Terrible Apartment Neighbors

[BigDH01]

So last night, the neighbors above me woke me up once again at 4 AM. They are drunk nearly every night of the week which is extremely annoying. They were bouncing up and down, running around, yelling, going up and down their metal staircase (sounds like a jet taking off from our living room), and going in and out of their apartment to the balcony. Apparently, they were playing playstation as there was a smashed playstation controller in our parking lot this morning. I'm guessing one of them got upset and threw it.

We've had this problem with them before. Last time they woke us up at 4 AM they were tap dancing. We went up and told them to be quiet, twice. We've also had to go up there several other times at about 1 or 2 AM on weekdays to tell them to keep quiet. We've had the cops up there twice because of noise violations. They just don't get the message.

Now, I was pissed this morning and called the landlord. Instead of helping me, she claimed that I haven't paid this month's rent. I always pay around the 15th for the next month. Sure enough, I log into my online checking account and see that the property owner cashed a rent check on the 6th of this month. I love online banking. I can even see where they endorsed the check.

I don't know what to make of this. They said they were going to try and sort this out but IMO it's a red herring. They don't want to deal with our neighbors. This particular building is new and not fully occupied and I don't think they are doing very well with it. I don't think they want to force our neighbors out so they dodge the subject. However, I can't deal with our neighbors. I understand this is a college town and I was (am) young, but this is ridiculous. If you want to be loud and drink, go to the bar.

I know this will be tough to answer without seeing the contract, but is there anyway for me to get out of this. All of the housing contracts in this town are extremely biased in favor of the landlord so I'm not sure if I have any exit. I just want to get out of my current contract and move somewhere where the occupants are a little more mature. There's a place north of my current location that only allows young professional and grad students. I've already toured the location and plan on signing a lease that starts in August. However, I have the option to move in now but I'm afraid my current landlord won't let me go. Do I have any recourse or do I have to just deal with not sleeping and the terrible neighbors upstairs?

 

[Phokus]

wow, i thought i had it bad, i have horrible neighbors below me whose kids make a ton of noise at 7:30 in the AM on weekends

 

[Phokus]

maybe you could take your neighbor and/or landlord to small claims court. And get out of your lease?

 

[leftyman]

Try the police next time they are loud and drunk.

 

[lytalbayre]

Turn on your stereo really loud and leave it on all day while you're at work and they're trying to sleep off their partying....

 

[K1052]

Review your lease to see what your outs are.

Check noise policies in the building, document your complaints, get copies of any police reports, and go talk to the landlord. If you end up breaking the lease it will be harder for them to get anything out of you if you are clearly going to fight them.

 

[sixone]

Can you move to another apartment in the building? It's not a great solution, but it might be better than what you have now.

 

[rivan]

Originally posted by: leftyman
Try the police next time they are loud and drunk.

And try to get the ensuing hilarity on camera!

 

[m1ldslide1]

You should carefully read your lease. Most stipulate a buy-out, which is often equivalent to a month's rent. That's going to be about the extent of your legal recourse, unless there's some more exotic loopholes having to deal with landlords not responding to occupant noise complaints or something. You'd have to research that, and it could be a real possibility especially with enough police reports.

All that being said, if it were me, I'd try my best to raise enough hell to where they'd resolve the issue. Is it a possibility to relocate you to another unit that wouldn't be below the partiers? Others may disagree, but I say don't be afraid to be aggressive and even rude in your dealings with the landlord. They've given you plenty of ammo between the rent check thing and the noise, and it's only business. When people don't respond to reason, sometimes verbal confrontation (the non-swearing kind) can get the job done.

 

[dainthomas]

buy a house

 

[George P Burdell]

Stink bomb the neighbor until they move elsewhere

 

[MercenaryForHire]

1. Contact your local rental housing tribunal and schedule an appointment. They're created for the purpose of helping renters stand up to slum-lords, and they're experts at finding outs in a lease.
2. Next time the neighbours are partying loudly, call the police.

- M4H

 

[Jeff7]

And maybe if the police are called enough, they might be willing to tell the landlord to do something about it, assuming they're not lazy.

