This letter to my landlord explains it all.

Hi xxxx,



I just wanted to make you aware of the fact that the tenants upstairs are still banging on the floor.



This is happening at all times of the day and evening/night. Last night I had a co-worker and a friend stay over. My son was sleeping in his room and we were talking in my living room. They started to bang as we talked. This was at 10:45pm. We were talking at a normal level and the only other sound in the room was the tv that was playing quietly. Our talking was not interrupting my son's sleep. So now I am not allowed to speak in my own home?? About an hour or so earlier, they banged while I was trying to get my son to bed and he was upset. They have banged in the middle of the night when I was coughing due to being very ill – how can I control that??. They have banged at 4pm because I was vacuuming. They have banged (and come to the door) when my son was watching a show with music in it - at 4:30pm. They complained extremely rudely to me that the music I was listening to while having dinner with my mother and son at 6:30pm (my player goes to level 50 - I had it on level 5) was "too loud". Ok, so I am also not allowed to listen to music quietly during the day? I can't even have sex without them slamming away for God's sake. It's ridiculous. I could go on and on...



I pay $900 a month to live in this apartment. I am a good tenant. I am respectful and do way more than what my basic responsibilities as a tenant require. I have made huge improvements to my unit - on my own dime and have never asked for a penny of it back. In the summer I cut the lawns and attend to the gardens, in the winter I shovel the driveway - including the tenants upstairs’ side - and I do this all by myself. They have never once offered to help out. I bring in their recycle bins if I notice they are empty before they do - they will not do this for me. Both of them have flat out walked by me without even acknowledging my existence on several occasions. That's fine, they don't have to pleasant to me and I will continue to be pleasant and keep doing what I do but something needs to be done about the harassment I am receiving from them.



I refuse to live in my own home walking on eggshells and adjusting my lifestyle to accommodate theirs. I am a 34 year old woman with a 3 year old child. I deal with a lot of stress, working hard full time and caring for a child, all on my own. We are not even home from 8:30am - 6pm, Monday-Friday. There is going to be times when my son acts up, or my dog barks when there is a noise outside. I am entitled to watch tv, listen to music and talk at acceptable levels whenever I want. I am entitled to have people over, have a party (which I've never even done) and come in and out whenever I please. I have the right to do all these things without being harassed by a couple who are home all day, everyday, do nothing to contribute whatsoever to the property and can’t even be civil or nice to the other family living in the house.



I do not live in a retirement home. They do not have ANY say in how I live my life. None. If they are not happy with living over the home of a single mother – just trying to live her life and be happy, then perhaps this unit is not for them. I would suggest that they move into a 'seniors only' residence where silence is one of their primary mandates. If it's an issue of there being poor sound proofing between units, that is something that I have no control over and it is not up to me to fix or work around. And don’t misunderstand me, I hear them, a lot…I hear them thumping away every time they walk – which is all hours of the night too, but I realize that I share this house with them and hearing your neighbours is just part of what a renters life is like. If they expect silence not only in their unit but in mine, they are in for a rude awakening, unfortunately. I have absolutely no plans to move on to another home because they do not like sharing this house with me and my son.



Again, I will not be making any changes to my lifestyle and the basic rights I have as a tenant to appease these people and furthermore, if the banging and coming down to complain for ridiculous things continues I will call the police or talk to my lawyer. I trust that you will resolve this issue and in the meantime I will ignore their bangs and will not be answering the door if they come down to complain. I would like you to make this very, very clear to them.



I would appreciate a response from you to let me know that you have read this and will address this issue in a timely manner.



I'm really sorry this is happening, xxxx - and I know that you just want both your tenants to be happy but I really am very upset about having to deal with these people all the time. I know they are friends of the family and that might give them some kind of advantage over me, but I'd like to think that you would be fair in dealing with this.



Thanks

Erin

I think you're totally in the right. It might be good to see if there are any local noise ordinances (ours where I live is 10 p.m.) just so you can arm yourself and you can use that in your argument. Neighbor problems really suck. I'm sorry you're going through this. Hopefully your landlord will respond fairly.

Very well written, and you are well within your rights to complain. Here's hoping something positive can come of it!

His response:

Hey Erin, I am sorry you are going through this. I will talk to them again. I do want both of you to be happy. I know what its like to live in each unit and you hear a little but it was never this bad. I will do what I can and assure that I will be fair in this, but there is only so much I can do.

Keep me posted if it gets better, worse or the same.


Thanks

Yes...now what is the question?

what a drag.

No way of finding a house for rent there?

Having read it now and finished being a smart arse i would say you were respectful and did the right thing, if this does not work it is time for the flaming dog poo bag.

really, what a drag.

im sorry you have to go through this crap.
Ive been through it several times.
The landords never seem to care.

Maybe you should show them what loud really is, and not giving a shit about making the property nice, especially shoveling the snow recycling stuff.

maybe they can lay up in a...oh i wont say that.

JerseyKRS said:

I simply do not want to move. I love this house. I work hard on maintaining it - without being paid even.

These people recently moved in and the guys that were living there before never complained about anything.

JustErin said:

we rented a house and the upstairs had a small apartment.
we took care of everything.
All we ever got was slutty drunks and pregnant teenagers and their wanna be gangster boyfriends, who the landlord would rent to.
the neighbors around us (home owners) were great and praised us for moving in and taking good care of the outside as it had been neglected.
the landlord didnt give a shit and always said we needed to work it out when they decided to respond.
on top of that our air unit heated/cooled the whole house.
If they smoked, which all did, we had to have that shit pumped through the entire house. And we paid its bill.
sorry- i get pissed about shit like this

JustErin said:

You were very respectful and handled it a lot better than I would have.

horatio said:

The snow removal is really a matter of logistics. I do their side because I don't want the snow encroaching more and more onto my side with each snowfall.

uPtoWnNY said:

I'm with you on that....I had wall knockers for neighbors when I got my first apartment, and that shit lasted all of a month before I went next door and confronted them about it...

