Do Homeowner Associations help people with noisy neighbors?
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I have that same situation in a townhouse, and was wondering what to do about it.... the kid is bouncing a ball or playing basketball inside his bedroom, and starts up at about 7 pm, sometimes 9pm or later....Usually when his mother isn't home, lately he has calmed down a bit, last year he went at it for 30 minutes or so......... it doesn't bother me as much as it bothers my wife.... but I wish he would outgrow it!
The first step would be a civil conversation with his parent. I'd be leery approaching a kid first unless you already know them. He probably has no sense of how much noise he's making.
1) Does the HOA/Condo project/Coop have specific rules that address the issue at hand, whether that is noise, dead grass, junk cars or whatever?
2) Does the Board directly enforce the rules, or is there a Management Company in place? This will determine who you should be contacting. Board members can NOT act unilaterally, all decisions must be made by a majority of the Board. A Managing Agent operates at the direction of the Board (sometimes in contravention to the rules).
3) Document your complaint. Keep a log of dates and times the issue occurs; if possible without endangering yourself, take photos, videos, or audio recordings. For noise, there are plenty of free apps that you can use to take a measurement of the actual sound levels you have issue with.
4) Once you have a month or more of solid documentation for many multiple incidents, write a calm, factual, descriptive report of the issue, and include factual, verifiable results of those incidents. Keep emotion, blame, and accusations OUT of the report.
5) Submit your documentation with copies of supporting documents and recordings to the Board/Managing Agent with a calm, simple, statement that you believe this to be in violation of Article X, Section Y of the Bylaws/House rules, whatever applies, and that you are requesting immediate relief through enforcement of said rules. This letter and documentation should be mailed to the proper point of contact via Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested, so that you will have proof of a date and person that received the documents.
6) You should make it a point to attend the very next Board Meeting with additional copies of your documentation, and be prepared to answer questions or provide further details, again in a calm, businesslike manner. Emotions will get you NOWHERE in a Board meeting, except removed from it! Meetings typically have a standard agenda, which may or may not have been posted with the meeting notice, however this issue should be raised as "New Business" unless a similar enforcement issue comes up in "Old Business" from the same or similar type of incident.
7) Assuming the Board agrees to take action, get an estimated timeline of how that process will play out. It is typical that a written notice be sent to the offending Owner (who may not live there, but has a Renter that they, or their Rental Manager, will need to provide a notice to) giving a time for compliance and/or payment of fine (which may, or may not be assessed). A competent Board will have a "schedule" for enforcement actions and fine assessment and costs. It is not unusual to get a first "warning", with no fine, if not corrected within X number of days. If a repeat offense occurs (same or different violation by same Owner), initial fine might be $25, second $50, etc. Each of those notices of violation must follow a timeline per State Law and/or Governing Docs of the project, so it can take time to actually affect someone in their wallet, that has no respect for their neighbor. In my experience, which is substantial, Friendly "Reminder" letters and low or no fines rarely change behavior. Significant invoices, however, typically DO.
I read the previous thread and it seems I'm not the only person with a bass problem. I live in a community of about 1000 homes spread out with several gated communities, mostly single family homes and a few condos. They are all gated. I can't imagine a van parked anywhere near me for 14 hours straight is doing this. Yesterday it started at 9:30 a.m. and was still going when I went to bed at 11:30 p.m. While I wear earplugs to bed I can't walk around with them all the time. I left the condo and spent hours at Home Depot. (Met a nice guy there and we're having lunch today but that's neither here nor there.) This morning it has just started again at 8:59 a.m.
Since management isn't helping I have been trying to figure out where the noise is coming from but so far I have been unsuccessful by taking a stethoscope and listening at all the shared walls. Today I am going door to door to the most likely offenders. Since I hear it in every room of my unit, I am now thinking it might be the people below me. I only have two shared walls so logically I shouldn't hear it in my bedroom closet which has no shared walls. I know for certain it's not the upstairs neighbors. Today I go on the warpath. "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore"!!
I know this post is 7 years old, but this came across my feed and I thought it relevant.
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