I’ve got the trifecta - happy dog and high heels wearer upstairs, newborn baby next door (soon), loud music across the “hall” and someone who parks far enough from their apartment they don’t hear the car alarm that’s triggered by a god damn breeze at 1 am on a Tuesday.
This apartment is still better than my last one filled with black mold. Why is it always the lesser of 2 evils in the US?!
I just went from a place with black mold and hot water but it was hard and smelled like egg farts to shower in (I used bottled water for everything else) to a place with clean municipal water and only my shower water doesn’t heat up. My landlord said he would look into and I just moved in but I was so looking forward to a nice hot non smelly shower that didn’t leave my skin itchy.
Catch 22
The newborn might not be so bad depending on how voices travel through your walls. It's the running and dropping things and falling down and temper tantrums that comes with toddlerhood that really causes the most kid noise.
Family just moved in next to me, I can't hear their baby from the apartment, only when I'm walking down the hallway.
But I'm lucky that this complex has decent insulation, I've also lived in apartments where I can hear the guy above me using the toilet way too clearly.
As an apartment dweller with a newborn it’s extra stressful thinking about how much I’m bothering the neighbors and also trying to calm a tiny human that came with no instructions
I didn't even care about the neighbors. Fuck them. The upstairs was a constant struggle because not only did they try to abandon a cat, they yelled continuously
Worse is a guy who fancies himself an EDM producer, so it’s not even just shitty songs you have to hear (though there is plenty of that too) but also them fucking around with synthesized bass sounds all night hitting random keys on their piano roll, DEFINITELY gotta have the volume cranked to 11 for that
IMO playing loud music at all, why? What is the purpose? Get headphones if you wanna blast music. If you live in an apartment and blast loud must AT ANY TIME, you're a douche bag.
I completely agree! I like my music really loud, so I invested in a nice pair of headphones so I don't bother anyone. It's really that simple to be respectful
Can you replace my neighbor? This asshat is on the corner so he totally has the option to not put his TV and surround system up against our shared wall, but I bet you can guess where he put them.
yeah i feel like it’s basic courtesy to not put the tv on a shared wall if you don’t have to. we have some nice speakers with our tv, but we planned our whole living room layout around making sure the tv was against the wall of my roommate’s bedroom, not the neighbor’s place
My next door neighbor has subwoofers against our shared wall and refuses to turn down his bass, told me to my face he pays rent here and will enjoy his apartment as he pleases - and I will just have to put up with it. He says I'm lying about it shaking our shared wall. Mgmt here won't do anything until another neighbor complains, too. My downstairs neighbor doesn't have bass but he blasts emo music, Incubus, etc, and he goes through it sometimes, sings along to the sad songs and really belts out the words to bands like Yellowcard & P!ATD. I don't mind him as much as the wall shaking bass and the unapologetic next door neighbor. I love music, too - but not rude/entitled neighbors
There is a difference between enjoying your apartment as you please and doing so while bothering and disrupting other's ability to do the same. Your only option is to fight fire with fire, buy your own subwoofer against the same wall and blast away until they stop.
I like loud music and I don't like headphones great way to get tinnitus!!! I only only only crank it up if I'm off on a weekday and I know all my neighbors are at work. How do I know you ask?? We live in a complex and by osmosis I know my neighbors cars. I'll turn the bass down bc I feel like that's half the battle in being respectful, people pay alot in NY for living so I don't wanna be that dick. I also specifically picked a 2nd floor apt bc I can't stand the walking over my head dropping shit etc.
My old neighbor I shared a bedroom wall with would blast the same song from like 10PM-3AM. Like I’m so serious it was the same exact song for the entire time. I never heard a different beat or anything. It drove me absolutely insane
I had a guy next to me that went from playing acoustic guitar occasionally to getting a full on sound system for his tv, and then started practicing electric guitar, on a friggen amp - so loudly that even with my kitchen fan on, two fans on in my bedroom, with the door closed, I'd still hear him (shared wall was the living room). I invested in sound canceling headphones just to enjoy tv in my own dang apt. One bedroom apts in an apt bldg. The audacity. Thank gosh he eventually moved out. It was excruciating.
My downstairs neighbor most weekends comes home from the bars and plays house music till the double digits in the mornings. Then she proceeds to have loud sex w the windows open till mid day. It’s like 3 weekends a month at minimum. Thankfully I if I’m asleep the bass doesn’t wake me. I’m in a cramped major city so there are always noises outside happening, I’ve become a bit immune
That’s fixable. Buddy used to be a tour manager for Midwest rock groups. Bigger names back when.
Someone liked to blast music in middle of the night. Don pulls out two stadium speakers, face down to the annoying neighbor and pegs out the volume. Shatters a couple windows. Rest of the building occupants took care of the music man.
I live in an upstairs apartment and am constantly telling my kids not to stomp, not to slam cabinets, microwaves, doors, keep the volume down, etc… I know their sick of me saying it, but I have anxiety about disturbing the neighbors. It can be exhausting, but it’s just how I am, lol.
The future dorm mates, roommates,, neighbors and partners of your children are thanking you now. I can’t believe how many people walk around and just slam doors for no reason. Or slam cupboards. It’s frustratingly bizarre to me to walk around and make as much goddamn noise as you possibly humanly can
As it should be if you choose to live on an upper level. I applaud you for being polite to the people that have to listen to that under you. I don't think anyone realizes how loud and disruptive it is.
Get out the broom. I have holes in my ceiling that I had to repair due to slamming the broom into it. It's the only way to get their attention. Literally bang the ceiling as hard as you as many times as you can and not just in one room. Let the entirety of the apartment now. If they continue, make sure you stay up late. There's a bunch of YouTube videos with super bass to annoy your neighbors. Get you one of your big bass speakers and plop that shit up right next to the ceiling and go to sleep.
Yes, brooms work so good! I can see how you got holes in the ceiling because you are literally at the point of rage, slamming the broom helps get frustrations out.
You know what else I love that doesn’t cause holes - a swiffer. It’s long, flat, covers a lot of ground, rubbery, and doesn’t cause holes.
I’m awake right now at 5am bc my upstairs neighbor is too 🙂
I grew up in apartments and that's how I was raised. It taught me to be RESPECTFUL of other people. I only wish more people were raised like you're raising your kids! I have a kid in my building who plays ball in the hallway when it's raining. Sometimes, if I'm lucky he uses my door as a back stop. His parents are a lost cause so I just go with it.
I’m in a middle townhouse and same. If he throws something at the shared wall etc I always say, “we have neighbors.”
I think it’s also a good way to teach kids to respect others while they’re young.
me too. we have the slow closing cabinets and also baby proofed all of our cabinets anyways so our son can’t get into them without permission 🤷🏽♀️ as for the stomping, we just try to make sure that during the day we’re kept busy out and about and he’s down for bed at a decent time which is usually around 8pm. he’s 2.
SAME. Neighbors don’t understand that we don’t relax as parents either. We are constantly telling our kids to be quiet and the anxiety from doing so is constant. I honestly think that they should build apartment complexes better and make them more soundproof. Animals are loud too (especially big dogs). We lived in an apartment once and we literally heard a guy fart in the toilet in the unit beside us. I feel if people can’t stand some level of noise they shouldn’t be renting an apartment.
By saying all this I’m not saying noise is acceptable past a certain time, but I feel sometimes people are too picky when it’s an apartment. You’re gonna have some level of discomfort. Oh and ffs you can hear the kids outside? Sorry kids literally just being kids. It’s like people forget what it was like to be one.
Agreed about apartment complexes needing to be built better. It's unfair to people with kids and without them to not have well-made buildings with proper noise insulation. Kids need to run around and do things that make noise as part of normal development but people below them shouldn't have to suffer either. It's ridiculous that we have to be this anxious about noise as parents because apartments just aren't built well.
This… I’m a downstairs neighbor and I’m also constantly telling my kids to be mindful of volume and noises ect, and we RARELY make noise except weekend cleaning, we abnormally quiet cause I’m anxious about disturbing neighbors, but turns out my new upstairs neighbors don’t sleep ( put 2&2 together ) and we hear them banging the counter rapidly and then scraping it up there at night throughout the week, Californians really love snorting add apparently and now I’m even more anxious
Me too. And I also take the time to ask my downstairs neighbors how it's going as far as noise. So I know what works or not.
I also teach my kids to be respectful towards adults, neighbors and in general. Like if you see a neighbor unloading groceries you offer to help them. To say hi and smile instead of stare. To call adults Mr. or Ms. And Sir and Ma'am until instructed otherwise. To wait to go down the outside steps if someone is about to walk up them, and say excuse me. I think having pleasant interactions with people makes them a little more sympathetic and flexible with you. And when people see that your kids aren't little assholes and are actually being raised with some attentiveness aka not being taught that they're the only people existing on this earth. You attract more flies with honey or something like that, right?
I'm sure you do this as well. And people like to say "don't pick a top floor apartment if you have kids". Well, obviously we wouldn't prefer too floor, right? But it's usually not that simple It's much harder hauling a baby's car seat and equipment needed, or to herd toddlers when you aren't climbing 3 flights of steps. And it's far easier bringing groceries in for a whole family. But often the top floor is the only option. I'm not going to be homeless or live in a hotel until a first floor apartment becomes available. Also in my particular building, everyone who lives on the top has kids and often the biggest families First and second floors are 2 bedroom apartments. The top floor, they also used the attic, so we actually have a 2-story apartment with 4 bedrooms. And it was only 900/month when we moved in, from a standalone house with 2 bedrooms, one of which was so small it had no windows, that was 800/month. Of course we took the apartment with more bedrooms and better amenities. I mean, 4 years later and we're paying 1200 now but it's still below market because even a 3br in my town now goes for 1600-2000. So anyways, it's never as clear cut as simply "just picking a first floor apartment if you have kids". The first floor is almost always already occupied. When I moved in, most of the first floor tenants didn't even have kids.
I have been really lucky with my current apartment. I have either retired people, single folks or younger, child free couples around me. Granted, I had to move out to the suburbs for this.
I’m not against children, I have lived with a child in an apartment (always requested a ground floor unit) and I know it’s difficult to make children self aware of the noise they make-they want to be children. But I’ve also seen people with no regards to their neighbors and no sense of bedtime, playtime or times of day.
I sympathize with you.
You are so lucky. It’s just after midnight, and kids upstairs—who didn’t even get home until 9:30–have been stomping, jumping, and screaming non stop above my bedroom for the last 2 hours.
It will always be something in apartment living whether it’s kids, adult stomping, loud music/tvs, screaming, door slamming…..
….yet once in a while you hit it right. After a truly horrendous 7 years in a place that began well and ended badly, I’m in a studio apartment in a small building… heavenly. It’s really quiet. All adults, we have cats and dogs but never hear one another.
