Loud walking upstairs neighbor, what to do? (square foot, legally, clause) - Apartments, houses, lease, tenant, landlord, agreements, termination - Page 8 - City-Data Forum

nightcrawler · 01-06-2010, 01:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TabulaRasa

I would in no way in hell pay to carpet a rental unit because normal footfalls were a problem for somebody. If the complaining tenant wants to take it up with the landlord/management company, and the solution they come up with to muffle normal, everyday noises of living is to carpet my apartment, more power to them. But it's not my responsibility.

I've been a renter most of my adult life, didn't become a homeowner until about three months ago. One of the things I learned in a long tenure of renting in a variety of types of building is when you don't own the building, you have no choice but to make compromises (actually, this is true of anybody who does own, too, if they have neighbors). One of these is that if you share ceilings/floors and/or walls, and adjoining units are occupied, you will get a certain amount of residual noise from neighbors. It goes with the territory. Don't like it, don't rent, or rent a stand-alone house.

Don't get me wrong. There is noise of the sort that is nuisance ordinance, tenant agreement-violating racket. There is noise that's out of bounds and punishable by law or rental contract. But it's hard to argue that the normal sounds of living (I'm talking the "Oh, my God, I can hear my neighbor RUNNING WATER!!!! What's UP with that? And she's WALKING AROUND!!! GOD!!!" complaints) are something you expect that you shouldn't have to just live with, by virtue of renting in a multi-tenant building. It's part and parcel of apartment dwelling. Not all noise is unreasonable, just because it annoys you.

Yes, I agree with you. it is just part of apartment life that certain noises ya just have to get used to.

i think I hate it more when a car zooms down the block with bass pumping and all the other car alarms go off.....that is annoying.

nightcrawler · 01-06-2010, 01:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JS1

I tried that, didn't work. I continued to get whiny complaints from downstairs. So I gave up trying to please someone who can't be pleased, and I ripped up the carpet and put back the rugs. Rugs over hardwood floors look so much nicer.

I'm sure you did. I agree also area rugs do look better over hardwood floors. Some times there are people that just complain about every single thing, that, is annoying, it really is

jandressup · 02-15-2010, 05:43 PM

I am tired of being woken up @ 3am with the couple upstairs having sex with the headboard banging and the bed cracking loudly, I was nice and talked to them when I moved in saying" the walls are paper thin" in a kind and classy way....I actually think they are getting off on doing this!!

jandressup · 02-15-2010, 05:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nightcrawler

Yes, I agree with you. it is just part of apartment life that certain noises ya just have to get used to.

i think I hate it more when a car zooms down the block with bass pumping and all the other car alarms go off.....that is annoying.

...being woken up nightly by loud sex @ 3am is nothing to get used to..
I am now sleeping in my walki-in closet!

Bugnubs · 02-15-2010, 06:09 PM

Oh gosh, poor-all-of-you-suffering-with-noisy-neighbors! I truly feel your pain! I once lived in an apartment building with wood floors. I was working nights and the two old spinster sisters who lived above me were quiet as mice in the evenings. BUT as soon as one of them left for work in the morning, the stay-at-home spinster would start moving furniture around to barricade herself in the apartment til her sister came home and the racket would start all over again to replace the furniture just before her arrival. The source of the noise was a mystery to me until I figured it out and eventually left a very nice note explaining that I worked nights and would it be possible to keep that it mind especially early in the morning. Of course they went nuts and got very nasty and the landlord did zip about it. I had to move to get more than 2-3 hours sleep.

Is there no law in your state regarding your right to peaceful use of your home?

nightcrawler · 02-16-2010, 08:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jandressup

...being woken up nightly by loud sex @ 3am is nothing to get used to..
I am now sleeping in my walki-in closet!

Oh, hearing other people **doin' it** is seriously not the look. I so agree with you. Maybe next time they wake you during **it**, you can disturb them by banging the broom on the ceiling or bang on thier door, just something to embarass them.

I feel for you, I really do.

ZenMaster2008 · 02-16-2010, 10:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jandressup

I am tired of being woken up @ 3am with the couple upstairs having sex with the headboard banging and the bed cracking loudly, I was nice and talked to them when I moved in saying" the walls are paper thin" in a kind and classy way....I actually think they are getting off on doing this!!

Exact same thing happens to me once a week or so at 3am. Good thing it only lasts 2 minutes but it's enough to wake me up.

jandressup · 03-02-2010, 12:59 PM

I actually think they get off on people hearing them doin it, it is so obvious that there is no insulation in the walls, I was once told "people who are loud...know they're being loud".....they have nothing else to do, neither one works and all they do is hang out day after day there...it's a struggle for me to even try to watch a movie cause the ceiling cracks so loudly.....they are up till 4am most night!...my patience are really running thin...I have to leave daily, just to be away from there for my peace of mind.....ttyl, Jan

steel7 · 03-05-2010, 05:28 PM

I lived in a apt for 6 yrs & will never live in one again. The floors were concrete but i heard my upstairs neighbor often. I knew what room he was in & he dragged his feet on the carpet. The rent was inexpensive so i just dealt with it. After he moved a total loser moved in upstairs & it was pure hell. I moved less then 4 months later. A apt is just a big house with your own private quarters. I havent lived in a apt since 1-04-99.

brucerby · 03-15-2010, 10:53 PM

Note to People who are commenting about floors being "concrete", so how can they squeak and otherwise make or transmit noise?

Here's what I've learned: There are TWO types of 'concrete' floors.

One is the type that high rise buildings use. This is very thick SOLID concrete. It very hard to hear any vibration or sound through floors made of this. The second is often called "CreteLight" ..its technically concrete, but its very soft. I had a floor made of this in a 2 story condo building. I was on the second floor.
Had to replace a entry foyer so pulled back the carpet and saw the so-called bare 'concrete floor'. It was "CreteLite" and you could take a spoon and start digging into it. It was that soft. Its used in smaller 2 or 3 story condos and apartments.

Its supposedly better than just wood floors and allows builders to make the claim that it has "concrete floors" but not the concrete most folks are thinking of. ...

ONly SOLID concrete affords any real sound and vibration protection.