Any good suggestions on how to handle a bad neighbor?

[thereaderrabbit]

I've been having all sorts of trouble with my noisy upstairs neighbors.

I've been living in an expensive part of town for over a year now and I rent a whole floor of the building and my upstairs neighbors (typically 5 or more of them) chip in to rent the two floors above me. They all share their 'ultimate party' apartment and between the few of them they've earned a few high school degrees.

Recently their parties and music have been keeping me up all hours of the night and I'm stuck in this $50/day rental agreement. Any suggestions on how to handle this?

Calling the police has gotten me nowhere because one of the residents is a waitress at the local police hang out and another an Army recruiter with connections on the Police force. When the police have showed up due to noise complaints they ask them to turn down the music and do not issue fines or written warnings.

My landlords have up till now decided to sit back and stay out of it because they are happy to have all floors of the building rented. There are other problems here too (see attached letter)...

Dear XXX:

I'm writing you in regards to the apartment I'm renting at YYY. While I have lived solely in apartments and dorms over the last 16 years of my life, the apartment I rent from you has become one of the worst living situations I have encountered. On weekends like the previous, I would not even call this a living situation, as I was asked to vacate my apartment by my upstairs neighbors if I wished to sleep on either Friday or Saturday night.

I am upset because you have allowed my neighbors to use a public announcement system at all hours for club music. Because my neighbors have removed the hallway mirror (and even their shabby replacement) that covered the fuse box for my apartment, and subsequently cut the power to my apartment last weekend. Because I worry about the building standing every time I drive back here and was required to go through the contents of my refrigerator to see if anything had spoiled. Because I spoke with XXX about the potential for this situation in the previous week, but things still came to this. XXX made clear that she had recently wrote my upstairs neighbors in regards to previous grievances and problems, but this has proven to be an ineffective solution.

Having had incoming and outgoing mail stolen earlier this year was a frustrating ordeal and your proposal of installing individual mailboxes in the near future was acceptable, but that was over half a year ago and there have been no individual mailboxes installed. When I moved in I was told that the buzzer system to open the front door was going to be fixed soon, but its been two years and I've seen no progress on this one. This is also the same year that I lost many possessions when the basement of the building flooded while having my rent raised.

Having neighbors that have fit to intimidate me when going up the steps to my apartment after a long day at work because I've called the police with noise complaints after midnight (and they did not answer the door when I knocked to ask them to turn it down) is the worst part of my problems though. The fact that just writing this leads me to further worry about my safety is unacceptable. When I wrote this e-mail last weekend my window panes had begun to vibrate with their most recent music selection- yes, it was three in the afternoon and I just love living under Club ZZZ. It seems that the only resident I can refer to openly now Mr. ZZZ is because he has seen it fit to rent rooms to whoever has wished since moving in, often not keeping you posted to who is living in your building. While I have signed a lease agreement with you, I do not feel that you are currently providing a place that I can live.

In the past you have done an excellent job addressing some issues, such as providing assistance on an occasion when my apartment's locked jammed, bringing in an exterminator to help with a mouse infestation, and improving the situation in the basement to better address future downpours. And while I do appreciate that you both make it a point to be accessible and helpful, this situation clearly requires further action. Sincerely,

I've mailed this letter (e-mail earlier this week), and certified mail to the landlords today, and handed to the companies in the building (floors below) copies too (they have recently complained about he noise and broken glass left in the hallway).

Sorry about this running long. Any further suggestions?

 

[KLin]

Originally posted by: thereaderrabbit
Any further suggestions?

If the cops and/or landlord won't do anything about the noise problems, then it's time to move. How long is your lease?

 

[sandmanwake]

Set the place on fire

 

[newb111]

Originally posted by: sandmanwake
Set the place on fire

:thumbsup:

 

[bunker]

Call a city/county code inspector....they've got to be breaking some kind of codes.

What, i don't know, but there's gotta be something!

 

[Flammable]

Originally posted by: sandmanwake
Set the place on fire

only logical thing to do as of now

 

[thereaderrabbit]

My lease goes on for another 8 months. They don't seem to need any sleep before going into work, but unfortunately I sure as hell do.

sandmanwake- I'd rather not get even with everyone else in the building, burn most of my my earthly possessions out of spite, and then go to jail over all this, but if that changes I'll be sure to contact you

-Reader

 

[SmoochyTX]

Sounds like it's time to move.

