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[quote=jillz;4014384]You can like kids and HATE the noise they make (which is largely controlable). I think it is wise to remove your shoes when you come home and live above others. You are saying it like it is an impossibility. Just because the op and the rest of us have been kids before, doesn't mean we were unruly and incapable of using our indoor voices and participating in appropriate indoor activites. You make it sound like kids and parents are just gonna be loud and inconsiderate and it is beyond their control. Nothing could be further than the truth. It does require that you live your life aware of others around you.
If your downstairs neighbors who don't have kids decided that they pay rent so they are going to have all night orgies, play bass thumping music, are you going to just chalk it up to their right to live how they want regardless of how if affect others? These are all legal activites afterall and they DO pay rent.
No I can understand that. problem is we are talking about an 18 month old..they like to run, hopefully while indoors baby either has slippers or socks on. I'm assuming that this is during daytime , early evening hours, a child that age should be in bed by 8pm.
unfortunatley this is the potential you have when you rent an apartment, you never know who your neighbors may be...
For me personally there are many more things besides an 18 month old running around that would irritate me....
When I rented many moons ago I have a beefhead weight lifter upstairs who always DROPPED his dumb bells when done with a set..talk about thinking the ceiling was going to come down..I had a new born to boot....those dumb bells dropping would startle the hell out of my baby..no amount of compalining resolved it..i just had to learn how to deal with it until i moved
Well, we want to thank all of you for your postings. Unfortunately, there is just going to be apartment renters that don't care how much noise they (or their kids) make and don't care about anyone who lives around them. Yes, it is true that apartment complexes don't have playgrounds from kids anymore, but there are ways to get around this and one of them is taking the kids to a Park.
Anyway, we will just have to "grin and bear it" until our lease is up in Oct., THEN......BYE, BYE and (hopefully) we will never again live in an apartment!!!!
I agree to the original poster's position. However, the issue that isn't known when moving in is the quality of the apartment construction. The first apartment I had did not transfer much noise from above, mainly I heard the water pipes and such. This apartment complex did not allow young children above the ground floor due to the noise issues.
The current one I am in transfers almost all noises, including all walking and I even heard someone taking a whizz upstairs.
The issue is to see what the lease contract says, my current one says residents and their guests should not disturb the peace of other guest and residents, they will fine you if there are enough complaints. Although they tend to make noise from time to time anyway (blasting music, etc...). Of course I realize they can't do much about the poor construction though (which they're not about to disclose to you).
So I would say, check carefully the lease agreement and terms (you may be able to get out of the lease (probably with legal means though) if it says too much noise isn't allowed), and all the terms beforehand if checking out a new place.
I dont hate kids. I hate people of all ages that dont care about being a good neighbor. I had a upstairs neighbor that had a toddler that would come over. You randomly would hear things drop or the toddler trot every once in awhile. It wasnt that bad. The new person that moved in actually made more noise..Older retired guy that stomped like a drunken ox when he walked. A lighting fixture shaker.
Everyone...reguardless of age should be respectful. And yes..I was a kid. That grew up in a house. Even there my parents would yell at us to calm down/quiet time once in awhile or tell us to go outside if we were being high energy. I really didnt care about it either way because there were outside or quiet time things to do. So its just something that really falls on the parents.
I really wish the building inspectors would start dishing out fines to apt buildings that dont meet the minimum STC class. Like the wizz buildings...UGH. I had that. I hated it. And when you can hear that. The building doesnt meet the minimum federal requirements.
Noise is my single biggest problem with renting. I understand that in such close quarters living, some noise will be normal. But what I hate, like some others have said, is that some people blatantly disregard the fact they have people living below or next to them. It's complete and total disrespect.
My worst experience was a few years back. I had a job that I had to wake up at 4AM for. Not a big deal except that the guy above got home really late every night, usually after midnight. Still no problem. Except that he would then on a nightly basis use that time to wrestle with his kid, or to lift weights, or to throw dishes at his girlfriend/***** whatever he had that night. There are times I thought my ceiling light would come crashing down on to our bed from what he was doing up there. I complained to him. It did no good. I complained to management, still no good. Finally I just started randomly pounding on the ceiling at 4AM before I left for work, to make sure he woke up. That actually helped for while, but then he went back to being noisy. I was so distraught and messed up from never being able to sleep that at one point I actually was on my way up to his door to beat his face in. It was obviously affecting my judgment! Well luckily he didn't answer - so I called the police. This kind of thing went on for months.
The only solution that actually worked was to move. I explicitly made clear to the managers I was leaving solely for that noisy neighbor. I doubt they even cared.
Since then, I only rent either townhomes(still hit or miss) or single family homes. It costs more, but to me it's worth it. Noise is one reason I will never buy a condo. If I'm going to buy something, it's not going to have a common wall with any other dwelling!
