Apartment living almost always involves living around other people. Even if you find your dream apartment, it’s difficult to screen ahead of time for problematic neighbors. Having a difficult neighbor doesn’t mean you have to instantly pack up and move, here are some tips to hopefully help you get through the situation.
Check Your Lease
It is important to check your lease. Some leases include quiet hours after a certain time, or early in the morning. By checking your lease this gives you some background on what rules are in place for your building, and may help when deciding on how to proceed.
Make Sure The Complaint Is Legitimate
Most people understand that when living in an apartment it is not going to be silent at all times. People have different lifestyles with pets, kids, or others living in the apartment. When considering whether or not the noise is unacceptable, it’s important to try and figure out if they are just living their normal day to day life or if they are being inconsiderate and overly loud.
See If The Neighbors Have Concerns
Do you talk to any of the neighbors? See if any of them share in the same concern as you with the noise level. Many times people will avoid conflict rather than trying to resolve the issue. If they do, it may confirm that you should do something about the problem.
Make Nice
Many people try to avoid this approach as they don’t like confrontation. But, if your neighbor seems nice, try to have a conversation with them about your concerns. By bringing it to their attention they may be more aware of their lifestyle. Sometimes they may not even realize they are being inconsiderate or bothering anyone.
Speak With Your Landlord
If none of the other options work, you may have to speak to your landlord or management company about the issue. Make sure to explain that you’ve attempted to solve this problem peacefully on your own, and it did not work. If the issue is extreme or threatening to the property, the landlord is likely to take action and will be glad that you’ve reported the situation.
Try Blocking out the Noise
If speaking with the Landlord wasn’t enough to improve the situation, there may be some things you can do to block out the disruptive noise. Creating white noises may help, turning on a fan, playing music on low, or even purchasing a white noise machine could help relax and distract you. If the noise is at night, you may want to consider wearing earplugs to help you sleep.
Document
Try to document as much of your communication with your neighbor as possible. By keeping copies of emails, voicemails, and other written exchanges between the two of you, you have proof of the situation and the ways you tried to remedy it.
Have you ever difficult neighbors? What did you do to try and resolve the problem, did it work? Comment below and let us know!
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