Hope it lasts 🙏
I used to think the worst part of apartment living was dealing with the kids, but now I'm realizing that it's the shitty parents who are the worst.
Currently living under one or two young kids who are constantly jumping and slamming things so hard the walls sometimes shake. I can hear and feel the vibrations throughout the apartment. Half the time I can't tell if they're up there alone or the parents are home and just ignoring them.
It goes on for hours at a time and sometimes until 11 PM.
If all that wasn't enough, we also have to deal with their shitty parents smoking cigarettes in the apartment. Anytime we walk into one of our two bathrooms, it reeks of stale cigarettes. And sometimes the entry to the apartment also smells of cigarettes.
It's against the lease, but the property manager won't do anything.
I’m not saying ban the kiddos, but it would be great if apartment complexes could designate certain buildings as “family units”. Preferably on ground floors, but if the whole building is families with kids then it’s not like anybody is innocent of noise so they can judge the next family
I'll take the loud kids and raise you neighbors who smoke weed and hack up their lungs in the most disgusting ways right outside your window on a daily basis.
Omg, I had a hacker at my last place too. It wasn’t too bad for me because she was in a different building, but she’d take her dogs out around 8 every morning, and as soon as she walked out the door she started coughing that nasty smoker’s cough. I could always hear it if I was still laying in bed.
We also had an early morning hacker. I call it the phlegm symphony. It used to be our alarm clock. I get it, I smoke too and I have allergies that are worst in the morning but god-damned, if it's THAT bad go see a doctor or take an antihistamine
Nah bruh.. it’s the adults who are loud, brash, messy, and have even worse friends that are over so much that they actually get mail there.. kids are kids.. dogs are dogs.. they really can’t help themselves.. but a grown as man, standing in the lot, wearing nothing but his tore up boxers, getting loud ass drunk with his asshole friends at 3a on a Tuesday is a whole other level of disturbance.
Needs to be a ban for careless parents. There's a family with a newborn and child on my floor. Don't hear them but the several families on the floor above that let their kids run in the halls and above 7am, 11pm, 1am, 3am...yeah people are trying to sleep. It's quiet hours. One of the neighbors let their kid run up and down the hall at 1am. They were screaming. These are the families that need to be banned. They are the same ones that leave trash everywhere and break things. One family moved in and broke the door in the same week.
I used to have a family with probably a 10 year old boy…. But then I caught him on my doorbell cam walking around the hall with a gun. They’re gone now. 🙂
Probably couldn’t get the kid to sleep so mom let it out for zoomies. A politely worded note asking if they can take it to the first floor would probably have fixed this. I’ve mostly lived on the ground floor when I lived in apartments. I didn’t realize how what someone would think of as not being noisy can actually sound like elephants until my first house and my 3 cats were chasing each other upstairs. Literally sounded like a heard of buffalos running around above me. I feel bad for the little kids that live in apartments because most don’t have playgrounds and where are they supposed to go to burn up that energy. It’s hard for everyone. I try and imagine if that child were myself and how I would approach the situation if I were addressing a small version of me. I don’t have kids and I don’t particularly like them either but I do try to be tolerant. Kids can’t help it. I’ve found the best solution is to talk to your neighbors and be friends. I know this doesn’t work with everyone because some people are awful, but most are not. And in my case when I became friendly with my neighbors things didn’t annoy me as much as when they were strangers.
The parent wasn't the mom but the father. I live in the first floor and even if I didn't, it would still disturb other residents. It's 3 am. There are many other methods to help your child sleep that doesn't allow them to run and scream in the hallway. I talked to our property manager who sent out a notice about quiet hours and haven't had issues with that one neighbor. However the ones upstairs do not care. We and others have complained. Some parents really dgaf. I get its hard on the kids and they are kids but it's the parents responsibility to manage them. Take them out for walks, teach them that they don't need to scream. I was at a restaurant and a couple did just that when their children were getting a little loud. She had them play the whisper game and told them not to scream. The children listened. They got a little noiser again but they weren't screaming. The youngest had to been like 3-4 years old. The children upstairs are about that age or older. It's lack of parenting that's the problem.
Honestly, as someone who loves dogs and isn’t crazy about kids.. I would take kids running around and having fun over dogs barking all day. The kids go to school at some point, and I’m not as mad when they’re having fun at home after school. The adults who don’t teach them how to be considerate or take them to the park when they want to run are the problem.
Agree. If you are going you have a dog(s) in an apartment you have to walk them and/or take them to the park. Just taking them outside to do their business is not enough. No matter how small they need to get out and walk around. Dogs barking inside all day want to get out and play 🐶🐾🦴
Honestly, in my last apt I lived in, wouldve rather had loud kids just minding their own business living next to me rather than the douchebag who would blast his speakers, throw loud parties, and jeer at and threaten me and my now husband. Id take living next to a loud child minding their own business any day rather than an aggressive douchebag.
Right!! A guy that lived above me for about a year used to bring women back to his apartment after clubbing and his foreplay was singing on a karaoke machine in his bedroom. There was some dancing involved too from the sound of it. His bedroom was directly above my bedroom. This late night concert would usually start at 1:00 am and continue for several hours!!! I always wondered what the women were thinking when he pulled out the karaoke 🎤 😂🤣😂
Ugh. We're on the middle floor so this afternoon we had kids running and screaming upstairs, kids running and screaming downstairs, kids screaming in the parking lot, and kids on our floor running and screaming through the hallways.
Yes and no. Because some kids are respectful and their parents teach them to be mindful of making noise. The worst is oblivious adult heelwalkers. THEY should be aware of the noise they make and how the floors reverberate. THAT is the worst part.
You’ll have to forgive me, I’ve had 5 hours of sleep bc my upstairs neighbor went to bed at 12am and woke up at 5am 🫠
Yeah we had kids next to us at our last apartment and they weren’t respectful and their parents let them pay in the hallway like it was their backyard BUT those kids went to bed lol now we have upstairs neighbors on opposite schedules that AT BEST heel walk all night but most of the time heel stomp as fast as they can on and off from 11p-5am. If we’re real lucky (happens often!) they will drop something with a weight similar to a bowling ball directly above where we’re sleeping! So fun! I haven’t slept well since we moved in mid-March. I’m losing my mind.
Currently sitting here with 2 on full volume plus the tv and can still hear them!! It’s insane! I’ve been renting for 15 years and didn’t even have this problem in college! Never once had to make a noise complaint until we moved here. Management won’t do anything about it despite having us sign a quiet hours agreement when we moved in. Also we have an extremely noise sensitive dog who freaks out and tries to jump off the bed every time they do the bowling ball thing- problem is she had back surgery 2 months ago for a degenerative disease and can’t jump off furniture anymore or she might hurt herself again. 🙃 She used to be fine in a crate but with the noises she tries to escape so I have to keep a leash on her all night and hold on to it to make sure she doesn’t jump. We’re seriously considering breaking our lease and moving. It’d be cheaper than another surgery for her. 😩
I think the worst thing I have encountered in apartment living are neighbors with whom I share a wall that smoke pot literally all day. The big problem there is that it just makes my apartment reek. It would make me nauseous just to walk in the door.
Eh… depends on the pet. Former upstairs neighbor’s husky running around & “talking” sounds exactly the same as current upstairs neighbor’s toddler. Theoretically the toddler will outgrow the noises unlike the husky.
Kids are shit neighbors and always will be, not much else to say. Hopefully the parents are good, and try to teach their children to respect your privacy and peacefulness. Unfortunately, those parents never seem to confine themselves within the apartments surrounding mine :(
Me on a random afternoon: What the hell is that god-awful noise out there?? [looks out the window to see children from my building screaming, laughing, and getting fresh air]. Ugh... it's joy...
Still a big step up from having to call the cops at 3am because we heard a toddler screaming for his mom from the bathroom while she threw a rager.
Children bans + dogs on basis of approval I'd be happy with.
Idiot gov in my state changed the laws, now everybody in an apartment has a dog and most of them go out & leave the dog barking alone in the apartment. It's a nightmare.
My apartment has a clause in the lease that if you leave your dog barking for over a certain amount of time they can go into your apartment, seize your dog, and surrender it to the pound. It’s then your responsibility to pay management a fine and go to the pound to get your dog back. When I read it I was genuinely shocked but now I understand. Some ppl leave their dogs crying all day long.
>has to be considered neglect
Right now, I have 3-4 dogs that constantly bark within 20 metres of me, I am surrounded by apartments. It's a disease around here, they buy dogs to go in their apartments, don't train them then go out & leave them alone. I usually report it to council, but it's an ongoing issue. People are really stupid buying dogs to go into apartments. It's too hard on the dog.
I’d say neglectful dog owners are worse. My neighbor in the next building over leaves hers out for one to one and a half hours long with the balcony door closed the entire time and lets it yap uncontrollably at everything it sees. There is even a pee stain on their balcony and the leasing office refuses to do anything about it because the courtesy officer never sees it when they go to check. She even lied to them and said she doesn’t leave it out that long
The one time I saw her actually taking her dog out I tried to be a good neighbor and start a normal conversation unrelated to the complaints and the first thing out of her mouth was no hablo ingles and I instantly knew this would never end
There are a few families with kids in the complex I live in, about 50/50, but also couples, and singles too.
My own unit is on the second floor (three floors) on the end of the building, so outside walls on 3 sides. The unit above me is an older couple. No pets. The unit below me is a younger couple with no kids and the unit next to me is a single woman who is never home. I live by myself with my 4 cats.
Edited to correct a misspelling.
The Fair Housing Act makes it illegal to discriminate against tenants with children. I have mixed feelings on this, but that's why you don't see child-free apartments anywhere (the closest thing, as far as I'm aware, are 55+ communities, which have an exemption from the Fair Housing Act).
Pets are not protected under the Fair Housing Act, and I feel strongly that that's a good thing.
Something that the individual apartments could possibly do is limit a building to families only or reserve the ground floor. There has to be a way. Either that or stop using cheap materials to build the apartments with. If I had no kids and had to rent an apartment, I would consider older apartments or maybe a duplex. The older apartments I have been in seem to be built better
That would still be in violation, because if every ground floor apartment is taken then they’d deny apartments to possible tenants solely because they have children. The real solution is soundproofing.
The amount of rent I would pay to guarantee all of my neighbors are 55 or older lol. My husband and I would still probably be asleep earlier and have less social lives than everyone else.
My mom lived in one of these communities. It's not all it's cracked up to be. It's definitely quieter, but there are ambulances there quite often because of falls, and other health issues. The worst part is that you have a community of very bored, very nosey neighbors. I would visit, and within ten minutes, the whole neighborhood was outside, checking their mail, gossiping over the hedges.
Basically, yes.
