u/DRAAGPrison

Just want to know if I'm being unreasonable here?

My partner, our two year old child, and I rent the upper floor of a duplex. We recently got a text from our landlord passing along noise complaints from our downstairs basement tenant.

I reached out to the tenant directly to clear the air. I explained that we both work 40 plus hours a week, our toddler is in daycare most of the day, and we are completely in bed by 9:00 PM. The tenant replied and agreed that our toddler isn't the issue. Instead, they are extremely upset about noise coming from our kitchen, which happens to sit directly above their bedroom.

The tenant sent me videos they recorded from their bedroom ceiling as proof. I listened to them, and there is absolutely no banging, stomping, screaming, or loud music. The only audible sounds are the very faint, low frequency thuds of normal footsteps, a tiny bit of background rustling, and the inevitable creaking of standard wood frame floorboards. It is literally just the sound of a human existing and walking on a floor.

Even though this is completely normal living noise, I wanted to be a good neighbor. So I apologized and offered to put foam pads or stoppers on our kitchen cabinets and buy thick kitchen floor mats to muffle our footsteps. The tenant initially seemed appreciative, agreeing that it was a fault by design of the building layout.

Things seemed fine for a bit then

At 10:00 PM on a Saturday, the tenant texted me in a panic, claiming they couldn't sleep because of non stop creaking in the kitchen every 10 minutes, threatening to go book a hotel or an Airbnb. The problem was that my entire family was fast asleep in bed. There was absolutely nobody in the kitchen. I told them this, and they just replied "Happy to know."

A few days later at 6:40 PM, the tenant texted saying, "FYI this is becoming annoying now, I don't think I can live like this anymore." I was literally just standing in my kitchen cooking dinner for my family. When I pointed out that 6:40 PM is a completely reasonable time to cook, they went off. They claimed they spent all morning with us running around, that they are entitled to peace, and that they cannot shrink themselves for us.

They also mentioned they work irregular retail hours with overnights and early mornings, so they are highly sensitive to noise. I apologized to him and informed him both me and my partner also work retail management jobs, I reminded him of the steps we took and I formed him that I can't just not use the kitchen, we went back and forth on this all night I asked him what steps he has taken to reduce noise on his end as we have already taken steps to correct it, he said it wasn't good enough I reminded him of the city and provincial by laws which protect our right to use our space and the expectation that there will be some noise while living in a basement, he continued going off saying that I'm being uncourteous and have no self awareness.

The tenant complained again on a day we weren't even home. My family was away at a funeral in another city. We didn't get home until 8:00 PM and went straight to bed. When I pointed out that we literally weren't in the city when he complained, he doubled down, saying they will never accept having to deal with it and that it is affecting their mental health.

I have already contacted our landlord to loop him in. When I sent the landlord the video he agreed that the noise was not excessive and consititued under our daily use, landlord said he had has wife call him but the downstairs tenant continued texting me all night about it even after this,

My partner and I both work busy retail management jobs. We have to cook, do dishes, pack our toddler's daycare lunches, and live our lives. We only spend about 2 to 3 hours total in the kitchen a day. We walk softly, we put on cabinet bumpers, and we got mats. We cannot physically float over the floorboards.

(Am I allowed to post video here? If so I can post a video of "the noise" he is complaining about)

Am I being unreasonable?

Amazing show it was my 6th or 7th time seeing them