 

[Jeeebus]

This is all I could come up with

 

[Captante]

Sending the certified letter was a good first step & from this point forward you shoud document every step you take so that if/when you break your lease you'll have hard evidence to supply in court.

 

[MiataNC]

If building management won't do anything, talk to a lawyer and see if you can get out of the lease. There must be conditions in the contract that protect you from being forced to live under those conditions.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Document everything
Contact a lawsmith perhaps?

 

[thereaderrabbit]

Part of the reason for my certified letter was to do more on the documentation end. I will be contacting a lawyer in the next few weeks if things do not turn around. So far it's been a week and I have not heard back from my landlords. This pause tells me that they are either on vacation or still trying to ignore the situation.

-Reader

 

[thereaderrabbit]

This forum always strikes me as odd. We have people suggesting that burning the building down is a possible course of action, while people like "BurnItDown" suggest lawyering up

 

[sandmanwake]

I'm thinking a higher power is at work here when in response to my suggestion to burn the place down we have posts from guys named Flammable and BurnItDwn. Obviously you'd have to do it in a way that you won't get caught--the neighbors have messed with the fusebox before, who's to say they didn't screw something up.

Then again, getting fire insurance and moving your most valuable stuff out didn't occur to you, so maybe you should just cut the neighbor's brake lines.

 

[sygyzy]

Where do you live that in the expensive part of town, it's common for people to rent entire and/or multiple floors of a building?

 

[BurnItDwn]

Originally posted by: thereaderrabbit
Part of the reason for my certified letter was to do more on the documentation end. I will be contacting a lawyer in the next few weeks if things do not turn around. So far it's been a week and I have not heard back from my landlords. This pause tells me that they are either on vacation or still trying to ignore the situation.

-Reader

Sounds like you're doing everything that you can legally do. I hope they resolve the situation for you soon.

 

[thereaderrabbit]

Originally posted by: sandmanwake
I'm thinking a higher power is at work here when in response to my suggestion to burn the place down we have posts from guys named Flammable and BurnItDwn. Obviously you'd have to do it in a way that you won't get caught--the neighbors have messed with the fusebox before, who's to say they didn't screw something up.

Then again, getting fire insurance and moving your most valuable stuff out didn't occur to you, so maybe you should just cut the neighbor's brake lines.

In the past I've considered that it might be fun to sign the recruiter up for some LGBT literature, heck, even contact the Army! I've thought about cutting their power at odd hours. Messing with their mail and so on, but it's one of me and a few of them. I have no interest in throwing my life away in a loosing game.

 

[Nitemare]

pee on them

 

[MmmSkyscraper]

Nailgun and a shovel FTW.

 

[thereaderrabbit]

Originally posted by: sygyzy
Where do you live that in the expensive part of town, it's common for people to rent entire and/or multiple floors of a building?

I'm just temporarily living it up. Right now I'm using my Ph.D. in materials science at a high paying semiconductor company based in New York. This lifestyle will not last, but felt needed after paying back all of my student loans in the first year out here and after living the thrifty life for so long. When my lease ends I'm planning to move to a smaller less expensive place.

 

[ryan256]

Screw with them. Cut their power.
OR!! Use that Ph.D. of yours and design yourself a kickass HERF gun. Blast em with that when they have the music going at 2am.

 

[sandmanwake]

Originally posted by: thereaderrabbit

Originally posted by: sygyzy
Where do you live that in the expensive part of town, it's common for people to rent entire and/or multiple floors of a building?

I'm just temporarily living it up. Right now I'm using my Ph.D. in materials science at a high paying semiconductor company based in New York. This lifestyle will not last, but felt needed after paying back all of my student loans in the first year out here and after living the thrifty life for so long. When my lease ends I'm planning to move to a smaller less expensive place.

Personally, I would have gone with the high priced hookers route rather than rent an entire floor of a building with neighbors from hell for living it up, but to each his own I guess.

 

[Turin39789]

Get the Architect and the Hairdresser to join your posse and chase them out of town

 

[Sureshot324]

Get an extremely loud stereo, and set it on a timer to go full blast when they sleep, which is probably in the morning if they party all night.