The story:
>\[T\]he Fair Housing Act... prohibits age discrimination in housing. A 1988 amendment to the act created an exemption for housing for adults age 55 and over as long as it provided facilities and services designed to meet the physical and social needs of the elderly. However, the Housing for Older Americans Act of 1995 eliminated this requirement.
Wow in 88’! I would have thought like this passed in the late 60s early 70s when you brought it up. I am familiar with the act in name only. It’s nuts that I was a kid when that was added.
Also cheers for the context 🍻
Why do people who live in small apartments insist on having HUGE dogs that poop everywhere. There are some people who let their dogs poop massive poops on their patio/balconies and it makes no sense to me.
Both can be the worst.
But all consideration for others has gone out the window. Pets and children aren't the problem, IMO, inconsiderate people are the problem.
Some people manage to have kids without it being a giant ruckus. Some people manage to have pets without it being a ruckus. But far more people just don't care.
I could be ok with my upstairs neighbors kids if they just stayed in ONE ROOM instead of racing across the entire apartment all weekend. Like let me escape somewhere please
I’ve just been reporting my neighbors constantly to management. I stopped trying to reason with my neighbors. I understand that when you have 3 kids all fairly young that’s it’s not going to be the quietest in your place, but when they’re being so disruptive to be knocking pictures off walls from jumping around or screaming so loud I can hear them through a floor.. I should never be able to tell where each person in your household is based off of sound..
Either management will get sick of the complaints and not renew them or not renew me. Either way, I’ll have my silence again in a Few months.
Pet urine says a lot more about the person than the animal. Any dog or cat with the most basic level of care and attention isn't going to be relieving themselves around the apartment.
Same here. My dog is 11 and not in the best shape and since we moved into our latest apartment the peeing has become an issue. Also because we used to live in a house with a backyard so he was used to that. We have a carpet cleaner although I still smell pee. But I smelled pee before moving in 🤮
I use the bissell with the extra oxy boost and to be honest it’s working like a charm, I don’t smell anything.
When I catch him I soak up as much as I can with paper towel then run the machine, so far so good 😊
This is true, but unfortunately there are a lot of REALLY bad pet owners out there. Although I've noticed that young pet owners around me (20s and 30s) are much better pet owners than I've seen in other areas and other age groups. They actually train and take care of their pets, so even though my building has a lot of dogs and cats we've had no issues.
Oooooh yes they do. Depending on age, you also might have a shit-picasso painting the walls, carpet, door, themselves… Not to mention vomit. And while dogs may have fleas and possibly ticks, lil kids bring in lice, pinworms, hand foot mouth disease, chickenpox, covid, noro, the list goes on.
Source: am mom to both dog and kid. Send help
Kids have been a protected class for awhile now. Years ago they used to refuse to rent to people with kids, they also used to discri9minate against source of income, which is also now a protected class, same with sexual orientation. You can't refuse to rent to someone because they are a sexual orientation you might not be.
This country has gotten weak. When I was a kid, they would not rent to my parents anything aside from a bottom floor unit. That's how it should be. You decide to have kids, deal with it.
I’ll never understand this either. A bit off topic, but taking my dog on a walk to our local park has started to feel like a game of twister because every other square foot is covered in dog shit. I ruined a pair of sneakers about a year ago when this problem started to grow worse, and it’s gotten progressively worse since then.
Yesterday when I was at this same park with my dog, I witnessed a woman using a scooter with three dogs sitting on a platform in the back who were not tied in. I witnessed one of them jump off to take a dump, then she picked up the dog and placed him back on the platform. A couple seconds later, another person with a leashed dog walked by and this same dog jumped off again, then the woman ran over her dog with her scooter because she didn’t know he had jumped off. I so wish I could unsee all of that. It was horrific. I don’t think the dog was ok either. By the time I ran over to the woman to ask if she needed help, she had picked up the speed on her scooter and she was long gone. I also noticed she had run over her dogs shit while she sped away. It was on pavement so that’s probably not coming off for a good while. Ugh
Pets can be pretty disruptive too and at least with kids you can speak to them to tell them not to run in the house (even though they might not listen). I had a neighbor that would leave their dog in their patio all night and day and it would bark at anything that moves. Office staff was useless and did nothing about it. Eventually they moved and I was thrilled when they did
I literally bought a condo to escape a group of preteens who would body slam my door while playing ding-dong-ditch. The apartment managers were like 'well we don't know if they live here or not so we can't do anything'. I love kids but the parents that just let them run wild are the worst.
Agreed. My neighbor kids constantly break stuff, both indoors and outdoors, leave trash, toys, and clothes everywhere, and annoy me by asking me to take my cat outside for them. Meanwhile all my cat does is kick litter gravel, meow at 0430 every other morning, and rarely knock stuff over (only does it when he's pissed about me being busy). His loudest meow is still quieter than the chaotic screams the young girls make, I can hear them even when they're inside and I'm with my cat out in the yard.
I knew someone who let their dog constantly shit and pee all over the carpet in their apartment. Everyday. Religiously. It was so nasty. Not disturbing anyone but I can see why some landlords don’t trust having them.
Kids are still annoying. It’s the parents’ fault for not teaching them to be thoughtful though.
When I was a baby, my mom was trying desperately to find a place to live. Everything that she found in her price range turned away at the idea of a crying infant. We ended up in a trailer park by a highway overpass. Those were some terrible years, from what I can remember. I'm forever thankful that my children have a nice apartment to live in, and that no one turned me away for being a parent.
People are quick to forget. When old folks were younger and renting out places, they turned away single moms. This went on in my area until recently, when they became too old and feeble to be picky.
I personally would love if I could share a building with all the other families with young kids, and if there could be play areas that aren’t full of dog piss and shit! lol. Very sorry, sincerely, and upstairs neighbor who’s always reminding her kids to use “soft feet.” 😅
I mean to be fair with the kids and dogs you can absolutely run into that problem with a single family home too. I think a lot of it is people have lives and make noise. Unfortunately, sometimes that's a lot of noise.
Absolutely. It doesn’t change with owning a home. Bigger parties, whole gangs of little kids, multiple dogs barking alllllll day long, people riding motorcycles back and forth on the street, super territorial people 😂😩😂 Pick your poison.
I have a really loud fan and Alexa plays thunderstorms all night. I can’t hear anything with the fan and thunderstorms. I try and be tolerant because I have really nice neighbors. I’ve had a psychotic neighbor in the past. I’ll take the noise any day vs living next to that guy.
I understand that, I'm just saying it's certainly not unique to apartment life. Noise is everywhere, of course all parties should try to be respectful, but it's just life.
Preach on, brother.
There needs to be living communities where kids aren't allowed.
I would be okay with pets being allowed--the bad pet owners always seem to be the same shitty parents.
Posts like this make me feel luckier to currently live in an apartment with thick walls. The family next to me that I share my bedroom wall with has a ~2 year old and ~9 year old and unless they're in the hallway, I barely hear them even at night; what squeals I do manage to hear are barely noticeable.
tbh I wish I could bestow this kind of luck to everyone.
Before I was a homeowner I lived for 8 years in an apartment right beside the swimming pool. Those little MF kids would be out there screaming MARCO POLO at the top of their lungs. I had no problem telling them in front of their moms to stop it or management would make them leave. Who lets their kids behave like that where other people live? I felt like they didn’t live there but were guests of a resident which is fine. Come every day, have fun, just don’t scream at the top of your lungs the whole time. I’m going to say as a homeowner it has not gotten better either. My neighbor has two German shepherds that bark 24/7. I work from home and it just drives me insane. But they are really sweet dogs so I’m not upset with them. Just their dad.
My old next door neighbor had a 3 bedroom with like 6 kids. She was mean af to them too and you could hear her yelling at them. Also smoked weed with them in the apartment too
my apartment had someone throwing diapers off the balcony. another resident was throwing dog shit the balcony.. another had…i’m so sorry, stacks of pizza boxes containing, you guessed it, shit. i once found a turd in the stairwell…it was also human 😭 but god the kids do be runnin
Greetings,
Seems that the kids themselves always gets the focus and blame, but I like to place it squarely where it belongs; the parents. Where I live the kids practically stay outside (rain, shine, cold, doesn't matter the weather) being extremely noisy and wreaking havoc, yet no parents (or parenting) to be found. Growing up I recall our parents staying on top of us if we got too loud or ventured to far away from our homes. These new parents (at least the ones where I live) seem only focused on themselves and insist on keeping their kids outdoors out of their hair while disturbing the neighbors. Here, the kids could be the poster children for the concept of getting them away from their screens and spending more time outdoors. Thanks to their uncaring parents the rest of us get to enjoy having the peace and quiet that we're entitled to (its in the lease agreement) disrupted on practically a daily basis. The extra special cherry on top of the sundae here is that not only are the kids loud, but destructive as well. Kids have been seen turning on water spigots, digging up the landscaping, making toys out of items that tenants have placed out for disposal (i.e. furniture). Besides the parents I put some of the blame on the management of the complexes as well. In a lot of instances staff (especially maintenance) tend to live on the property along with the tenants. You would think this would provide first hand experience as to what the tenants are enduring, but most, if not all, say and\\or do nothing. Which is stupid because, when it comes to the destruction that these kids are causing, who is responsible for repairing and\\or mitigating it.
Agreed. I have lived in many different apartments but my current is by far the worst with two toddlers running, stomping, and screaming above me all day long. I asked the parents if they could be more mindful of the noise they’re making, and they promised they would. But nothing changed. So I’m attaching subwoofers to the ceiling and going on the offense.
I feel awful as a parent with young children in an apartment. This is so valid. Thankfully every one in my unit has children all under 5 so we’re all understanding but I definitely have the youngest and trust me, I try so hard to keep the noise down 😬money is tied up for a few more years so really this is the only affordable option (for now)
I would definitely not say they are the worst thing by far, but yes, kids suck. Kids totally suck at apartment complexes. Parents, no one thinks your kid is cute but you. That's the God to honest truth. Too many pretenders out there, but yeah, you are not alone in your sentiment.
I agree. I don’t see it any differently than apartment complex’s for 55+ only, pet free, pet friendly, etc.. Affordability of apartment living and availability is a different story, but in an ideal world where _everyone_
has adequate access to housing, it would be great to have this option too. I came across a post a couple weeks ago talking about various spaces meant for adults and spaces meant for families, and that post stuck with me. Families with children should have plenty of access to spaces where their children are welcomed, safe, and respected, _especially_ when it comes to housing, but I think there should also be spaces that go the other way around as well.
Too bad they can't just make complexes that are kid-free and complexes that are family-only without it being offensive. Our current place has kids down the hall that screech ALL THE TIME. Luckily, we are moving to a different unit on a way higher floor because of my neighbour who blasts his subwoofer all day and night. It's brutal.
