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I've been on both sides of the situation! I lived in a PA condo where the upstairs tenant had grandchildren who jumped off their bunkbeds onto the floor above my bedroom very early in the AM. Landlord did nothing! I lived in another PA apartment where the upstairs tenant played ball/catch with her Labrador Retriever at all hours of the night (and had a naturally-heavy footstep) and the landlord did nothing!
Now I'm living in an upstairs apartment (in NJ) with hardwood floors. I never walk around in shoes and I literally DO tiptoe late at night. I have a naturally light footstep (I was probably a cat in a former life! LOL!) and so I'm VERY quiet anyway. I never play loud music, or blast my TV. I don't slam doors or talk loudly, either on the phone or with company. I try to be VERY careful and considerate. But my landlord still claims that the downstairs tenant complains abut how noisy I am all the time, and says I don't seem to know how noisy I actually am!
"In a perfect world ..." isn't a defense. It's an opinion.
Except that wasn’t my defense. That was me saying the law is wrong. My defense is that I didn’t build and charge rent for a structurally deficient building. The landlord did.
Except that wasn’t my defense. That was me saying the law is wrong. My defense is that I didn’t build and charge rent for a structurally deficient building. The landlord did.
You can appear and say whatever you want. It's still your personal opinion.
Want to hire a structural engineer and a lawyer to defend? Hope you have an extra 10K just laying around.
for those that have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep due to the activity of their neighbours, be it walking, stomping, laughing, snoring, talking, playing music etc etc, you have my sympathies...i think most of us have been in this situation at one point or other in our lives. i certainly have, and its horrible.
living in the city is great, and has so many pluses, but privacy and peace and quiet isnt one of them. i tend to think noisy neighbours are more the rule rather than the exception. its one of the reasons the house in suburbia we eventually buy when we become old and boring is so enjoyable.
its easy to start becoming obsessed with intrusive noise, and getting irritated about it only serves to amplify the noise...and the longer you fester over it, the more irritated and stressed by it you become. i remember lying in bed in my apartment just waiting for it to start upstairs, and would sometimes get so wound up that i couldnt sleep even if the upstairs neighbours werent around. it got even better when one day, to my delight, they happy couple brought home a newborn baby!
so my advice? if you arent yet ready to pack up your pipe and slippers and move out to the 'burbs, then ask yourself if the noise your neighbours is making is really unreasonable. and do try to be objective about this. if yes, then sooner rather than later, try to tactfully have a word with them, or put in a complaint. if not, then invest one of the many good and effective sets of earplugs, try to let it go, and get a good night's sleep.
with the exception of the extreme examples of deliberate lack of consideration and structural building deficiencies, its not your neighbour's fault, its not your fault, its not the landlord's fault. its a fact of life and a function of people living on top of one another.
And it's an absolutely correct opinion for the reason I stated.
Actually, it's not... you choose the apartment... you choose the location, square footage, and lease agreement... and you choose to accept the buildings by-laws and rules regarding carpet. For all you know, the reason your rent isn't $200 a month higher is because they require you to carpet the apartment instead of the building owner. You accept responsibilities when you move in, it is on you to fulfill those responsibilities.
I had something similiar that happened several years ago in a apartment complex. In this case, both my front and right side neighbor have kids running up and down the hallway constantly all day yelling and screaming. The one on the right was the worst as the mom and the son always yell and scream at each other all day including early in the morning starting at 6 to 7 am. Our bedroom was right next to their kitchen so we can hear them banging on the cabinetry. In the beginning I would alway head over next door and ask them to quiet down so we can sleep, the husband is always cooperative and is polite, the wife just simply talking in her native language (sounds like cussing as some people really don't know how to act). Both neighbors get alot of complaints from other neighbors on the floor but we are the unfortunate ones living next to both.
After multiple complaints logged with the office in 3 months, they finally moved us to another floor where we finally have some decent sleep. The complex never try to evict them as the apartment complex itself have a pretty high turnover.
I think in most of these situation, unless you are lucky and deal with a reasonable person, you usually have to move to avoid the issues. It may be costly, but it is the most effective way to have a peaceful life.
Actually, it's not... you choose the apartment... you choose the location, square footage, and lease agreement... and you choose to accept the buildings by-laws and rules regarding carpet. For all you know, the reason your rent isn't $200 a month higher is because they require you to carpet the apartment instead of the building owner. You accept responsibilities when you move in, it is on you to fulfill those responsibilities.
Where did I say that renters should violate rules regarding carpets? Nowhere, because I didn’t say it.
The situation I’m referring to is if a lower floor tenant is complaining about walking noise, it should be up to the landlord, not the upstairs tenant to rectify the situation. The upstairs tenant is paying rent, the landlord is receiving rent and is responsible for the building. Part of the reason people rent is because they do not want to act like landlords.
Where did I say that renters should violate rules regarding carpets? Nowhere, because I didn’t say it.
The situation I’m referring to is if a lower floor tenant is complaining about walking noise, it should be up to the landlord, not the upstairs tenant to rectify the situation. The upstairs tenant is paying rent, the landlord is receiving rent and is responsible for the building. Part of the reason people rent is because they do not want to act like landlords.
Well if you move into a complex where the rules are that you the tenant is responsible for putting those carpets down in case there is a complaint, then you, by signing the lease, have agreed to that. The apartment upstairs is rented out by someone who bought it. That person, is bound by the rules of the complex since he is the owner. If he had specified in his lease to his tenants that they are responsible for the 85% carpeting rule then they would be bound by it under that lease, but if he didn't, then he is the one who is bound by the rules of the complex since he owns the apartment under those rules.
Well if you move into a complex where the rules are that you the tenant is responsible for putting those carpets down in case there is a complaint, then you, by signing the lease, have agreed to that. The apartment upstairs is rented out by someone who bought it. That person, is bound by the rules of the complex since he is the owner. If he had specified in his lease to his tenants that they are responsible for the 85% carpeting rule then they would be bound by it under that lease, but if he didn't, then he is the one who is bound by the rules of the complex since he owns the apartment under those rules.
Again, I've never said people should ignore rules they agreed to. We can think of specific scenarios until the cows come home.
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