I agree renting a apratmnet is a headache.In my opinion you have to look at waht the background in most areas are. Just when you think you have good neighbors evryhting changes. One reason why I would rent a apartment. This is why their are so many HOAs' even in neighborhoods plus gated communities. Basically to keep the trash out not meaning to offend but that's the truth.
It's really a shame but people just have stone heads,we spoke to the office on Wed about our neighbors and they banged on their door and told them the music is too loud!!! They have the type of radio that will crumble sheetrock even if the volume is on 2. You think they stopped? No because people are defiant,disrespectful and believe because they pay rent they have the right to disturb others,then when they get notice to leave you become the bad guy.
The place that I live at they like to turn the car stereo too loud or with the bass all the way up. This one guy did this all the time. I wrote down the kids license plate search it online got the apt number and complained to the management I called the police 5 times over this. It makes me want to bust their window open and stab their speakers with a knife. Last month we had this guy that kept turning his car alarm on. They know for now when I peep out the shades or get step outside looking like crap to stop. At least for now. I am for a loud car stereo ban in Austin, Texas. I wrote to Mike Martinez via email, but of course no response. I would think since he was a firefighter he would understand a need of such ordinance. but no.
I just don't understand why you;d drive yourself crazy and cause yourself all this undue stress about someone slamming a door at 9. Are you asleep? No. Then what is the problem? Some people just seem to enjoy drama and causing problems; you might consider that you are one of those people.
yeah but we may be doing other things like chopping onions or veggies to cook dinner and we don't want to cut are hands off in the process. Watching TV or writing a book, even doing homework. There is no excuse for being inconsiderate. These are apartments not barns.
I once rented on a bottom floor after always having lived on a top floor. I used to cringe when the pople would only rock their chair. It wasn't that the fllor was even thin. It's just that way w/ being on the bottom floor. My next apt. when I had my stero going it wasn't even lod but the bass sound could be heard thumping downstairs and the neighbor came knocking during the day and was bothered. It happens and I was annoyed but understood since I had rented. I don't deal w/ that anymore but I do understand and I am very sorry that this is how apt's go.
I'm back again. I decided to take a look at my Thread to see the newer postings. Boy, you folks have had some real problems with people in apartments!!
As I write this, both the 2 yr. old and an adult are running above me and making one heck of a lot of noise! I swear, people like this just don't care about the people that live below them. And, on top of that, the Management here won't do anything anymore. All he has told me is "This is a family complex and there will be noise." In other words, this is what Management is telling us "You are too old to live in a family complex!"
What is so funny, Management can send a Notice about noise to an apartment and if the occupants don't care about a Notice going into their Personal File, the noise continues. If the police get involved, just how much can they do? They will only talk to them and there are a lot of folks today that won't even do what the police say. There has to be an excellent reason for someone to be evicted out of an apartment and "noise" most of the time isn't a good enough reason. Another thing, apartment management today will not tell you very much (if anything at all) about who lives in their complex. If too much is said, the Law calls that "discrimination" today. Unfortunately, if I want to know the type of people that live in a complex (so I can make my own decision on if I want to rent there) is no longer an option for me. I think that is a bunch of BULL, but I don't make the laws.
One thing that is very good, the noise above us doesn't happen all day and stops at 9:30PM when the child goes to bed. Thank God!!
As far as living on the top floor of a 3-story building, most (if not all) folks in the 55 plus age group don't want to (or can't) walk up stairs.
Bottom Line, as I have read from a lot of these postings........people (adults with small children, teens, young adults and even older adults) just don't care how much noise they make in an apartment and how much it disturbs other people. You talk to these people about the noise, they apologize, but then a lot of times just keep up the noise. It's basically a "No win" situation!!
play the religion card with the landlord. Say your Jewish and you want to live near people who are Jewish faith. This works when you live in another side of town and are about to sign the least. If the property manager gets or looks offensive at the comment you made, thank them for their time and look elsewhere. I did this at the Camino La Costa apartments and I am glad I did not rent there I did not know to much about the Rundberg area if you know what I mean. Saved me from a nightmare, several car thefts, and robberies. Also ask them what provider they use to run criminal background checks, which credit bureau they use, and get the name of the company and contact phone number of their corporate office if they ask why, tell them you want to buy stock with their company after all you are the customer an educated landlord, property manager will tell you that. Demand you see the apt you are renting not the model. This is how I got screwed. The model they showed me the a/c worked. When I moved in I had to plug my stove top into the wall and my bedroom door was off the hinge. Ask about how often repairs have to be made. I didn't and I can swear that Tim the "Tool Man" Taylor of Home Improvement built this and he probably taught maintenance how to do their jobs.
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