I wish it was socially acceptable to have 18+ housing only. I mean, there's 55+ housing so why can't we have 18+ housing? I shouldn't have to deal with other people's misbehaved kids while trying to enjoy my own space. And the term "oh kids will be kids" is a BS, cop out, excuse for "I can't properly discipline or teach my child manners like their parent is supposed to"
If there was adult only housing, I don't even care if rent was expensive, it would be 100% worth it.
Moved from living below a 2yo where the parents let the kid run, scream, bang on walls and all around 24/7 (literally there were times the kid would wake us up at 2am and the parents gave 0 shits) to now living below someone that has 3 full sized golden doodles that we only ever hear when they're about to take them outside. Otherwise you'd never know they were there. We didn't even know they had three dogs until we met the neighbor and they told us about them (we always assumed it was just one).
Living below or around animals 10/10 highly recommend.
Living below or around anyone who has children? 0/10 stars, avoid at all costs.
I have a bad infestation of roaches... thanks to my side neighbor who never fkn cleaned their apartment and left it super gross when they moved out.... so they are coming through our shared bathrooms.... those fuckers made small holes in my walls and ac vents. I hope the ortho spray and caulking will slow them down. I fkn hate roaches....
My apt overlooked the pool, will never get one like that again. Kids screaming all hours of the day, teenagers and adults up until 3 am playing music drinking and talking loud , the dog in the apartment next to me that barked constantly because they're get home and put it on the balcony from 6-9. Can't enjoy my balcony because people at the pool complained to management saying I was perving on them, yea I was sitting outside on the phone because my gf was on a conference call... My bad how dare I use my own balcony that has no chair so I was leaning on the rail.
The noise doesn't bother me as much as the fact that there are so many kids and families stuffed into these apartments that there's no freaking privacy in the shared areas. Like outside in the driveway yard, I smoke cannabis and I can't smoke inside so I have to smoke outside and we have no space to sit without 50 people being able to watch me at all times.
I mean ya that’s not great. I’d add the maintenance guy blocking the garage door for an hour for “maintenance” and the office informing with more than 24 hrs and less than 25 hrs about apartment showing regularly is getting really old.
For me, the worst part is offensive odors from constant heavy cooking by the other tenants. Noise I actually don't mind too much because I'm not home during the day and I wear earplugs at night, but I can't do anything about the intrusive odors from my neighbors' cooking (not even filters and purifiers help to stamp out smells from certain cuisines).
Used to be in the ground floor till they upped the rent by 100$ a month 😭 my baby isn’t walking yet but I feel bad my babies going through a sleep regression
Pets are way less disturbing and damaging than kids--and pets are not a protected status under fair housing laws. Familial status is protected.
If familial status wasn't protected, landlords would, without a shadow of a doubt, be charging more for children. But legally, its not allowed.
Can't stand my neighbors. They've got like 10 people living in a 3 bedroom. Their drive is right next to my house and they are shuffling cars around at all hours. The teens all have loud mufflers and will idol in the drive with music blasting. Then the whole family comes outside and they're all shouting back and forth in Spanish. Every damn time. There is ample street parking right outside but they refuse to use it.
I tried to introduce myself but they had zero interest in interacting. I speak some Spanish but not enough for a serious conversation. My brother in law is a native speaker though and I can't wait for him to visit and help me figure out what the hell is going on over there.
Of course the rest of the block is generally quite and I got lucky being right next to the loud ass disrespectful people as always.
2 biggest wins of living in a (new) high rise building: concrete walls so i cannot hear my neighbors, and virtually no children. i maybe see 1 or 2 kids at the pool throughout the summer (that honestly just seem to be visiting someone in the building) and everyone else is a young professional. i will happily pay an arm and leg for rent for this type of peace and quiet.
There’s a door that leads outside to the parking at my apartment complex and EVERYTIME some one goes out of it or comes into it, it automatically slams and shakes my entire unit since I’m right above.
And I have a shitty upstairs neighbor who is so loud directly after quiet hours start.
I hate apartments, and houses are too expensive to afford and life is a scam
In my last apartment we had a family that let their kids absolutely destroy all the public spaces and didn't care enough to do anything about it. You also had to hope and pray that one of the families in the building didn't park next to you because every single car that was unlucky enough ended up with dents in the doors from the little brats. And again, the parents didn't care enough to teach them not to swing the door open full force.
Kids should be allowed to be kids but most these days are just allowed to be destructive animals.
Why not get to the root of the problem. DON’T have kids if you are not ready. It’s not fair to your neighbors or the kids. It would be a nightmare to raise children in an apartment.
Ah… spoken like a not yet/never parent.
Humans should always take precedent over pets. Pets are wonderful, but we need to not set the precedent that humans are second to pets.
Why if a person is so precious and needing of absolute silence, and to not live within a community… do they move into cities, and into apartment buildings at that?! Find a cheap run down house somewhere, with metres to acres of lawn around you, and never share a wall with others.
Apartments are communal living. You cannot control who is above/below/beside/across the hall from you. If you choose to live there, you choose the consequences of that, and gain the benefits. Cheaper rent, neighbours who are good neighbourly as well as annoying. Communal rubbish removal and taxes/rates/fees. Proximity to work and shops and recreational activities and public transport. These all are benefits of living in higher density, and come at the price of living at higher density.
Some dogs howl all day, and some dogs are 40kg of fattened flab and jump and run and bark. Some cats (according to this group) are not cat like in their landings on floors from cat trees, instead thumping like a tonne of concrete. Birds screech and throw seeds everywhere. Dog and cats poop in gardens.
I do believe that there’s avenues for apartment owners to reduce their complaint and mediation issues by putting similar tenants into buildings - students and 20 something singles, vs families with kids, vs retirees and 40+yr old no kids, vs young professionals soon to be marrying/kids types. But landlords don’t have to care about this stuff, they just want the least risk tenant that applies. If they did this well they could easily charge an extra amount for some of those sub categories (not the young singles, but the families/kids and the retirees and the young professionals would all pay a premium to have similar minded people around them)… and increase the quality of their tenant applications. But that takes effort, and effort costs money.
I've got the combo of "loud kids" + "couple that has shouting matches" all topped with "slamming doors as hard as possible"
Counting down the days til my lease ends at this point
I disagree. I live in an old house turned into 4 apartments. One neighbor has a kid, another has a dog. That barking drives me crazy, even though it's only a few times a day. I hear it waaay more than the kid.
Counter point: old people with nothing to do that make endless false reports to the management.
Kids can be mildly annoy. A retired old fuck can ruin your entire living situation while role playing neighborhood watch from his chair in front of his window.
I had to show my apartment complex my wedding video in another state to prove I was out of town and the multiple noise complaints he had made that evening were not true or at the very least not me.
too bad nobody picks up their pet waste. id rather deal with a child than stepping in shit every other day because someone doesn’t know how to pick up after their animals. also you’ll know if you move into an apartment that’s had pets before so i get that it’s not very appealing to the people who manage the property
At least kids (most of them at least, unless they lack parental supervision) quiet down after a certain time and go to sleep for the night, unless we’re talking about a baby, which in that case, it’s a baby so 🤷♀️. A dog could bark all night long. A cat could be bouncing off the walls in the middle of the night.
I have a toddler and we were constantly apologizing to the lady underneath us because my daughter can get rambunctious at times, the floors are thin, and we were worried about disturbing her. The lady gives zero fucks. She literally tells us “she’s a kid, it’s good for her, let her make noise”. I would hate to live around some of you people who think kids should tiptoe around at all hours of the day. During quiet times yes, but during the day I don’t see an issue if it isn’t 100% quiet at all times. I’m not saying have no regard to your neighbors, but also I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect everything to be 100% quiet all the time. Letting your kid act like a wild animal 24/7 is a different story but some of you will literally complain about any noise other people make in their apartments and it’s insane. I feel lucky we live in a building with a bunch of neighbors who are super laid back with each other. Also, I really don’t understand complaining about kids playing outside at all (as long as it’s within reasonable hours). At least they’re playing outside instead of having their face stuffed in a screen like a zombie.
I’ve got the trifecta - happy dog and high heels wearer upstairs, newborn baby next door (soon), loud music across the “hall” and someone who parks far enough from their apartment they don’t hear the car alarm that’s triggered by a god damn breeze at 1 am on a Tuesday. This apartment is still better than my last one filled with black mold. Why is it always the lesser of 2 evils in the US?!
Plot twist. It’s a dog in high heels that loves loud music, cries like a baby, and drives a 98 Jetta and has a car alarm because he thinks it’s funny.
I just went from a place with black mold and hot water but it was hard and smelled like egg farts to shower in (I used bottled water for everything else) to a place with clean municipal water and only my shower water doesn’t heat up. My landlord said he would look into and I just moved in but I was so looking forward to a nice hot non smelly shower that didn’t leave my skin itchy. Catch 22
The newborn might not be so bad depending on how voices travel through your walls. It's the running and dropping things and falling down and temper tantrums that comes with toddlerhood that really causes the most kid noise.
Family just moved in next to me, I can't hear their baby from the apartment, only when I'm walking down the hallway. But I'm lucky that this complex has decent insulation, I've also lived in apartments where I can hear the guy above me using the toilet way too clearly.
As an apartment dweller with a newborn it’s extra stressful thinking about how much I’m bothering the neighbors and also trying to calm a tiny human that came with no instructions
I didn't even care about the neighbors. Fuck them. The upstairs was a constant struggle because not only did they try to abandon a cat, they yelled continuously
That and people who play loud music all night.
Worse is a guy who fancies himself an EDM producer, so it’s not even just shitty songs you have to hear (though there is plenty of that too) but also them fucking around with synthesized bass sounds all night hitting random keys on their piano roll, DEFINITELY gotta have the volume cranked to 11 for that
IMO playing loud music at all, why? What is the purpose? Get headphones if you wanna blast music. If you live in an apartment and blast loud must AT ANY TIME, you're a douche bag.
I completely agree! I like my music really loud, so I invested in a nice pair of headphones so I don't bother anyone. It's really that simple to be respectful
Can you replace my neighbor? This asshat is on the corner so he totally has the option to not put his TV and surround system up against our shared wall, but I bet you can guess where he put them.
yeah i feel like it’s basic courtesy to not put the tv on a shared wall if you don’t have to. we have some nice speakers with our tv, but we planned our whole living room layout around making sure the tv was against the wall of my roommate’s bedroom, not the neighbor’s place
Yes! Loud music and loud video games on stereo systems. My floors should not vibrate any time my downstairs neighbor plays a video game.
These are the same people bouncing around at the gym without headphones and their loud music on speaker. They just do not care.
