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Hopefully I’m putting this in the right section...
So my SO purchased a condo in a big complex in June 2018. Above us lives a renter who is the most insufferable and insensitive witch alive.
She has a small child (maybe 2 yo?) who runs around. Actually, run is putting it mildly. Now, during normal waking hours, I grin and bare it. However, this child makes egregious levels of noise after 10 pm. It sounds like a 600 lb human is slamming their entire body into the ground (no exaggeration). In June when we moved in, the first night I could not sleep because this terror was zooming around their apartment slamming into the ground until 1 am when I went up there. I was extremely polite and mentioned that it was 1 am on a weeknight so if she could please keep it down a little, that would be great. The renter said “oh that’s my child, this is when she likes to run around” and offered no remedy.
I reported her to our HOA and felt pretty confident that they would fine her since our CC&R states that individuals who make noise during of quiet hours will be fined. Lo and behold, the HOA customer service agent told me that noise complaints are a between-neighbors issue only and that I need to resolve it with her. The only way the HOA would discipline this moron would be if I provided recorded proof of the sound. They did, however, send her a letter informing her of a complaint against her and one would be sent to the landlord as well. About a week after this, the noise did go down a fair amount. The child only ran during the day and stopped running around 10:30 pm.
In the last week it looks like the idiot upstairs forgot about the complaint and her child has restarted trying to break the floor with her body. I am unbelievably frustrated.
So I guess my few questions are:
1) what are my rights? I feel like if I called the police they would laugh at me. I have not tried escalating within the HOA but feel like they are lazy as most HOAs are and would not put in the extra work. Does the HOA board have any power usually? Do I have a right to have the contact info of the person who owns the unit and to send him or her a letter about the issue?
2) I have wanted to record this stomping but it does not come out on my phone. I think because it is low vibrations it is not coming through. Is there a device that will record this for me?
If they sent a notice before, let them know the noise has started up again. How are you aware they sent a notice?
Fair enough. All I have to go off of is our representative’s word. Also the fact that the noise level did considerably level off soon after. I find it hard to believe that’s coincidental although I will admit anything is possible.
That's not "escalating"... that's the only way to go.
Okay, so I might be confused because I’ve never dealt with this kind of HOA before.
Basically my old HOA was onsite. We had a receptionist who everything went through and then a property manager. But they were also part of a bigger management company. If you couldn’t resolve things with the receptionist, it went to the manager. If that couldn’t be resolved I assume it would go to the company although I have never spoken to them. In this HOA, we have a “customer service representative” who I am pretty sure can’t be the end of the line in the HOA. So I’m not sure if it’s common or even possible to go up to her manager and so on. For me at this point the issue is that it clearly states in their CC&R that excessive noise past 10 pm (and I think stomping around like a 600 oh man is excessive noise) is considered as such. Maybe they’re lazy and don’t want to actually do the legwork to fine her/the condo owner — not sure why as they LOVE charging for everything else — but if complaining enough to the right people and enough times will make them annoyed at having to deal with this so they will take action. We pay an exorbitant amount in HOA fees for them to sit back and do nothing like this.
Keep complaining. Don't listen to the HOA customer service person. They just don't want to do the work. If it continues GO to the HOA meeting and demand that it be ended. HOA docs are legally binding. There is no way you need to provide "poof".
A few years ago I thought I was safe because I was living on the top floor. But my downstairs neighbor kept doing things like having drunken parties on the balcony and blasting the tv at 2 AM.
I complained every time and a letter / fine went out every time.
Eventually he opened the windows and was blasting a tv full blast at 2 AM and I called the cops... the cops snuck up on them and caught them doing this and made a report.
That, combined with all the recorded complaints and condo fines convinced the person to move as it wasn't worth the hassle.
I feel personally you should set your alarm every day for 2 am and blast your tv. Or just get a broom and start banging it at 2 AM.
It sounds like the building is not built well for condo units. Sadlly I think it's hard for people to tell this before you move in. It's worse if you own. I've had many situations where I've lived in buildings that were very noisy and you could hear EVERYTHING going on in every unit around me. You can get mad at the guy who blasts the stereo and has constant parties til very late but when it's people walking around, cooking, talking, watching TV at normal levels, exercising in reasonable ways, having sex or whatever then it's really hard to blame people. Thats called living life. People have differnet schedules and it's fair to expect no crazy loud stuff after 10 or 11 or whatever but many people work different shifts, get up very early, or in your neighbor case have a child who does not have a full night sleeping time. Most people dont want to disturb their neighbors but in the end, creeping around on tippy toes is no way to live either. To you it might sound horribly loud but to her her noises are just part of normal life. Very difficult to get her to understand and see it from your side.
As much as you are angry with this neighbor, it does sound like a bad situation that is not all her fault. She should be stopping the child from making really bad noises like banging something over and over but if the child is falling or running on the floor, thats kind of like normal living to me if you know how kids are. Sorry to say that. I think you have a typical case where there was a complaint and she responded by trying to make it better for you but then in the end it becomes impossible and she needs to decide whether she will look after your needs or just live. So then you become the enemy in her mind - the unreasonable pain of a neighbor. I've seen tthis so many times in apartnemnts that I've lived in and i've been on both sides of the problem many times.
Good luck and i don't know how you can solve this one. When it was me i did not own and i ended up putting up with it until the lease was up and then moved somewhere where i would read reviews to see what people said about noise.
I do think that trying to get someone fined or a ticket from teh police for "normal" 2 year old stuff is not going to work at all. It's different if a dog was barking all night or a stereo or party, then recording it might prove your point. But recording child sounds to get a parent punished is a no win for you.
Thank you for your response.
