There is nothing worse than when you are trying to sleep, or just enjoy a nice night in your apartment than one of your neighbors disrupting the peace and serenity of your apartment. But what can you do about these noisy neighbors? Can you actually get them to stop being so noisy?
The easiest way to get your neighbors to tone it down is to simply knock on their door and let them know they are being loud.
But some people aren’t the confrontation type, and for good reason, it can be intimidating and awkward, and make future encounters with those neighbors uncomfortable. However, you REALLY want some peace and quiet tonight, and this is the 4th time this month that this has happened, and you have had enough.
Let’s walk through some of the things you can do to help alleviate the situation and see where your rights begin and end as an apartment renter.
What To Do When You Have Noisy Neighbors
KNOCK ON THEIR DOOR – The easiest and most obvious solution. Many times, all the situation needs is for someone to say something about it. A lot of people are going to tone it down if they know they are being rude to other people in the building. Maybe they have a bit of alcohol in them and don’t realize they are being that loud. A simple knock on the door and friendly notice that they are being loud is many times all that is needed for them to tone it down.
Sometimes, this isn’t the easiest thing to do, however, as it can be awkward and intimidating for some people to have this face-to-face encounter with someone they potentially see on a regular basis. Thus, some of the other solutions may fit your personality and style a bit better.
FORMULATE A COMPROMISE/MAKE A DEAL – NOT RECOMMENDED!! We have seen this “solution” floated around the internet on various sites, and as a former renter and current landlord, I can’t TELL you how bad of an idea this is.
Think about what message you are sending your noisy neighbors who already have the dominant hand in the situation. You are telling them that you aren’t brave enough to come right out and say that they are being to noisy and to knock it off, but being passive and seeing if they will agree to ANOTHER noise agreement made between you and them.
They ALREADY broke the noise agreement of the lease and are not letting you have the Quiet Enjoyment of your apartment, something that you are paying for. Why in the world would they honor another agreement, put forward in a passive way, that has no consequences to it whatsoever?
The answer is: They Won’t.
If anything, they will take you agreement, post it on their refrigerator, and laugh at it every time they have people over or want to turn the music up. Things like this tend to be a way for your noisy neighbors to push the line even more than they were before, and a way to ENSURE that you are not enjoying your apartment at all, but rather spending all your free time listening for any breaches in the “contract” that you made with them.
I have seen this passive way of dealing with your noisy neighbors as a landlord and even as a roommate, and I can tell you from firsthand experience that it doesn’t work. Just go straight to your landlord if you are going to spend all that time “Making a contract” with them. You are paying your landlord to do this, make them control the situation.
Which brings us to….
TALK TO YOUR LANDLORD – This is the remedy that is going to normally be the most effective. Your landlord has the power to evict those noisy tenants if they are constantly disrupting the peace and quiet of the people around them.
At my own apartment complex, we have a “3 Strikes And You’re Out” policy. If we get 3 different LEGITIMATE complaints from people about the same tenant, we give them the first notice in writing, then the second notice in writing, the 3rd is an eviction notice.
To not enforce the noise policy as a landlord is a death sentence. You will not only have multiple tenants unhappy and looking for somewhere else to stay, word will get out that the landlord and manager are ineffective. This is just going to lead to more things on the lease being broken and all-out mayhem happening at your complex.
Thus, the landlord has a strong incentive to make sure that the rules are followed, and the tenants are happy. This includes the noise policy.
Your BEST BET on having a peaceful night is to simply call your landlord, inform them about the situation, and let them handle it. Chances are, not only will they address the situation right away, they will document it, so if the situation persists week after week, they have a reason to ask those tenants to find somewhere else to live.
CALL THE POLICE – This is the option of last resort. I have seen tenants do this before, but not because they thought that the landlord was ineffective, but because they either had a previous beef with their neighbors, they think that the neighbor is doing something illegal in their apartment, or they simply don’t feel safe.
The last two reasons are completely legitimate for calling the police on. If you don’t feel safe in your apartment because something is going on next door that is illegal, then that is violating the right for you to have Quiet Enjoyment of your apartment, something you are paying for.
The police can also be called simply for noise. In virtually every town, there are some sort of noise codes that must be followed by every citizen, no matter where they live. There are “quiet hours” for cities between certain hours. These apply to everyone inside the boundaries of the city. If you think that the situation warrants having the police called out to the situation, go ahead and call them.
