What can I do about my downstairs neighbor with sensitive hearing

17 years ago

I've currently been in my new apartment for five months.

Within two months of moving in, someone informed me that the neighbor below me tends to be a complainer. I didnt take notice of it till the past two months.

The first complaint was at 10:30 AM on a Saturday morning. She had called the front office and claimed that there was excessive noise coming from our apt. My roommate and I were dumbfounded. My dog would sometimes run after his toy and we would hear the carpet scraping but that was it.

Second complaint was two-three weeks after that on Sunday at 8:30 PM. This time she came upstairs and complained again angerily. This time, I knew it was my dog playing with his toy. So I made a conscious effort to put him in his crate whenever he races after his toy.

Third complaint was two weeks after that at 11:00PM on a Friday. This one I think is legit due to the time. But at the same time, I am a bit frustrated at her coming upstairs to complain as soon as he begins to run around. Because I do make a very conscious effort to place him in his crate when he begins to run.

My argument is this.... my dog is in his crate for the better part of the day. He has an open window of 6-9PM where he plays with his toys... and makes the "excessive noise". He goes to sleep the same time I do and he wakes up at the same time also. basically 10PM to 730AM. When he wakes up he doesnt even run around. He eats and is placed in his crate.

My solution to her complaints was to walk him in an area where he can run his little heart out when I come home in the evening and to place him immediately in his crate when he gets in his moods.

I've paid a hefty 500 dollar pet deposit and i also pay a pet rent per month. I feel like I've tried to compromise with her but it seems even those short moments bother her. She also told my roommate that she is also bothered by the sounds of someone getting up in the middle of the night to use the restroom.

I've read reviews about our apartment complaints and its known for its thin walls. Sometimes, I'll even hear my neighbors next door to me but I'm not bothered by the noise. I feel if she had done her research, she should have opted for another apartment complex or moved to a third floor unit.

I've lived in an apartment complex before and had a downstairs neighbor. Either they were very tolerant or my current downstairs neighbor has very sensitive hearing.

What can I do about this? Is this really excessive noise?

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Comments (6)

lucy
17 years ago
Do you have any carpeting at all? It seems a shame to crate your dog so much just because someone else is complaining, but not being down there yourself, it's hard to tell how bad it is. How big is your dog and is he clomping all over a hardwood floor, or what? You do have rights too, and if one of them is being allowed to have dogs, and you play with him at a reasonable time (what you posted), then next time the neighbour complains, send him/her to the office and tell them to leave you alone (if your dog is smaller and there's carpet and everything else is reasonable).
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angel47630
17 years ago
It is really a shame that your dog has to suffer the consequence of a nosy neighbor. Really, do they have nothing else to do in life? Our upstairs neighbors have two cats that are Manx and they are HUGE. They rip around the apt, 1400sq feet that is a straight shot! They love it. We can hear them about twice a day, tearing after each other, thudding across the whole unit but we laugh about it, you can hear their paws hitting the floor. They are helpless animals and we have better things to do.

I have never heard the people above me and in fact they asked us if their cats bothered us and we said no way, we have a large dog and she barks when someone comes to the door so we all have to give and take.

I would let your dog live his life. If you have an agreement with your LL that you can have a dog and as long as he isn't barking 24/7, then ignore this person and just live your life. If you start pacifying this person with each little whim they get, you most likely will never hear the end of things. If they know up front that you will not play such a petty game perhaps they will back off.