 

[Platypus]

I had a neighbor who went as far as to make up a bullsh!t story about how I was playing guitar too loud at 11pm. My landlord was furious because the story was so outlandish. I calmly state I wasn't even in my apartment at that time and printed a banking statement showing my CC being run through at a restaurant exactly 10 minutes after they claimed I was playing. The look on her face was priceless.

The landlord apologized profusly told me not to worry about noise up until 10pm each evening so for the entire summer I lived in that apt, I pushed my cabinet stack to the floor and had what I called the 'half hour of power,' every night at 9:30 with my 100W tube amp playing speed metal and drop D elimination riffs loud as fvck anytime I was playing and heard them banging on the floor or walls for me to be quiet at 6pm..

When people are too chickensh!t to deal with problems themselves you have to go vigilante justice sometimes
They didn't listen to my repeated statements that I was legally allowed to play, especially since I was using such low volumes, and to come knock on my door and tell me if it was too loud. They decided to call the landlord directly each time so while most of you might claim that I was being disrespectful, I treat people the way they treat me.

 

[ivol07]

Originally posted by: sixone
Can you move to another apartment in the building? It's not a great solution, but it might be better than what you have now.

This might be the easiest solution. I was able to move into another apartment within the same complex before my lease was up at my current complex. They said it was fine as long as I wasn't "Downgrading" in my rent price.

 

[maximus maximus]

what you need is an Arabian Bull Whip.

 

[Zolty]

I vote for the 7am wake up call the morning afterwards.

 

[manowar821]

Be REALLY loud when they are sleeping.. Most likely it's during normal hours, when it's legal to be noisy. Maybe they'll get it then. If not, try to use legal action to get out of living there any longer.

 

[5to1baby1in5]

Originally posted by: dainthomas
buy a house

Or rent a house.

 

[MisterJackson]

Man, I'm freaking lucky. My neighbor is a smoking hot blond. Her ass was a special project by God himself I do believe. She's sweet as can be too. Told me the first time I met her to crank my HT system as loud as I want. I don't when she's home out of repect, but still....she rocks.

 

[sixone]

Originally posted by: Zolty
I vote for the 7am wake up call the morning afterwards.

Oh, absolutely. Or as early as your lease allows, if it sets "quiet hours."

 

[thereds]

Originally posted by: Platypus
I had a neighbor who went as far as to make up a bullsh!t story about how I was playing guitar too loud at 11pm. My landlord was furious because the story was so outlandish. I calmly state I wasn't even in my apartment at that time and printed a banking statement showing my CC being run through at a restaurant exactly 10 minutes after they claimed I was playing. The look on her face was priceless.

The landlord apologized profusly told me not to worry about noise up until 10pm each evening so for the entire summer I lived in that apt, I pushed my cabinet stack to the floor and had what I called the 'half hour of power,' every night at 9:30 with my 100W tube amp playing speed metal and drop D elimination riffs loud as fvck anytime I was playing and heard them banging on the floor or walls for me to be quiet at 6pm..

When people are too chickensh!t to deal with problems themselves you have to go vigilante justice sometimes
They didn't listen to my repeated statements that I was legally allowed to play, especially since I was using such low volumes, and to come knock on my door and tell me if it was too loud. They decided to call the landlord directly each time so while most of you might claim that I was being disrespectful, I treat people the way they treat me.

worst written post ever.

 

[Steve]

Originally posted by: MisterJackson
Man, I'm freaking lucky. My neighbor is a smoking hot blond. Her ass was a special project by God himself I do believe. She's sweet as can be too. Told me the first time I met her to crank my HT system as loud as I want. I don't when she's home out of repect, but still....she rocks.

Pics?

 

[manowar821]

Originally posted by: MisterJackson
Man, I'm freaking lucky. My neighbor is a smoking hot blond. Her ass was a special project by God himself I do believe. She's sweet as can be too. Told me the first time I met her to crank my HT system as loud as I want. I don't when she's home out of repect, but still....she rocks.

Why are you NOT chasing that down?

 

[BigDH01]

I've had the police out here twice already. Last night, their music wasn't loud. They were just up and bouncing around drunk. Not sure if the police can do anything about that. There's not really a whole lot I can do about the noise. It wouldn't be so bad if they did it on the weekends or were only loud sometimes. But I can't have them doing it at 4AM on a weekday. I'm working a 12 hour day + grad class on 4 hours of sleep. This just isn't working.