Neighbor with subwoofer nightmare (apartments, lease, tenants, renter)
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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!
Last edited by Paperwork; 07-30-2014 at 06:13 PM..
Contact your landlord. At very minimum I would expect your landlord to either relocate you to another apartment or squelch your woofer from hell.
I did contact the property management company. I brought it up to the on-site manager. She took down a little note, and kind of brushed the situation off like it was no big deal.
You no longer have "quiet enjoyment" (legal term) of your apartment. Start documenting everything, all communications to the landlord. Contact your local legal aid about tenant's rights for your area, explain the problem, and follow their directions. You may need to call the police several times (for documentation) but check with them, first.
You might then be able to get out of your lease and move without losing your security deposit and other monies. Or you might get lucky and he'll have to leave, but if he's on disability, he might be harder to evict.
Unfortunately, with a social disaster of a neighbor like that, your best bet might be to move ASAP.
OP, that's the reason I bought an awful trailer (on its own land, not in a court) and rehabbed it 30 years ago. I get really crazy after more than 6 minutes of a subwoofer. I paid something like 13K for that piece of garbage but I had quiet. Perhaps you can find a duplex or something where you won't have anything like that.
You no longer have "quiet enjoyment" (legal term) of your apartment. Start documenting everything, all communications to the landlord. Contact your local legal aid about tenant's rights for your area, explain the problem, and follow their directions. You may need to call the police several times (for documentation) but check with them, first.
You might then be able to get out of your lease and move without losing your security deposit and other monies. Or you might get lucky and he'll have to leave, but if he's on disability, he might be harder to evict.
Unfortunately, with a social disaster of a neighbor like that, your best bet might be to move ASAP.
OP, that's the reason I bought an awful trailer (on its own land, not in a court) and rehabbed it 30 years ago. I get really crazy after more than 6 minutes of a subwoofer. I paid something like 13K for that piece of garbage but I had quiet. Perhaps you can find a duplex or something where you won't have anything like that.
Thank you for the advice. The people I've talked to about it (friends, family, etc.) have all tried to diminish the issue (e.g. its no big deal, just tell the management, etc.). Non of them have had the misfortune of being in this situation though -- especially when it's compounded by a very belligerent/aggressive neighbor. I genuinely feel threatened for my safety (retaliation) from this neighbor, if I continue to try to get the situation solved (e.g. file complaints with property, call police, etc.).
Also, the property management company seems very hands offish even though they employ 2 on site managers. It's like they are just there to deflect/make light of any complaints/situation, and not take measures to resolve it.
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.
Typical thug behavior, people who blare their bass do it to annoy other people, that is the enjoyment he gets as a useless mentally disabled piece of crap that can't be happy unless they make everyone as miserable as they are. He is no different than the dudebros who ride around late at night blaring woofer test CDs through their bass cannons as if they don't know any better, a complete lack of consideration and civility.
You need to insist that the property management company handle this or you will take your complaint to the police. If it continues then just move elsewhere, find a complex with a noise clause in the lease and lots of elderly residents.
If it continues then just move elsewhere, find a complex with a noise clause in the lease and lots of elderly residents.
There's no buy out clause on the lease .. you have to pay the remaining rent of the lease to get out of it. I don't have that kind of money.
Obviously, this is my fault for being so naive to not consider that I might need to break the lease. I figured a nice part of town, in a community with no complaints at typical apartment review sites, would equal an average/typical apartment experience. This place is a great location (in the middle of everything) -- which was what attracted me.
Basically, the entire situation has been a nightmare though. Everyday I'm becoming more educated to just how ghetto/unkept/unclassy this place is. And how cheap/useless the property management company is. I think I'm surrounded by section 8 occupants.
I'm a very low maintenance renter who is completely ok with general apartment noise. But feeling your neighbors' bass is something entirely different. It's one of those things where you are constantly conscious of it .. hearing this faint very low sound coming from seemingly out of nowhere (sometimes stronger, sometimes less, sometimes non-existent, but just consistently there).
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