It isnt always easy to just "move".
Like me for example...... I dont make enough money for most apartment complexes in decent neighborhoods here.... they always have a high minimum amount of income you must make before they will even consider renting to you.

I could probably easily afford an apartment in a crime-ridden hellhole of a neighborhood.... but for obvious reasons... I dont want to.

It's like they say.... "beggars can't be choosers".

Right now I was lucky enough to find a cheap apartment in an old house that was converted to 3 apartments. It leaks like a sieve in winter, is small, my 2 neighbors are quiet (except when the divorcee is yelling at her kids) but it allows me to live in a decent neighborhood & save money (to put into savings).

Being able to just up & move when problems occur is a luxury for people who can easily afford it.

"Move!"

It's not that simple. I'm being asked to vacate from the apartment I lived in for 3 years because the downstairs tenant who has lived a year there doesn't want to hear our daughter anymore. This is a very unfair situation, and in all my 17 years of renting, not once was I ever evicted or asked to vacate a home I have lived in. I have good rental history with all of my past rentals, until this one.

I'm ashamed to admit the two thousand dollars I have had to borrow from family just so I can UP and MOVE in thirty days. We are a family with very little savings living on paycheck to paycheck sometimes. I have multiple sclerosis and cannot work full time.

Another thing that really irks me is this, the property I am about to vacate has a manager that tells all new prospective tenants that this is a "quiet place" to live. It's baloney. They need to start being honest about the building structure.

The manager even complained to my husband when she first came here that she gets 2- 3 noise complaints on a daily basis. If it's that bad, the owners need to do something instead of vacate people and punish them for their building structure issues.

There is a single mother on the third floor of our complex who has a 3 1/2 year old son being vacated. She told me it was because the neighbors downstairs began complaining on her a month after she moved in.

It's discriminatory to ask people with children to take ground floor apartments, however, maybe it's in the best interest of these families since being on upper levels gets you booted out. This is why I purposefully sought out a groundfloor at our new place.

I'm sorry for you, czarinax17. DH and I are retired and about to go the apartment way of living. We really like kids, however, and having had them we know they ain't gonna be quiet. I hope we have kids in our building--maybe I can play grandma!!! ;-) Seriously, yours is a sad situation. Generations need to learn to live together and help each other. You never know when you may be the one needing help--young or old. Good luck to you and let us know how it's going.

I never thought it would be a cheap fix or the best solution. It would just take care of your noisy neighbors and perhaps send a message to the owner/ manager.

I have read czarinax post earlier. Its a bad deal and I feel terrible for you. The person below should move.

When I first started to manage property I took over a upstairs unit in a condo. I placed a single Mom with two kids in it. The association manager, who did nothing but watch after this complex like a hawk informed me I was in violation of their rules for putting childeren on the second floor. She told me it was to prevent children from falling through the stair railings. What a joke! I told her if its a saftey issue she really is concearned with she better fix the railings because kids in lower units will go up the steps. I refused to comply and she had her lawyer contact me.

He called the next day asking me why I had a problem with the by-laws he wrote up. I told him that being a lawyer he should realize he is not in compliance with the law. I stated exactly what was wrong and told him I would not be having this tenat move out and said please sue me so a judge can correct you. He said he would look into it and get back to me. That was 5 years ago! Still waiting for the call back. :)

I don't like our current judicial system. Its not leagle isnt always fair. It also isn't right that a person with out a lot of money can't stand up for them selves or fight a bad situation.

Good luck to all of you!

Everyone has a point. Moving is an option; but... Just two days ago I complained to my Community Manager (I live in an apartment complex with about 10 units and 45 apartments) about my noisy neighbor and had informed her that at the end of my lease I will be moving because of my neighbor, unless the noisy neighbor situation goes away. She offered to me that I move to a different apartment here in the complex. I laughed at her and asked her "why should I move, I'm not the noisy neighbor and what about the next tenant"? She said she would (again) talk to my noisy neighbor and suggest to them about moving to a different apartment. Why should the "good" tenants be hassled by having to move; were doing everything right. A house is one thing, an apartment is another. Everyone needs to know that in an apartment community you have to respect your neighbors with the common things; noise, trash, parking ect...

