Endless Parties Next Door

I'd experienced this problem and I feel your pain. The best idea is to enlist the help of your other neighbors. Write a letter to your landlord and have your neighbors sign the letter. Then send the letter via certified mail. Implore your neighbors to call the landlord EVERY TIME there is a noise problem (leave messages after hours). Continue to raise the issue with the superintendent. I'd also contact your local police precinct. Make them aware that this is an ongoing problem. They should have a community affairs liaison there. I assume you've already made 311 complaints. If your neighbor is a certain type, fighting fire with fire will inflame the situation. It may also undercut your case for help from your landlord. Good luck.

I love all the fight-fire-with-fire ideas! Decades ago, we had drug addict tenants in my building who played very loud rock every night from about 11pm to 4am. Every night.

Of course, then they'd sleep (pass out) until mid-afternoon. Until we and several other tenants found the perfect ammunition: one of the classical music radio stations was live broadcasting Wagner's Ring Cycle from Germany. And because of the 6-hour time difference, the broadcasts began in the morning...

Yup, Brunhilde and the gang at full blast! From multiple apartments. Problem solved - danke schoen.

Following up TS-B's suggestion.

Organize your neighbors. You all line up your speakers against the party-hearty neighbor's walls, all start playing different sorts of obnoxious music and talk radio at 6 AM, crank up the volume and go out for the day.

Repeat as necessary.

Make sure she's home, then crank up all ten of Mahler's symphonies and go out for the day.

Is it just my impression -- or has this serious problem drawn an unusually HUGE number of responses? I can't imagine having to live this way with no action from the landlord. I have twice left (polite) letters under the doors of offending, late-night-socializing-with-music neighbors and fortunately the letters worked.

I was definitely one of the lucky ones -- but this should absolutely not be tolerated. It might take some real city-wide action with the help of local representatives to enact some really strong statues.

If the noisy neighbor retaliates, how about a restraining order ?

David-Philly

Not to make light of a serious situation, but years ago my parents lived in the end unit of four townhomes and the home attached to theirs had two teenagers living in it who would regularly blast their music. This ended the day we turned my dad's large stereo speakers to the wall and blasted polka music at an epic level.
The other issue was one of the teens would smoke out on the deck and toss the cigarettes over to our deck, and this particular behavior stopped when one day I sat out on the deck and tossed the cigarettes back over to the kid without saying a word.

I was in this situation for EIGHT YEARS, tried it all and can tell you that nothing works if your landlord has no resolve - and most don't. Living like this can kill you dead (I was having some scary heart palpitations). At best it will rob you of happiness, your sanctuary in this world, and make your life very small as you stop entertaining, reading, cooking or eating at home, and on and on. I lived in a gorgeous, pricey apartment that was often unusable. To anyone going through this: if you've already spoken to the landlord and the problem is continuing, you're wasting your valuable Earth time doing anything further. Hoard your duckets and get out. There are rooms for rent all over the place if you need to save money for a while. Best idea of all? Go out to the 'burbs or leave NYC altogether. I stopped fighing for the right to be miserable and moved out of town. It has been the best decision I ever made.

Invite all your other neighbors to your own party and have them bang on her door and make a lot of noise when she's sleeping.

This is a real problem. As someone else commented, there is NOTHING more important than one's peace and quiet.

Here are some thoughts:

1. Keep up the pressure. Continue to contact the landlord and encourage him/her to work on your behalf. You are paying for the right to live a
peaceable existence within your own apartment.
2. I agree with Mr. Himmelstein and others here who have said you need to rally neighbors. They can't be too happy this situation either.
3. Use noise reduction CDs and/or headphones.
4. Take a break (worst on weekends?) and stay with friends/at a hotel.
5. Research measuring decibel levels and measure those coming from neighbor. Compare findings to NYC laws regarding ambient bar noise (for example). Noise levels above a certain level are illegal.

Good luck!

Even the hardiest of partiers must sleep sometimes.

And that is when you can have loud parties of your own.

