Hello Ms. Erin, or anyone who can help. I have a serious question, but first I need to explain my situation. I live on the ground floor apparent. When I moved in the management was renovating the upstairs apartments by taking out the carpeting and installing wood floors. I asked if there would be a noise problem with that. They assured me that noise from the upstairs apartment wouldn’t be a problem, because the flooring comes with sound barrier padding. They also stated that it had been installed in their other apartments without any complaints. So here is the kicker. It is not wood flooring, it is linoleum flooring that looks like wood. I spoke to one of the installer who said there is no barrier, they just glued it down on to the plywood flooring! I spoke to management about this and once again I was told not to worry, that worker was mistaken, there is a sound barrier. (Uh huh, sure there is.) Anyway, about two weeks later a young couple. They (and I’m guessing, mind you) don’t weigh more than between 125 to 145lbs each.

The move in took a few days and was absolute craziness. It sounded more akin to a rugby match. The ceiling and walls literally shook! After the move in I could still hear them as they would walk around. I thought this can’t be! I can tell you what room they are in just by following their foot falls, mostly the mans footsteps, the woman’s footsteps are much lighter than his. I can hear when they roll stuff/furniture across the floor. I have had upstairs neighbors before and only heard them if they ran or jumped but this is nuts! I am not exaggerating when I tell you I can hear just about every step they take. They drop stuff in the kitchen, like a potato (I know this because I went upstairs and asked. “Did you guys just drop a potato or and apple in the kitchen?” they responded with “potato!” When asked why I would ask such an inane question they could hardly believe it when I said I could hear a lot of things, footsteps, dropped items and when they fight. I gave them a date and a time frame and they were speechless.

I talked to the property manager about this situation and was met with. “You are the only one complaining about.” “You signed a year lease.” “People who complain a lot around here don’t last long.” Wow! Really? Way to treat the customer. The message I received from all that was. So what, who cares and if you cause trouble I’ll find a way to get you out of here and still owe us the remainder of the lease plus your deposit! I’m very disappointed in the property manager to say the least. Then the manager then offers me a (Noise complaint against tenant form.) Oh yah that was just flat out insulting. Almost like they were daring me to fill it out.

My neighbors are not creating extra noise. They are simply living their lives. I have no peace in this apartment unless the upstairs tenants are out. One of them works late and does not get home until eleven at night. I get woken up three to five times a month because he is just unwinding after work. I know how it goes, been there, done that, but I didn’t have a neighbor living below me with only sheetrock, a few support beams, and linoleum covered plywood. So here is the question, (that I’m sorry took forever to get to.) Is there any way out of this other than sticking out the lease?