apartment life (page 2)

blaid

if you know where to hire a hitman..lol, just kidding

Maybe you and a few other neighbours (the ones most likely affected by this tenant's inconsiderate behaviour) should start independently documenting the excess noise, over a period of say 4 to 6 weeks.

Documentation is the key. If you all have independent records - noting times and dates of the nuisance behaviour - the property management has complaints that corroborate each other. This tenant seems to have been playing the nuisance game for a long enough time that she knows to turn off the music as soon as she notices the police coming up.

I used to have a neighbour (about 4 years ago) when I lived in an apartment whom I helped evict. Trust me, property managers want to get rid of these nuisance tenants as much as (or more than) you do. People like this cost them a lot in terms of losing good tenants who pay their rent and show respect and courtesy for other tenants. The neighbour that I had would play extremely loud music all night long. She was an alcoholic who would come to your door as drunk as a skunk at 2am and start banging on the door because she was "lonely" and wanted company. She would sleep until mid-afternoon and then call the cops if you woke her up before that. She complained to property management that I would let my dishwasher overflow on purpose so that it would leak into her apartment (dishwashers were not allowed, and I didn't have one either). One time she called Children's Aid on me because my kids were wrestling / play fighting in their room before suppertime. When the police showed up at my door at 1am responding to that "complaint" - when we were all asleep in bed - that was the last straw.

Up until that time, I had been documenting every incident with her over a period of 2 months. I sent a complaint to the Property Manager that the tenant was harassing me and causing me and my kids undue stress, and that if she was not evicted by a certain date, I would be terminating my lease. She was gone by the end of the month, because I wasn't the only one documenting incidents.

At the request of the Property Management company, I had the pleasure of attending the hearing at the Tenant's Rights Bureau where she tried to lie her way out of getting evicted. When she saw me walk into the room with my file folder of complaints, she immediately changed her tune and agreed to move, without any further ado. If I had been allowed to testify and submit my documentation into the record, she would not have been able to rent another apartment ever. She knew exactly how to play the game, so that is why she agreed to leave, rather than have documentation that would prevent her from finding accommodations anywhere else.

Let me know if you need help with this, ok?

Love, Scully

tinkerbell82

i used to live in an apartment with REALLY thin walls, and i had this crazy dentist living next door who would sing "the lion sleeps tonight" at 3 AM at the top of his lungs. no joke. and my neighbors on the other side of me used to cook eggs at all hours of the day and night and the smell made me SICK. but the apartment complex was so lame it wasnt worth trying to get anything done about it (and i couldnt really ask to have my neighbors quit cooking eggs :P).

rocketman

I live in a row home, and luckily, the neighbs are nice. But the home next door was a rental for the past 5 years, and it did concern me. We've been lucky so far.

drwtsn32

We lived in apartments the first 5 years of our marriage. They were built in the 70's and the walls were well insulated. We *never* heard the neighbors. It helped that we had no one above or below us, only to the sides.

Now we live in a house and enjoy being able to crank up the surround sound when watching movies or listening to music.

SheilaM

Mr. Moe:

I won't shoot you but maybe I can make you laugh.

Thunder and I lived in a two family house back East, beautiful Victorian wood floors the works. Upstairs lived the land ladies Betty and Helen. They had been school teachers in the years when you couldn't marry and when Betty's Mom died Helen's took her in anyways.

I was worried since they had never had children in the home tried to be quite. The first weekend I believe on Friday night. I awake to thumping, pounding music (Helen and Betty were near deaf) one of them was up watching the "Headbangers Ball" LOL ROFLMAO YES we were kept up that whole year by 90 year old women LOL

I hope that makes you smile

Naebliss

I will take care of this problem for you. I will need these products.

A festering boil

a possum

2 cans of salmon

a rope

3 hard boiled eggs (no shell)

a feather.

Leave it up to me. She will harry you no more. This I promise, or my name is not Timmy Tickles.

maxwell

I guess I've been really lucky so far. On the 23 of this month, it will have been 4 years since I moved out of my parents house. I've been in apartments the entire time and I've never had a problem. The first apartment I was in had specific rules about no loud noise after 11 pm. Which should be common sense and I guess that's what my present apartment assumes because there are no specific time rules. In cany case, if there was a complaint, you'd have to take it up with the police. My apartment happens to be on the first floor of this building. There's a lobby/ground level below me, and my apartment ends up being right above some ground level covered parking spaces. Below the parking spaces is a basement level conference/party room. One night, there was some party there that I thought lasted a bit too long I thought. They were there after 11 and I could hear their music quite clearly. But that was the only incident. And they weren't nearly as loud as the police and the fire trucks who come through every other night.

I grew up in a rural area where all you would hear were insects and maybe some owls or dogs in the distance, and that only if the air conditioning and other appliances weren't making too much noise. I guess I've gotten used to city noises. Garbage trucks, street sweepers, fire trucks. None of those bother me now and I don't even notice them when I'm asleep. I think the police do try to be somewhat considerate when they come by at night. They sorta stutter their sirens instead of going at it full blast. I have definitely heard some horror stories and was a bit afraid about my first apartment, but everything was cool. After I moved to this area, I read an article in the paper about some guy who got so angry with his upstairs neighbor walking around that he went upstairs and shot him to death. It didn't just happen right away; the situation escalated from some initial confrontation. The guy is going to jail. Not a really good way to deal with neighbors, and I don't think he will like his new neighbors any better. If the person doesn't respond to an initial polite request, documentation and using the authorities, as has been suggested, is a much better way of dealing with nusiances.

Also I'm happy to say, I've never had a complaint about my own noise. I sometimes practice my saxophone which can get loud. But I usually quit before 8pm and I never play after 9pm. My apartment only shares a wall with one other neighbor. And he is cool with the music.

MrMoe

alls I gots is rotten egg shells anda dead potted plant Neabs... will that work?

Everybody - thanks for the advice

Skully - yes, poke with the landlord, going to call the police with any issue past 11am that is beyond "normal" as well as document EVERYTHING in writing...

FlyingHighNow

Mr. Moe,

We live on the third floor of a very nice apartment building. Basically our life here is peaceful and serene. Southwest Michigan is peaceful and serene. But one bewildering thing happened. Our neighbor below us has a BBQ grill. This is against our complex's rules and against the town fire codes where we live. He was using the grill and the smoke was coming straight up through our wooden porch. Then one day after a big rain, I went to empty the rain out of our chairs and voila, the water splashed a little on his BBQ grill. The guy freaked and started yelling at me. Ooooops.

The story has a good ending though. We noticed a paper tacked to his door. I saw it was from the local fire department. It was official notification that they are breaking the law and that they will get a fine and lose the grill if they are caught doing it again. I bet he thinks we called the FD. We didn't. You can bet we will call the FD if they crank that grill up again. Can you believe they would be that foolish as to light a grill less than 8 feet below a wooden deck?

Heather S. II

apartment life

Share this