What I would recommend you do FIRST, is to call your landlord or manager and TELL them that you are calling the cops. This is going to allow them to document the situation, and coordinate with the police when they get there. They probably won’t care that you are calling the police, as it allows the professionals to handle the out of control situation.
Additionally, the last thing your landlord wants on their property is the police hanging around with their lights on. While the police are there to keep the peace and keep everyone safe, it just isn’t a good look for the complex. So not only is the landlord going to document the situation themselves, they are more than likely going to give them a written noise violation and a warning not to do it again, citing the terms in the lease.
Do Police Tell Your Neighbor Who Called?
Chances are that if you are at the point that you are calling the police to handle the situation that it is a fairly serious one, and are dealing with tenants that you yourself don’t want to have to deal with yourself.
A common question people ask is “whether or not the police tell the noisy tenants who called the police on them?”
The answer is “No.” The police will simply say that they received notice that there was a noise violation that was disturbing the peace and were called out to see what was going on.
Now, chances are, even if you live in an apartment complex, you are only going to have SO many people that are directly in contact with the walls of your unit. The people above you, the people below you, the people across the hall, or the people next to you.
If you have had issues with these tenants in the past, chances are they are going to know who called the police on them or at least have some idea. But the same thing is going to happen if you call the landlord on them too. They are going to know that SOMEONE complained about them. That’s just the way life is. The only way you are going to make anything better is by saying something about it.
You have as much right to the Quiet Enjoyment of your apartment as they do to be loud, so don’t be afraid to have the laws, and the lease, enforced.
Is Quiet Enjoyment A Law?
It would be more accurate to describe Quiet Enjoyment as a “Right” a tenant has and a “Covenant”, or agreement, between the tenant and landlord for the ability to enjoy and access the premise in peace and without disturbance.
This “Covenant” is built right into the lease and does not have to be explicitly laid out in the lease word for word. It is something that is “implied” and applied to anyone who has property or rents anywhere.
There are several different components to this covenant, but the main one we are focused on in this article is in regard to the peace and quiet you should be able to have freedom from the repeated disturbances from your neighbors.
Now, this doesn’t mean that the first time the neighbor above you drops something in their living room that you can just go and complain about them. This covenant applies to you not being able to enjoy your own apartment because there are repeated actions of a neighbor that are preventing you from doing so.
If the dropping noises are Free Weights however, you probably have a valid claim to tell your landlord about.
Ultimately though, simply by occupying your apartment, you have the right to enjoy it without repeated, unreasonable disturbance from your neighbors.
What Is The Nuisance Neighbor Law?
Many people think that “Nuisance Neighbor Laws” have to deal exclusively with noisy neighbors. When, in fact, they are more applicable to “NOSY neighbors.”
These are neighbors that are snooping around your property, being places they are not supposed to be, maybe potentially spying on you or your property. Basically……being a nuisance.
Now, this law CAN apply to a neighbor who is being noisy and unruly, but the majority of the time, these laws are dealing with a different kind of bad neighbor.
If you think that the neighbor is being a legitimate nuisance to more than just yourself though, you can absolutely call the police if you think it is warranted, and ask them what steps you can take to prevent the situation from happening again.
How Can I Be A Good Apartment Neighbor?
So, what does a good neighbor look like? Especially in regard to noise?
First, a good neighbor is ALWAYS COURTEOUS OF THOSE AROUND THEM. Remember, other people’s definition of what “reasonable noise” is, may not match up with your own personal definition. But remember that you are living in an apartment complex, which means you are going to be forced to deal with other people around you. That’s just part of the gig.
Secondly, a good neighbor is going to RESPECT THE QUIET HOURS. Your lease is going to have the quiet hours spelled out plainly on the lease. If you are partying at 300AM on a Tuesday, more than likely, you are going to be in violation of what the lease says. Make sure you are following the lease, they are there for everyone’s benefit.
Thirdly, good neighbors are RESPECTFUL OF THEIR NEIGHBORS. If you get a knock on your apartment door from the neighbor below you or from next door, hear them out, treat them with respect, and realize that they may be legitimately disturbed by what’s going on in your apartment. Give them the benefit of the doubt, and above all, treat them with respect. After all, they gave you the respect of coming to talk to you face to face.
When dealing with a noisy neighbor, the easiest thing to do is to just knock on their door and ask them to tone it down. If you don’t think this is a good solution, then call your landlord or manager and have them handle the situation. And if the situation is really out of control, and you don’t feel safe in your own apartment, then call the police, they are good at handling disturbances of the peace.
