Apartment noise query

hobo101

Hey guys,

Here's the deal, I've recently moved into a new rental apartment. The other night myself and my 2 friends were chatting away in the living room when we heard a bang on the wall from next door. Two days later I got a letter from the management company regarding a noise complaint from that night. Now I want to state, there were 3 people talking with the TV on in my own living room until 1am. If we were being loud I could fully accept it but we weren't. I'm now afraid to even have the volume on my television up after 11.30pm in case they complain again. The letter stated that there could be no ''excessive noise'' after 11.30pm so does that mean my apartment turns into a convent before midnight? I've tried knocking in to the neighbours but no answer. Any Advice would be greatly appreciated!

The Master

Moved from After Hours

alwaysadub

You're probably better off in The Accomodation and Property forum.

Are the walls paper thin in your appartment? Maybe you didn't think you were being loud,but the neighbours could hear everything.
Or maybe they're just *****!

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Think about it. It's 1am in the morning, you are up for work in 6 hours and your neighbours are watching TV and talking in the living room. They are right next door to you. You deserved the letter, keep it down in future. You obviously have no idea what it's like to be kept awake by noisey neighbours when you have to get up for work the next morning. You won't find any sympathy here.

Oh the best forum for this is the property and accomodation forum

dudara

Playing devil's advocate here, you may not think that you were making a lot of noise, but you'd be surprised at much noise carries in some buildings.

What is an acceptable noise level to one person may be totally off the scale who needs to get up at 6.30 am.

People talking at 1am would be unacceptable in my book - if the noise was carrying.

hobo101

Sorry about posting in the wrong forum

Not looking for sympathy at all. Believe me I've been kept up by noisy neighbours in the past and would be the first to stand up and apologise if I was in the wrong but conversing surely can't be classed as excessive.

blond45

hobo101 wrote: »

Hey guys,

Here's the deal, I've recently moved into a new rental apartment. The other night myself and my 2 friends were chatting away in the living room when we heard a bang on the wall from next door. Two days later I got a letter from the management company regarding a noise complaint from that night. Now I want to state, there were 3 people talking with the TV on in my own living room until 1am. If we were being loud I could fully accept it but we weren't. I'm now afraid to even have the volume on my television up after 11.30pm in case they complain again. The letter stated that there could be no ''excessive noise'' after 11.30pm so does that mean my apartment turns into a convent before midnight? I've tried knocking in to the neighbours but no answer. Any Advice would be greatly appreciated!

how thick are the walls, you could not be herd if ye were just chat,n like you say . have you seen any of the neighbours yet. if that was me id find out who told the managent, if you have a phone number ring them. who ever it was they would have to be the next door either side of you. thats why i live in the country, no twats living next door out to make trouble. ''excessive noise '' to me is a drill or a hammer banging.

Treehouse72

If you are not used to modern Dublin apartment living, unfortunately we are all so on top of one another that noise really does carry very easily.

What I have done in the past is asked my neighbours during the day to tell me the point at which they can hear my TV or music. Then I play the music loud and find a level they can't hear. That might need to go down a notch for late at night.

I would also certainly talk to the neighbour just to be neighbourly. You could ask them at that time to do the noise test I mention.

Kimia

Oh ffs I think this is ridiculous. So you can't have a conversation in your own apartment after midnight these days is it? :rolleyes:

Unless you were having a loud debate that carried I don't understand how this could possibly be anyone else's business. I have a child living next door to me that screams the place down but I don't complain - he's a child and it's his (and his parent's) gaff not mine. I was the one that signed up for 'apartment living'.

sharper

It's hard to say without knowing how well sound travels in your complex.

The unfortunate reality of modern Irish apartments is they effectively have no sound insulation so even "normal" sound levels travel through to adjoining units. You'll be best places to judge that from what you can hear from your neighbours.

Really the ideal solution is go knock on your neighbour's door and chat to them about it. They likely just want to enjoy the use of their apartment just as you do.

angel01

Kimia wrote: »

Oh ffs I think this is ridiculous. So you can't have a conversation in your own apartment after midnight these days is it? :rolleyes:

Unless you were having a loud debate that carried I don't understand how this could possibly be anyone else's business. I have a child living next door to me that screams the place down but I don't complain - he's a child and it's his (and his parent's) gaff not mine. I was the one that signed up for 'apartment living'.

I disagree, if it is heard outside your apartment, then I am sorry, it is too loud, noise does carry and I have had issues myself before and I don't take any crap, just because I chose to live in an apartment, doesn't mean that others can make my life hell.

Noise does carry and staying up past 1am talking loudly or whatever isn't on to me whatsoever.

Limerickgal82

So to sum up .. are the majority of people here really saying that this guy can not talk to his friends until 1am in his own apartment ?! I have lived in apartments for the last 6 years and i often have friends in to chat and this goes on until about 1 or 2 am i have never had any problems and to be honest if someone lodged a complaint because i was talking i would be very annoyed. I f i was playing loud music then fair enough . I think that people are being a bit rude to the original Poster. If i were you i would have a chat with your neighbour ! Can you hear them talking or watching tv?

sharper

Limerickgal82 wrote: »

So to sum up .. are the majority of people here really saying that this guy can not talk to his friends until 1am in his own apartment ?!

I believe the majority of people are saying that if the combination of the noise generated by talking to his friends and the design of the apartments are such that they disturb his neighbours then he has a problem to deal with.

To put it another way, how did his neighbour even know the guy was talking to his friends? Clearly the sound carried for whatever reason. The neighbour presumably wanted to sleep so the converse of your argument is "are you really saying you can't sleep in your own apartment until it gets past 1am?".

