Loud upstairs neighbors and stupid landlord!

[WindingRoad]

As my title says I am dealing with loud upstairs neighbors and a stupid landlord that won't do anything. These people were supposed to be gone in May and after I get back in July they are STILL here. They have kept me up many nights with their incessant stomping. It probably sounds ridiculous but these two walking has made my life really lame in this apartment. I spoke with my landlord in may after he allowed them to stay two more weeks which coincided with my finals. That sucked really bad. Now I finally get him to return my call bc I've been trying to find out why they are still here. He wouldn't hardly talk to me on the phone?!?! I had to pry any little response from this guy! I asked him why they were still here and he said their lease wasn't up until the end of August?!?! Yes you heard me right, he totally lied to me about them leaving the first time so now I can't be sure they will actually leave this time. I stay in my apartment with earplugs in 80% of the time and I can STILL hear their feet loudly. I'm kinda needing to rant but I also don't know what the heck to do at this point. My lease isn't up till January and all my other classmates who live here have no issues with noise! I am just so frustrated this has been going on since January the first day I moved in! Is there some organization to go to on this? I'm in school and honestly I can't afford a lawyer.

[Tri Girl]

That really sucks for you. I'm sorry.

I would simply tell him that if they aren't out by the end of August (which he says they will be), you will be terminating your lease and will not pay any penalty fees. I would write it in a letter, document EVERY time you have contacted him and what his response was each time (list it in the letter). In our state, there is a tenant/landlord agreement for each lease signed. You might not know about it, but it exists when you sign a lease. If you have filed complaints and he does nothing to address them, it may be grounds for you breaking your lease with no penalty to you.

Not that you want to wait until the end of August, or that you want to move... but it sounds like you are miserable there and that's simply no way to live!

[westtexas]

I understand how you feel completely. I unfortunately have an apartment facing the pool and there are several residents of my complex who like to get drunk and horse around in the pool in the wee hours of the morning (we're talking 3:30 a.m. on weeknights here). The pool closes at 10. There is supposedly a courtesy officer you can call, but despite doing this nothing is getting resolved.

I don't have any solutions for you at all. I've just been trying to run myself ragged every day so I am very tired and am not woken up (or kept up) by these idiots (must be nice to live off mommy and daddy's money and not have to work!).

I don't have any advice for you, unfortunately. I'm also very noise sensitive and it's hard. But, you're not alone!

[emily_in_nc]

This is exactly the reason we insisted on a top floor apartment when we downsized from our house to an apartment in 2010. But then we made the mistake of buying a first-floor condo here, thinking that since it was all concrete construction, the footsteps upstairs would not be noisy. WRONG! The concrete transmits noise like crazy!

Never, ever again...

I don't know what else to say, winding, except that I feel your pain. I hope the situation will be resolved very soon! This kinda stuff drives me batty!

[WindingRoad]

Thanks girls it does help to know its not just me alone having these issues. I wouldn't mind living upstairs if it wasn't for the bike (no elevator) and last time I did that in a building very similar to this my electric bill about doubled. I am hoping these jerks really do move out come the end of August.

[salsabike]

Does your school have a law school? If so, they may have a clinic where law students can help you with tenant-landlord stuff.

[Possegal]

Or not even a law school but a legal aide to help students.

My junior year in college 7 of us rented a house. Landlord kept the entire security deposit (which amounted to about $2000) for a bunch of bogus reasons and lies. The university had people to help students and for no cost to us we had an attorney that helped us. Took many months (several of us had graduated by then) but we ended up in arbitration over it and we got all our money back and some penalties! And it didn't cost us anything for the lawyer.

It was a long time ago that I was in college, so I can't really say how we went about it all, but it's an option to look into.

[Kiwi Stoker]

We rent in a three house complex.Nice letter in my box yesterday stating the "rules" about cleaning up outside. There was a bit in bold that the residents of house one were responsible for the garden outside the front fence along the footpath.

Umm it's a total jungle of dead prickly vines, trees and bushes and was like that when we moved in. And the body corporate wants ME to clean it up. Thanks. You'd be better off talking to the landlord guys, expecially when the body corporate is actually the owner of the third unit and actually breaks the "rules" themselves.

