NOISY Neighbors... Help?!?!?!!??? (apartments, breaking a lease, tenants, renters)

[hereforadvice]

Apparently the walls are thin all over my apartment, at least that's my landlords excuse. I can hear everything that my neighbors do downstairs.. I can hear their TV (no just murmers but actual voices coming from the TV), them having conversations between eachother (which includes yelling at 8 am on a Saturday morning), down to the guy snoring at nighttime. I don't know about anyone else, but its hard for me to fall asleep (unless I'm really tired) when my significant other is snoring,,,, or anyone else for that matter.. I have complained to my landlord on a number of occasions,, and have spoken to the neighbors as well with no avail from either party. I am in the process of documentation to help me build a case. Its come to the point where now a war is abrewing btw my neighbors and I b/c the landlord is a lazy SLUMLORD.. I'm on my way to pick up the NYC Noise Ordinance laws,, but can someone tell me what time I can start complaining to 311? Also, if anyone has any advice it would be GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!!

[Sum1Else]

Lots of info and tips in here Noise!! Why Can't Renters Respect Other Renters???

Search "noisy" or something in the forum. This has been discussed quite a lot.

[ESFP]

For the second time in my life, I'd have to say you have no case. Thin walls are a hazard of any apartment or hotel. I owned a trailer park where the neighbors would complain about their neighbor's TV, tea pot whistle, or alarm clock. I'd ask the neighbor to alter his timing, but there's nothing that can be done about the structural integrity of the building. You may have a case for breaking a lease and moving called, "Constructive Eviction" where the landlord fails to do something and causes the property to be uninhabital. But, he has to be legally negligent. I don't think that owning a building with thin walls is illegal. If you know you'll always need silence, you may not be the apartment type. Sorry. Best of luck. Please let me know if you find any legal help, I'd be interested in others' opinions here.

[GypsySoul22]

Unfortunately this is one of the worst parts of renting. Why I want a house of our own again....

We live in a condo that connects (we are below) to another apartment above us and one on each side.

We have constant noise from the one upstairs at ALL hours....

Their family is one teen who is rather loud and a mom I never hear. The teen played his guitar one night at 12:30 am and I was ready to scream. I get up at 6 am and that was really uncalled for...

We can hear him play his guitar (normal hours) all the time. Last night he was coughing at 3 am and I heard him...He bounces up and down the stairs constantly and slams doors and shines his car lights in my window at all hours.

There's nothing we can do about it...we're pretty loud ourselves (which is embarassing because I like my privacy), but not late at night.

I am afraid there isn't much you can do. The kid upstairs was getting up 5 am on a Saturday and bouncing and clomping around. We just can't understand WHY a teen wants to be up at 5 am but we can only grin and bear it...

[Moonlight melvin]

I've had my share of thin walled apartments. I could hear my upstairs neighbors doing the dirty deed (and she was noisy lol), I could hear them urinating, talking etc. It wasnt cute.

Another place, I heard the downstairs lady yell at her daughter every single morning to hurry up and get ready, get your hair done, you're pissing me off, why are you acting liket his, what is wrong with you? ugh.

I dont know what can be done....I solved my problem by moving to a house. (but now i'm stuck with other problems...neighbors and dog poop, blech)

[SandyCo]

I commented on the other noise thread, but I'll just add my two cents here as well.

1. Invest in a pair of ear plugs.
2. Invest in an I-Pod!
3. Buy the noisiest fan you can find, and set it to the highest setting as "white noise" to drown out other noise so you can sleep.

I've been dealing with noise in my apartment building for 11 1/2 years now. If the people below me are too noisy, I ask them once nicely to be quieter. If they don't comply, I jump up and down. I've banged on the walls of my side neighbors as well (though, since they're the managers, I don't do this unless it's really late!).

Basically, here are your choices -

1. Learn to live with it.
2. Wear ear plugs.
3. Drown out their noise with your own noise.
4. Fight fire with fire if they're obnoxious about it (but this disturbs other tenants, so it's not the best option).
5. Move to a better building.

No magic solutions here. Sorry!

[Rusty_Shackleford]

Sorry, you chose to live in an apartment that has pitiful soundproofing. This "slumlord" didn't force you to rent in a cheap, noisy apartment.
I don't know why apartments tend to be built with such poor soundproofing, but they do, and people are happy to rent them... so landlords have no incentive to build more soundproof places.
I'm moving to NYC and finding a quiet apartment will be my #1 priority. It will be difficult if not impossible, I assume!

[CLTKing]

Originally Posted by hereforadvice

Apparently the walls are thin all over my apartment, at least that's my landlords excuse. I can hear everything that my neighbors do downstairs.. I can hear their TV (no just murmers but actual voices coming from the TV), them having conversations between eachother (which includes yelling at 8 am on a Saturday morning), down to the guy snoring at nighttime. I don't know about anyone else, but its hard for me to fall asleep (unless I'm really tired) when my significant other is snoring,,,, or anyone else for that matter.. I have complained to my landlord on a number of occasions,, and have spoken to the neighbors as well with no avail from either party. I am in the process of documentation to help me build a case. Its come to the point where now a war is abrewing btw my neighbors and I b/c the landlord is a lazy SLUMLORD.. I'm on my way to pick up the NYC Noise Ordinance laws,, but can someone tell me what time I can start complaining to 311? Also, if anyone has any advice it would be GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!!

Very simple, call the cops. We do it all the time. They come, they talk to the loud people, then they stop. If they do it again, we call the cops again. Also print out flyers, and distribute them around the building, pointing out those loud people and that it will not be tolerated. it works all the time.

[pitt_transplant]

If you can hear them that well get the building inspected. There are codes.
I would just talk to the landlord about a written release first to see if you can just leave.
ALWAYS look for an early cancel clause in your lease. ALWAYS.

I will never sign a lease without one again. It just makes me feel better that I know if someplace really sucks its just a question of coming up with the fee.

Try some cheap rubber backed carpets with a nice pretty one thrown over it to help with the noise.

[Jesse69]

Ear plugs, they're sold at Walmart in the sports section!