Any ideas how to address mean battles between neighbors about noise?

Any ideas how to address mean battles between neighbors about noise?

CLAIMS:
101 claims that 201 has an army of little soldiers stomping and jumping on her 24/7

REALITY: 201 has 2 active toddlers boys

201 claims that 101, plays the piano in the middle of the night or the afternoon so loud that she wake ups her babies. That 101 has called the police on her repeatedly and she has welcomed the cops into her apartment to see that it is only kids playing normally, during normal hours, she admitted that sometimes they struggled to make them go to bed before 10pm. The cop even suggested that this is not grounds for a harassment complaint because “management” has to handle it.

101 is very unhappy, and unpleasant TENANT that anyone who speaks with her doesn’t like her. I’m glad she gave her NTV back in January to move at the end of March.

So, I know... I know lease violation letters, but those are hard to prove in court besides the monster is about to move... what would YOU guys do?

Tell the residents to swap numbers and inform each other when they’re being loud

If she is about to move just let it be and try to mediate in the meantime.

Offer 101 an early out without penalty since they are already planning to move out.

Having lived under toddlers I will say this: It should be mandatory that families with small children only lease bottom floor units. Apartments aren't built well anymore and the sound from the upper units is magnified in the lower ones. I got sick from no sleep for over 6 months due to being on a swing shift and having babies thumping all day above me. It would POP me awake a million times a day and I'd go to work exhausted. It finally caught up with me and I had to move. I always try to rent a upper unit if I can but at the time I was renting a room from a friend because I was in a tight spot. I'm just giving a voice to others out there who endure the same thing, it's horrible living beneath kids.

Toni Harrison I understand but this would be a big time discrimination lawsuit against the owner, management firm and site manager.

Babbie Miley Jaco I know, I just wish the housing authority or whoever is in charge of such things could make a rule or something. It's a big problem.

Toni Harrison it’s a problem for us all and impossible to solve. But where they choose to live is a protection under the law. I try to suggest more rugs and stop running!

Offer to comp a transfer fee if you have a diff apt available. She likely won’t take it since she’s leaving soon but you give her a solution she can either accept or deny and relinquish further complaint

I direct our warring homes to contact the police department for excessive noise during city quiet hours

If she’s given notice, like someone previously stated... let her move early with no penalty.
In certain circumstances I have had to have a controlled mediation with both residents involved. Putting a human, face to face contact with each other has been able to resolve a few of these issues. That being said.... I would offer to transfer the 2nd floor unit to the downstairs unit after the first floor unit is available. I understand that controlling toddlers is hard, but the first floor person has the right to the peaceful enjoyment of their home too.
All around a sticky situation but you don’t want to move someone else in and the same issue exists. I had a problem similar to this... the first floor resident actually transferred to an upper floor and lucky for me an older couple with harder hearing moved in.

Jamie Addkison Jennings problem is, I already asked my RPM Permission to transfer this resident to a lower level unit even if she pays the transfer fee and he denied it.

Rossi Natalia why would he deny it?

Jamie Addkison Jennings that I haven’t had the chance to talked to him about I have come back from being sick with the flu for few days and I briefly saw his big NO email and since he is traveling he has not been replying to all his email but I will be drilling him soon, because these two are driving me insane.
For once we do not any any lower units available at all, and I know for a fact that the woman in level 1 doesn’t work and she just determined to harrass the other constantly but tapping her ceiling in the middle of the night, playing loud piano music, leave mean notes on her door and her car, I mean it is getting ridiculous and I just walked into this mess that nobody has fixed for the last 6 months according to maintenance (I’m new to the position, not even 90 on this PM chair). Ugh

We are in the industry of Multi-family housing. In multi family housing you have heavy walkers, running toddlers, people that snore, alarm clocks that go off, people that vacuum, flush toilets, use blow dryers, the list goes on-in my many years in this industry these are just some of the complaints I have received. This is multi family housing. If the sounds are excessive such as drums, music with bass turned way up, loud stereos/tv, I ask the residents to call the police only after they make an attempt to be neighborly and bring it to the residents attention-this has worked out well, if all else fails I will serve a 10 day to correct the alleged action. These are not free standing homes and in multi family buildings you have to expect to hear stuff from time to time.

Rossi Natalia if you are experiencing targeted attacks between both parties, I would require a meeting (separately). Explain the situation to the upstairs neighbor and offer another unit to “ease the distress”. Explain to the 1st floor resident the fact that this is Multifamily living and you share walls, ceilings, floors with people. If it is THAT much of an issue, you are happy to refer them to a real estate agent eager to find them a single family home. Living in such a close vicinity to others will always harbor tension.

