I've been living in a ground floor apartment for a little over a year now, and since the month after I moved in, my upstairs neighbors have been nothing but a headache. They constantly stampede up and down the stairs, slamming the door with unnecessary force, no matter what time of day or night. This is especially aggravating because the stairs and door are adjacent to my bedroom wall, so my walls, mirror, wall hangings, picture frames, etc., rattle and shake every time someone enters or exits the apartment. Or, you know, decides to bang on the walls when they come in. (Yeah, that was fun at 11:30 on a work night.) I can hear it in the back end of the apartment, too, so it's not just because I'm right on top of it.
On top of that, the child (a ten year old, so he's not a rambunctious toddler who doesn't understand that there are other people in the world besides him) runs -- in shoes, apparently -- everywhere he goes in the apartment. I get that kids are active, but this is ridiculous. He bounces balls and rolls toys across the floor (which obviously isn't carpeted, as the lease indicates it should be), and it seems that he and his mother drop or throw everything they pick up. I'm also pretty sure that they live in their shoes, since I can hear heavy footsteps clomping and thumping every time they go from one room to another.
At first, I wrote them a note, saying that I would have liked to speak face to face, but I didn't know their schedule, etc. I introduced myself and indicated that the noise in the morning was getting to be an issue. Obviously, part of apartment living is dealing with noise, and I said I wanted to be able to smooth things over with her without having to go to management. I thought it was friendly, cordial -- knowing that being offensive or bullying would only probably make them stomp harder. On top of that, I understand the value of having a good relationship with your neighbors.
They piped down for about a week, then the door slamming and apparent bowling ball dropping started again. Since then, I have gone to management four times. The first time, I was told that there is essentially a 'three strikes and you're out policy.' Not true. I was also told that someone would come and make sure that the tenants had adequate floor coverings. Again, not true.
As I spoke to different people in the management office, they essentially told me that I should page security in the future to document the noise so they can take further steps -- which I wish I could do, but it's kind of unrealistic. "Hey, security officer, can you come to my apartment at 7 a.m.? There's a 92% chance the tenant upstairs is going to thunder down the stairs like a baby elephant and slam the door, as he has done for the past four days."
On one occasion, when someone from management called and asked why the tenant felt compelled to move her furniture around at 10:30 on a Sunday night, the tenant made a comment about noise levels coming from my apartment. I was embarrassed, obviously, so I took the steps to ensure that the source of the noise wouldn't continue to be an issue. Unfortunately, this person doesn't have the decency to take the same steps.
A couple of weeks ago, I spoke with her -- face to face -- about the door slamming, and said it was, again, an issue in the mornings. She said she was working on it with her kid, and she apologized, but judging by the number of mornings I've been woken up by my mirror rattling since then, I think it's safe to say she hasn't.
Now, as I said, I know external noise is par for the course when it comes to apartment living. However, with the exception my darling upstairs neighbors, the only noise I've ever dealt with is neighborhood kids playing outside. I never hear the tenants on either side of me -- no television or loud music, no screaming, no door-slamming, no wall-slamming. Nothing. Which leads me to believe that I'm not crazy and this is more than just run-of-the-mill apartment noise.
Part of me wants to move out, but I have a roommate to consider. I don't want to hang her out to dry, and I don't want to throw away our security deposit, either. Especially since neither of us have done anything to warrant losing that money.
I'm losing sleep, I'm constantly irritable. I feel like I can't relax in my own room. Every time I hear someone walk by my window, I dread that it's my neighbors coming home. I think I'm actually becoming obsessed with it. It frustrates me so much that this person can't be a decent human being, that ignoring it becomes less and less of an option. I hate to be the biddy banging on the ceiling with her broom, but seriously, what else can I do at this point? Should I keep reaching out to management? Record the noise coming from upstairs? Pack up my things and kiss my security deposit and friendship with my roommate goodbye?
graywings123
GammyT
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