Quick and dirty version: Somehow 18 year old kid was approved for unit above me. Pretty regular scraping, clanging, walking noises. Whatever I can deal with it although it's really irritating. Where I am now drawing the line: multiple times in the middle of the night now (3:30 last night) I am woken up by high heel clicking sound that goes on and on. Called doorman to ask him to stop and it did... [more]
Quick and dirty version:
Somehow 18 year old kid was approved for unit above me. Pretty regular scraping, clanging, walking noises. Whatever I can deal with it although it's really irritating. Where I am now drawing the line: multiple times in the middle of the night now (3:30 last night) I am woken up by high heel clicking sound that goes on and on. Called doorman to ask him to stop and it did stop. Briefly. Then started again a bit later and even again later. I couldn't get back to sleep. I've contacted management co. and board but honestly the management co. hasn't been responsive in the past and we will see what the board does.
I know we have an 80% of floor must be covered by rug/carpet/etc rule that there is no way this guy is abiding by. Also there is a more blanket rule about not making disrupting sounds to neighbors especially from 11 PM - 8:30 AM.
Is there anything else I can do at all to enforce that this guy be respectful'? He has been made aware of his disturbance and clearly doesn't care. At this point it is seriously interfering with my life (and my implied covenant of quiet enjoyment for that matter) but what does one do when faced with this issue? It's much more than noise in the middle of the day.
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Response by Slay
almost 9 years ago
Posts: 29
Member since: Aug 2016
update: super investigated and apparently the owner above me IS in compliance with the 80% rug rule. Which is unreal because i hear them dragging furniture against hard wood floor all the time, and of course the heels/people walking in shoes issue.
that being said, they say the rugs were thin and the owner agreed to get thicker rugs over the weekend. I guess we will see how that works out, but I am skeptical mainly because this 18 yr old kid just has no respect. (I looked up his facebook and his pictures are all of him trying to pose like a gangster with captions like "i dont care no mo".
So my question still stands, worst case scenario the 'thicker rugs' dont fix the issue of him having guests walk around the floor at 3 AM waking me up...how would I proceed? I feel like that's cause for a nuisance claim if it gets far enough.
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Response by sippelmc
almost 9 years ago
Posts: 142
Member since: Sep 2007
You get more bees with honey. Why not go and talk to the person? They seem to be willing to work with the issue (reportedly by updating rugs), so maybe see what else you could figure out? If there is furniture dragging go to Home Depot, spend 8 dollars, and buy the guy a bunch of felts so when he moves stuff it doesn't skid. I did that once and worked well.
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Response by 300_mercer
almost 9 years ago
Posts: 10577
Member since: Feb 2007
sipple has a good point. A polite conversation with the kid may go a long way. Explain the issues with Manhattan co-living and ask him gently- does he mind if you call him when the noise is too much?
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Response by Slay
almost 9 years ago
Posts: 29
Member since: Aug 2016
I don't even care that much about noise in the day or evening. It's the 3 AM someone walking around in high heels on a Thursday night waking me up that I care about. It shouldn't happen in the first place, he has been made aware of it and continues to do it that is why I have to turn to enforcement instead of manners.
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Response by fieldschester
almost 9 years ago
Posts: 3525
Member since: Jul 2013
Before going up to your neighbor, can you please confirm what neighborhood this is in?
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Response by steve123
almost 9 years ago
Posts: 895
Member since: Feb 2009
Condo? Pray they are a renter and they move / encourage landlord to not renew lease?
If not, and you are a renter, move.
Or engage in a condo board fight, but condo boards have little to zero power.
In 8 years we've had a few neighbors who needed a knock once or twice due to noise.. and then 1 really really bad neighbor. Most people have decency and shame, and stop.
If after a conversation or two they don't get it, they don't give a f#@$@ and will continue indefinitely.
We had one couple next door partying till 1am weekday (their living room wall shared a wall with our bedroom). A knock and they turned it down.. the second time they did it they bought us some chocolate the next day, and it didn't re-occur.
Specific to your issue maybe...
We had a new upstairs neighbor who liked to move furniture. Including around 4-5am. After the first week I took a hard rubber ball and threw it at the ceiling so hard.. the HVAC vents were reverberated for about 2 full minutes.
