I live in a fairly large apartment complex with multiple parks and playgrounds, each building shares a common hallway and I have two families with a total of three children between them living across from me. On the day I moved in the kids had toys strewn throughout the hallway and were literally hanging off the front door and upside down on the stairs. The parents obviously did not have a problem with this despite the fact that the lease explicitly prohibits children playing in common hallways. Three days later I issued a complaint which resulted in a letter reminding everyone of this policy being sent out to everyone in this particular building. This worked for about six months, now the kids are back to hanging off the stairs and riding their bikes through the common hallway screaming whenever they think I'm not home. I've asked them politely to go outside several times yet for some reason their parents will not let them play outside. This is very annoying since there is literally a huge park with a basketball court that's never used three steps out the back door. I've started recording audio of the kids screaming in the hallway and taking photos of their bikes being left in front of my door and I'm considering going back to the office with this and issuing another complaint. Should I confront the parents of these kids first (I'm a single guy living in a building with at least three families with young children) or just go back to the office see what happens? I know they already know I'm the one who complained the first time and I don't want to cause any unnecessary hostility. Any suggestions on how to handle this?
Tough one. Do you know them at all? If they seem like the kind of people who would put up a fight I'd leave it to the authorities.
I have not really had any contact with the parents, I believe the family across from me has an aunt or a nanny watch the kids during the day. A couple of the kids are really young and ones a screamer while the others (like the one that hangs on everything) are old enough to know better.
LOL, my friend who lives in the building across from me suggested that one already. He also suggested I eat the kids, both are really tempting ideas sometimes.
Speaking to their parents could solve the issue, but then again it could just create more problems. I'd make another complaint and speak to the parents as a last resort.
Agreed. jk. On a more serious note, I have literally been through the SAME exact thing late last year. We filed several complaints. The kids would yell and scream, throw shit at our door (rocks, platic toy pieces, candy, etc.), they would play Rock Band at all hours of night, extremely loud I might add, play mexican music all hours of night etc. So it wasn't just the kids whom I had the problem with, it was the parents as well. So what did we do? We filed a complaint with the owners of the complex. They did the same thing, issued a notice to all the poeople in the complex vacinity about the rules and loudness, etc. You k now what they did? THEY filed a complaint on us saying that we smoke pot all the time and that they can smell it. First of all, this was impossible considering I do no smoke pot, and have not for years. This childish act made me realize that they are just f*cking pathetic low-life scum. 2 days later, they make the same amount of noise, continue throwing shit at our front and back doors, and the parents continued to fight outside, drive each others cars off and cause relatively horrible ruckus for us. This is bad news, because we at the time had a baby, whom was only about 6 months old at the time. We issued yet another complaint with the complex people and they sent another notice, this time telling us, that if this sort of thing happens again, to call the local law enforcement and have them take care of it. Unfortunately, the parents were about tweaker status, and ALWAYS looked out the window whenever a car came by. So of course when the cops finally came (we called on 3 occasions) they shut off their music real fast, stopped playing rockband, etc. The cops never knew anything harmful was going on. It's not like we are old nitpicky people that can't stand any noise at all. No, were not like that. We just don't like it at 2am when our god damn child was sleeping. The last time the cops came, they were outside and the bitch with the annoying kids told the cops to "Go to their apartment. We smell pot all the time!" and we were standing outside and we said "Officer, we more than welcome you to even raid our apartment, you won't find a single illigal substance or any paraphernalia here, guerenteed." The cop then came up to us and told us that we couldn't keep calling them for petty complaints. I slammed the door in his f*cking face. F*ck that. Finally after no results, my wife (who was extremely hotheaded about the situation, never piss her off) and I went to the owners for the last time. We told them that if this shit did not stop, we are leaving the complex, without paying the penalty, and if they want to take us to small claims court, they can f*cking do so. The apartment people then said "Well we can move you guys to a different apartment if you would like". We looked at her and said "Are you f*cking kidding? why the f*ck do we have to move." and they said well there is nothing else we can do. So we said a big "F*CK YOU" to them, and left within 3 days. Were we a little extreme? Maybe. But I refuse to live in a complex where my child is always woken up by loud bass and annoying kids playing around in the middle of the night. The parents more than obviously do not care. But that's what we did. To answer your question, file the complaint. Don't even f*ck with the parents. If they let their children do that they OBVIOUSLY don't give a shit. P.S. Sorry for the rant.
Thankfully they only play out in the hallways when they think I'm not home so it's not nearly that horrible of an issue. I'm probably going to issue a second complaint if this continues for another week since they only started again last week. They did not retaliate against me last time, but it does worry me since in this case it's two families and not just the one. I lived in this complex for four years without an issue and only wound up moving because they kept raising my rent. After living in a building that should have been condemned for a year with a massive mold problem and $200 electric bills due to the fact that it was freezing even with the main heater and three space heaters going five months out of the year I moved back.