But; moving does open the eyes to management companies and owners. When the money stops coming in, things change to get people to move in... Recently in my apartment community I counted 12 apartments that were vacant. At $1,000 a pop for each apartment, that's $12,000 a month. ALl these apartments were vacant for at least one month. You should of seen the specials they were offereing; discounts left and right for new people moving in; and if you referred someone to move you got a "free months rent". But this also has repercusions, like tenants that move in thinking they can afford the rent and turn out they can't; those are usually the ones that don't care about anyone else. Tenants that trash there place and flee in the middle of the night, ect...

hang in there.

Thank you all for the best wishes. It's nice to know there's some folks in the world who understand where I'm coming from in my situation! I'm also thankful for the opposing point of views on this forum because it gives me more insight. Keep your fingers crossed for me, that my new ground floor will work out better, at least for my little one! : ) ( we move in a week )

I have neighbors who think it is ok to pound nails in the wall at 12:45 a.m. and think it is ok to vacuum and bang the walls as they do so. They are constantly banging, slamming, stomping, dropping heavy things on the floor, and making whatever noise they possibly can. I know that it has to be intentional, because it is too loud not to be. I was finally able to call the cops on them at 3:30 a.m. because their tv was blaring loud. It was good that the cop was able to catch them in the act.

That is upstairs. We also have trouble with the next door neighbor from time to time. One night, between 11:00 and midnight, she opened and slammed her sliding door a total of forty times, as she was in and out as she was grilling chicken. At about the fifteenth door slam, at about 11:15 p.m. I am sure that it did not help that my husband pounded her wall, and yelled "knock it off, stupid!!" (he reacts at times without thinking). Now, whenever this early twenty-something sees either one of us, she gives us each glares that could kill.

We are leaving in less than 2 1/2 weeks. In the past, we had the attitude "why should we leave, when we are not the ones causing the ruckis" and we were able to get the troublemakers to move, instead. We finally got tired, because it seems like lately, it is only the young kids management is allowing to move in, and it is turning into party central with each and every one of them having a chip on their shoulder and major attitudes. We even have woman beaters in our building (yes we turned them in.) We have become outnumbered here, and it is time to move on.

I hope the new place you have moved to is better than the last.

whoever makes the noise needs to move out. with all sympathy for czarinax, noise can kill, and in fact does. i'm not saying you're noisy, i don't know you. however, i also identify with your neighbor as a victim of noise myself and as someone who demands strict standards from himself, and makes almost no noise at all.

i hope it works out for you and that you find peace and stability.

and by the way, kids aren't automatically noisemakers. in fact they are the first to learn how destructive noise is and where apporpriate places for letting loose can be had.

neoadorable: I can never remember hearing about someone dying from noise. Especially a tenant dying from the noise created by a neighbor.

"whoever makes the noise needs to move out" Problem is many courts will not enfore a UD for noise. AND many landlords don't care as long as the checks keep coming in.

pardon me, but i recommend a broader perspective on the issue. of course you never hear of people dying from noise, but then five hundred years ago nobody heard of cancer fatalities, and fifty years before now they were still laughing off doctors claiming smoking could kill. no, so you don't hear of noise killing people. they just die from blood pressure, heart problems, stress and depression. by the millions.

i really don't understand why you're here telling posters with obvious noise-related suffering that they're wrong and exaggerating. what's next, you'll be telling them it's all in their heads?

i'm not trying to be combative with you, just perplexed.

Ya get back to me when you have that so called fact proven about noise killing.

Your probably right, I went to a heavy metal concert that was really loud and about half the fans died while listening.

i don't need to prove anything to you, nor did i ask you for proof, this is a forum where people express opinions, something you may be uncomfortable with. but go to any city environmental protection agency's site or press release material and you'll see these "facts" you want. or do research on the topic online and elsewhere, the trends are recorded scientifically, nothing i made up out of thin air.

the rock concert isn't a good example. you and the other fans were there willingly, it's probably the neighbors that died of a heart attack.

am i annoying you? not my intention, but please don't ridicule me or my posts, i didn't do it to you.

nfllifer said:
"Ya get back to me when you have that so called fact proven about noise killing."

This from the Center for Disease Control:
"According to the World Health Organization's Guidelines for Community Noise, noise is an increasing public health problem. Noise can have the following adverse health effects: hearing loss; sleep disturbances; cardiovascular and psychophysiologic problems; performance reduction; annoyance responses; and adverse social behavior."

And from the EPA:
"Heart disease  noise causes stress and the body reacts with increased adrenaline, changes in heart rate and a rise in blood pressure."

Cardiovascular problems and increased blood pressure kill people. People in their 40's and 50's die from stress-related heart disease.