Nicely done Erin... probably one of the nicest, most succinct tenant letters I've ever read! Kudos...

You are surely in the right. I would imagine that your lease has a noise stipulation. Mine says that I can't make excessive noise after 11pm. That should take care of the early stuff (like the 4:00 vacuuming incident). Hopefully, the other stuff works out.

I have a similar (but not nearly as terrible) problem with the people who live above me. They are very loud, and they have the worst hours. They sleep during the day and make noise at night. I would complain to the landlord, but that would cause a problem because it is the landlord who lives above me.

Good luck.

Very well written, and you handle yourself very well. I guess only time will tell if the talk your landlord has with them helps. But I would take the advice given to you, and look up the laws concerning noise, this might help you in the end. Good luck.

are they bullying you for your lifestyle? because that's what it seems like to me.

God, Erin, this reminds me so much of my old digs.... ugh...

Apartment living can just be so difficult on many levels. I had people complain about my noise. I remember being upset at other folks' noise. When I moved out of my last apartment, I swore I'd never do that again.

That letter is perfect, though. You were firm without being disrespectful. Unfortunately, there's probably very little you can do other than to ignore them.

Perhaps the next time you have a, um, friend over, try putting a pillow under your ass.

Thanks, guys. I'm really glad I took the time to write it.

And violator....believe me, I'm super paranoid about making even the slightest noise during sex now.

JustErin said:

You are in the right. But the landlords response sounds like he/she is really not too worried about the noise issue. Seeing as how the other tenants are friends of the family, well, yes they are going to have an advantage. Your landlord isnt going to admit that, but you know its true. Keep notes, make sure you copy xerox copy or save every letter or note written to him about the noise.
Renter's have rights. You cant be asked to leave for complaining (within your rights). Just be careful.

Fuck them. Live your life, you are doing nothing wrong. I would document every bang and every knock on the door...just in case.

What boggles my mind the most is that you live UNDER them. I mean, how much can they really hear? I had problems with my upstairs tenants for banging around from midnight till 6am...so bad that pictures were falling off my walls. You're not doing anything wrong.

Wow!
Because life is not stressful enough without that kind of bullshit.

Sorry to hear you have to deal with such severe assholery.

Excellent! Maybe you should CC a copy over to the upstairs neighbor. Perhaps they will see they are off the chain and might even be embarrassed that you had to mention their overkill to the manager/friend.

Love the last line which will be important to lawyers and housing authorities. I bet that line alone drove the point home!

Probably taking the high road on your part so touche....

I would have handled it a bit differently, but your way keeps you from jail so good for you...I'm sorry you're dealing with that though....you have all the rights that the other tenant has and if someone is feeling like they can come to my door whenevr they feel like it to complain, then perhaps they need a reality check. They sound as though they feel "entitled" and they are borderline harrassing you...you have legal grounds to stand on here and perhaps they need to be made aware of that.

The only thing I could do is print a copy of my email and tape it to their door. It's not likely that they have a computer. Remember, they are older, miserable looking, wear the same wife beater and pants EVERY SINGLE fucking day type of people.

Seriously, I can’t stress enough that they are miserable people, I've never seen them smile once. They will not be embarrassed about their banging because that's just the type of people they are. I wonder what brought them to this unit. If they lived in a house and have no idea what renting is really like, or if they were kicked out/driven out by other landlords/tenants for this kind of complaining.

Who knows.

They only good thing about this is that on several occasions I’ve had witnesses to see what I have to deal with. I think my friends thought I was exaggerating or was actually being loud…but now they’ve seen for themselves that this is not the case.

I agree with the others,make sure you make,and keep copies of everything.

Well Erin, this is a sticky one, and an issue that I do not ever look forward to dealing with. Your landlord, unfortunately, is correct in saying that there is only so much he/she can do. The noise ordinance is in effect from 10pm to 8am or 9am, depending on your local laws. Look them up.

You are smart in documenting things in writing, but I would leave out all of the extra "improvements" you've done, as they are irrelevant to the issue. (Sorry, not trying to be mean).

You have every right to quiet enjoyment during the daytime hours, as do your neighbors, but after 10pm, keep it down. As far as I know, there is nothing a landlord can do about a child, as they are protected under Fair Housing, although like I said, look at your local laws, I keep forgetting you live in Canada. A true noise ordinance violation has to be specific and continuous.

And for the people who think that the landlords just don't care, this is not always true. There is just so much we can do when residents fight with each other. What they are doing needs to be documented every single time. You could possibly get them for harassment after a certain number of unneccesary complaints. Perhaps the landlord can move these people to another unit? I always tell residents that they will be dealing with some level of apartment noise. I also tell them that it is unrealistic to think there will be no noise. I've even gone so far as to tell some of them to buy their own home if they want to establish their own rules.

If they continue to harass you, you have no choice but to call the police. Maybe that will stop them? If not, keep documenting, don't do anything stupid, and maybe you can convince the landlord to give them notice for being belligerent tenants.

I was going to reply, but then I re-read your letter and realized what you meant when you said you heard 'banging'....

JustErin said:

Wouldn't it cross the line into harassment at some point?

And wouldn't you maybe be able to turn the tables on them at said point?

johnart said: