Horrible neighbors... not sure how to help (apartment, tenant, evict)
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A friend of mine just moved into a condo (she owns).
The walls are paper thin and you can hear everything from her neighbors (I mean, you can hear a spoon drop!).
Anyway, she asked my advise and I'm not sure how to help.
The next doors have teenage children and about 3 or 4 times a week all their friends get together and have a sing-a-long (well, it's a screech, really). I have been over there when this has taken place and it's eerie and disturbing. Cuz you can't see them but can hear them like they are right next to you.
Anyway they blast the karaoke machine and attempt to "sing".
The adults are obnoxious and unfriendly and I would not approach them.
I don't think there is anything she can do about it since they stop before 9pm. Am I right - is she SOL? I thought maybe she contacted the HOA?
I feel so bad for her - she's going thru a really bad divorce and this is not helping
She should reach out to the neighbors first...knock on the door in the middle of the howl fest and ask them to turn it down. If they refuse, or they give pushback, then she goes to the HOA...with audio so they know how loud/annoying it is.
Are the neighbors owners or renters? If they are renters she need to contact the owner and the HOA. Our HOA has the authority to evict nuisance tenants if the landlord is dragging their feet (plus the ll gets fined for each complaint)
She needs to read/know her bylaws in regards to noise and needs to know the city ordinance for noise as well. HOAs don't like when the police are involved so they do what they can to avoid them being called.
You can't stop children from having fun. That's unreasonable for her to expect silence when she shares a wall with a teenager. That might have been something she should have looked into before purchasing the condo, who lives next door? Now, 3 to 4 times a week they get together and play karaoke? How long does it last, all night? Or is it right when they get out of school before everyone needs to go home for dinner and such? If it's an all evening thing, maybe ask if it could be held every Friday night or something, so she gets to relax during the weekday, and you're not being unreasonable in telling a child to stay quiet.
Bottom line, talk it out with the neighbors first, maybe bring over a gift of some sort so the only reason of dropping by isn't to say, "I can't stand your child and the noise it makes. Make it stop, even though you live here too." That's not going to win anyone over.
There is not too much you can do about normal living noise or kids playing. Maybe remind yourself that it is better to have a family that sings together instead of turning their kids loose, untrained, to commit vandalism.
Your friend purchased without doing enough due diligence so there is not much that can be done about that now.
Perhaps get a specialist contractor out and see what it would take to add some sort of sound-proofing to the common wall. There are things that can be added to the surface that absorb sound. It won't stop all the noise, but it will dampen it down.
So, there is the advantage of owning. She can sound proof and a tenant can't do that.
Make an official noise complaint to whatever organization polices that sort of thing. I've mishandled this kind of thing a few times and it can get kind of ugly. 14 years of apartment living has shown me that most apartment dwellers are just resigned to a noisy/smelly life and have no concern for how they effect their neighbors.
Last edited by anotherOneOfThese; 09-22-2016 at 11:32 PM..
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just my opinion
