Downstairs neighbors bang at every noise
Downstairs neighbors constantly complain about noise
Hello,
this is my first time posting here as so far I’ve always had great relationships with my neighbors. We moved into a new apartment 2 weeks ago, some background My husband and I are new parents with a 16 month old baby/toddler. The first day we moved in here my husband dropped me and my son off to check out the new apartment, clean etc while he went to pick up our U-Haul and begin loading it at our old apartment, so we hadn’t even begun moving our things in, it was really just me cleaning and my baby playing and exploring the new apartment. I get a knock at the door at around 3:00 pm, it’s a girl and at first I thought she was coming to say hello, NOPE I open the door, baby on my hip confused and she asks me to be quiet. I was shocked, I explained we were moving in today and said sorry but it’s likely not going to be quiet today or throughout the weekend as we had to move our belongings in, she then proceeded to say sorry that she didn’t realize it was new tenants and that they had previously had issues with the people before us being loud, partying, etc. I said no, we’re new tenants and are just a small family, and if the noise they’re referring to was my 16 month old toddler being well, a toddler that it wasn’t going to stop anytime soon. She went back downstairs and i thought it was handled. That evening at around 9 pm, everyone that was helping us move (friends and family) had already left, my husband had gone back to the old apartment to go get our cats. I was trying to put my son to sleep (he was already a bit anxious because of the move, and new environment, he had only ever known our last apartment) I finally got him asleep and I laid him down on some blankets on the floor (hadn’t set up our bed yet) when the downstairs neighbor bangs so aggressively that it shook the whole apartment right underneath where my baby was asleep, it woke him up and he was TERRIFIED. The mama bear in me came out at that point so I went downstairs and knocked to ask why the hell they were banging, the girl’s boyfriend answered and was yelling about us being loud all day, that he was a college student etc I told him we have to move our things in! And told him if he has an issue with every single movement and sound to get his credit up, get a better job and get a house. He then told me he was going to report us to the apartment complex, I told him i would do the same. I did go upstairs and write an extensive email detailing everything that happened and sent it to the apartment complex. I never received a response.
The following morning at around 11 am, the female neighbor comes back upstairs and this time she has a gift and she actually apologized for their behavior say she scolded her boyfriend for scaring our son, and that she can hear him playing and that she felt bad. I talked to her for a bit and basically said “I think we got off on the wrong foot” and I felt much better, thought everything was all good. Well, fast forward to this weekend, my younger sister was here babysitting a 3 yo little boy, I had left with my son to go clean our old apartment (we had it until the 17th so that we could make sure we could clean well and not be rushed moving because we had been there about 3 years)
When I get back my sister said that the downstairs neighbor was banging on our ceiling while her and the 3 yo were watching a movie, it was 3:30 pm.
At this point I just ignored it, didn’t want to even give them the time of day as I know I’m not doing anything wrong. On Monday, I get a “Noise Violation” on our door. So now obviously I’m upset again, why our WE getting a noise violation when these people have done nothing but harass us and bang on their ceiling all day long since we have moved in?! I decided I’m going to get cameras, and a door camera so I have proof that we aren’t doing anything other than living in the apartment we pay rent for.
Oh yeah and yesterday at around 6:00 pm i started vacuuming and they of course start banging on their ceiling. So I started a log where I am going to record every single incident, I talked briefly with a lawyer that suggested I do that. These people have been a nightmare since we moved in, I am sooo disappointed, we were so happy to move in here. Now that’s being crushed by the new neighbors and our complex.
Does anyone have any suggestions? Experienced anything similar?
Also, to note I have door stoppers on all our doors so “no slamming” is happening because it’s baby proofed, the “heavy objects” I have no idea other than my 16 month old dropping his bottle or toys sometimes? The whole violation is BS, we are asleep before 10pm most nights. And the neighbors are banging at us during the daytime hours.
I already am a FTM going through the new toddler phase and my husband works 7 days a week. We don’t need this added stress!!