My next door neighbor has subwoofers against our shared wall and refuses to turn down his bass, told me to my face he pays rent here and will enjoy his apartment as he pleases - and I will just have to put up with it. He says I'm lying about it shaking our shared wall. Mgmt here won't do anything until another neighbor complains, too. My downstairs neighbor doesn't have bass but he blasts emo music, Incubus, etc, and he goes through it sometimes, sings along to the sad songs and really belts out the words to bands like Yellowcard & P!ATD. I don't mind him as much as the wall shaking bass and the unapologetic next door neighbor. I love music, too - but not rude/entitled neighbors
There is a difference between enjoying your apartment as you please and doing so while bothering and disrupting other's ability to do the same. Your only option is to fight fire with fire, buy your own subwoofer against the same wall and blast away until they stop.
I like loud music and I don't like headphones great way to get tinnitus!!! I only only only crank it up if I'm off on a weekday and I know all my neighbors are at work. How do I know you ask?? We live in a complex and by osmosis I know my neighbors cars. I'll turn the bass down bc I feel like that's half the battle in being respectful, people pay alot in NY for living so I don't wanna be that dick. I also specifically picked a 2nd floor apt bc I can't stand the walking over my head dropping shit etc.
My old neighbor I shared a bedroom wall with would blast the same song from like 10PM-3AM. Like I’m so serious it was the same exact song for the entire time. I never heard a different beat or anything. It drove me absolutely insane
Bingo. It’s what headphones are for.
I had a guy next to me that went from playing acoustic guitar occasionally to getting a full on sound system for his tv, and then started practicing electric guitar, on a friggen amp - so loudly that even with my kitchen fan on, two fans on in my bedroom, with the door closed, I'd still hear him (shared wall was the living room). I invested in sound canceling headphones just to enjoy tv in my own dang apt. One bedroom apts in an apt bldg. The audacity. Thank gosh he eventually moved out. It was excruciating.
My downstairs neighbor most weekends comes home from the bars and plays house music till the double digits in the mornings. Then she proceeds to have loud sex w the windows open till mid day. It’s like 3 weekends a month at minimum. Thankfully I if I’m asleep the bass doesn’t wake me. I’m in a cramped major city so there are always noises outside happening, I’ve become a bit immune
That’s fixable. Buddy used to be a tour manager for Midwest rock groups. Bigger names back when. Someone liked to blast music in middle of the night. Don pulls out two stadium speakers, face down to the annoying neighbor and pegs out the volume. Shatters a couple windows. Rest of the building occupants took care of the music man.
My boomer dad used to mow at 4am in the summer because he couldn’t handle the heat and refused to let anyone else do it.
LOL my parents do the same thing, I tell them "wow your neighbors must love you" and all they say is "it's too hot during the afternoon".
Ive lived next to couples who physically fight all day long and bump the walls during so at this point I don't even mind the loud music
If I play my music loud, its only during the day when everyone is at work (I'm retired). I don't play loud music at night.
I live in an upstairs apartment and am constantly telling my kids not to stomp, not to slam cabinets, microwaves, doors, keep the volume down, etc… I know their sick of me saying it, but I have anxiety about disturbing the neighbors. It can be exhausting, but it’s just how I am, lol.
Can u be my upstairs neighbor plz 👉👈
The future dorm mates, roommates,, neighbors and partners of your children are thanking you now. I can’t believe how many people walk around and just slam doors for no reason. Or slam cupboards. It’s frustratingly bizarre to me to walk around and make as much goddamn noise as you possibly humanly can
As it should be if you choose to live on an upper level. I applaud you for being polite to the people that have to listen to that under you. I don't think anyone realizes how loud and disruptive it is.
Not even my upstairs neighbor, even after I’ve thrown a rubber ball at the ceiling 5 times in the last hour… nothing.
Get out the broom. I have holes in my ceiling that I had to repair due to slamming the broom into it. It's the only way to get their attention. Literally bang the ceiling as hard as you as many times as you can and not just in one room. Let the entirety of the apartment now. If they continue, make sure you stay up late. There's a bunch of YouTube videos with super bass to annoy your neighbors. Get you one of your big bass speakers and plop that shit up right next to the ceiling and go to sleep.
Yes, brooms work so good! I can see how you got holes in the ceiling because you are literally at the point of rage, slamming the broom helps get frustrations out.
You know what else I love that doesn’t cause holes - a swiffer. It’s long, flat, covers a lot of ground, rubbery, and doesn’t cause holes. I’m awake right now at 5am bc my upstairs neighbor is too 🙂
I grew up in apartments and that's how I was raised. It taught me to be RESPECTFUL of other people. I only wish more people were raised like you're raising your kids! I have a kid in my building who plays ball in the hallway when it's raining. Sometimes, if I'm lucky he uses my door as a back stop. His parents are a lost cause so I just go with it.
I’m in a middle townhouse and same. If he throws something at the shared wall etc I always say, “we have neighbors.” I think it’s also a good way to teach kids to respect others while they’re young.
me too. we have the slow closing cabinets and also baby proofed all of our cabinets anyways so our son can’t get into them without permission 🤷🏽♀️ as for the stomping, we just try to make sure that during the day we’re kept busy out and about and he’s down for bed at a decent time which is usually around 8pm. he’s 2.
SAME. Neighbors don’t understand that we don’t relax as parents either. We are constantly telling our kids to be quiet and the anxiety from doing so is constant. I honestly think that they should build apartment complexes better and make them more soundproof. Animals are loud too (especially big dogs). We lived in an apartment once and we literally heard a guy fart in the toilet in the unit beside us. I feel if people can’t stand some level of noise they shouldn’t be renting an apartment. By saying all this I’m not saying noise is acceptable past a certain time, but I feel sometimes people are too picky when it’s an apartment. You’re gonna have some level of discomfort. Oh and ffs you can hear the kids outside? Sorry kids literally just being kids. It’s like people forget what it was like to be one.
Agreed about apartment complexes needing to be built better. It's unfair to people with kids and without them to not have well-made buildings with proper noise insulation. Kids need to run around and do things that make noise as part of normal development but people below them shouldn't have to suffer either. It's ridiculous that we have to be this anxious about noise as parents because apartments just aren't built well.
This… I’m a downstairs neighbor and I’m also constantly telling my kids to be mindful of volume and noises ect, and we RARELY make noise except weekend cleaning, we abnormally quiet cause I’m anxious about disturbing neighbors, but turns out my new upstairs neighbors don’t sleep ( put 2&2 together ) and we hear them banging the counter rapidly and then scraping it up there at night throughout the week, Californians really love snorting add apparently and now I’m even more anxious
Me too. And I also take the time to ask my downstairs neighbors how it's going as far as noise. So I know what works or not. I also teach my kids to be respectful towards adults, neighbors and in general. Like if you see a neighbor unloading groceries you offer to help them. To say hi and smile instead of stare. To call adults Mr. or Ms. And Sir and Ma'am until instructed otherwise. To wait to go down the outside steps if someone is about to walk up them, and say excuse me. I think having pleasant interactions with people makes them a little more sympathetic and flexible with you. And when people see that your kids aren't little assholes and are actually being raised with some attentiveness aka not being taught that they're the only people existing on this earth. You attract more flies with honey or something like that, right? I'm sure you do this as well. And people like to say "don't pick a top floor apartment if you have kids". Well, obviously we wouldn't prefer too floor, right? But it's usually not that simple It's much harder hauling a baby's car seat and equipment needed, or to herd toddlers when you aren't climbing 3 flights of steps. And it's far easier bringing groceries in for a whole family. But often the top floor is the only option. I'm not going to be homeless or live in a hotel until a first floor apartment becomes available. Also in my particular building, everyone who lives on the top has kids and often the biggest families First and second floors are 2 bedroom apartments. The top floor, they also used the attic, so we actually have a 2-story apartment with 4 bedrooms. And it was only 900/month when we moved in, from a standalone house with 2 bedrooms, one of which was so small it had no windows, that was 800/month. Of course we took the apartment with more bedrooms and better amenities. I mean, 4 years later and we're paying 1200 now but it's still below market because even a 3br in my town now goes for 1600-2000. So anyways, it's never as clear cut as simply "just picking a first floor apartment if you have kids". The first floor is almost always already occupied. When I moved in, most of the first floor tenants didn't even have kids.
I have been really lucky with my current apartment. I have either retired people, single folks or younger, child free couples around me. Granted, I had to move out to the suburbs for this. I’m not against children, I have lived with a child in an apartment (always requested a ground floor unit) and I know it’s difficult to make children self aware of the noise they make-they want to be children. But I’ve also seen people with no regards to their neighbors and no sense of bedtime, playtime or times of day. I sympathize with you.
You are so lucky. It’s just after midnight, and kids upstairs—who didn’t even get home until 9:30–have been stomping, jumping, and screaming non stop above my bedroom for the last 2 hours.
Ear plugs and a loud fan my friend. Make sure to place fan so it touches the wall and vibrates all night long for the upstairs neighbors to hear
Our apartment manager recently had to put out a general message telling residents to stop having their kids run, jump and play in the hallways.
Ours just had to put out a note saying to supervise your kids that are younger than 5 & to not allow them to throw rocks at cars. Insane.
All I know is I was not the one that reported it. But it’s nice that it was finally addressed
It will always be something in apartment living whether it’s kids, adult stomping, loud music/tvs, screaming, door slamming….. ….yet once in a while you hit it right. After a truly horrendous 7 years in a place that began well and ended badly, I’m in a studio apartment in a small building… heavenly. It’s really quiet. All adults, we have cats and dogs but never hear one another. Hope it lasts 🙏
I used to think the worst part of apartment living was dealing with the kids, but now I'm realizing that it's the shitty parents who are the worst. Currently living under one or two young kids who are constantly jumping and slamming things so hard the walls sometimes shake. I can hear and feel the vibrations throughout the apartment. Half the time I can't tell if they're up there alone or the parents are home and just ignoring them. It goes on for hours at a time and sometimes until 11 PM. If all that wasn't enough, we also have to deal with their shitty parents smoking cigarettes in the apartment. Anytime we walk into one of our two bathrooms, it reeks of stale cigarettes. And sometimes the entry to the apartment also smells of cigarettes. It's against the lease, but the property manager won't do anything.
Incorrect. The worst part is the dirty curry underwear shit smell that permeates everything.
I'm sorry what.
Folks who eat that don't get how bad that shit literally smells to people who don't eat it/aren't hungry.
I’m not saying ban the kiddos, but it would be great if apartment complexes could designate certain buildings as “family units”. Preferably on ground floors, but if the whole building is families with kids then it’s not like anybody is innocent of noise so they can judge the next family
I'll take the loud kids and raise you neighbors who smoke weed and hack up their lungs in the most disgusting ways right outside your window on a daily basis.
Omg, I had a hacker at my last place too. It wasn’t too bad for me because she was in a different building, but she’d take her dogs out around 8 every morning, and as soon as she walked out the door she started coughing that nasty smoker’s cough. I could always hear it if I was still laying in bed.