Thank goodness I live in a co-op building. I've had the too loud music problem a few times, I just buzz down to the Doorman, he calls that apt. and tells them to lower the music, at least for me that has worked. If it didn't next would be an email or call to the office you dealt with when you purchased your apt, they can send a letter to the offending tenants stating that they have received complaints and point out that in the House Rules certain noises are not allowed after a certain time.

While pursuing appropriate legal fixes, a decent pair of noise cancellation headphones might provide some temporary relief.

Move asap.

I had a downstairs neighbor who was not noisy, but an aggressive, menacing drunk (and a psychotic one as well). The owners (they were a very large all-city corporation) sent managers to talk to the guy, but refused to kick him out. I got the feeling they felt sorry for him(they kept mentioning they wanted a relative to take care of him). The drunk harassed and threatened all of my neighbors (everyone was afraid of him) but I had the misfortune of living above the creep. I finally got enough money together to move. Frankly, I felt sorry for any future tenants. I had the police over more than a few times and they talked to the cretin as well, but they told me they couldn't do anything for me unless the guy got physical with me. Verbal harassment was not enough, apparently. I almost got a restraining order, but figured it would not do much good. The only way that guy was going to stop his escalating dangerous behavior was if the coroner carried him out.

I would spend the hours that I was being kept awake by this disrespectful person devising ways to silence them through fear and intimidation. Which is why I no longer live in an apartment building.

I'm always up for a good party. Could you provide me with the address and buzzer number here in a reply? ;)

By all means, pursue every legal avenue you have available. If you still find your living situation unlivable though, I would try peaceful, non-confrontational intervention instead. Please consult a lawyer before trying anything I'm about to mention.

I once lived in an apartment building with a very experienced and registered ham radio operator. I think signal intelligence was his hobby. Either way, you could tell when he was broadcasting or receiving because everything broadcast would go funky. Think 1950's antenna-ears funky.

Fast forward a few months. We had a new tenant move in a few floors down that loved to blast music into the enclosed brick space between units. Loud. Very loud. Sure enough though. Anytime the music was on super early or super late, you'd start hearing this inexplicable static interference. Sometimes it would be an entirely different song. In a few minutes, the music would turn off.

Problem solved.

I smell a rat. As another writer here noted, it's highly suspect that a landlord of rent-stabilized apartments is not seizing the opportunity to use the noise complaints to evict a nuisance tenant.

I bet Ms. All-Night Party Animal is employed by the landlord to make the other tenants miserable - and force them to leave. You can expect this to escalate to intimidation, destructive "repairs," etc.

Also odd that police claim they can't do anything - hmmm. I've had to call the police for similar situations in the past and they responded quickly - and the offenders, confronted by uniformed police, backed down. Eventually those individuals were evicted.

All-night riotous noise with banging on walls is usually a sign of criminal activity such as drug use & sales and/or prostitution. So next time you call police, make that your complaint - not just noise, but that you fear something dangerous and criminal is going on.

Be sure to make such calls anonymously. And get other tenants to make similar calls and complaints - don't go it alone.

Yes, do call 311 - and also your local city councilperson, media, etc. Document EVERYTHING.

Do NOT withhold your rent - that gives your landlord legal ammunition to evict you. And I doubt he cares about the loss of rent - he just wants all of you out. You and your fellow tenants need to organize a tenants' association, hire an attorney, and take LEGAL actions as a group.

Be smart about it and you CAN win - my group did.

I had a crazy super wbo lived in the basement below my 1st floor apartment. Every night at 8p, the music would start. By 11p, I'd call the cops. By 1a, they'd show up. By 115a, they'd be gone and the music would start again. They never once issued him a summons, even though they witnessed the disturbingly loud music. They offered 0% options. I went to housing court where the judge would sign an order stating no music after 9p, which the police just kind of laughed at when I'd show it to them and the landlord refused to acknowledge. I wrote to my landlord, my council member, my senator, HDP, the governor and the attorney general. Nobody did anything. Six months after I moved I got a form letter from the attorney general asking if I was still being harassed and could I provide proof of the harassment.