I would talk to 101 about pianos at odd hours and talk to 201 about getting out of their lease or give them the option of transferring them to a ground level. I’d be sure to have all documentation documented of all conversations in the community software or in the file. ????????‍♂️

I have a similar situation, but I am in a 55 and over property. The resident upstairs just had major surgery and her son is taking care of her and brings his son with him. He runs around and makes noise and bothers the neighbor downstairs. I've talked to him and the noise continues and then the lady downstairs continues to call me. I'm not sure what I can do.

The sounds of walking/running are within the realm of normal living, to which the upstairs neighbor has a right to enjoy in her home. Further complaints from the downstairs neighbor should result in lease violations to the downstairs neighbor. It’s harassment to not only the upstairs neighbor, but to the office staff for continuing to interrupt business about something that is considered “resolved”

You can't evict 201 for what the court sees as standard living noises. Offer 101 a free transfer to a new location, however, reiterate that this may be an issue in a different location. Then ask if this is something she may be interested in, giving her the option to chose.

If there wasn't a notice I believe the protocol is to see if either resident is willing to move.

As a person who lives below to kids. May I say the struggle is real. Kids do not belong in 2nd floor apts.

There is a difference between normal living noise and excessive banging at all hours. I was taught as a kid not to run in the house. I'm going through this exact situation right now and wish the manager where I live would come over and hear the insane amount of banging that goes on daily. I've talked to manager. I've asked to lady upstairs nicely. Still it continues. So I can deal with it or move. One night I thought my door was being kicked in.

Neighbor disputes are the worst! We usually suggest they try speaking to the neighbor themselves first, and remind them we live in an apartment community so there will be noise, and that maintaining good neighborly relationships is important.
If they refuse or don’t want to, we suggest they call the police for loud noise if they feel it’s excessive.
If that doesn’t alleviate the situation I’ll offer a mediated meeting between both parties. Most of the time this is accepted by one party, but the other party wants nothing to do with it.
If that doesn’t work, I’ll offer a free transfer to both parties. Sometimes this is met with anger (“why should I have to move, THEY are the issue”) and sometimes it’s the perfect solution.
If that doesn’t work, I’ll offer to let them out of their lease.

If it is during business hours you should offer to go and hear the noise yourself. We are experts in apartment living and know what is normal or excessive. If it is after hours put it back on the resident to provide you with a recording. Most of the time they drop it because they know it’s not bad, especially if they can’t hear the noise on a recording. If it is really bad they will definitely provide a recording... and you will have proof if you have to take it to court. I’ve never had to go to court in this case because I share the recording with the neighbor making the noise so they can hear how much noise they’re making. If it doesn’t stop I non-renew.

Noise is subjective and children should not be treated any differently than adults. If there is a noise complaint treat it as though it were anything else

Send her this video! It’s called “everyone’s upstairs neighbor”

Is it a sub floor issue. I would have somone go upstairs and walk around whil eyou are downstairs and see if it really is the resident or a structural issue

No lease violation letters without 3rd party verification ????????‍♀️ Thats why they don’t hold up in court. If neither of them (mostly it sounds like 101) can get a police report, she needs to knock it off.

Piano in the middle of the night is against noise ordinance. Toddlers middle of the day is not. Call police on piano and let them give fine and back report with a lease violation.

After many complaints, I would have given 101 the option to transfer - allowing for the lease break without penalty. If she chose to vacate instead of transfer, you have already given the ok to break lease without penalty. I personally would have wanted to grant the allowance to move without penalty but would’ve always gotten the ok from my boss. I’m not sure if you tried this but I had a similar situation but my scenario was #201 had cats that played all night and would wake up sleeping kids and parents in 101. It was ridiculous. I set up a meeting with both residents. It’s amazing how they act when they are face to face rather than complaining to me on the phone. This was years ago and I can’t remember how it worked out, but I don’t think anyone broke their lease and I don’t think I got anymore complaints after the meeting.

We use Apt. App for neighbor disputes and it has made an incredible positive impact on neighbor-to-neighbor communication. Plus we can track instances to resolve them more efficiently.

Properties that use Apt. App don't have these problems.

Carefully read what your local noise ordinance says. I personally was in a similar situation and I kept being told that police & mgmt. could not do anything outside of "quiet hours" which were "10 pm -8 am". In checking the local noise ordinance, I discovered that was NOT what it said. It applied to all hours of the day, but especially between 10 pm & 8 am. When I brought this to the attention of mgmt. & the police, it became a different situation. As a Property Manager, it is important that all types of noise be addressed and that you don't distinguish between the source as to not discriminate. With many people working or studying from home (routinely, and not just because of COVID-19), and day sleepers who work at night, I don't think our industry can rely on old standards for unreasonable noise between only certain hours.