Our really bad one was on drugs, had a roommate on drugs (who she kicked out and we found knocking on door at 7am asking to be let back in), and made noise exclusively between the hours of midnight and 5am. Quiet as a mouse the rest of the day. Took up smoking, stank up the whole floor, got big dogs who relieved themselves within the apartment, also stinking up the floor. It only ended at the end of the 12 month lease. The board did nothing more than encourage landlord to refuse renewal.
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Response by KAS61
almost 9 years ago
Posts: 126
Member since: Mar 2012
In my building they prefer that residents go through the management office with any complaints about neighbors. I think this is a good policy. The management is always responsive and it avoids unnecessary unpleasantness.
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Response by KeithBurkhardt
almost 9 years ago
Posts: 2988
Member since: Aug 2008
I had the exact same issue, the 'bees with honey' worked, I wrote a nice letter and left it tucked into their mail box. They wrote back, a little bit of snarkyness however the noise stopped for the most part.
Keith Burkhardt
The Burkhardt Group
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Response by mache
almost 9 years ago
Posts: 47
Member since: Oct 2011
I've had a similar issue, and sadly nothing worked. Even 'bees with honey'.
update: super investigated and apparently the owner above me IS in compliance with the 80% rug rule. Which is unreal because i hear them dragging furniture against hard wood floor all the time, and of course the heels/people walking in shoes issue.
that being said, they say the rugs were thin and the owner agreed to get thicker rugs over the weekend. I guess we will see how that works out, but I am skeptical mainly because this 18 yr old kid just has no respect. (I looked up his facebook and his pictures are all of him trying to pose like a gangster with captions like "i dont care no mo".
So my question still stands, worst case scenario the 'thicker rugs' dont fix the issue of him having guests walk around the floor at 3 AM waking me up...how would I proceed? I feel like that's cause for a nuisance claim if it gets far enough.
You get more bees with honey. Why not go and talk to the person? They seem to be willing to work with the issue (reportedly by updating rugs), so maybe see what else you could figure out? If there is furniture dragging go to Home Depot, spend 8 dollars, and buy the guy a bunch of felts so when he moves stuff it doesn't skid. I did that once and worked well.
sipple has a good point. A polite conversation with the kid may go a long way. Explain the issues with Manhattan co-living and ask him gently- does he mind if you call him when the noise is too much?
I don't even care that much about noise in the day or evening. It's the 3 AM someone walking around in high heels on a Thursday night waking me up that I care about. It shouldn't happen in the first place, he has been made aware of it and continues to do it that is why I have to turn to enforcement instead of manners.
Before going up to your neighbor, can you please confirm what neighborhood this is in?
Condo? Pray they are a renter and they move / encourage landlord to not renew lease?
If not, and you are a renter, move.
Or engage in a condo board fight, but condo boards have little to zero power.
In 8 years we've had a few neighbors who needed a knock once or twice due to noise.. and then 1 really really bad neighbor. Most people have decency and shame, and stop.
If after a conversation or two they don't get it, they don't give a f#@$@ and will continue indefinitely.
We had one couple next door partying till 1am weekday (their living room wall shared a wall with our bedroom). A knock and they turned it down.. the second time they did it they bought us some chocolate the next day, and it didn't re-occur.
Specific to your issue maybe...
We had a new upstairs neighbor who liked to move furniture. Including around 4-5am. After the first week I took a hard rubber ball and threw it at the ceiling so hard.. the HVAC vents were reverberated for about 2 full minutes.
Our really bad one was on drugs, had a roommate on drugs (who she kicked out and we found knocking on door at 7am asking to be let back in), and made noise exclusively between the hours of midnight and 5am. Quiet as a mouse the rest of the day. Took up smoking, stank up the whole floor, got big dogs who relieved themselves within the apartment, also stinking up the floor. It only ended at the end of the 12 month lease. The board did nothing more than encourage landlord to refuse renewal.
In my building they prefer that residents go through the management office with any complaints about neighbors. I think this is a good policy. The management is always responsive and it avoids unnecessary unpleasantness.
I had the exact same issue, the 'bees with honey' worked, I wrote a nice letter and left it tucked into their mail box. They wrote back, a little bit of snarkyness however the noise stopped for the most part.
Keith Burkhardt
The Burkhardt Group
I've had a similar issue, and sadly nothing worked. Even 'bees with honey'.
Yeah but what neighborhood mache?