Flimbos

OP - can you hear your neighbours when they're talking and watching tv? If so, then the main problem is poor quality sound proofing. You should be able to have a chat in your own apartment, presuming you're not being too noisy.

Is the wall between you and your neighbour finished with plasterboard? If so, then I'd guess that it doesn't comply with building regulations with regard to sound. If it's a block wall between the apartments, the best way to comply would probably have been a wet plaster finish, but the reality is that a lot of developers finished these walls with plasterboard. If you can hear your neighbours when they are talking, I would write to your management company and enquire about the sound proofing.

And as they may well do nothing about it, maybe have a chat with the neighbour as others have suggested.

Dudess

Kimia wrote: »

Oh ffs I think this is ridiculous. So you can't have a conversation in your own apartment after midnight these days is it? :rolleyes:

I would have been in agreement with you until recently - when the latest pains in the arse moved into the apartment below us (the last crowd used to have parties til 8am on week nights, so to be fair to the current bunch, they're a lot better). This lot don't play music but they chat until sometimes 4am and really loudly. They also slam doors and just have to be really noisy about everything. Now I haven't the slightest problem with them chatting, but they are so damn loud. If they could only lower their voices a bit, all would be fine. The sound-proofing isn't fantastic but it's not the worst either. I've lived here on and off since 2001 and this is the first case I've ever experienced of being kept awake simply by people yakking.

Maddylicious

I live in a semi detached house and i can hear my neighbour hocking up into his bathroom sink in the morning! truly disgusting!

My ex lived in an apartment and all you could hear from above was someone walking around in heels late at night. There were about 4 of us in the apartment one night just chatting and the neighbours called up on the intercom and told us to be quiet. We werent being loud at all and were just chatting. Then about an hour and a half later when we were all in bed asleep the buzzer went and one of the other tenants got out of bed to answer it and it was the guards saying we were making too much noise! Absolutle Ridiculous!

Tonight my neighbour banged on the wall at 10:01pm as i was playing my bass guitar ON LOW. This pissed me off to no end as they have one child who never stops screaming crying 24/7 and another who runs around the house like a mad thing at the crack of dawn yet i checked the clock, saw the time and switched it off. Now.. can someone tell me how i go about checking the sound proofing on my next house when i go to purchase it so my neighbour doesnt say "bless you" when i sneeze?!!

If you were loud enough to be bothering your neighbour, you were too loud. If you live in an apartment, then yes, you do have to constantly think about your neighbours. I talk late at night but very quietly. The sort of conversation you'd have with mates at 1am with a bottle of wine is too loud, especially on a weeknight. A lot of people just don't realise just how loud they are when they're having a 'normal conversation'. I have a neighbour who talks to his wife in the sitting room (next to my bedroom) until 2am some nights. He's foreign and he just talks WAY too loudly, almost shouting. That's obviously the way he talks, but it's not acceptable at 2am. It keeps me awake and when I have to be up at 7, it's very, very annoying.

Elle Collins

The neighbour here sounds like an arsehole to me if for no other reason than they didn't see fit to discuss the noise levels with the OP before firing off a bloody letter to the management committee. That ought to be a last resort - not a first response!

We all have neighbours, no matter what type of accomodation we're in; you don't go out of your way to make enemies of them over a late night conversation, ffs.

Elle Collins

Elle Collins wrote: »

The neighbour here sounds like an arsehole to me if for no other reason than they didn't see fit to discuss the noise levels with the OP before firing off a bloody letter to the management committee. That ought to be a last resort - not a first response!

We all have neighbours, no matter what type of accomodation we're in; you don't go out of your way to make enemies of them over a late night conversation, ffs.

I agree with this. I'd normally apply a 'three strikes and you're out' logic. I'd ask nicely, then if it persisted, I'd tell them to knock it off and if they did it again, I'd be onto the management. Although I suppose it depends on the tenant. I live in a block with some real lowlife scum - I certainly wouldn't be knocking on their door at 3am, or anytime for that matter. Op doesn't seem to be in this category though!

schween

Treehouse72 wrote: »

If you are not used to modern Dublin apartment living, unfortunately we are all so on top of one another that noise really does carry very easily.

Apartments have been built outside Dublin, or is it just that they're all high quality outside Dub? :pac:

My neighbours are quiet but I can hear everything snoring, talking, cooking the lot. From 5am onwards, I hear the footsteps and people getting breakfast. At first I was going mad, but I got used to it.

OP I don't know what to say. You say you were being quiet, if it's going to be like this all the time maybe move? Or as someone suggested talk to the neighbours?

SoupyNorman

The main issue is that OP lives in badly built/soundproofed property. My last apartment was bad (not terrible) but I just could not understand why the apartment above were allowed to have wooden floors, any sound level testing should have failed, which begs the question…was it done?

I firmly believe that there should be a 1month get-out clause in every lease; I mean how on earth are we expected to commit to 12month leases when you could be surrounded by noisy neighbours or regular neighbours but thin walls, hollow construction etc. The only way to find out if your neighbours are noisy is to spend a night/day/week in the place and the only way to do that is to sign a lease.

plasmaguy

During the day, everyone in an apartment complex makes noise, but can't hear what other people are doing because of their own noise.

But at night, you can probably hear a pin drop due to the silence so even chatting and I presume laughing which is usually loud and TV carry that much further.

You were probably louder than you thought, and if drink was involved, you were probably twice as loud as normal.