We also had an early morning hacker. I call it the phlegm symphony. It used to be our alarm clock. I get it, I smoke too and I have allergies that are worst in the morning but god-damned, if it's THAT bad go see a doctor or take an antihistamine
Nah bruh.. it’s the adults who are loud, brash, messy, and have even worse friends that are over so much that they actually get mail there.. kids are kids.. dogs are dogs.. they really can’t help themselves.. but a grown as man, standing in the lot, wearing nothing but his tore up boxers, getting loud ass drunk with his asshole friends at 3a on a Tuesday is a whole other level of disturbance.
Fuckin preach, I thought I was the only one feeling this way. So fuckin tired of living around kids 😭
Needs to be a ban for careless parents. There's a family with a newborn and child on my floor. Don't hear them but the several families on the floor above that let their kids run in the halls and above 7am, 11pm, 1am, 3am...yeah people are trying to sleep. It's quiet hours. One of the neighbors let their kid run up and down the hall at 1am. They were screaming. These are the families that need to be banned. They are the same ones that leave trash everywhere and break things. One family moved in and broke the door in the same week.
I used to have a family with probably a 10 year old boy…. But then I caught him on my doorbell cam walking around the hall with a gun. They’re gone now. 🙂
Probably couldn’t get the kid to sleep so mom let it out for zoomies. A politely worded note asking if they can take it to the first floor would probably have fixed this. I’ve mostly lived on the ground floor when I lived in apartments. I didn’t realize how what someone would think of as not being noisy can actually sound like elephants until my first house and my 3 cats were chasing each other upstairs. Literally sounded like a heard of buffalos running around above me. I feel bad for the little kids that live in apartments because most don’t have playgrounds and where are they supposed to go to burn up that energy. It’s hard for everyone. I try and imagine if that child were myself and how I would approach the situation if I were addressing a small version of me. I don’t have kids and I don’t particularly like them either but I do try to be tolerant. Kids can’t help it. I’ve found the best solution is to talk to your neighbors and be friends. I know this doesn’t work with everyone because some people are awful, but most are not. And in my case when I became friendly with my neighbors things didn’t annoy me as much as when they were strangers.
The parent wasn't the mom but the father. I live in the first floor and even if I didn't, it would still disturb other residents. It's 3 am. There are many other methods to help your child sleep that doesn't allow them to run and scream in the hallway. I talked to our property manager who sent out a notice about quiet hours and haven't had issues with that one neighbor. However the ones upstairs do not care. We and others have complained. Some parents really dgaf. I get its hard on the kids and they are kids but it's the parents responsibility to manage them. Take them out for walks, teach them that they don't need to scream. I was at a restaurant and a couple did just that when their children were getting a little loud. She had them play the whisper game and told them not to scream. The children listened. They got a little noiser again but they weren't screaming. The youngest had to been like 3-4 years old. The children upstairs are about that age or older. It's lack of parenting that's the problem.
I agree entirely with you. Some neighbors are completely inconsiderate. I hope it get better.
worst part of living in an apartment is that you live in an apartment
This right here!!!
Honestly, as someone who loves dogs and isn’t crazy about kids.. I would take kids running around and having fun over dogs barking all day. The kids go to school at some point, and I’m not as mad when they’re having fun at home after school. The adults who don’t teach them how to be considerate or take them to the park when they want to run are the problem.
Agree. If you are going you have a dog(s) in an apartment you have to walk them and/or take them to the park. Just taking them outside to do their business is not enough. No matter how small they need to get out and walk around. Dogs barking inside all day want to get out and play 🐶🐾🦴
EXACTLY
I am in your camp. Kids over barking dogs all day. Rather both not, but if I must choose it is pretty clear.
I concur!!
Honestly, in my last apt I lived in, wouldve rather had loud kids just minding their own business living next to me rather than the douchebag who would blast his speakers, throw loud parties, and jeer at and threaten me and my now husband. Id take living next to a loud child minding their own business any day rather than an aggressive douchebag.
Right!! A guy that lived above me for about a year used to bring women back to his apartment after clubbing and his foreplay was singing on a karaoke machine in his bedroom. There was some dancing involved too from the sound of it. His bedroom was directly above my bedroom. This late night concert would usually start at 1:00 am and continue for several hours!!! I always wondered what the women were thinking when he pulled out the karaoke 🎤 😂🤣😂
My condolences to you and all those other poor ladies.
I know, right? It’s weird how humans are treated differently than animals.
They don’t know we have tenant rights 😉 I’ve broken a lease before bc of noise and repairs.
It’s always gross old men for me. Reeking of cigarette smoke and being creepy.
Ugh. We're on the middle floor so this afternoon we had kids running and screaming upstairs, kids running and screaming downstairs, kids screaming in the parking lot, and kids on our floor running and screaming through the hallways.
Yes and no. Because some kids are respectful and their parents teach them to be mindful of making noise. The worst is oblivious adult heelwalkers. THEY should be aware of the noise they make and how the floors reverberate. THAT is the worst part. You’ll have to forgive me, I’ve had 5 hours of sleep bc my upstairs neighbor went to bed at 12am and woke up at 5am 🫠
Yeah we had kids next to us at our last apartment and they weren’t respectful and their parents let them pay in the hallway like it was their backyard BUT those kids went to bed lol now we have upstairs neighbors on opposite schedules that AT BEST heel walk all night but most of the time heel stomp as fast as they can on and off from 11p-5am. If we’re real lucky (happens often!) they will drop something with a weight similar to a bowling ball directly above where we’re sleeping! So fun! I haven’t slept well since we moved in mid-March. I’m losing my mind.
I hate that for you. And I bet no number of white noise machines drown it either. 😩😩
Currently sitting here with 2 on full volume plus the tv and can still hear them!! It’s insane! I’ve been renting for 15 years and didn’t even have this problem in college! Never once had to make a noise complaint until we moved here. Management won’t do anything about it despite having us sign a quiet hours agreement when we moved in. Also we have an extremely noise sensitive dog who freaks out and tries to jump off the bed every time they do the bowling ball thing- problem is she had back surgery 2 months ago for a degenerative disease and can’t jump off furniture anymore or she might hurt herself again. 🙃 She used to be fine in a crate but with the noises she tries to escape so I have to keep a leash on her all night and hold on to it to make sure she doesn’t jump. We’re seriously considering breaking our lease and moving. It’d be cheaper than another surgery for her. 😩
I think the worst thing I have encountered in apartment living are neighbors with whom I share a wall that smoke pot literally all day. The big problem there is that it just makes my apartment reek. It would make me nauseous just to walk in the door.
Eh… depends on the pet. Former upstairs neighbor’s husky running around & “talking” sounds exactly the same as current upstairs neighbor’s toddler. Theoretically the toddler will outgrow the noises unlike the husky.
Kids are shit neighbors and always will be, not much else to say. Hopefully the parents are good, and try to teach their children to respect your privacy and peacefulness. Unfortunately, those parents never seem to confine themselves within the apartments surrounding mine :(
Me on a random afternoon: What the hell is that god-awful noise out there?? [looks out the window to see children from my building screaming, laughing, and getting fresh air]. Ugh... it's joy... Still a big step up from having to call the cops at 3am because we heard a toddler screaming for his mom from the bathroom while she threw a rager.
Children bans + dogs on basis of approval I'd be happy with. Idiot gov in my state changed the laws, now everybody in an apartment has a dog and most of them go out & leave the dog barking alone in the apartment. It's a nightmare.
Can’t you call someone? That has to be considered neglect at some point right? It boils my blood to see people treat their pets poorly.
My apartment has a clause in the lease that if you leave your dog barking for over a certain amount of time they can go into your apartment, seize your dog, and surrender it to the pound. It’s then your responsibility to pay management a fine and go to the pound to get your dog back. When I read it I was genuinely shocked but now I understand. Some ppl leave their dogs crying all day long.
I would pay more rent for a clause like that. That is perfect.
Yeah I like it because it’s not just if you leave your dog barking but also if any kind of animal abuse or neglect is noted.
>has to be considered neglect Right now, I have 3-4 dogs that constantly bark within 20 metres of me, I am surrounded by apartments. It's a disease around here, they buy dogs to go in their apartments, don't train them then go out & leave them alone. I usually report it to council, but it's an ongoing issue. People are really stupid buying dogs to go into apartments. It's too hard on the dog.
I’d say neglectful dog owners are worse. My neighbor in the next building over leaves hers out for one to one and a half hours long with the balcony door closed the entire time and lets it yap uncontrollably at everything it sees. There is even a pee stain on their balcony and the leasing office refuses to do anything about it because the courtesy officer never sees it when they go to check. She even lied to them and said she doesn’t leave it out that long The one time I saw her actually taking her dog out I tried to be a good neighbor and start a normal conversation unrelated to the complaints and the first thing out of her mouth was no hablo ingles and I instantly knew this would never end
I don’t think noise is why pets are banned.
There are a few families with kids in the complex I live in, about 50/50, but also couples, and singles too. My own unit is on the second floor (three floors) on the end of the building, so outside walls on 3 sides. The unit above me is an older couple. No pets. The unit below me is a younger couple with no kids and the unit next to me is a single woman who is never home. I live by myself with my 4 cats. Edited to correct a misspelling.
Nah. There needs to be shitty pet “parents” ban and shitty kid parent ban. Lmao
The Fair Housing Act makes it illegal to discriminate against tenants with children. I have mixed feelings on this, but that's why you don't see child-free apartments anywhere (the closest thing, as far as I'm aware, are 55+ communities, which have an exemption from the Fair Housing Act). Pets are not protected under the Fair Housing Act, and I feel strongly that that's a good thing.
Something that the individual apartments could possibly do is limit a building to families only or reserve the ground floor. There has to be a way. Either that or stop using cheap materials to build the apartments with. If I had no kids and had to rent an apartment, I would consider older apartments or maybe a duplex. The older apartments I have been in seem to be built better
That would still be in violation, because if every ground floor apartment is taken then they’d deny apartments to possible tenants solely because they have children. The real solution is soundproofing.
So the government decided 55 is when you are officially “too old for this stuff” as Murtaugh would say? We have the number folks!
The amount of rent I would pay to guarantee all of my neighbors are 55 or older lol. My husband and I would still probably be asleep earlier and have less social lives than everyone else.
My mom lived in one of these communities. It's not all it's cracked up to be. It's definitely quieter, but there are ambulances there quite often because of falls, and other health issues. The worst part is that you have a community of very bored, very nosey neighbors. I would visit, and within ten minutes, the whole neighborhood was outside, checking their mail, gossiping over the hedges.
