Dealing with noisy neighbors and getting rid of them are not the same thing. Dealing implies they remain in your life. Getting rid of them implies they are gone and the latter topic has real options which is what this article will show you how to do. As much as some of you may want to call Joe Pesci (his Casino or Good Fellas role) to deal with your problem, we’re only going to be handling this from a legal point of view.
The 3 legal options you have:
1. Contact your landlord/management. This should be done if talking to them and asking them nicely to stop hasn’t solved the problem. If you’re reading this, I bet you’ve already tried that and it hasn’t worked. Well in that case, contact the landlord.
Let them know your peace is being disturbed by the neighbor. Provide proof (police reports for example) if possible. Usually if you have a good landlord, they will contact the neighbor and try to address this problem peacefully.
This doesn’t always work and in my experience, it may only hold back the problem from escalating for awhile, but it can still work if the neighbors hear that the landlord is now a part of the problem.
Letting your landlord know about this is very important because if you’re a good tenant, they obviously don’t want you to leave and if there is a neighbor causing you or others trouble, it can hurt their profits. No landlord wants to be in this situation.
If the landlord talks to the neighbor and the problem doesn’t go away, eviction is possible, but there has to be enough evidence to have the landlord take action and this is where your second option becomes important:
2. Call the cops. Keep calling them every single time there is a noise violation coming from the neighbor. You may also want to visit your local police precinct and ask to be directed to the department which deals with noise complaints. Talk to them about your options there. Each time a call comes in, your local precinct will be the one to send out the cops, but if there is no other emergency taking place.
In NYC for example, police have an 8 hour window to address your complaint (and you can’t call 911 in some areas, only your city directory such as 311 which is in NYC). If you have the number to your local precinct, you can get faster results by contacting them directly. 8 hours is not a rule I personally agree with, but it’s the law and of course if they come by hours after the complaint was made, it’s possible the noise may die down by then. If that’s the case, wait until the next violation takes place and keep calling.
Have them show up and contact the neighbor. Usually they’ll ask them to keep it down and leave, but if there are continuous violations, they can write out a ticket and once the neighbor starts paying for the noise they cause, it can really make them stop, but if for some reason this causes them to become even worse or even do things such as threaten you, then you have a great case on your hands to take them to court for harassment and threats.
Also make sure to get a copy of the police reports. This is your evidence against the neighbor that you can give to your landlord to have them evicted or even…
3. Sue them. This is your last real option and if you have the evidence from police reports, recordings, documented cases of violations (again police reports are an example and complaints for other neighbors), you can sue your neighbor. This option doesn’t evict them, but it can have them pay you a lot of money as compensation for the trouble they caused you. This may actually end up having them move out if they know their noise is going to cost them a lot of money. But if things get worse and this makes them harass you, again, remember that you can use that against them.
These 3 legal options can be used together. Police reports can lead to landlords evicting the noisy neighbors. Complaints from other neighbors and police reports carry the most weight in court if you decide to sue. You can use all 3 as they help give weight to each other.
Have these options helped you? Share your story here!
This is great information! I will remember this if I ever have trouble out of my neighbors.
Thanks, Steve
I used to have some neighbors in the upstairs apartment that made so much noise late at night, it sounded like they were coming through the floor! Sounded like they were doing gymnastics or wrestling or something. Then I moved back to the country. Haven’t had anymore problems since. Wish I had known about all this then:)
I think your outcome beats any other Marant. Better to live in a peaceful area than try to have to worry about what someone a few feet away might be doing to interrupt your silence.