Noise complaint - unreasonable?

ceadaoin.

A couple of weeks ago we received a letter from the management company stating that they had received a complaint about noise from our apartment. Our apartment is basically a house and there is a flat underneath in the 'basement', who I assume must be the person complaining. It said the complaint was in relation to shoes being worn indoors, doors being slammed, and shouting. We never wear shoes indoors as we have a daughter who is crawling. I don't think we shout, suppose someone else might think we do and we never slam doors.

My partner contacted the management company who said that they had sent the letter to a few houses as they weren't sure of exactly where the noise was coming from. Our next door neighbours kids are very loud, running up and down the stairs and shouting until quite late in the evening so we just assumed it was them.

The this week we get another letter saying a further complaint has been received about running and moving furniture. It's safe to say there is no running as my daughter can't even walk yet. Granted, sometimes she pushes the dining chairs. This would last for less than a minute before I move her away. I got some felt and put it on the bottom of the chair legs so hopefully that should sort the issue of scraping. She has a push along walker which perhaps makes a rumbling noise but this would be used during normal working hours, not early in the morning or late at night.

Am I right in thinking the complainants are being a bit unreasonable (if the complaints are about our apartment)? Any noise is during the day. My daughter is in bed by 7 and it's rare that myself and my partner are up past 10.30 so there is no noise at all in the evening. I am absolutely not going to stop my child from using her walker or building blocks for fear it might upset the neighbours.

This letter said that our landlord would be informed and when we called the woman in the management company just said not to worry about it. How can we 'prove' that we aren't making excessive noise if we continue to receive these letters?

djimi

If they are just sending out blanket letters without knowing the true culprit and you are certain that it is not you who is at fault then id say just ignore them. Or maybe tell the management company and/or neighbour to investigate properly and figure out where the noise is coming from.

What is the building like? Its not uncommon for build quality to be so poor that its almost impossible to avoid noise leaking into neighbouring properties. Its possible that your neighbour may just need to learn to be less sensitive to surrounding noise and not expect to live in absolute silence in an apartment building.

Procrastastudy

Sounds like a case of a poorly installed floor - probably wood. The worst that could happen, and this is very unlikely, is you end up in court on the receiving end of a nuisance action. It would be nigh on impossible to make that case if the noise stops at 10.30 at night. Sounds like a case of a hypersensitive neighbour.

I'd perhaps pre-empt the management co. contacting your LL and contact him yourself and explain the situation. Perhaps make a compliant to him about the letters. I know in my complex there has to be two verified complaints before they will issue a letter.

mikemac1

ceadaoin. wrote: »

This letter said that our landlord would be informed and when we called the woman in the management company just said not to worry about it. How can we 'prove' that we aren't making excessive noise if we continue to receive these letters?

Get your story in first.

Call up your landlord to give them a heads up about the letter and tell them what you've posted here.

You are good tenants and the landlord will want to keep you.


As for the noise, I've lived above wooden floors and below them and the noise below can drive a person to madness.

Nobodys fault realy, just general day to day noises but shoddy workmanship from the builders isn't good enough at all

Though somebody slamming a door hard next door can make me flinch if it's sudden and I didn't hear them on the stairs.

Our estate was built in 1994 and the council houses across the road from the 1950's are in better shape then this place!

Procrastastudy

On the door slamming, you're probably letting the doors close on the closers - that will p*ss of your neighbours. Either prop them open or keep your hand on the handle as they close.

ceadaoin.

Procrastastudy wrote: »

On the door slamming, you're probably letting the doors close on the closers - that will p*ss of your neighbours. Either prop them open or keep your hand on the handle as they close.

No, we do hold the handle because the doors don't shut properly if we just let them close by themselves. All the doors upstairs are held open with doorstops, the only one we close is our bedroom and again, we keep our hand on it as it closes.

We do have wooden floors downstairs but there is nothing we can do about walking around! Part of the problem is I think their bedroom is below our kitchen where we spend a lot of time. I am up early with the baby but I do try to keep the noise to a minimum until 9am or so and don't put on the washing machine etc.

The build quality isn't great but its better than some places I've lived in where I could literally hear upstairs peeing during the night :eek: I can hear next doors radio all day and the kids running around after school but I wouldn't complain about it. You have expect some noise when living in close quarters to other people. Once they aren't playing loud music all night I don't care!

I will contact the property manager and let him know the situation.

djimi

ceadaoin. wrote: »

I can hear next doors radio all day and the kids running around after school but I wouldn't complain about it. You have expect some noise when living in close quarters to other people. Once they aren't playing loud music all night I don't care!

I suspect that therein lies the crux of the issue. No apartment is free from ambient noise. Our building is pretty well built but even I hear my neighbours once in a while. Not much you can do when everyone is essentially living in boxes stacked on top of and beside each other! Some people unfortunately do not get this and are annoyed by every little sound. Its just part of apartment living; if they want complete silence they need to rent a cottage in the middle of the country...

Procrastastudy

ceadaoin. wrote: »

The build quality isn't great but its better than some places I've lived in where I could literally hear upstairs peeing during the night :eek:

Be aware of how different noise is conducted - that's noise from the plumbing and is very difficult to insulate. I do take your point though.

athtrasna

Your landlord may be partly to blame, it would be pretty standard that wooden floors are not permitted in apartments which have another unit below them.

Cedrus

Complain about the blanket letters, the management company have no right to be causing you stress. They should identify the cause and solve it for the complainant, not spread the pain around.

the_syco

Cedrus wrote: »

Complain about the blanket letters, the management company have no right to be causing you stress. They should identify the cause and solve it for the complainant, not spread the pain around.

Agreed. I'd also check if the MC had actually sent the letters, as opposed to the person who is hearing the noise doing a blanket drop so you couldn't identify who it was?

StillWaters

You dont have one of those walkers for the baby do you? They can sound like thunder on a wooden floor.

I would think about getting a few cheap rugs in any case, when the little one starts toddling, she won't sit still!

senordingdong

You are right that this is unreasonable but only because the management company have said that they can't identify the culprit.

But, I have to say, I read somewhere, on the EPA website in regards to multi unit developments, you are apparently prohibited from installing wooden floors if there are other people living under you.