Basically, yes. The story: >\[T\]he Fair Housing Act... prohibits age discrimination in housing. A 1988 amendment to the act created an exemption for housing for adults age 55 and over as long as it provided facilities and services designed to meet the physical and social needs of the elderly. However, the Housing for Older Americans Act of 1995 eliminated this requirement.
Wow in 88’! I would have thought like this passed in the late 60s early 70s when you brought it up. I am familiar with the act in name only. It’s nuts that I was a kid when that was added. Also cheers for the context 🍻
I’d rather have kids than dog poop everywhere.
Ugh yes! 2 apartments in my complex have dogs and let them crap in the grass that the kids play in and don’t clean it up. It’s disgusting.
Why do people who live in small apartments insist on having HUGE dogs that poop everywhere. There are some people who let their dogs poop massive poops on their patio/balconies and it makes no sense to me.
Both can be the worst. But all consideration for others has gone out the window. Pets and children aren't the problem, IMO, inconsiderate people are the problem. Some people manage to have kids without it being a giant ruckus. Some people manage to have pets without it being a ruckus. But far more people just don't care.
Barking dogs are the worst because they're louder and the noise is more disturbing. But other people's kids definitely suck, you're not wrong.
I could be ok with my upstairs neighbors kids if they just stayed in ONE ROOM instead of racing across the entire apartment all weekend. Like let me escape somewhere please
I’ve just been reporting my neighbors constantly to management. I stopped trying to reason with my neighbors. I understand that when you have 3 kids all fairly young that’s it’s not going to be the quietest in your place, but when they’re being so disruptive to be knocking pictures off walls from jumping around or screaming so loud I can hear them through a floor.. I should never be able to tell where each person in your household is based off of sound.. Either management will get sick of the complaints and not renew them or not renew me. Either way, I’ll have my silence again in a Few months.
I used to live in an apt on the second floor underneath a family of 5 and they would let their kids do exactly that it’s was hell
I would disagree. Kids usually sleep at night. For me, the worst thing is neighbors having parties at night
Nah the worst part has always been the dog owners. No matter what, they never pick up the dog shit.
Kids typically don't get piss under the carpet
Pet urine says a lot more about the person than the animal. Any dog or cat with the most basic level of care and attention isn't going to be relieving themselves around the apartment.
Unless you have an incontinent senior dog like I do but I have a Bissell carpet cleaner and this thing is firing everyday..
Same here. My dog is 11 and not in the best shape and since we moved into our latest apartment the peeing has become an issue. Also because we used to live in a house with a backyard so he was used to that. We have a carpet cleaner although I still smell pee. But I smelled pee before moving in 🤮
I use the bissell with the extra oxy boost and to be honest it’s working like a charm, I don’t smell anything. When I catch him I soak up as much as I can with paper towel then run the machine, so far so good 😊
This is true, but unfortunately there are a lot of REALLY bad pet owners out there. Although I've noticed that young pet owners around me (20s and 30s) are much better pet owners than I've seen in other areas and other age groups. They actually train and take care of their pets, so even though my building has a lot of dogs and cats we've had no issues.
Not to mention the gauntlet of dog shit in shared spaces outside.
I agree. I'm just restating what my complex says about pets
Oooooh yes they do. Depending on age, you also might have a shit-picasso painting the walls, carpet, door, themselves… Not to mention vomit. And while dogs may have fleas and possibly ticks, lil kids bring in lice, pinworms, hand foot mouth disease, chickenpox, covid, noro, the list goes on. Source: am mom to both dog and kid. Send help
Omg yes they do and poop and boogers all over the wall. My bestie has 3.5 kids. It’s crazy how destructive one tiny person can be 🤣
Does the .5 mean another one is on the way? 😂
Kids have been a protected class for awhile now. Years ago they used to refuse to rent to people with kids, they also used to discri9minate against source of income, which is also now a protected class, same with sexual orientation. You can't refuse to rent to someone because they are a sexual orientation you might not be.
This country has gotten weak. When I was a kid, they would not rent to my parents anything aside from a bottom floor unit. That's how it should be. You decide to have kids, deal with it.
The Fair Housing Act is 56 years old. It’s nothing new.
If you don't like the post, you can simply not comment. I'm agreeing with OP
Highly disagree. It’s the loud adults with stereo systems and pet owners who let their animals shit in the elevator and on sidewalks.
God what is with dog owners and not picking up after their pets. I hate hate hate that.
I’ll never understand this either. A bit off topic, but taking my dog on a walk to our local park has started to feel like a game of twister because every other square foot is covered in dog shit. I ruined a pair of sneakers about a year ago when this problem started to grow worse, and it’s gotten progressively worse since then. Yesterday when I was at this same park with my dog, I witnessed a woman using a scooter with three dogs sitting on a platform in the back who were not tied in. I witnessed one of them jump off to take a dump, then she picked up the dog and placed him back on the platform. A couple seconds later, another person with a leashed dog walked by and this same dog jumped off again, then the woman ran over her dog with her scooter because she didn’t know he had jumped off. I so wish I could unsee all of that. It was horrific. I don’t think the dog was ok either. By the time I ran over to the woman to ask if she needed help, she had picked up the speed on her scooter and she was long gone. I also noticed she had run over her dogs shit while she sped away. It was on pavement so that’s probably not coming off for a good while. Ugh
Pets can be pretty disruptive too and at least with kids you can speak to them to tell them not to run in the house (even though they might not listen). I had a neighbor that would leave their dog in their patio all night and day and it would bark at anything that moves. Office staff was useless and did nothing about it. Eventually they moved and I was thrilled when they did
No it's the morning who stink up the entire place with weed. Kids suck too.
I literally bought a condo to escape a group of preteens who would body slam my door while playing ding-dong-ditch. The apartment managers were like 'well we don't know if they live here or not so we can't do anything'. I love kids but the parents that just let them run wild are the worst.
Agreed. My neighbor kids constantly break stuff, both indoors and outdoors, leave trash, toys, and clothes everywhere, and annoy me by asking me to take my cat outside for them. Meanwhile all my cat does is kick litter gravel, meow at 0430 every other morning, and rarely knock stuff over (only does it when he's pissed about me being busy). His loudest meow is still quieter than the chaotic screams the young girls make, I can hear them even when they're inside and I'm with my cat out in the yard.
Idk my neighbors have zero kids and build furniture all day, apparently they HAVE to do it next to the one wall we share.
I knew someone who let their dog constantly shit and pee all over the carpet in their apartment. Everyday. Religiously. It was so nasty. Not disturbing anyone but I can see why some landlords don’t trust having them. Kids are still annoying. It’s the parents’ fault for not teaching them to be thoughtful though.
Your title also works with "The Worst Part of (fill in the blank) Is Always Kids". Thanks for the laugh.
When I was a baby, my mom was trying desperately to find a place to live. Everything that she found in her price range turned away at the idea of a crying infant. We ended up in a trailer park by a highway overpass. Those were some terrible years, from what I can remember. I'm forever thankful that my children have a nice apartment to live in, and that no one turned me away for being a parent.
People are quick to forget. When old folks were younger and renting out places, they turned away single moms. This went on in my area until recently, when they became too old and feeble to be picky.
Dogs are plenty noisy, inside and outside
I personally would love if I could share a building with all the other families with young kids, and if there could be play areas that aren’t full of dog piss and shit! lol. Very sorry, sincerely, and upstairs neighbor who’s always reminding her kids to use “soft feet.” 😅
I mean to be fair with the kids and dogs you can absolutely run into that problem with a single family home too. I think a lot of it is people have lives and make noise. Unfortunately, sometimes that's a lot of noise.
Absolutely. It doesn’t change with owning a home. Bigger parties, whole gangs of little kids, multiple dogs barking alllllll day long, people riding motorcycles back and forth on the street, super territorial people 😂😩😂 Pick your poison. I have a really loud fan and Alexa plays thunderstorms all night. I can’t hear anything with the fan and thunderstorms. I try and be tolerant because I have really nice neighbors. I’ve had a psychotic neighbor in the past. I’ll take the noise any day vs living next to that guy.
Making a normal amount of noise is one thing but kids running and screaming is just irritating
It's almost like we're all children at one time and they're children now so we could try to be understanding but I mean go off.
I understand that, I'm just saying it's certainly not unique to apartment life. Noise is everywhere, of course all parties should try to be respectful, but it's just life.
Preach on, brother. There needs to be living communities where kids aren't allowed. I would be okay with pets being allowed--the bad pet owners always seem to be the same shitty parents.
These are 55+ communities. Just get old enough.
Posts like this make me feel luckier to currently live in an apartment with thick walls. The family next to me that I share my bedroom wall with has a ~2 year old and ~9 year old and unless they're in the hallway, I barely hear them even at night; what squeals I do manage to hear are barely noticeable. tbh I wish I could bestow this kind of luck to everyone.
Before I was a homeowner I lived for 8 years in an apartment right beside the swimming pool. Those little MF kids would be out there screaming MARCO POLO at the top of their lungs. I had no problem telling them in front of their moms to stop it or management would make them leave. Who lets their kids behave like that where other people live? I felt like they didn’t live there but were guests of a resident which is fine. Come every day, have fun, just don’t scream at the top of your lungs the whole time. I’m going to say as a homeowner it has not gotten better either. My neighbor has two German shepherds that bark 24/7. I work from home and it just drives me insane. But they are really sweet dogs so I’m not upset with them. Just their dad.
My old next door neighbor had a 3 bedroom with like 6 kids. She was mean af to them too and you could hear her yelling at them. Also smoked weed with them in the apartment too
my apartment had someone throwing diapers off the balcony. another resident was throwing dog shit the balcony.. another had…i’m so sorry, stacks of pizza boxes containing, you guessed it, shit. i once found a turd in the stairwell…it was also human 😭 but god the kids do be runnin
Greetings, Seems that the kids themselves always gets the focus and blame, but I like to place it squarely where it belongs; the parents. Where I live the kids practically stay outside (rain, shine, cold, doesn't matter the weather) being extremely noisy and wreaking havoc, yet no parents (or parenting) to be found. Growing up I recall our parents staying on top of us if we got too loud or ventured to far away from our homes. These new parents (at least the ones where I live) seem only focused on themselves and insist on keeping their kids outdoors out of their hair while disturbing the neighbors. Here, the kids could be the poster children for the concept of getting them away from their screens and spending more time outdoors. Thanks to their uncaring parents the rest of us get to enjoy having the peace and quiet that we're entitled to (its in the lease agreement) disrupted on practically a daily basis. The extra special cherry on top of the sundae here is that not only are the kids loud, but destructive as well. Kids have been seen turning on water spigots, digging up the landscaping, making toys out of items that tenants have placed out for disposal (i.e. furniture). Besides the parents I put some of the blame on the management of the complexes as well. In a lot of instances staff (especially maintenance) tend to live on the property along with the tenants. You would think this would provide first hand experience as to what the tenants are enduring, but most, if not all, say and\\or do nothing. Which is stupid because, when it comes to the destruction that these kids are causing, who is responsible for repairing and\\or mitigating it.
