Too much noise? (Springfield: apartments, lease, dorms)

[hannah415]

I live in a 2 story 4 apartment building with an absentee landlord in Springfield, NJ. We have 2 small kids 3 and 6m. The LL came over to discuss the new lease and rent increase with us and he mentioned that some of the tenants have complained about our noise. When asked what exactly was said he replied he didn't want to say more cause he didn't want to cause "conflict amoung his tenants". We have a schedule they are both down by 8p the 3y/o is up at 730a for school leaves 820a back at 1215p, nap from 1p-3p. The 6mo is up at 9a but is not mobile. We do play in the LR, walk around the apt., and watch TV.

Anyway my fear is being evicted for the noise, can we be?
I googled my queston and came up with yes and no answers...one is no cause kids will be kids and the noise in off before 10p but yes cause we can be inteferring with the others quiet enjoyment, which is right?

Now we have neighbors next door in the building who are single, have parties every fri and sat with loud music, slamming doors, loud talking in the hall until 1-2a but never complained. The girl under us plays loud music early in the morning before 7am or late night after 10p and lately has drunk guests coming over in the middle of the night ringing our bell...the front porch is dark and our bells are next to each other.

Is all of this just typical apartment living? We are the new ones and feel like we are thrown under the bus alot for things (i.e. the day after we moved in there was a foul smell in the hall and the tenants told the then LL that it was from us cause we had old diapers in the hall which was not at all true but we got called at 7am and told to throw them out by the LL...later found out it was a dead mouse in the wall).

Any advice is helpful too to protect ourselves?

[joe moving]

This is probably because you are walking on top of them. Is there wall to wall carpet on the floor ..? That should be the LL's responsibility if you are not making excessive noise.

[Ally315]

If there are only 3 other apartments in the building have you ever thought about talking to them? Even just a little friendly chit-chat should keep them at bay. This way they will feel like they know you and will comfortably and directly talk to you before/instead of going to the landlord.

I live in an apartment now and I would never complain to the landlord about our upstairs neighbor because we casually say "Hi" when we pass each other and we make small quick chitchat about jobs, weather, etc. My husband and I are in our mid-twenties and the neighbor I'm talking about is a single man in his early forties, so we are very different people. I also know our neighbor would never report us and he would speak to us if he was unhappy about something, but it doesn't stop our neighbor from complaining to the landlord about someone who lets a cat out at night that cries in the morning to be let in, parking, or anything else.

Same goes for when I lived in the dorms in college. I would ask people on my floor to be quiet before I went to the RA, but when people below me (who I did not know at all) were having band practice at insane hours I went straight to my RA.

So I'd swing by all of the neighboring apartments, apologize, and make small talk. A smile goes a long way!

[Mightyqueen801]

Originally Posted by Ally315

If there are only 3 other apartments in the building have you ever thought about talking to them? Even just a little friendly chit-chat should keep them at bay. This way they will feel like they know you and will comfortably and directly talk to you before/instead of going to the landlord.

I live in an apartment now and I would never complain to the landlord about our upstairs neighbor because we casually say "Hi" when we pass each other and we make small quick chitchat about jobs, weather, etc. My husband and I are in our mid-twenties and the neighbor I'm talking about is a single man in his early forties, so we are very different people. I also know our neighbor would never report us and he would speak to us if he was unhappy about something, but it doesn't stop our neighbor from complaining to the landlord about someone who lets a cat out at night that cries in the morning to be let in, parking, or anything else.

Same goes for when I lived in the dorms in college. I would ask people on my floor to be quiet before I went to the RA, but when people below me (who I did not know at all) were having band practice at insane hours I went straight to my RA.

So I'd swing by all of the neighboring apartments, apologize, and make small talk. A smile goes a long way!

I think this is a great suggestion. Also, get specifics regarding "noise" and exactly what noise is bothering them. We had an upstairs neighbors once who had a small child and I didn't mind kids at all and expected that they would make SOME noise. However, every night after they moved in there were these periods of horrible loud noise as if someone was rolling a bowling ball over our heads. It was so loud and distracting that we couldn't hear our TV.

My husband went upstairs and when the neighbor opened the door he saw immediately what it was. Their little boy was riding a Big Wheel back and forth across the living room floor. It didn't sound like much UP THERE but my husband had the neighbor come down to our place then yell to the kid to ride his Big Wheel and you should have seen his eyes pop when he realized how loud it was on our end.

You might be making noises that you don't realize sound very different when they are overhead--so ask.

[manderly6]

Talk about stirring the pot and then walking away. I would send a certified letter to the LL asking him specifically what the complaint was. He doesn't have to say who it was, but how can you possibly address it if you don't know exactly what the problem was.