Good luck
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Retaliation doesn't work and can backfire on you. Talk to the co-op management and see what they have to say. If you get no satisfaction, and do not feel comfortable talking to the woman, slip a note under her door asking her if she would please be mindful of the noise. You can even phrase it by saying, "Is anything wrong? I've noticed lately that there is a lot more noise coming from your place..." etc.
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Sell. Or, lodge complaints against HER with the condo association. But what, really, can they do? In my co-op, we could kick her out--pass a bylaw that says that any resident who bangs on the ceiling can be evicted, and then document and evict. We can even force her to sell her shares/apartment, even if she doesn't want to. I know; my co-op did it to someone. We'd gotten fed up; he'd done the last-straw sort of thing, so we said, "here's a condition; if you break it, you're out." Fortunately for us, he did. But what can a CONDO association do? Do they have any muscle? I guess they coudl issue a fine, but it would be hard for them to enforce, because they'd just have to take your word for it. I doubt it, and I doubt that even if they do they won't want to use it, given that her son is on the board. So I'd see what you can do to sell. Crummy, huh. The only other thing perhaps would be to preview the noises for her--she doesn't sound like she'll be amenable, but perhaps if you could say, "my little nephew will be coming over, he's so cute as he learns how to walk, I hope he won't be too loud for you." Then, she knows what the noise is, which sometimes helps people. And she's been warned, so she can't be a problem. One time I had a "bang on the ceiling" neighbor (the guy that got kicked out of the condo), he got hysterical bcs I was vacuuming--for the first time in (seriously) 4 or 5 months. I think that because he seldom heard us, he thought it was extreme. If I'd been vacuuming twice a week, he would have been used to it. I say this because the apt over OUR heads was vacant for a while after being inhabited by an ill and elderly woman. When her sister took over the space, she vacuumed every week, and it was really noticeable! Because we weren't used to it. Maybe you need to HAVE some parties--mention them to the co-op board first (in fact, invite some board members!!), warn her politely, and go ahead. Then she'll have an idea of what kind of noise she COULD have over her head, and maybe the change would make a difference. Or, call her and call her son every SINGLE time she bangs on the floor. Not to complain, but to sweetly, politely, and cloyingly apologize: "oh, your mom just banged on my floor, I'm SO sorry; we'd finished dinner and I pushed my chair back. I'll try harder next time not to make so much noise. You're on the board, and I know you're a good son, so you must surely want to know that her neighbors are truly trying to be considerate." Keep it up, and pretty soon he'll be telling her to please stop banging on the ceiling, because every time she does, you call him to apologize. Call her, too, and she'll lose the satisfaction of sitting down there and thinking evil thoughts about her. and she'll hear that each time, you're not being rude, you're just living your life. Another idea: invite a few board members over just for the evening--conversation, a glass of wine, dinner. Try to do the sorts of things that get her to bang on the floor, and point it out to them when it happens. If you could get her son there without her knowing, it would be even better. Then you could perhaps ask those board members to have a word with her and assure her that they HEARD her complaint, and saw the offending action and that she's being unreasonable, please would she stop. But she probably won't, so the easiest thing might be to figure out how to move.
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if anyone ever has any sitch similar, you need to move- as soon as you possibly can. I realize it seems unfair, and it is. But when you’re the tenant upstairs, you bear the brunt of the blame. I know, I’ve been that upstairs neighbor and I’ve been through he** bc of it too. It’s been a fluid situation but it all started with a bad downstairs tenant. It just got worse and worse, even though I don’t believe I deserved any of it. The courts somewhat agreed with me too. I’m talking about different counties even. Seriously, with the first bad tenant situation, uhh on a legal website the lawyers didn’t even believe my story. But it’s the truth. I got citations- as in tickets- for getting up too early in the morning. It was 645 am. I didn’t even shower when I woke up. I wasn’t being loud. I had a bad neighbor. Thats bad enough by itself. But again, it got worse. Almost 2 years later I ended up getting “assaulted “ bc a bad property manager unlawfully gave a copy of my key to someone she shouldn’t have bc she got mad at me. During a pandemic lockdown, She morphed criminal. She’ll pay for that for a very long time. I hope for the rest of her life. What happened to me is bad. But when ppl twist off, sometimes innocent ppl pay. I’m still paying. Please, try to make the best of your situation and if you can’t make the best of it, find somewhere you can move and have some peace. At a time like this, it’s of utmost importance. Cut your neighbor some slack. No need to complain about EVERYTHING. There’s literally noise everywhere. Sometimes you just need to deal with it. Good luck all.
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Jen if it happens again just knock on her door and ask her nicely again. Because you asked nicely once, next month she might set the volume on 4 instead of 6 and you will never have to complain again. You have to realize that 3-4 in the afternoon she is allowed to enjoy the space she pays for also. I hate to deep vacuum so once a week in the afternoon when no one should be bothered my music is turned up for about an hour. If you lived under me you would also hear me moving the furniture to clean under it. The only complaint I ever heard from a neighbor was on my choice of music. My upstairs neighbor wanted me to play Jimmy Buffet my downstairs neighbor wanted my country. It took awhile but I found the happy place with classic rock. lol I spent too long as a resident building manager. Save calling the landlord for when the music is going at 3-4 in the morning, or when your fridge decides to die or there is no heat. Those things can be dealt with. Afternoon music, if the police can't do anything about it neither can your landlord.
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moonshadow
17 years ago
Very well said, angel, and I agree 100%. That pooch needs to be able to get out of that crate and be handled, loved and played with. What you're describing sounds like pup is suffering the brunt of someone below you who will never be happy until they have total silence and everything their way.
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talley_sue_nyc
17 years ago
The only person whose opinion matters is the landlord's (or management's).

So you need to head her off at the pass.

I'd take your problem to management, in an "I'm such a great tenant and want to be sure I'm doing the right thing" way.

Make your point ahead of time about the hours your dog is available to make noise, etc. So that if she DOES complain to them, you'll have 'innoculated' them w/ your version.

I once had a neighbor who went ballistic when I vacuumed. The thing was, I literally hadn't vacuumed for MONTHS. And so he wasn't used to hearing it.
So when I finally found a window of time that I *could* vacuum (home for a change; child not asleep, etc.) he overreacted.

Maybe that's part of the problem--she hears nothing for SO long, that when she does, it seems much louder than it really is.
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bowdoin514
17 years ago
I agree that your dog can't live his life in a cage...if he doesn't use his muscles, eventually he'll lose them. But then again, if he's a large dog, and the floors aren't well insulated, then the neighbor will hear everything, and with her being a known complainer, she and the management need a face-to-face meeting, maybe even with you present.
Get her a pair of socks and suggest they are not for her feet.
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needsleep
17 years ago
As a person BELOW a noisy neighbor, I can sympathize with your neighbor. I wish however that I ahd an upstairs neighbor as considerate as you - mine makes noise from 6 AM until 3 AM - YES - this lady sleeps no more than 3 hours a night. She is violating many provisons of the lease, such as a requirement that she carpet, not make excessive noises, etc. But she 100% ignores me when I say anything (Literally - as though I am not there), and the LL merely says there's nothing he can do. Get this - when I told the LL of all the lease provisions she was breaching, the LL actuall laughed and said "YOU TENANTS! You always think the lease terms are for your benefit."

That said, I question having a large dog that needs to run free in a small apartment where it needs to be caged. it is not healthy for the dog. Most apartments around here do not even allow dogs (Like the place I live, but there are several here anyway). I'd suggest maybe a house rental instead of an apartment, if possible. That dog needs some freedom to roam. It's not fair to doggie to coop him up like that.
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What can I do about my downstairs neighbor with sensitive hearing

Comments (6)

lucy

angel47630

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