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absurd neighbors - advice needed!
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Anonymous
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Sorry for the long rant, but not sure what my rights are.
So, we leased a condo (stacked townhouse) from the owner in September. Our lease is a year, and we are in the lower unit (we have the first two floors, and there is someone on the top two floors). When we first moved in, we began to realize the place had issues. For one, each condo has a 1-car garage, but the garages (theirs and ours) are under each of our two guest rooms. Our neighbor's garage door opening and closing is absurdly loud. Not really sure why, as ours isnt that loud, but it literally shakes the floor of the room above it. Ours is still noticeable, but not as loud. Anyway, when we moved in, we didnt realize this and moved my daughter into the room above their garage. Well, because of the design of the building, it is admittedly more convenient to use the garage door to leave, and that is what the neighbors do 100% of the time. And they have a dog that they walk very early in the morning and late at night.So, up and down the garage door goes at all hours of the day and night. I actually spoke to them about it soon after moving in, and they said they'd 'try' to use their front door more, but nothing changed. They havent use it once (and we would know because their front door is within eyesight of our couch). Anyway, it was so loud we had to move my daughter into the other room about 3 weeks after moving in (even though the original room was completely set up and painted for her!). And though I bit my tongue, we just dealt with it. You can still clearly hear their garage door in my daughter's new room, and their dog jumps up and down on their wooden floor above her room conveniently at bedtime, and it has definitely kept her up many nights. She's only 10mo so I cant just explain to her what the loud noises on the ceiling are. But, due to a recent incident, I'm not longer interested in just dealing with it. In summary - they left us an extremely rude horrible note on our door tonight about another unrelated issue (they were upset we had left our recycle bin outside and told us to keep our 'crap' inside from now on and they were calling the management office and we would be fined - keeping in mind this was the first time they had mentioned anything about it bothering them). So, my question is, is there anything we can do about the noise? It isnt past 9pm and it is *their* garage door and their wooden floor above our condo, so they can do whatever they want with it, I would assume. But is there really nothing we can do (file a complaint, call the cops) when they continually keep my daughter up? Clearly talking about it with them and asking nicely is out of the question, not to mention we already tried. Any other advice? I assume ringing their doorbell every night when my daughter gets up would be considered harassment, but isnt it harassment that they are keeping her up?? Sigh |
Anonymous
| I don't think there's really anything you can do about it, unfortunately. When buildings are cheaply constructed, there's not much you can do about it. You can't stop them from using their garage. Try insulating from the inside. Heavy carpets and drapes will help somewhat. |
Anonymous
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- garage door - if its excessively shaking it could be a spring or something is loose. Had a similar problem once on a garage door and had to have it fixed. The condo association might cover that. You could report it to the mgmt office.
- wood floor. Most condos specificy that a certain amount of the floor needs to be covered with carpet. You would have to find out if your association has such a rule and go from there |
Anonymous
| Call the owner for help or move when lease is up. |
Anonymous
| Quiet hours are 11pm-7am. |
Anonymous
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Most leases (check yours) have a covenant of quiet enjoyment. If the owner cannot help you may be able to get out of the lease. Otherwise I think that you are SOL.
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Anonymous
| Being a pain is not ideal, but sometimes it's all you've got. Sounds like the neighbors are not to be dealt with, so I would start putting my issues in writing to the owner. Is your owner nice? I would just be honest about the situation--not an unreasonable bitch or anything, just truly honest about the difficulties you are having. If I owned property and my renters were unhappy, I would want to know it. Maybe there is something they can do about it. I say--try to avoid being combative if you can. That only escalates matters, which usually goes nowhere. Good luck--I KNOW how awful it can be to have neighbors. Our upstairs neighbor in our old condo was a complete and total f*cking inconsiderate assh*ole, as nice as we were to him, he was a dick. He renovated about 6 times in the 10 years we loved below him--and I don't mean knocking down a wall or putting up wallpaper. I mean FULL-ON construction, even on weekends and early in the morning when it was CLEARLY off-limits. On the day I went into labor, at home, it sounded like the roof was caving in. I went upstairs in all my enormous glory and unleashed on the crew. Not their fault, I know, but dickhead was never home. Oy. |
Anonymous
| The whole scenario, including with the recycle bin, makes me wonder whether they OWN their unit and somehow feel superior or that they have more rights than "mere renters"... could explain their attitude. |
Anonymous
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Sorry OP, you are wrong and your neighbors are right.
They have every right to do what they want with their doors and floors. They are correct that if there are rules about recycling bins, you must follow them. (They didn't need to be rude about it, however...) It's just one of the discomforts of living in community housing. You have to share walls and floors with people whose schedules don't match your own. Cheap building methods mean you feel and hear everything. If I were you, when my baby cries at night, I would go rock her in the bedroom closest to THEIR bedroom! And meanwhile, save your money for a single family home. |
Anonymous
| Sorry dude...you moved in with a baby and you expect your neighbors to change their lives to accomodate the kids schedule? Uh, no. When you live in an apartment, you have to adjust to some noise. Your neighbors are dealing with your noise, like the baby crying...should they call the police about that? |
Anonymous
I expected nothing less than an asshole response like yours when posting on DCUM. At least I got some helpful responses too, so thanks to everyone else! It is nice to know that I wasnt unlucky enough to have the rudest neighbors in the world. You sound just as equally if not more so unpleasant, and I am grateful you aren't them. I hope you burn in hell. I also hope you learn to spell. People will take your ridiculous responses more seriously. And finally, I hope that when you are trying your best to get an overtired little one to sleep you have someone keeping them up as well. For three straight months. |
Anonymous
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You should talk with the condo management and see if they can help.
You should talk with your landlord. If nothing else, they could add soundproofing. Honestly, they knew it was noisy -- they've lived there! You might approach it as it is going to continue to be an ongoing issue whether you are the tenant or someone else is renting. |
Anonymous
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You have two separate issues that you are confusing.
First, assuming that it was as you describe, the note they left you was unwarranted and over-the-top. The appropriate response is to ignore them from now on. Second, the issue with the garage door and wood floors? Assuming they are complying with floor coverage requirements, they are not doing anything wrong. Not a thing. They are not "absurd." They are renters using their condo well within their rights. This comes up so frequently on thsi board. Parents of young babies are understandably focused on their child and sleep. This gets twisted into a perception that "neighbors are keeping the baby up." This is the same thing as saying that a neighbor should be prevented from cooking fish because another doesn't liek the smell. This is the price we pay for living in a multi-dwelling condo. And really, saying that you hope someone burns in hell? Classy, and very stable. |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
Agreed. OP, your complaint essentially boils down to, "They use their garage door to take out their dog." There's nothing wrong with that. Your complaint is actually that your own unit doesn't have sufficient soundproofing. That's an issue you take up with your landlord, not your neighbors. And while they may be jerks, your two posts here hint (strongly) that you likely are part of the problem. |