Is it possible that the nuisance has the blessing of the landlord, who would like to drive you out of your rent-stabilized apartment?

Landlord is not involved in noise complaints in NZ. The local government ( ccc or Christchurch City Council), have a Noise Complaints Officer you complain to. They investigate and issue a notice to offenders and if noise is repeated within 72 hours, the Noise Complaints Officer returns, with the police, and confiscates the noisy musical equipment from the offending household.

If it is a State House then the NZ Tenancy Act states you can complain to the government and the offending person/persons can lose their government State House if they are terrorising/disturbing the neighbours.

As a practical matter there's not much you can do.
Unless you enjoy and have time to spent for endless calls to the authorities and recording useless info , time the event occured etc....
No one has an serious incentive to stop this.
The number one complaint in NYC is noise and has been for decades.

In New Zealand, our local government (Council) has a Noise Complaint Officer. You'd put in a complaint to them and they'd investigate it and close down party. You could also ring the police in NZ and they stop noisey parties.
Lawyers must be milking in the money in the USA. I've never understood how USA citizens sue everyone. Better to have the local government and police deal with noise complaints then it costs the victim nothing.

If you cant beat em, join em...

Unless the law has changed, you cannot withhold rent in a rent stabilized NYC apartment without a court order. If you do so, you can be evicted. Get your neighbors to pool their resources and get an attorney. It will be worth it. Just because you have the good fortune of living in a rent stabilized apartment does not mean that you should have to put up with this kind of harassment.

Very surprising (and a bit suspicious) that in a city in which landlords supposedly seek every means possible to evict tenants from rare rent stabilized apartments, that the writer's landlord was blase about the loud tenant. I wonder whether there is a familial connection between the landlord and the loud tenant. In any event suing your landlord can have negative repercussions for future rental options.

thats why i bought the only unit on my floor that adjoins me,,

no common walls

no fuss

no noise

If I was getting subsidized through archaic rent regulations I would use the money saved each month to either soundproof the walls or just spend more time at my vacation home in the Hamptons paid in full by rent stabilization rent savings.

We had a similar problem many years ago when we lived in Brooklyn. We tried reasoning with the neighbors, calling the police, everything we could think of. We ended up moving!! Unfortunately because it's so expensive and such a hassle to take legal action, the neighbors can end up "winning the battle by default." I am so lucky now that my apartment is quiet. There is NOTHING more precious than peace and quiet.

Blast her back when you know she's sleeping or doing something quiet. A thumping bass can be quite annoying on the receiving end.Hopefully your neighbors will join in and she'll get the message.

Most New Yorkers are respectful of their neighbors. Keep the pressure on the wayward tenant in terms of voicing your complaints directly to her and the landlord. A tenant group, whether a formal association or informal group will also be a help. See if you can get a mediator to intervene, often City Councilmen can get you in contact with one for free.

If you're going to withhold your rent, first send your landlord a Notice to Cure, then put the rental amount in an escrow account. This clearly indicates that you are serious and in compliance with the law.

Doesn't the city take noise complaints?
When you ask a lawyer for his advice, it shouldn't be a surprise that the suggestions are all legal ones.

Another thought... you should dial 311 and report the complaint to the NYC housing dept. Landlords must respond or they will have consequences.

I would also suggest recording the noise/time of the night on your phone just in case it might come in useful as evidence against your landlord.

I'm a NYC landlord. I would never stand for a tenant having loud parties like this all hours of the night. It's not only bad for one neighboring tenant but it's also bad for the other tenants (my customers) and therefore my business. I agree with the suggestion of getting other tenants together and withholding rent. Even if no one joins, you should withhold rent. Don't worry about getting kicked out. The NYC housing courts will side with you (they hate landlords) and will do so a long time. And, if it did come to it where you could get kicked out (I doubt it), then just pay in full at that time. You have a lot of rights in a rent stabilized apartment. Don't let your landlord allow you to be treated this way!