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One of the first buildings I managed was in the heart of the city with freeway noise just a few feet away... it was a very hard building to rent as the noise was objectionable...
Since the freeway was here to stay... I approached the owner into adding amenities for those with impaired hearing... like camera intercom and doorbells with strobe lights...
It worked... over the course of a year... I had a building with happy tenants... noise was no longer a problem!
Go invest in a pair of over-the-ear noise cancelling headphones. They should be $200 or less. Then just live with it until you move. The Problem is unlikely to change and kids cannot be made to sit still 12 hours per day.
One of the first buildings I managed was in the heart of the city with freeway noise just a few feet away... it was a very hard building to rent as the noise was objectionable...
Since the freeway was here to stay... I approached the owner into adding amenities for those with impaired hearing... like camera intercom and doorbells with strobe lights...
It worked... over the course of a year... I had a building with happy tenants... noise was no longer a problem!
And it may seem odd to some however, train, plane and automobile noises for some reason can be adapted to however, booming/banging/running/stomping, etc noises above your head are different and are very difficult to adjust to if even at all.
But none the less, a very great, proactive idea ultrarunner
As another poster stated start a time line of proof and perhaps buy a basket ball and learn how to throw it up in the air and make it reach the ceiling a couple of times a day
Maybe near an area when they want their peace and quietness and it may make them realize they are not the only ones on earth.
Thank you all for the inputs.
For those of you saying 'just deal with it'. Perhaps you have never experienced this and understand just how traumatic it is. It's not that I don't love kids, and I certainly don't hate the little rascals above me. But the fact that there are 2 adults/parents in the house and they just let the kids disturb other neighbors is absolute BS.
I lived in NYC for over a decade so I know what normal noise is like and can deal with it. Loud music on/off i can deal with, road noise, plane over your head, hell gun shots I can deal with. But this here is no normal noise. Kids jumping up and down furniture, banging things on the floor (wooden floors btw) constantly on top of your head. It is extremely uncomfortable to remain in your own apartment.
....... my neighbors right above me have 4 little children. .....
Your landlord can not refuse to rent to people with four children. Children are a protected class. Your landlord is not going to be able to evict the neighbors with four children. No judge is going to throw a family with four children out into the gutter just because the children make normal childhood noises.
You can complain to the landlord, OP, and all he can do is to give the tenants a notice to dampen down the noise. My experience with inconsiderate people, though, is that they feel entitled and "ain't nobody going to tell me what to do". They might pipe down with a landlord notice, but if they do, you have been unusually lucky.
Nobody likes to hear that there is nothing you can do about it except to move or wear earplugs, but that is all that you can do about it. So, OP, your options are to move out or wear earplugs.
I don't have apartment buildings because I don't want to have to try to referee for a bunch of adult children who can't figure out how to get along. However, if I were your landlord and you were complaining about noise, I'd kick you both out. Both you and the family with the kids. It is not my job to sort out personality conflicts. I use month to month instead of leases so that I can get tenants out when I want them out, so out you would go. Problem solved.
Your landlord can not refuse to rent to people with four children. Children are a protected class. Your landlord is not going to be able to evict the neighbors with four children. No judge is going to throw a family with four children out into the gutter just because the children make normal childhood noises.
You can complain to the landlord, OP, and all he can do is to give the tenants a notice to dampen down the noise. My experience with inconsiderate people, though, is that they feel entitled and "ain't nobody going to tell me what to do". They might pipe down with a landlord notice, but if they do, you have been unusually lucky.
Nobody likes to hear that there is nothing you can do about it except to move or wear earplugs, but that is all that you can do about it. So, OP, your options are to move out or wear earplugs.
I don't have apartment buildings because I don't want to have to try to referee for a bunch of adult children who can't figure out how to get along. However, if I were your landlord and you were complaining about noise, I'd kick you both out. Both you and the family with the kids. It is not my job to sort out personality conflicts. I use month to month instead of leases so that I can get tenants out when I want them out, so out you would go. Problem solved.
I'm not advocating for them to be put out. We are literally asking our landlord to kick us out at this point, and I wish they would. With the kind of rent we are paying, we can certainly get a much suitable living space. I don't care what happens with the neighbors upstairs, just let me go.
Your landlord can not refuse to rent to people with four children. Children are a protected class. Your landlord is not going to be able to evict the neighbors with four children. No judge is going to throw a family with four children out into the gutter just because the children make normal childhood noises.
And no one has once even remotely asked for anyone to be kicked out or has asked that LLs not rent to children. Where do you get these ideas from anyway? And, as I have said before, just because children may be a protected class, it doesn't mean they have free reign to do, and get away with, anything they choose to. Not even close! This has absolutely nothing to do with discrimination of any kind. Just because it is 'children' making or causing the noise, does not by any definition of the word mean that anyone is discriminating against them. It is loud and disruptive noise, no matter who is making or causing it.......period.
And anyone having this problem is only asking for a 'compromise' of some sort and just a little common sense and respect for others as everyone rightfully deserves.
I just moved to a new rental unit in California. Unknown to me my neighbors right above me have 4 little children. And they constantly run around and stump at different hours of the day. The noise starts as early as 7am in the morning, some days it's what wakes me and my wife up. My apartment has become uninhabitable during the day. I have to leave just to get any studying or work done. I've only been in this unit 2 months and I've made several complaints to the landlord. I even suggested they move us into a different unit in the building at the same rental price. But the landlord has refused to move us or remove the noise.
My wife has anxiety and the noise has made it really hard to live or cohabit together. It's been a roller coaster month for us.
There is a clause in my lease that states “Noisy or disorderly conduct annoying or disturbing other residents will not be permitted.” I have pointed this out to the landlord and other codes in California laws.
At this point I have decided to withhold my rent payment until something is done. Am I justified to do so? Am I able to break my lease for this reason? or Am I still liable to pay rent?
In the vast majority of cases, this statement means anything other than normal living noises. If the neighbors had their stereo cranked up at 7am, you would probably have a valid complaint, but you're talking about the noises of people moving around. It may be an inconvenience to you and your wife, but it's noise that's unavoidable.
Thank you all for the inputs.
For those of you saying 'just deal with it'. Perhaps you have never experienced this and understand just how traumatic it is. It's not that I don't love kids, and I certainly don't hate the little rascals above me. But the fact that there are 2 adults/parents in the house and they just let the kids disturb other neighbors is absolute BS.
Please. Being assaulted is traumatic. Experiencing war is traumatic. A divorce can be traumatic. This is an awful nuisance, but cut the melodrama.
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Kids jumping up and down furniture, banging things on the floor (wooden floors btw) constantly on top of your head. It is extremely uncomfortable to remain in your own apartment.
Wood floors is your problem. 4 people with wood floors above you is just going to be noisy. Beg the LL to be let out of your lease, find a sfh or top floor or new construction with concrete floors. Good Luck.
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And, as I have said before, just because children may be a protected class, it doesn't mean they have free reign to do, and get away with, anything they choose to. Not even close! This has absolutely nothing to do with discrimination of any kind. Just because it is 'children' making or causing the noise, does not by any definition of the word mean that anyone is discriminating against them. It is loud and disruptive noise, no matter who is making or causing it.......period.
