Dude, I most certainly did not call you an asshole. I was simply pointing out the surest way to becoming one, was practicing the kind of behaviours you’re describing. The muscle you use is the one that grows stronger. Do not expect to practice assholish behaviour and NOT turn into an asshole.
You need to decide which is more valuable to you; peace and quiet, (If so, move. If you’re a lone wolf on this issue nothing is going to change. Either accept how it is graciously, or give notice to move!), or conflict and feeling righteous?
You’re not a child, acting like one is unbecoming in adults. Always.
Alright Elbows, sorry, maybe I overreacted. This is making me crazy man. I hear it in my BRAIN when I’m not even home now. It is just that when the police say “There is no other legal recourse” and the apartment complex does nothing about the issues a model tenant (never missed a payment, never had any problems ever) is having and knocking on the door doesn’t work, what is one to do? Everyone keeps saying move but I’ve been here for a good while and the lease is nowhere near done. Plus, if you saw what kind of horrible places were for rent in my area, you’d be reluctant to move, too. I can’t afford to pay 400 bucks more a month for a comparative apartment. I don’t want to wear earplugs all over the place. I have resorted to turning on the AC and other appliances to drown out the noise, but I can FEEL it under my feet.
Apartment living, look around, if there are no assholes…You’re it. Well you looked around and found them. In the long run leaving is the best option. According to Judge Judy this is grounds for breaking the lease, but make a few recordings first, and get copies of the police reports.
The only way to get these guys to knock it off is to involve the landlord or police. No amount of kindness or pranks will cause them to realize how inconsiderate they have been and give everyone gift baskets for forgiveness.
Everytime they do it, contact the landlord. If he doesn’t address the problem, contact the police. Document it all and use that info to break the lease.
Of course, since these guys truly are assholes, they will take great fun in retaliating if they find out it’s you. What’s that saying… Don’t wrestle with pigs, you’ll both get dirty but they like it?
Playing mean-spirited pranks on these people isn’t going to make them stop. So, being mean to them to satisfy a need for making sure they suffer is certainly an option, but it doesn’t get the OP closer to the living environment he wants, and only adds to the amount of stupid bullshit happening around him.
Listen to filmore from post #4, call the police again and tell them these people are extremely loud for 12 hours a day and all they have to do to hear it is come in the back way so they aren’t seen.
I think we’re talking 'bout the same thing. It’s kindly a wood handle, kind of like an axe handle. With a long blade on it shaped kinda like a bananer. Mhm. Sharp on one edge, and dull on the other. Mhm. It’s what the highway boys use to cut down weeds and whatnot. But why’s MarkHortigan holding one out in the hallway out front of 107?
Go visit the local Police station. Sit down in person with an officer and let them know that you are becoming ill from sleep deprivation. Explain that the group seems to have look-outs for the police (that could indicate higher-level crimes in the apartment) and ask them for help.
Often a reasonable plea in person when you are calm (if exhausted) works much better than a third-person relay through the dispatcher when you are frustrated.
Keep on calling the cops. Write a short anonymous note to all of your neighbors telling them which apartment is the noisy one a suggest they complain to management as well, and if they feel compelled, call the police as well. If one person is complaining, police and management are able to easily write them off as a squeaky wheel. If there is a chorus, it’s harder to ignore.
Call the non-emergency police number during the day and ask to speak to your precinct’s desk sergeant. Explain to him the situation and ask that he have his officers come the back way next time. I’d love to see what happens when they scream that they don’t give a shit to the cops.
Check out your local noise ordinance..
Does your smartphone have an app for decibel measuring? You could document the number of decibels in your apartment at various hours of the day and right outside the neighbours door. Might even record it and send an audio file with your emailed complaints. That might help your case.
That is a good idea. Some types of crimes are masked by noise. That is consistent with them not allowing anyone in and them keeping odd and irregular hours. Your neighbours probably are just assholes, not criminals, but it helps to have extra arguments. I also second the advice to get more people on board. Phrase it as: “Would you sign this petition against nighttime noise in our apartment? Most of the people here have signed it, now if you would too…”
Look, starting a program of harassment towards them isn’t going to get them to quiet down. And if you cross the legal/illegal line, you’ll just be shooting yourself in the foot.
Document the stuff. Write down the date/time the volume is way too loud and the date/time they turn it down. You’d want at least a week’s worth of this.
B. Document your complaints to the apartment office people. Date, who you spoke with, and what they said.
III. Go to the police station and speak to the desk sergeant. Maybe even better call to see when you could talk to a lieutenant or the shift commander, so it’d probably be in the evening. Take with you the documentation you have from step 1 so you can show them when they’re most likely to be LOUD. Explain about the lookout thing and ask them if next time it happens if they could send an officer or two in plain clothes in an unmarked vehicle to come to YOUR apartment and then you can walk them down to your neighbors’ place. Though if they’re all that loud, they’ll probably know where they are.
Try contacting the local landlord / tenant org. in your area. You’d be surprise tat how even the gentlest “well I suppose I could talk to the landlord / tenant agency…” Can potentially stir renewed interest regarding a tenant’s complaints. My “horrible neighbors” situation is almost as bad as your, but a different noise source, and merely mentioning LLT laws got them to at least do something. The noise is still ongoing, but is not nearly as frequent. (Apologies for any dreadful spelling etctyping on my phone)
Some really good suggestions on here, thanks guys. I so desperately want to take things further with my own hands but that decibel monitor is a freaking great idea and would probably be safer. On a side note I did come home to see another neighbor (from the top floor halfway down the hall) pounding on their door. I talked to him for a few minutes and apparently he complained yesterday to the complex. I suppose I’ll renew my efforts with them, see what happens. I’ll post an update tomorrow.
Do try reading for comprehension, mate. I was simply pointing out if you take up assholish behaviour, to get back at them, you run the risk of becoming an asshole. Because that’s how it works.
And no matter how much you don’t like it, his choices are indeed, accept how it is, or move, or engage in hordes of idiotic assholish behaviour. Which I was pointing out is precisely what turns people into assholes.
(Do try and keep up, dear. I even came back and explained it more fully, when the OP thought I was calling him an asshole. Twice, and you still didn’t understand!)
I totally feel for you. It’s hard NOT to want some justice when people act like such completely inconsiderate jerks. But you don’t want to get into a situation where you’ve done something that could possibly get you into trouble.
And of course - once YOU start behaving like an arsehole, you give them a foot in the door to argue / defend / justify what their wrongness.
So suddenly instead of having a clear cut case for eviction and an obviously right position, you are dragged into slanging matches, hearings, fact finding missions and more…getting you further from your ultimate goal