How to deal with a noisy neighbor?

[Bacl]

I live in the perfect apartment, except for one thing: my upstairs neighbor is a music-freak who likes freaky music and has been driving me out of my mind lately.

The worst is that he has been turning on his tunes at the ungodly hour of 3:00am. In the last few weeks, I have been woken up several times and found my walls literally shaking and thumping with his high-bass, super treble, sub-woofer shitty techno/electronica/beat-box style music. The vibrations are so intense that it feels like the music is drilling a whole in my head.

Finally, the other night I went upstairs in my robe and knocked on his door. The music immediately shut off, and he shouted "Alright! I'm turning it down!"

I began to say something along the lines of, "Hey, I don't mean to be a jerk about this, but it is very late and I have work in the morning and..."

To which he interrupted, "It's turned down!"

"Thanks, man. I appreciate it," I replied, and headed back to bed. He turned down the volume to a more reasonable level, although I could still hear it.

The very next night at 3:18am, I get woken up again. And the next night. He also plays it during the day.

Let me also clarify that this crap is so loud that if I turn on my own modest stereo system...his drowns mine out in my own apartment.

The guy is also a bit of a weirdo. My wife and I try and be very friendly to everyone in our small apartment building (it has one of those "community" things going) and this guy never smiles back, mumbles greetings, and just plain gives off freaky social vibes.

I don't want to start trouble, and I don't want to start confronting him. He has some high-grade stereo equipment in there, like a mini-DJ setup, and I think this whole 3:00am music thing is part of his routine.

Besides getting on his ass about keeping it down at weird hours, complaining to my completely absent landlord, or complaining to the very indifferent police...any suggestions on ways to deal with a noisy neighbor?

 

[sidious618]

Bother the landlord about it as often as possible and he may take action just to shut you up.

You could try talking to the guy above calmly and pleasantly about how he needs to turn the music down. If that doesn't work then it may be time to consider more drastic measures.

 

[Holdfast]

We had a fairly similar thread from IIRC, Trekker4747, a few weeks ago, though your problem seems more severe.

Mind be worth running a Search for it, because at least my reply from that thread applies to this one and I'd guess so do others.

 

[blablover5]

For a quick fix if you can sleep with white noise get a box fan. I always carry one with me when I moved from Apartment to apartment (I really sound like a hermit now).

It's just about the right level of loud to drown out most anything and only costs about $20.

 

[Bacl]

We had a fairly similar thread from IIRC, Trekker4747, a few weeks ago, though your problem seems more severe.

Mind be worth running a Search for it, because at least my reply from that thread applies to this one and I'd guess so do others.

I read that thread, but it is mostly just people sharing stories about their noisy neighbors. What I'd love to hear are some possible solutions other than complaining to the landlord/police.

For a quick fix if you can sleep with white noise get a box fan. I always carry one with me when I moved from Apartment to apartment (I really sound like a hermit now).

It's just about the right level of loud to drown out most anything and only costs about $20.

I can sleep with white noise, in fact, I usually rather like it. The problem is that what this guy is playing fills my room with heavy duty vibrations. It is not the volume so much as the vibration. Won't white noise be ineffective against that? I'm pretty sure earplugs will be too.

 

[sidious618]

I've never been a fan of earplugs or headphones that block out all sound as you can't hear the fire alarm.

Have you tried talking to him during the day? Is he a big guy or someone who is easily intimidated?

 

[DBR]

One bad experience with noisey people above me, and I swore I'd never live in an apartment style building that didn't have a concrete foundation again (where I live, anything above 4 or 5 stories has to be concrete as opposed to wood-framed).

That solved my problems. In my last building--which was a high rise--my neighbor could have set a bomb off and I wouldn't have known.

Noise is one of the prices we pay for living in high density areas.

 

[Gertch]

Did you have to sign a lease or some sort of association agreement? If so, read it over and see if there is anything about noise levels. Point it out to the landlord.

Even if there isn't I'd tell the landlord that unless he does something you'll call him every time it happens, at the ungodly hour it's happening. Or tell him you'll have the police over for a disturbing the peace call. And that you'll call every time. The squeaky wheel and all that.

 

[sidious618]

Did you have to sign a lease or some sort of association agreement? If so, read it over and see if there is anything about noise levels. Point it out to the landlord.

Even if there isn't I'd tell the landlord that unless he does something you'll call him every time it happens, at the ungodly hour it's happening. Or tell him you'll have the police over for a disturbing the peace call. And that you'll call every time. The squeaky wheel and all that.

That's actually not a bad idea.

 

[John Picard]

Did you have to sign a lease or some sort of association agreement? If so, read it over and see if there is anything about noise levels. Point it out to the landlord.

Even if there isn't I'd tell the landlord that unless he does something you'll call him every time it happens, at the ungodly hour it's happening. Or tell him you'll have the police over for a disturbing the peace call. And that you'll call every time. The squeaky wheel and all that.

That's actually not a bad idea.

As well as kicking the offending party in the nads just to get your point across might help. Wear boots and not sneakers.

