Elephants Walking...

22 years ago

I live in an apartment building and have been tormented by the excess noise from the upstairs apartment for month.

It seems that there are at least 4 people live in such a small 1-bedroom apartment. Without having a single carptet in their apartment, these occupants stomp around on the squeaky floor board day and night, the noise and reverberation are unbearble. When they play their stereo at excessive volumes, move furniture around, drag chairs or drop heavy stuffs on the floor...it thunders my rooms

I have tried my best to be more tolerant during daytime and weekend, but these occupants have different work shifts and stay up at odd hours. 2 of them get up around 4:20 AM, their footsteps reverberate through my apartment and rattle my windows like earthquake! After they keep walking like elephants and making noises for an hour and leave for work at 5:30 AM, another guy gets up and starts clomping and making thunders again. I wear earplugs and put feather pillows over my head, but they still wake me up..

One early morning, I went up and knock at their door at 4:50AM, asked them to quiet down, but it only made them become more aggreesive and abusive to challenge me...So I wrote them a formal letter along with our building's House Rules...but the situation is getting worse day by day, now they have 1 more person moved in...

I've invited one of my neighbors, who I have never known before, to my apartment, I asked if her upstairs neighbors also behaved like this, she was so shocked by the banging pounding noises on the top of our heads when we were talking...she thought I should seek for legal help

Today, I wrote a letter to the management office, but I was told that the management office wont be so helpful, I shouldnt place high expectations on it...

If the management office wont help, what should I do next?

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Comments (5)

lasershow
22 years ago
Well....

First of all, my sympathies. It's terrible to be living under (literally!) such conditions. That being said, there are things you can do (including getting a lawyer involved) but it depends on how much you want to fight, how much you want to spend on the fight, and how much aggravation you want to endure to live there.

If there are 5 people living in a one bedroom apartment, that almost certainly violates city housing code. You could easily report that anonymously to the city building inspector.

Document, document, document. Keep a running log for management. "4:30 AM on Tuesday, awakened by _____ (stomping, stereo, etc.)." If it's loud music going on, you can call the police because that violates the noise ordinance of your city/town. Write another letter to management, saying this is preventing you from the quiet enjoyment of your apartment.

Take a look at this page; there is some good information provided. I wish you all the best; it's a tough situation to be in.

Here is a link that might be useful: Nolo Noise FAQ
User
22 years ago
Remind the management that you can break your lease and move out because of THEIR inaction ... and probably sue them for the damages. In this state, the landlord is responsible for taking care of noise issues, and repeated calls to the cops by annoyed neighbors and tenants can get the landlord in trouble.

Reporting them for violating the "too many people in an apartment" zoning might work. Management might not know how many are living there.

If it's a large management company, write to the main office. The onsite managers are doofuses far too often.

Log the noise, tape it if you can ...
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cenitta
Original Author
22 years ago
Thank you both for the inputs.

I did tape the noise, but I didnt send to the management office yet.

And lasershow mentioned House Code, yes i thought about it, but I just cant prove exactly how many live there. It seems that they come and go...but I guess the apartement was sublet to them as the tenant's name shown on the front door looks like an Russian, but these people look like mexcians...

Anyway, it's bombing on the top of my head again while I am typing this message.
.....

I will keep you posted if I hear anything from the management

Thanks again for all the info and advices. It's very helpful.
SAG1
22 years ago
Sounds like they are wearing boots (probably cowboy, based on your verb "thunder") inside. Step one: get them to take of their boots. Step two: If that does not work, give them each a pair of house slippers. Step three: Make a tape and complain to the landlord. Step four: Call the police if the stereo is going at 3 a.m. of whereabouts.
Piko_Monkey
22 years ago
i too had noisy, smelly, obscene, too many people in a one bedroom, "south will rise again" rebel flag on the living room wall, neighbors.
i and other neighbors got together to complain to management, and they were kicked out propmptly when they didnt heed excessive noise warnings.
see if other renters near you are botherd as well and ask them to talk to management, i doubt they will ignore the complanints of several tenants.