I hate renting and how powerless you become in this situation. I have passed the letter onto my landlord to deal with. And I am going to stop bringing in the other houses bins after rubbish collection also.

[WindingRoad]

We don't have a law school we are primarily medical but I had not thought of asking the school to intervene. I will check in the administrative offices today to see if they can help me. Thanks for the ideas.

[Becky]

I'm sorry that you have to deal with this

I would check the tenant code in your jurisdiction. There may be something in there that will help you break your lease without penalty, or beef up your letter to the landlord.

[Catrin]

I feel your pain, my last apartment building was like that. It wasn't so much the neighbors themselves were that loud (though a few were), but the building wasn't constructed well and there was little soundproofing. I've no constructive advice I am afraid, but sending you good wishes that this is resolved soon.

Does the landlord have a boss you can go to?

[ny biker]

I'm currently living below the noisiest neighbor I have had in 30 years of living in apartments and condos. So I sympathize. But I'm not sure the landlord can evict anyone based on what you describe.

I would start by looking carefully at the lease, to see if there is anything about noise, right to peaceful use of the apartment, carpet requirements, "quiet hours," stuff like that. If they're violating the lease, then the landlord should take steps to remedy the situation.

I need to show proof to the condo management where I live in order for them to take action. I've been using the video camera on my smartphone to record the noise. I haven't sent anything to the condo management, though, because the primary problem is the dog running back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and back and forth across my ceiling, and a couple of noise complaints to the nighttime security guard have been somewhat successful in stopping that problem. And she's a renter with a long-term boyfriend, so I'm hoping she'll just decide to move out so she can live with him. (And when she does, I plan to sit on the front steps drinking champagne while they pack the moving truck...)

[emily_in_nc]

Thanks girls it does help to know its not just me alone having these issues. I wouldn't mind living upstairs if it wasn't for the bike (no elevator) and last time I did that in a building very similar to this my electric bill about doubled. I am hoping these jerks really do move out come the end of August.

We lived on the third floor and hauled bikes up and down stairs for the 14 months we lived there. It was a bit inconvenient, but worth it to be on top of the noise instead of underneath it. Our best friend in the building lived on the first floor, and when we'd visit her, we couldn't believe the noise from the "elephants" above.

That said, we had to be careful not to make noise ourselves, especially after the very nice Asian lady living below us came up and said that our dog running and playing across the floor was super loud. We had to stop playing with her in the apartment.

Best rental situation is probably a townhouse so no one is above OR below you. End-unit preferably! It's true that the A/C runs a lot more upstairs too...

[WindingRoad]

Last night upon going to be I was woken up 15 minutes later to the sound of the thudding feet. It's so heavy it literally shakes me in my bed! After turning all three fans up on high, already had earplugs in but then covering my head with the 'extra' pillow I gave up. I got up and wrote a long letter to the landlord explaining why he needs to move me to another apartment in the building. I also mentioned I was upset he told me three times they were supposed to move out and they didn't so when he said they are leaving at the end of August.... Well I'll believe it when I see it! I have been reading about tenant issues like this and it appears many people opt to put their rent in an escrow account and the landlord can't access this until they rectify the situation. Anyone ever have to do this or know much about it?

[indysteel]

Some states, Pennsylvania among them, allow for rent to be escrowed when the rental is in violation of that state's housing code. Your situation interfere with your right to "quiet enjoyment" under the lease/PA law, but I doubt it's a code violation. So, short of reaching some agreement with your landlord, your only real option is to break the lease. I did that myself in 2002. My situation was arguably worse than yours in that it involved some crackheads across the hall from me who posed a physical danger to me (they were eventually evicted when one of them stabbed someone in the apartment). I vacated and was initially with the thought that I'd just wait until they sued me. Instead, we reached an agreement whereby I paid part of the rent due for the remainder if the lease and washed my hands of it. I still sort of wish I'd let them come after me. I would have delighted in detailing the horrors of my neighbors and how little management did in response. I kept a record of everything.

I'm not necessarily recommending that you break the lease as there's obviously a big downside financially if you get sued. I had the money at the time and I'm an attorney so I felt comfortable with the risk. I hope for your sake that your landlord can accommodate you. Have you tried talking to these neighbors yourself or are they too scary to approach? What, if anything, does your lease say about dispute resolution?