Here’s the thing. I completely understand and agree with you, actually, except for the timing and the noise quality. As I said - daytime, run all you want. It’s irritating but it’s reasonable. Nighttime, especially when there are specific guidelines set forth by the HOA, is unacceptable. Also, for the record, I have no problem with people walking around and living life. When this child runs, like I said, it BOOMS and it’s constant, like back and forth back and forth. I don’t know what this child is doing because I can hear a clear difference when the mom walks and the child walks. And believe me, I can still hear the mom at night but it is livable. It sounds like when a dog has the “zoomies” the way this child runs and it’s almost to the point of someone running a deep bass.
I don’t mean to sound like a brat, really, but if someone came to me in the middle of the night and was like, “hey not sure if you’re aware, but it’s actually really loud right now from the banging coming from up here and it’s 1 am” I would be MORTIFIED and do everything in my power to prevent that from happening. There’s also something called disciplining your child. Obviously this is a conversation for a different forum so I’ll leave it at that, but I asked multiple parents (as I’m not a parent myself, if you can’t tell lol) and everyone said it’s inappropriate and not good for a child to be up that late, especially consistently. I don’t think it’s naive to think this has to be a zero sum game where either I get everything I want or she gets everything she wants. She has every right to live in her apartment, but I do too. There is a compromise and that compromise isn’t “well it’s a child so I have no control over it [essentially what she said when I went up there] and you have to suck it up”.
Also lastly, I do agree that I don’t think the Police will do anything about it hence why I said in my OP I don’t plan on going that route. But we all live in a complex run with rules and I expect people to follow them and for them to be upheld. It’s like if I had a dog and that dog ran all hours of the night. Would that be ok? I think not. Why is it different when it’s a child? Also, to be fair, her attitude is also nauseating. She acts like I’m the problem, and she doesn’t get punished for her actions and I do believe she needs to be held accountable for not being neighborly.
Oh dear. I'm so so so sorry. I lived in an exact situation like this but in a rental apartment complex. It involved a small child running and jumping from the time he got home from daycare around 5 pm until midnight every night and then starting back up at 5 am. It was honestly like living under a bowling alley.
What I learned unfortunately is that it is near impossible to get anyone to do anything about it because it is considered normal living noises and then you're relying on the goodwill of your neighbor. Which is in short supply these days
Some people have no manners when it comes to their children in apartments. I grew up during my early years in an apartment and we had it drilled in our heads that there was to be no running in the apartment. Ever. My mother also took us to the park three times a day to burn off energy.
I just wanted to offer my sympathy. I did have luck with those orange 3M earplugs for sleeping.
May I ask what your previous living situation was? (single family house, etc)
Keep complaining. Don't listen to the HOA customer service person. They just don't want to do the work. If it continues GO to the HOA meeting and demand that it be ended. HOA docs are legally binding. There is no way you need to provide "poof".
A few years ago I thought I was safe because I was living on the top floor. But my downstairs neighbor kept doing things like having drunken parties on the balcony and blasting the tv at 2 AM.
I complained every time and a letter / fine went out every time.
Eventually he opened the windows and was blasting a tv full blast at 2 AM and I called the cops... the cops snuck up on them and caught them doing this and made a report.
That, combined with all the recorded complaints and condo fines convinced the person to move as it wasn't worth the hassle.
I feel personally you should set your alarm every day for 2 am and blast your tv. Or just get a broom and start banging it at 2 AM.
I will consider going to the meeting, thank you. I’m not sure if they can do anything about it there. Is there anywhere I can reference that HOA docs are legally binding? I feel like they will take me serious if they think I’m well versed in law/knowledgeable about housing issues.
I’ve toyed with the idea of setting my alarm but I don’t think you can hear it upstairs but I am definitely ready with my broom if it continues.
I strongly disagree that retaliation against a mother with a 2 year old is the way to deal with this. As this post shows, you can be much much worse off. Believe me. Not saying that it's no problem or that you shouldn't do anything but you can easily have neighbors where you'd beg for a mother and child above you, even a noisy mother and child.
Let's say you manage to get that mother thrown out or to the point where she can't deal with the complaints or fines and moves out. Or just moves out for whatever reason. Yeah! Great! You celebrate when you see the moving truck. Who do you think is going to move in? Yeah you can get lucky and get a single librarian with no friends who goes to bed at 9pm and wakes up at 7am. Or let's see who can be worse than what you have now (and without even going to extreme examples):
A young couple who like to have energetic sex regularly when he comes home from his job as a chef at 2am. Puts on some music at reasonalble levels and gets the bed moving. Nothing unreasonable but sounds like a herd of cattle from below and you hear far too much. A single waitress or bartender who too often has her coworkers over to "relax" after stressful nights at work (like the chef, they end work around 2am). A couple who drinks too much and argue loudly when drinking. Someone who does an exercise video for an hour at 4:30 am. Students (nuff said). When you can hear everything in a place, that's the problem, not the people. And notice how i didn't even mention the really scary folks like major substance abuse problems or wife beaters,e tc. Or big parties all the time. Or huge stereos. You need to be concerned even if other normal nice and sane people move in if you have thin walls and floors. It won't end until you move. Talk to others in the building and see what they can hear. Some will be lucky but i think most will have their own problems.
All those are certainly valid options or concerns. My sample size is small but I’ve lived for considerable periods of time (1 month or more, enough to see people’s habits) in about 5 or 6 different complexes or apartment buildings (mostly apartments). This has never happened before but of course, my sample size is small. Also, I have no problem reporting every single person that comes to live above me IF they plan on making unreasonable noise. Actually the benefit is those are easily recordable whereas the deep vibrations of the running are not. Plus there’s the bonus of several of those options being Police enforceable which I think would help my case.
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