Let them retaliate. Call the cops and get them kicked out of the god damn complex. You said you document audio and pictures correct? You can use that against them, and that hurts.
If they got kicked out I'd feel like kind of a prick honestly, though I do have a five minute audio clip of one of them screaming "LOOK AT MY BELLY" while another screeches in a high pitch squeal taken from my living room. The thing that annoys me most is the fact that there is literally a huge park in the courtyard right outside the back door and the parents wont let them out. Kids are not farm animals to be kept in a pen!
I hear you. My situation was a little different, so I have biased angst against loud kids and adults in apartment complexes. LOL. File the complaint bro. Like someone earlier said, talk to the parents as a last resort.
Yeah we wanted to avoid having to pay the penalty of breaking the lease if we could, we tried to be civil about shit. The penalty of breaking the lease is 2.5 months worth of rent paid up front. But as the story has it, we were at the point where we didn't give a shit. We were not going to pay that and they could take us to court if they wanted to. It's been about 5 or so months now and they we haven't heard a single thing from them, so it's obvious they didn't want to try and legally fuss with us. My wife was a process server for her family's Process Serving Businiess (retired now) and worked with several legal firms, most in which like her a lot. We have a couple damn good lawyer friends that would demolish them. lol
I agree that you should contact the management first. That might avoid the chance that the situation becomes a personal issue, rather than a management issue. I'm lucky that my only noisy neighbor is a cute little 3-year-old girl. She squeals and runs around the hallway laughing, etc. But she's so darn cute, and she's having so much fun that it just makes me laugh. And I do hear her mother whispering for her to be quiet, but she can only restrain herself for so long. Meanwhile, other neighbors in my very long hallway will yank open their doors and yell 'Boo!' as she's running by - which just sets her off like a bottle rocket. She's hilarious. I love my building, and the neighbors are all very polite and respectful. But this is a condo, and I think ownership promotes courtesy, since most people are here long-term and know that they have to have the same neighbors for a long time. But... Blah blah blah... Good luck with your situation. Hopefully things won't be too hard to smooth out.
Let's start by looking from their perspective: If the children are young enough to play with toys in the hallway, they may be too young to play alone in the park. At least the parents care enough about their kids to set that constraint. If someone told me to send my kid into the park alone I would not be impressed. And it's hard to keep kids quiet. Apartments are always noisy, so if ANY noise will annoy you, then it's probably better to save yourself the grief and move. However, It sounds like the noise is excessive in this situation, in which case I would submit another complaint, in writing, so there's a record. If you have only lodged one complaint so far, I wouldn't pull out the recordings yet as that may make you seem pedantic. Save that for later in case this escalates. The letter should be carefully phrased to make yourself sound reasonable, as it may be referred to later. I would have done the initial complaint anonymously to avoid conflict, but it sounds like they know it's you already. If other neighbors are affected you could discuss it with them to see if they share your concerns. The parents and/or owners will listen more if a few people are being bothered. Peer pressure. If the family seem reasonable, you could try to reach a compromise directly with the parents. Perhaps you can reach a win-win arrangement. For example no noise after x o'clock. My mate had a drummer next door, so he agreed to a specific drumming time each day. That was still a pain, but was better than drummi at night. But you would probably have to accept that kids will always make some noise. If they feel like youre prepared to give a little, they may be more cooperative. However, if you feel intimidated by them at all, it may be best to avoid the direct approach. Another option would be to investigate the possibility of switching to another apartment. That may be a hassle, but it might be better than feeling stressed about this for an extended period. You could politely ask the kids not to play in the hallway each time that are excessively noisy. Knock on the door and return toys left in the hallway, with a polite smile, as if you are being helpful. They will get sick of the interruption. The owner is responsible for ensuring the building rules are complied with, so ask them for suggestions about how to resolve this nicely. Just a few thoughts...
I'd like to think I'm a reasonable person but if the kids are not old enough to play outside unsupervised why does that give them the right to turn a public hallway into a playroom? The few times I've asked them very politely to play outside they were right in front of my door which is down a small side hallway due to it being a single bedroom with a maintenance room off to the side. I certainly don't complain about how loud they are going in and out of their units but hanging upside down off the stairs and riding bikes up and down the hallway is uncalled for at any age or hour. I can hear them with the bedroom door shut and I've lived in two other buildings with small children with rarely a peep. Part of the reason I like living in this complex so much is the walls are solid concrete and you can't hear anything from within the other units but the hallway is a different matter entirely. Moving into another unit isn't as easy as it sounds, for some reason they now use a "weighted" system for deciding rent and I had to fight to get them to give me any unit at $100 more then the price I was originally quoted. Moving to a different unit would cost me anywhere from $35 to $110 more for the exact same size and layout.
If I were you, I would definitely move to a quiet apartment. I have been enough of noisy living environment.
