact your landlord if they keep it up and also call the police. If they can hear it or feel it x amount feet from the door, they will contact the tenant. I know in our city it's 6 ft. If they can hear or feel the noise within 6 ft of the door they will issue a warning and then escalate to a ticket from there.
My neighbor below me, although his bass is MUCH heavier, he chooses his spots much more selectively. E.g. he goes days without using his bass, and when he does, it is louder, but for shorter periods of time. This is FAR more tolerable than my neighbor next door, who just continuously around the clock had his bass/subwoofer up really high when watching TV (and since he's home all day, it was on all day long, with continuous thumping sounds).
I used to do that at my old house. My stereo was almost capable of bringing down low flying small planes. I'd go for weeks at a time with nary a peep from me, but once in a while I'd crank it for 20-30 minutes when I felt like rockin' out. Then another few or several weeks of peace and quiet. And I usually did it in the middle of the day, not when it's quiet at night, and if weather permitted I always closed my windows.
Hi - i was going down the street and car next to me, had the passenger side windows open with the bass blasting, and i felt those vibrations, i thought of you, and thought wow this is what this guy is going thru
The first day I moved in, my living room and kitchen area were vibrating/rattling from the neighbor's subwoofer. I ignored it, hoping it was a one-off event, and went back to unpacking. This killed the whole "new apartment in a central location" excitement that I had about my move almost immediately. I went to bed with stress knowing this could be a longterm issue.
When I woke up, again, my walls/living room/kitchen area was inundated with low heavy bass sound (it's faint, but consistently there, and extremely intruding). This time, I went over to the neighbor to politely ask him to turn down the bass. He became belligerent, stepped up to my face like he wanted to fight, and it became immediately apparent that I was dealing with a mentally unstable aggressive individual. He said vile disgusting things, was intimidating, and generally told me to F*** off. His argument was that if I didn't want to hear the noise, then I should live in a house. His other argument was, that since he's on disability, this is the only enjoyment he gets, and he WILL never change the way he lives because of a neighbor. When I left, he told me to stop acting like a baby, and slammed the door hard as I walked away.
I did get the rest of the day with peace (I didn't hear the sub). The very next day (today), it's back on, and it's REALLY hard to drown out. I don't even want to set anything up in my living room, and I don't want to go into my kitchen. I don't want to talk to the neighbor about the issue anymore either, as I'm threatened for my safety due to his reaction on the first visit. I mentioned this ordeal to the property management company, but I got the vibe from them that they don't really care.
Anytime I'm in the kitchen, I'm constantly hearing this heavy drum-beat esque sound. And it makes my blood pressure go up. I can't put into words how heavy/disruptive this sound is (it's hard to describe -- it isn't loud, it's just there, and faintly consistent, off and on all day long). Normal apartment noise is fine to me. Train, local business/traffic, kids outside playing, random creaking from neighbors walking, etc. (All of this you get used to). I've been living in apartments my entire life...nothing compares to this sub/bass sound though.
And today, while in my bedroom, I heard loud bass coming from my downstairs neighbor (this was very temporary, but exacerbated the issue).
What are my options here as a tenant? I can't live like this for the next 11 months, I don't want to deceitfully market this place to prospective tenants (e.g. find somebody to take over my lease -- nobody will, if they know they are surrounded by 2 people who have sub woofers) and I'm on the hook for the rent until the lease expires with no buy out.
I've been here a total of 3 days!
That's a well-written description of evil subwoofer scum. I think the majority of such people know full well that neighbors can hear their bass, so it's not just a matter of informing them and expecting empathy. You are dealing with true evil. It creates a constant "when will the other shoe drop?" dread and interferes with living during silent times.
I think subwoofers should not be allowed in apartments or condos because they are too easily abused and sound propagation is unpredictable. Even an experienced sound engineer could have trouble controlling bass, let alone some thug with a chip on his shoulder.
One of the most annoying things about bass is that even at subtle levels it can create a water torture effect when the mind locks onto it. Decibel measurements can be useless in that regard. It's like "wind turbine syndrome" where the quality of the sound, not just its volume, is the main irritant. And many landlords won't accept such subtle concepts. They think a noise either has to be "loud" or you should just "deal with it." They are scum-enablers.
In hindsight you should have gotten the manager involved the first time (for a degree of anonymity) but it's too late for that now, and it also assumes the manager isn't a typical liar who will tell you to your face that the bass "isn't that loud" just to keep paying tenants on the property. A conflict of interests exists from day one with noise problems due to the hassle of evicting someone and rent money paying the manager's own bills. Unless you get the manager on your side you'll probably end up moving for sanity's sake.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