 

[Bacl]

Yep, I have a lease which talks about noise levels. My reluctance to engage the management is that

a) it is one of those "we own 40 buildings in this city" management companies. I have no live-in manager, nor any regular contact. There's no one to call at 3:00am, and I think that they'll be fairly indifferent (this guy has lived here 5 years already).

b) I don't want to create a large conflict. It's a small, mostly friendly building. I don't want an enemy who is pissed that I ratted on him to the landlord.

Have you tried talking to him during the day? Is he a big guy or someone who is easily intimidated?

I have not yet tried talking to him during the day. When I knocked on his door at 3:00am, he wouldn't open it and just shouted through the door.

He is not a big guy, but he is a weird one. He gives off that creepy vibe, and I worry that engaging him in normal conversation may fail.

He seems used to noise complaints. On his door he has that Farside comic where the villagers have torches and pitchforks and are tearing down the door to a room filled with a brass-band. The way in which he "automatically" dealt with my knocking on his door: he knew what the problem was, didn't care to talk about it, turned it down that once and went back to playing it the very next night.

Yeah, I'll probably have to confront him in daylight eventually. I've just hate doing that.

 

[sidious618]

Yeah, I'll probably have to confront him in daylight eventually. I've just hate doing that.

It's worth a shot, right? If he seems distant during the conversation then get a little bit more aggressive with him and reinforce your point.

 

[blablover5]

For a quick fix if you can sleep with white noise get a box fan. I always carry one with me when I moved from Apartment to apartment (I really sound like a hermit now).

It's just about the right level of loud to drown out most anything and only costs about $20.

I can sleep with white noise, in fact, I usually rather like it. The problem is that what this guy is playing fills my room with heavy duty vibrations. It is not the volume so much as the vibration. Won't white noise be ineffective against that? I'm pretty sure earplugs will be too.

You'd be surprised. I've dealt with low bass neighbors before too and the box fan vibrates just loud enough to cover it.

 

[Holdfast]

He seems used to noise complaints. On his door he has that Farside comic where the villagers have torches and pitchforks and are tearing down the door to a room filled with a brass-band. The way in which he "automatically" dealt with my knocking on his door: he knew what the problem was, didn't care to talk about it, turned it down that once and went back to playing it the very next night.

Honestly, he seems a douche. The cartoon is just him thumbing his nose at you, and calculated to piss neighbours off even more.

If talking doesn't work, call the cops on him. Frequently.

Most importantly, keep a log of the noise, and if possible, record the decibel level on a sound meter as evidence and let the cops/your local environmental noise department a copy of the log to prove there's a real problem and not just you being a pest.

 

[number6]

Two words: Hired Assassin.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

He seems used to noise complaints. On his door he has that Farside comic where the villagers have torches and pitchforks and are tearing down the door to a room filled with a brass-band. The way in which he "automatically" dealt with my knocking on his door: he knew what the problem was, didn't care to talk about it, turned it down that once and went back to playing it the very next night.

Honestly, he seems a douche. The cartoon is just him thumbing his nose at you, and calculated to piss neighbours off even more.

If talking doesn't work, call the cops on him. Frequently.

Most importantly, keep a log of the noise, and if possible, record the decibel level on a sound meter as evidence and let the cops/your local environmental noise department a copy of the log to prove there's a real problem and not just you being a pest.

Now, I like that part about the noise meter! Very intelligent!

 

[Trekker4747]

I've no idea, I've been dealing with it for a while. I swear to God my upstairs neighbor has a basketball court in his unit or something.

The noise that goes on up there!

 

[Crusher Disciple]

In my case, the people upstairs were so loud that the walls in my apartment shook.

I pulled out my lease (which was the standard one used by the Texas Apartment Association), and one of the sections of the contract directly addressed noise levels.

Knowing that I had signed it and the people upstairs had to sign the same one to even rent, I made it an issue of breach of contract since my landlord had been unable to hold up their end of the contract (enforcing the fact that they'd signed a legal document saying they would hold the noise down). I cited specific dates and actions where I'd notified the landlord to tell them that the noise was too loud (proving they had had sufficient opportunity to stop it), and where I had called out the police.

I then sent my landlord a certified letter stating that I would be suing my landlord for beach of contract if they did not get the noise to stop. I got a phone call in a day or so of them recieving it telling me that they were in the process of evicting the people upstairs. The landlord made it seem that the eviction was going on outside of my constant complaints, but I have a feeling that I forced them to it.

 

[Trekker4747]

^^^

Man, I want you so much right now!

Those living below US are going to get an ear-full tonight!


Trekker, a screamer.

 

[McCoy]

Same kind of thing with me. This guy was in the unit below me, and would play music loudly, usually beginning around midnight and sometimes going all night.

I tried going down and knocking on the door but they wouldn't answer. So I called security, which worked. That night. But it would continue to happen.

So I continued to call security, and to complain to the (live-in) management. Finally I was told they were sending a legal letter, advising them to knock it off or be evicted.

It stopped and has not resumed (knock wood). I don't know if they wised up or were kicked out, and frankly I don't care. I can understand someone not realizing they can be heard, but once you are made aware of it you should have some respect for your neighbours.