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Crappy neighbors

C

coonmanx

AK Subscriber
Subscriber
What do you do when you have a neighbor who has no sense of how loud the music is and no sensibility when it comes to not pissing off neighbors. This guy just moved in. First he woke my son up at 2 AM playing loud music. Then this past Friday night it happened again at 1:30 AM. I took my dB meter out and the bass was coming through the wall at over 50 dB. Saturday it happened again during the day and was even louder. Notified management and they said they would put a notice on his door tomorrow. He has already been notified once and I was not the only one complaining either. Finally this morning at 9:30 AM it started up again. I was in bed in the bedroom on the other side of the apartment from his unit and I could hear it. Sure enough my son heard it as well and it woke him up. Tried to knock on his door and he didn't answer. Cops were called but they didn't even bother to show up (as usual). Pretty clear that the guy is just an A-hole. Thinking about taking him to small claims court if all else fails...

Why do such people exist in this world? I don't get it. I listen to music and never bother anyone because my stereo is on an internal wall and the sound level rarely goes above 60 dB. He is clearly listening at a much louder level. And the fact that he has already been contacted by management once but hasn't changed is not a good sign either...
 
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One of the things that I never understand is people putting TVs and sound systems on walls that border neighboring apartments. When you do that it immediately means that more sound is going through that wall. Systems on internal walls will not do that. It's just common sense. Some people have none...

And BTW, my son even has noise canceling headphones but they really can't do anything with bass that comes through a wall.
 
New neighbor sounds like a real a**holian. Probably just moved in after getting evicted from his previous place.
Is this an apartment with a lease? If yes, tell managment that if they don't handle this, you are contacting an attorney about an uninhabitable unit and stop paying your rent. They will do something.
 
Old Guy8 said:
Only real solution. Move.
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Unfortunately that me be true. But we already had to deal with this somewhere else. Now it is happening again. That is the problem. Management needs to get tough with the guy. And in this city if you move you may just have to deal with it all over again. Too many do nothing managers.
 
You could maybe buy them a couple of sets of (wireless?) headphones... The price of peace. Plus you might turn a bad neighbor into a friend. Just a thought.
Tim
 
Plainly said:
New neighbor sounds like a real a**holian. Probably just moved in after getting evicted from his previous place.
Is this an apartment with a lease? If yes, tell managment that if they don't handle this, you are contacting an attorney about an uninhabitable unit and stop paying your rent. They will do something.
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I already told management that I may have to break the lease and move out if it continues... Yes, it is a habitability issue.
 
TimPD said:
You could maybe buy them a couple of sets of (wireless?) headphones... The price of peace. Plus you might turn a bad neighbor into a friend. Just a thought.
Tim
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Yeah, there are quite a few solutions here and headphones is one of them. But it doesn't seem like he really cares at all. I will report back what happens. But I have seen people like this before. People who just think that their ____ doesn't stink...

Honestly it doesn't take that much effort to be a good neighbor. Seems like it takes a lot of effort to be an A-hole. Not seeing much effort from him to do the right thing. A small claims court summons might wake him up because then he would also have to take work off in order to go to court.

My guess is that he probably has a sub next to the wall as well.
 
I'm the kind that I would probably have a loudness war with the guy.
I have a couple Crown amps I could bridge for more power. Then play some Slim Wittman music really, really loud. :biggrin:
Seriously, I feel for the OP. I've had similar experiences when I lived in apartments. Unfortunately there is just so much you can do and hope for the best.
I play my music loud when I'm out in my garage using the syatem I have out there and my son's band practices in my garage every few weeks.
Usually some of the nnighbors walk over to listen to them.
The neighbor next to me has a nice garage system he plays loud.
The neighbor two houses down across the street has a nice garage system too, plus his son plays his electric guitar in the garage.
But none of us do this at night. And luckily we all listen to the same kind of music. Thats a rare thing.
It is nice to finely live where everything is quiet at night though.
Hopefully the OP and his neighbors can get the management to do something about. I've had management companies do very little and w3nt to the city and got the owners name. They hate to be bothered. Ut in my case it worked and the owner got the management to do something.
Owners hate to be bothered. :biggrin:
 
The noise issue can be solved a number of ways - raise enough stink with the management every time he turns it up, call the police for a noisy neighbor complaint, etc. Thing is, all these involve essentially a form of combat with this guy. How badly do you want to go down this route? Are you prepared for escalation because people like this often will do that. Slashing tires, keying cars, just even nonending petty crap to get under your skin. People like this look for getting the last hit in, so if you decide to go this route, either he or you will end up leaving but it won't end until then.

Only you can answer if you are up for a range war. If not, just move. Seriously. It isn't the image we are given growing up of facing down bullies or standing up for what's right but it is a valid choice and a nonviolent one. I only stand up on principle when forced to, because a deeply held principle of mine is being violated. That way, I know that I'm in it to the end and have no regrets. But noisy neighbors are a nuisance to me, not a principle, and even if "doing the right thing" is a principle, it isn't one I'm willing to burden my soul with on every little issue.

So ask yourself - there will be a cost, including a cost in terms of being under stress all the time wondering what this jerk is going to pull next. Are you willing to pay that cost? Or is it time to look for greener pastures? How much is it worth to you to force this person to your will?
 