The noise from apartment living and the Center of Diseasee control are totally different.

Noise can cause hearing loss. Very aparent in factories not apartments

Noise can cause sleep disturbances: Yes but its the sleep disturbance that is a health issue not the noise creating it. Are babies considered health problems due to sleep deprivation they cause their parents?

Performance reduction has to deal with lack of sleep or interuptions in work.

I agree that abrupt loud noises are not good for ones health, and anything disturbing sleep is bad.

Personally I do not use an alarm clock. I used to have an early job and the jolt of an early alarm has to cause heart attacks. I also do not have a ringer on my phone. The vibration doesn't stress me out but any ringer brings on anxiety. ( I get a lot of calls)

I still have found nothing on actual noise killing people.

after six months i finally broke my lease becuase the hillbilly white trash (i say this, becuase the two kids are hers but each have a different father and the fat ugly pathetic guy she leaches off of isnt the father of either) above me allow the kids to run all day untill about 11 each night. Then the two supposed "adults" decide its a good time to move furniture, then finish it off with some really obnoxiously loud sex that keeps my husand, (an electrician who really needs his sleep) up for about an hour longer or wakes him up out of a sound sleep.

thank god moving is an option for us. No one should be made to deal with other people's children. if you have children you shouldn't be allowed to live on anything other than the lowest floor.

Certain amounts of Noise are understandable; but running in a small 2 bdrm apt around a coffee table is abnormal and proves that the mother doesnt want either of her two little mistakes....she made them, now why should I have to deal with them?

it was cheap rent and we really liked the fact that it would save us money living here, but in the end, we realized that if we want to pay cheap rent then we will live with those who can do no better. we were living in their world so they got the best of us, but now were moving to a place they could never ever dream of living if they reached their peak and we are still on our way up, and why is this? BECUASE WE WORK 60+ HOURS A WEEK AND GO TO SCHOOL INSTEAD OF SLEEPING WITH EVERYTHING THAT WALKS!

"No one should be made to deal with other people's children. if you have children you shouldn't be allowed to live on anything other than the lowest floor."

Hahahahaha! Maybe you should look into a building that has no children and if you have children of your own, then make sure they are the only ones there since no one else should be made to put up with yours!

I would pay extra bucks for a first floor apartment. One with a patio would be nice. That way we could come and go from our place with out having to walk down the hall or use the main entrance. We could maybe have a little garden out there and sit and relax by our garden. But around here people with disabilities and the elderly who can't manage stairs are put into those places. And rightly so.

Maybe all of us with children should move to our own little island and leave you who work 60+ hours a week AND go to school alone? But that would wouldn't work either because you'd probably come and buy our island and make us move because you have soemthing against children. I guess you were never a child huh? Or just never grew up maybe?

And "but running in a small 2 bdrm apt around a coffee table is abnormal and proves that the mother doesnt want either of her two little mistakes"

I rented a condo unit which was fantastic, was pretty much rent-controlled cuz the owners like me. I was there for 3 years and they never raised the rent. I loved the place and actually considered seeing if they'd sell to me. Just about that time, the owner of the unit above mine, got married and her husband walked liked an elephant. I was 6 mos. pregnant at the time, working fulltime and overtime and the noise was atrocious. I tried everything, even going to a gun store (not to buy a gun ;) to buy earplugs (no help). I got my camcorder out one night around midnight and taped this, looking back it's pretty funny, but I was an exhausted wreck. I'd take shots of the ceiling and you could literally hear & follow this man around his unit upstairs (and prior to this, I had a good 2 1/2 years without ANY noise from upstairs).

Anyway, I worked for an atty at the time and my landlords were fabulous, so we took my complaint before the condo board (which is how I found out the woman had married an oaf). Unfortunately, the Board couldn't do anything about it, they said it was a structural issue. (The noisy neighbors were actually very nice people. It wasn't a contentious issue, surprisingly. The husband would even leave me notes under my door telling me when he'd be going out of town. Hurray!). The good thing is it forced me to move and I ended up buying a single family home.

Here's the deal. Just because you choose to have children and by law can rent any apartment you want does not mean your neighbors have to tolerate the same noise you have chosen to tolerate by having said children. There is not a moment of any given day that I have been able to have an hour of quiet, peaceful enjoyment in my apartment. On another forum, same topic, the OP was criticized as judgmental for noting the upstairs kids never played outside. My neighbors never, ever have their children outside playing. I do think there's a right to judge that. To judge that the parents aren't clued in enough to say "Hey kids, take it outside!" I don't tolerate my dogs roughhousing inside, and I know plenty of parents who don't allow it of their kids either. In my childhood, when you lived in an apartment, that's what you always did- went outside to play because you lived in an apartment which is not suitable for children playing 24/7/365!

