I wish I knew where to start. This is probably appropriate for the pit, but I’d like some advice, not just to vent. My neighbors below me are loud jerks. Yes, it’s mostly the fault of the paper-thin walls I wish I’d known about before I signed the 12-month lease, but I didn’t. Some of it is understandable, completely not their fault. The shower, the toilet fan, the loud television, the big truck starting up, I can deal with. The blaring stereo, the thumping bass while I’m trying to sleep, I can’t.
<— LONG STORY starts here -->
Talking to them, going down there with eyes half-opened, politely asking them to turn it down, worked the first few times. No problem. I figure they’d get the message that someone lives above them now, and they should be quiet, as it is an apartment, the place isn’t soundproof, so on and so forth.
One night, partying and screaming got added to the thumping music (which you can literally feel in the ground), and my polite request for peace was ignored. I can be pretty patient, but I ended up calling the police after a while. Then I talked to the management. They apologized and told me they’d send them a lease violation notice. Next Thursday it began again, and I called the cops again. The next day I sent the management a serious, business-looking letter over e-mail (it was late, I was pissed, etc). They got back to me promptly, apologized again, and said they’d hand deliver the notice and speak with them. I was told if it continued I ‘must’ call the police, and that I could contact the woman who replied to me. There was nothing for six weeks.
Last week Friday, I heard it start up again. I called the cops. It got louder, and centralized under my bedroom, - a driving video game on a loop, cranked through a stereo, from what I could tell. Called the cops again. It kept going. Called the cops again. In the room, I’m lying on the bed, trying to calm down, and I hear knocking on the window down below. The officer comes to my door, and tells me no one’s home. I assumed this, as I was sure after my last call that they had started up the truck and left. He said he would “find them,” and he did, because they were dumb enough to return. The next night, not really surprisingly, I was awoken at 3am by the pounding bass I remembered from my first encounter. I sleep with earplugs, and my SO is a heavy sleeper, so this is a big deal. Bleary-eyed, I call the cops. Minutes later, it stops. I assume it was one song.
I wait a few days and contact the manager who spoke to me before. She responds, telling me she spoke to them already, regarding the police complaints (which I read are forwarded to rental management by the police). She also gives me what I was essentially expecting all along, which was ‘we can’t do shit because we’re not witnessing it,’ and lists the lies & excuses the noisy neighbor fed her. She told me to ‘make peace’ and suggested being more friendly, which I expect many of you will tell me.
<-- LONG STORY ends here -->
I’m not sure what to say to this woman (I can think of a LOT of things though), but on a lot of things, I know she’s right. I’ve read eviction isn’t easy or cheap for the companies, and noise issues are hard for them to prove. There’s also the factor that no matter what, they are paying rent and so it makes little difference to the manager how they behave in the apartment, or how much of a fuss I make about it. I had a similar, consistent problem in my first apartment, and that company did not give a damn.
I know the first suggestion is to pretend to like these assholes, who wouldn’t even say hello to us from the start (but are BFF with everyone else), started ignoring me, are lying to cover their ass because they can, purposely did this crap to me twice as revenge, and made up crap about me being loud at night. I will leave out the character judgments I’ve made from witnessing other behavior, because they aren’t directly pertinent, and wouldn’t bother me if not for the other nonsense. I have made no attempt at retaliaton (and I know damn well I could) because I know it is stupid and I know it would likely make it worse.
Is there anything I can do? I’ve got until next July to tolerate this garbage, and the little things I put up with are starting to bother me. Because of the previous problem, it infuriates me to a level of complete unreasonableness, where I cannot do or enjoy anything while this crap is going on.