Try contacting the local PD Community Liaisons office. Explain the situation, the clear ordinance violations, the warnings from management and calls to dispatch.

They will likely pay them a visit or send a notice. Keep the community officer updated and do not relent.

While doing this, look for a new place.
 
topdownsound said:
The noise issue can be solved a number of ways - raise enough stink with the management every time he turns it up, call the police for a noisy neighbor complaint, etc. Thing is, all these involve essentially a form of combat with this guy. How badly do you want to go down this route? Are you prepared for escalation because people like this often will do that. Slashing tires, keying cars, just even nonending petty crap to get under your skin. People like this look for getting the last hit in, so if you decide to go this route, either he or you will end up leaving but it won't end until then.

Only you can answer if you are up for a range war. If not, just move. Seriously. It isn't the image we are given growing up of facing down bullies or standing up for what's right but it is a valid choice and a nonviolent one. I only stand up on principle when forced to, because a deeply held principle of mine is being violated. That way, I know that I'm in it to the end and have no regrets. But noisy neighbors are a nuisance to me, not a principle, and even if "doing the right thing" is a principle, it isn't one I'm willing to burden my soul with on every little issue.

So ask yourself - there will be a cost, including a cost in terms of being under stress all the time wondering what this jerk is going to pull next. Are you willing to pay that cost? Or is it time to look for greener pastures? How much is it worth to you to force this person to your will?
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Well said. :thumbsup:
 
Sorry to hear about this Coon. Keep bothering the management, they'll have to act eventually. Frustrating I know, but stay on it.
 
Well I do have an extra unused system with a powerful amp. I would have to find the most annoying music, crank it up to 11 and then just leave. LOL. Really not wanting to go that route but I can if necessary.

Cops are completely useless. They don't even show up.

I am going to keep bugging management and also letting them know that I will be looking for a new place if nothing changes. And I will demand that they let me out of my lease if I find a place. I will also remind them of wording in the lease that states that you can't disturb your neighbors (I don't remember the exact language but it is in there).

One thing I looked up was that dB meters often don't measure bass properly. That seems to be the case here.

Maybe I should start trying to learn how to play bass with a very loud amp...

The problem with moving is that you move into the next place and it could be better or it could be worse. It's a real gamble in this city. Plenty of slumlords and crappy property management companies. The previous property management company here got fired. This one seems to be just a bit better. But often they don't want to be bothered with this kind of thing.
 
Lavane said:
I'm the kind that I would probably have a loudness war with the guy.
I have a couple Crown amps I could bridge for more power. Then play some Slim Wittman music really, really loud. :biggrin:
Seriously, I feel for the OP. I've had similar experiences when I lived in apartments. Unfortunately there is just so much you can do and hope for the best.
I play my music loud when I'm out in my garage using the syatem I have out there and my son's band practices in my garage every few weeks.
Usually some of the nnighbors walk over to listen to them.
The neighbor next to me has a nice garage system he plays loud.
The neighbor two houses down across the street has a nice garage system too, plus his son plays his electric guitar in the garage.
But none of us do this at night. And luckily we all listen to the same kind of music. Thats a rare thing.
It is nice to finely live where everything is quiet at night though.
Hopefully the OP and his neighbors can get the management to do something about. I've had management companies do very little and w3nt to the city and got the owners name. They hate to be bothered. Ut in my case it worked and the owner got the management to do something.
Owners hate to be bothered. :biggrin:
Click to expand...
Going to have to start looking for some Slim Whitman CDs. LOL. Or maybe some polka music. But honestly something bass heavy would probably be best.
 
BTW, I had tried knocking on his door this morning but he didn't answer. Either because he couldn't hear me knocking or just didn't want to answer. Had the latter happen before at a different place when the drunk Mexican downstairs had a party with friends starting at 10 PM and lasting until 3 AM. I ended up just slipping a note under his door. Second time it happened I went down and kept knocking until he finally answered. Then he gave me some mumbo jumbo about us running around upstairs. Nothing could be further from the truth. Whenever we were there we were usually just sitting at the computer in one room or another. It was lame so I said "F*** you" and walked away.

Today the guy did finally come out into the hall. It was after I slammed my hand on his door. I told him that he had woken up my son the other night at 1:30 AM and that this morning he also woke him up. I also let him know that the neighbor across the hall was angry and complained as well. But she is just too damn nice and I never hear her get mad at anyone. When she talked to him today she just said, "So you doing some jammin over there" or something like that. I at least expected her to ask him to turn it down. Just too nice... I was over at her apartment talking to her because she is this 67 or 69 year old black lady that doesn't take no $hit. And I really appreciate her. She still works as well. A very good and honest and likable person. So he had to see me talking to her as well.

Anyway, he walked away and said that he had to get his kids. Apparently it was the handover from the baby momma... My son asked her nicely to just turn it down because it was loud (he is very respectable like that) but she said that she didn't live there and he wouldn't listen to her anyway. He said, "We can talk about it later"... But later came and went and he made no effort to talk it over. Yeah these days people are just full of it.

You know the crazy thing is that I enjoy music. But I have learned to live with lower volumes and actually appreciate that. You can hear more of the music if you listen like that. Maybe you won't get that slam but I'm almost 65 and I don't need that slam anymore.

Sorry if I got verbose. The day has been long and I think the gummy is kicking in now.
 
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