Contact your landlord about this harrassment, just so he/she knows. Ask if there is anything you can do to reduce the noise coming from your unit. There probably isn't, but this will show that you are willing to work on the problem. Then keep a log of everything the downstairs neighbor does, and what you did that caused her reaction. You drop a fork, she calls police. Cat jumps from couch to floor, she bangs on ceiling. Record the day and time as well. In fact, document everything. Every contact with your landlord, if the police come, etc. It can't hurt. And look up any laws or ordinances for your town/city about noise. Make sure you are following them--you probably are, but just check to make sure. Same with your lease. Make sure you know if there are any clauses about noise or quiet hours. Again, I personally don't think you are violating them, but in a case like this it helps to know what the rules are. That way, if she does convince the police to show up, you can inform them that quiet hours are 10 pm -6 am (or whatever), and you were moving your kitchen chair across the floor at 7 pm, well within the time limit. What did the police say/do when she called them? Did they come out? Did they speak to you? In order to take you to court, one of two things needs to happen. The police will need to determine that you have broken a law. Or the neighbor will need to find a lawyer willing to take on the case and bring a suit to court. The chances of either one happening are slim. This woman needs to be in a top floor apartment, but I doubt that she'll ever move. Keeping my fingers crossed that the landlord will let you move to another unit. I don't think it needs to be a downstairs unit, unless you want one. I'd hope that other people in your building are more understanding of normal, common, everyday noise.

oh my new compatriota how much better I feel...I am not alone in the neighbors from h---. The difference is I have every single one of your complaints all wrapped up up in one set of smelly,disrespectful,intolerable,inconsiderate to quote a previous posting : animals pretending to be human. They stink and it is not just the cooking of the daily meal there is a trash odor and a sour unwashed human edge to it on top of the food , the child screams high pitched wails and stomps all over at all hours,and she ( I think its a she I honestly cant tell if the child is a she or not but "s/he" has a lot of jewlery on arms and ears despite being so young so I think its a girl)must ahte baths because there is often this loud splashing rubbig sound when they have filed the tub with water and then ear pearcing screams for about 15 minutes.Vaccuming o for it to be 10 am no the I suppose female adult run the vacum at 8am sunday morning!The great thing is its gets me to early mass but this week she did it sat morning at 8 am and my pregnant daughter was here visiting and she flipped. She is very worried about my health because of the noise and smell and my heart condition.That is another problem in the h-ll here.We chos r this place because they promiced us handicapped reserved parking places -put up two signs and for 3 years no problem. Suddenly this woman moves in with a boyfriend who has handicapped placard and she complains to the township that the management gave us reserved spaces.Some guy at the township says PA doesnt resrve handicapped spaces So the manager takes our apartment # off the signs. I call the police who confer with DMV who states the township guy was wrong and in PA if its a posted private property they can indeed reserve the space. I go to managers and tell her and she says well I dont want to post a private property signs we dont want anymore signs up but if some one parks in your spot just take the plate # and Ill write them a letter saying it reserved. It keeps happening but a ltter a week later wont help the situation at the time I dont think her letter will do squat!I need to get the law from the cops and go to corporate and get those spots marked as reserved -I just adds to my frustration at the whole mess and feeling like I have no rights about anything.It sounds like going to corporate helped this guy but I also dont want to PO the manager shes anice gal. Its such a mess and I kniw apartment living requires tolerance but why do only I have to tolerate anything and not these other u know whats

Well, my suggestion would have been to try and get along with him, but the letter you wrote probably made doing that harder, not easier. Talk to your landlady again. Tell her that you are trying to be a good neighbor, but that you cannot stop walking in your apartment. Is there anything you can do to cut down on the sound of your footfalls? Putting down an area rug, even over carpet, can help to muffle the noise. Make a case to your landlady. You have purchased the slippers, you are putting down an area rug. Does she have any other low-cost solutions that you can put into use? If he still complains, you can point out to your landlady that you have tried the slippers and the area rug; now it is his turn to try something, perhaps ear plugs or a white noise machine. There has to be give and take on both sides. Frankly, I wouldn't want to have to deal with this guy. If my landlord offered me a different apartment, I'd probably take it. I doubt that you can turn the situation around at this point. You will be dealing with this neighbor until one of you moves. Why not move now and be able to relax in your own home?

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.