Another issue with my upstairs neighbors is they also have no bedtime or enforce the concept of a bedtime (the grandmother living with them told me this.) Why is this my business? They are jumping around above my head at 2 am. I also know many parents with no issue enforcing bedtimes. Why not move by bedroom, you ask? My bed won't fit in the only other bedroom. Why not live on the second floor somewhere else? Because my dogs are 13 and aren't so good on the stairs now. Also, the click-clicking of their nails on hardwood would probably irritate a downstairs neighbor!

Rather than people suggesting these people with noise problems move out of their apartment to somewhere else, it is only logical for the *family* with a lifestyle clearly not suited to apartment living to find something more suitable for *them* such as a single family or duplex. The Fair Housing Act does not mean families trump children in *any* aspect of apartment living.

is this thread still open? I am going out of my mind from lack of sleep. they have 2 young boys who run and wrestle for hours. this usually manifests as loud banging suddenly with 5 minute bouts of silence. they have driven out 3 neighbors. there are 5 apts around me and now 3 are vacant. they are actually on the ground floor but the way these bldgs are constructed noise comes up. when they take a break from running the mother gives piano lessons for money to kids-very loud. this is an upscale place but all management will do is make sure they have rugs; they also insist on hearing for themselves but send over an almost deaf maintenance man who won't stay more thaa minute. I would move despite loving the neighborhood but I don't feel well and moving right now is physically too taxing even if I hired a packer. sleep loss can kill.

My concern with moving into another apartment is getting into the same or worse situation I'm already in. How many have done that and wished they were back to the old apartment's problem?

I would buy a house but that isn't a guarantee either that there won't be problems and then I'd have a house to sell on top of having to move again.

My son/family lives in the country...has a nice little 10 acre spread. New neighbors moved in and started burning some horrible smelling stuff. It took them a year to get that stopped.

For the past four years, I had a nice couple living upstairs.

They dropped things, they got excited every now and then and that was that.

The new bunch plays loud music at all times, they vaccum on a Sunday morning, they talk (talk? shout!) so loudly I can hear every word.

They seemed nice enough at the interview.

It must be a generation thing. And yes, not being able to unwind (because of the noise) does cause stress.

Hope they miss out on the rent (since I own this place, moving is not an option for me), so I can kick them out.

Children? I have no problem with them :) They need to run around and be 'noisy' to some extent.

Grown ups should know better.

I can empathis with those of you struggling with noisy neighbors.
I have had three in a row. The owners are clueless and reluctant to ask upstairs tenants to tone things down. On top of it all they tiled all the apartments, claiming they put soundproof cloth under the tiles but my neighbors have a new child and they wheel her around on their office chair all day long....driving me from my apartment. I have tried everything from complaining to using earplugs - nothing works.
I think asking people to wear earplugs is crazy, since I can not possibly ask my visitors to wear them and wearing them for too long can have health problems including ear infections.
It costs way too much to move.
The resident manager was even put on notice because her kids were making way too much noise in her upstairs apartment and it forced the tenants who were renting under her to move out - that cost the woners money and their relationship has suffered as a result.
Constant noise is stressful and can result in health problems and I have not only been driven from my apartment several times, but in calling the law found the tenants upstairs only too willing to retaliate.
The owners dont care.
HOWEVER they have some open units. I will be making up a nice sign to hang outside my door warning visitors of a possible loud noise sitution if and when they enter and that they shold be expected to wear ear plugs and or have our visit terminated early due to the din....hopefully the message will get through because I have even had to go to a friends house for a couple of nights in order to get sleep because I was exhausted from the constant noise.
I have even read articles about tenants who have suffered so long they were driven to extremes - one guy blasted his neighbors alarm clock with a shot gun because it was so loud and woke him early every morning.
I am constantly reading - oh just move, oh it isnt the fault of the tenants, or you are too sensitive, these are just excuses for bad behavior, inconsideration and owners not wanting to spend any money to remedy the problem. I was raised to respect others, includig their sensibilities, live can be lived without being a nuisance to others and it should be, but complacency is the new norm now and people are forced to deal with issues that are above and beyond reasonable.