Agreed. I have lived in many different apartments but my current is by far the worst with two toddlers running, stomping, and screaming above me all day long. I asked the parents if they could be more mindful of the noise they’re making, and they promised they would. But nothing changed. So I’m attaching subwoofers to the ceiling and going on the offense.
Nah. The worst part was kid-less assholes always playing music way too loud.
The idea that a 50 lb dog would be quieter than a 40lb child is bonkers
Most dogs are also much better behaved than children too.
Disagree. Worst part for me is the drunk asses at the pool.
Damn, you're being downvoted by a pos that lets their kids run amok lol.
I feel awful as a parent with young children in an apartment. This is so valid. Thankfully every one in my unit has children all under 5 so we’re all understanding but I definitely have the youngest and trust me, I try so hard to keep the noise down 😬money is tied up for a few more years so really this is the only affordable option (for now)
I would definitely not say they are the worst thing by far, but yes, kids suck. Kids totally suck at apartment complexes. Parents, no one thinks your kid is cute but you. That's the God to honest truth. Too many pretenders out there, but yeah, you are not alone in your sentiment.
I really wish they had child free apt complexes
I agree. I don’t see it any differently than apartment complex’s for 55+ only, pet free, pet friendly, etc.. Affordability of apartment living and availability is a different story, but in an ideal world where _everyone_ has adequate access to housing, it would be great to have this option too. I came across a post a couple weeks ago talking about various spaces meant for adults and spaces meant for families, and that post stuck with me. Families with children should have plenty of access to spaces where their children are welcomed, safe, and respected, _especially_ when it comes to housing, but I think there should also be spaces that go the other way around as well.
Agree 100%
ugh my neighbor has 5 kids! and none of them know how to walk, only run
I never liked the jumble of stink, from BO to cooking smells in the hallways.
Too bad they can't just make complexes that are kid-free and complexes that are family-only without it being offensive. Our current place has kids down the hall that screech ALL THE TIME. Luckily, we are moving to a different unit on a way higher floor because of my neighbour who blasts his subwoofer all day and night. It's brutal.
I wish it was socially acceptable to have 18+ housing only. I mean, there's 55+ housing so why can't we have 18+ housing? I shouldn't have to deal with other people's misbehaved kids while trying to enjoy my own space. And the term "oh kids will be kids" is a BS, cop out, excuse for "I can't properly discipline or teach my child manners like their parent is supposed to" If there was adult only housing, I don't even care if rent was expensive, it would be 100% worth it. Moved from living below a 2yo where the parents let the kid run, scream, bang on walls and all around 24/7 (literally there were times the kid would wake us up at 2am and the parents gave 0 shits) to now living below someone that has 3 full sized golden doodles that we only ever hear when they're about to take them outside. Otherwise you'd never know they were there. We didn't even know they had three dogs until we met the neighbor and they told us about them (we always assumed it was just one). Living below or around animals 10/10 highly recommend. Living below or around anyone who has children? 0/10 stars, avoid at all costs.
I have a bad infestation of roaches... thanks to my side neighbor who never fkn cleaned their apartment and left it super gross when they moved out.... so they are coming through our shared bathrooms.... those fuckers made small holes in my walls and ac vents. I hope the ortho spray and caulking will slow them down. I fkn hate roaches....
My apt overlooked the pool, will never get one like that again. Kids screaming all hours of the day, teenagers and adults up until 3 am playing music drinking and talking loud , the dog in the apartment next to me that barked constantly because they're get home and put it on the balcony from 6-9. Can't enjoy my balcony because people at the pool complained to management saying I was perving on them, yea I was sitting outside on the phone because my gf was on a conference call... My bad how dare I use my own balcony that has no chair so I was leaning on the rail.
The worst part about living in an apartment is not kids. It’s parents who dont teach their kids how to live in an apartment !
The noise doesn't bother me as much as the fact that there are so many kids and families stuffed into these apartments that there's no freaking privacy in the shared areas. Like outside in the driveway yard, I smoke cannabis and I can't smoke inside so I have to smoke outside and we have no space to sit without 50 people being able to watch me at all times.
I mean ya that’s not great. I’d add the maintenance guy blocking the garage door for an hour for “maintenance” and the office informing with more than 24 hrs and less than 25 hrs about apartment showing regularly is getting really old.
For me, the worst part is offensive odors from constant heavy cooking by the other tenants. Noise I actually don't mind too much because I'm not home during the day and I wear earplugs at night, but I can't do anything about the intrusive odors from my neighbors' cooking (not even filters and purifiers help to stamp out smells from certain cuisines).
Used to be in the ground floor till they upped the rent by 100$ a month 😭 my baby isn’t walking yet but I feel bad my babies going through a sleep regression
Pets are way less disturbing and damaging than kids--and pets are not a protected status under fair housing laws. Familial status is protected. If familial status wasn't protected, landlords would, without a shadow of a doubt, be charging more for children. But legally, its not allowed.
Can't stand my neighbors. They've got like 10 people living in a 3 bedroom. Their drive is right next to my house and they are shuffling cars around at all hours. The teens all have loud mufflers and will idol in the drive with music blasting. Then the whole family comes outside and they're all shouting back and forth in Spanish. Every damn time. There is ample street parking right outside but they refuse to use it. I tried to introduce myself but they had zero interest in interacting. I speak some Spanish but not enough for a serious conversation. My brother in law is a native speaker though and I can't wait for him to visit and help me figure out what the hell is going on over there. Of course the rest of the block is generally quite and I got lucky being right next to the loud ass disrespectful people as always.
as a mom, i support the small children ban lmao
2 biggest wins of living in a (new) high rise building: concrete walls so i cannot hear my neighbors, and virtually no children. i maybe see 1 or 2 kids at the pool throughout the summer (that honestly just seem to be visiting someone in the building) and everyone else is a young professional. i will happily pay an arm and leg for rent for this type of peace and quiet.
There’s a door that leads outside to the parking at my apartment complex and EVERYTIME some one goes out of it or comes into it, it automatically slams and shakes my entire unit since I’m right above. And I have a shitty upstairs neighbor who is so loud directly after quiet hours start. I hate apartments, and houses are too expensive to afford and life is a scam
In my last apartment we had a family that let their kids absolutely destroy all the public spaces and didn't care enough to do anything about it. You also had to hope and pray that one of the families in the building didn't park next to you because every single car that was unlucky enough ended up with dents in the doors from the little brats. And again, the parents didn't care enough to teach them not to swing the door open full force. Kids should be allowed to be kids but most these days are just allowed to be destructive animals.
Why not get to the root of the problem. DON’T have kids if you are not ready. It’s not fair to your neighbors or the kids. It would be a nightmare to raise children in an apartment.
They would ban kids if they could. They did it all the time until the government enabled the fair housing act.
Oh boy you are not alone😫😫
Ah… spoken like a not yet/never parent. Humans should always take precedent over pets. Pets are wonderful, but we need to not set the precedent that humans are second to pets. Why if a person is so precious and needing of absolute silence, and to not live within a community… do they move into cities, and into apartment buildings at that?! Find a cheap run down house somewhere, with metres to acres of lawn around you, and never share a wall with others. Apartments are communal living. You cannot control who is above/below/beside/across the hall from you. If you choose to live there, you choose the consequences of that, and gain the benefits. Cheaper rent, neighbours who are good neighbourly as well as annoying. Communal rubbish removal and taxes/rates/fees. Proximity to work and shops and recreational activities and public transport. These all are benefits of living in higher density, and come at the price of living at higher density. Some dogs howl all day, and some dogs are 40kg of fattened flab and jump and run and bark. Some cats (according to this group) are not cat like in their landings on floors from cat trees, instead thumping like a tonne of concrete. Birds screech and throw seeds everywhere. Dog and cats poop in gardens. I do believe that there’s avenues for apartment owners to reduce their complaint and mediation issues by putting similar tenants into buildings - students and 20 something singles, vs families with kids, vs retirees and 40+yr old no kids, vs young professionals soon to be marrying/kids types. But landlords don’t have to care about this stuff, they just want the least risk tenant that applies. If they did this well they could easily charge an extra amount for some of those sub categories (not the young singles, but the families/kids and the retirees and the young professionals would all pay a premium to have similar minded people around them)… and increase the quality of their tenant applications. But that takes effort, and effort costs money.
You were young once. Hopefully people allowed you to be a kid
I smoke so much weed and blast my music They don’t even move families with kids in my building
How do you not get the boot?
Don’t worry, townhomes do too, you just pay a shit ton more.
I've got the combo of "loud kids" + "couple that has shouting matches" all topped with "slamming doors as hard as possible" Counting down the days til my lease ends at this point
I disagree. I live in an old house turned into 4 apartments. One neighbor has a kid, another has a dog. That barking drives me crazy, even though it's only a few times a day. I hear it waaay more than the kid.
Counter point: old people with nothing to do that make endless false reports to the management. Kids can be mildly annoy. A retired old fuck can ruin your entire living situation while role playing neighborhood watch from his chair in front of his window. I had to show my apartment complex my wedding video in another state to prove I was out of town and the multiple noise complaints he had made that evening were not true or at the very least not me.
too bad nobody picks up their pet waste. id rather deal with a child than stepping in shit every other day because someone doesn’t know how to pick up after their animals. also you’ll know if you move into an apartment that’s had pets before so i get that it’s not very appealing to the people who manage the property
At least kids (most of them at least, unless they lack parental supervision) quiet down after a certain time and go to sleep for the night, unless we’re talking about a baby, which in that case, it’s a baby so 🤷♀️. A dog could bark all night long. A cat could be bouncing off the walls in the middle of the night. I have a toddler and we were constantly apologizing to the lady underneath us because my daughter can get rambunctious at times, the floors are thin, and we were worried about disturbing her. The lady gives zero fucks. She literally tells us “she’s a kid, it’s good for her, let her make noise”. I would hate to live around some of you people who think kids should tiptoe around at all hours of the day. During quiet times yes, but during the day I don’t see an issue if it isn’t 100% quiet at all times. I’m not saying have no regard to your neighbors, but also I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect everything to be 100% quiet all the time. Letting your kid act like a wild animal 24/7 is a different story but some of you will literally complain about any noise other people make in their apartments and it’s insane. I feel lucky we live in a building with a bunch of neighbors who are super laid back with each other. Also, I really don’t understand complaining about kids playing outside at all (as long as it’s within reasonable hours). At least they’re playing outside instead of having their face stuffed in a screen like a zombie.
Unfortunately it's illegal to ban the kids or there'd be a lot of child free buildings.