Neighbour always complaining

21 years ago

I have been living in this apartment for the last six months. I live in the second floor. An elderly lady in her fifties lives in the first floor. The floors of the apartment are wooden. So I had more than 90% of the exposed area carpetted with padding below it. The construction of the building is not that good and clearly some noise is produced when we walk even though there is padding. The frustrating thing is that the lady living below us keeps on complaining of noise even we are talking at night.

Sometimes we talk and lose track of time. Is there any rule that you can't talk (not shout) in apartment complexes after 11? We do not believe that are making "noise", but the old lady complains that we are making noise. She even called police a couple of times. The last time she called police was because my wife was using grinder at 11 o'clock in the morning. Please advice us how we could react to this harrassment.

I know it is best that we settle things amongst ourselves, but this lady never gets tired of complaining. She fails to understand that the will be some amount of noise if people live upstairs. I am afraid that the lady might get us arrested or fined although it is not our fault. Can the police arrest/fine us if the lady continues to make compliants?

My lease is going to get over next June and I do not want to break the lease. Please advice me how I should tackle this problem.

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Comments (3)

diydana
21 years ago
There is no way you can get arrested for grinding coffee or talking. What did the police say when they came over?
The lady downstairs sounds like she has too much free time.
Maybe you can ask her what you can do to help her feel better about the noise level. Bring cookis and some sugar free ones just in case...use her name over and over. Hello ms jones how are you today ms jones. I know your concerned about the noise ms jones...
The name usage makes people feel at ease and like family.
Cookies are good, flowers too.
Get her on your side. Have your wife upstairs talking to the walls so you can hear the noise level.
Or hog tie the old bag and leave her in the park.
Just jokes...
That would be bad.
Tropical_Muse
21 years ago
" An elderly lady in her fifties lives in the first floor."

ouch!!!!!
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Burkis
21 years ago
I can tell you that it is a bit annoying to be in your bedroom at 12am at night and not be able to fall asleep because your neighbour is in his/her own bedroom chatting away. If you're not talking too loud then the transmission of sound is most likely do to the thinness of your floors and I think that that's something you should take into consideration. It's not your fault but it would hurt to move your conversation to the livingroom/kitchen if you're planning on staying up late.

I remember that I used to live a building that had very thin floors and my downstairs neighbours used to come home late, turn on their radio, cook supper and chatthe night away. It was very hard to sleep with all that going on.

I don't think the lady is complaining just for the sake of complaining. She probably is still trying to get used to these new sounds. Change is hard sometimes. I think that it would be best if the landlord/police reviewed noise guidelines with her. Using the grinder briefly at 11am should not constitute a noise complaint

Good Luck!