So we had these people move in next to us about three months ago. Have been getting along fine, nice people for the most part and we keep to ourselves. We live in row townhouses and have to interact quite often.
Now that the weather is nice most weekends they are out in their back yard drinking and at least one night during the week. Hasn’t been a problem until last night when at 11:30pm they decided to start setting off fireworks and one woman was totally wasted and screaming loudly (even though they were telling her to shut up constantly). Loud until 1pm even after I went out to ask them to please respect all of us and quit with the fireworks (they set off two more after I did this - loud ones). Oh, and their four year old granddaughter was out running around at 12pm - nice. I had a 1/2 marathon in the morning and got about five hours of sleep as a result. They haven’t been this bad up until last night.
Anyone have a best way to deal with this? Our property manager is AWOL and “doesn’t like to get involved” so he would be no help at all. They also “party” with a couple from three doors down who are constantly over there. I know we’re not the only ones pissed because on either side there are couples with kids. Last night was only the second time they have been totally disrespectful to everyone else, but to me that’s one time too many.
I have a feeling if I just try to talk to them they are going to tell me to piss off, although one guy is respectful, quiet and likes us. His wife is a fat nightmare who screams at the kids and drinks four to five nights a week.
Will police actually come if you call them? My first thought is to start calling the police every time they get loud after 11pm but I don’t want to escalate anything because we have to live next to them. Anyone had to deal with this/had successful solutions?
And before you say it, moving is not an option right now.
You’ve got to start somewhere and it’s much better to start with a civil conversation than with calling the cops on them. Explain the problem without being mean and without accusing them of anything. Ask them nicely if they can please keep the noise down after 11pm. If that doesn’t work, then you escalate to the next option, but this is what you have to do first and foremost.
I think Dawn’s advice is pretty good. It sounds as if they have a drinking problem, which means that they’re not likely to stop their drinking. They probably start out with the intentions of being quiet, but once the alcohol hits lose control.
Couple of questions. Do you think they have hangovers on the mornings after they party? Do you get up early? Do you have a stereo?
It may take police intervention. Maybe take video over a long enough period that it shows quite a few different times. Take it to the police and ask for help.
You’ve got to start somewhere and it’s much better to start with a civil conversation than with calling the cops on them. Explain the problem without being mean and without accusing them of anything. Ask them nicely if they can please keep the noise down after 11pm. If that doesn’t work, then you escalate to the next option, but this is what you have to do first and foremost.
I tried that last night and got ignored (and heard some comments after I went inside of course) but they were already drunk. I’m thinking a civil conversation with the two main residents is a good idea and then we’ll see what happens. The video idea is good as well.
I feel for ya, man…difficult neighbors suck, having been there once before. I agree with Dawn…start civil and nice and then escalate if it doesn’t get better. Much better to ask nicely a couple (or three) times, and then move on to the threats (such as saying you’ll call the cops the next time it happens), all the time staying calm and non-hostile.
I feel your pain on this holiday weekend. I live in a small lot neighborhood and the people behind me have a pool where they love to get drunk, yell, set off fireworks, and blast the latest pop tunes well into the late hours. Oh, and they are also big Harley fans and love to pull the bike out of the garage at 1am to rev it up for their friends. I just don’t get it. When this first began I expected to see high school or college students, not middle age working folk in their 40’s/50’s who should understand that they have many neighbors who have kids or are elderly retired folks and go to be at 10 or 11 at the latest.
I’ve had a couple of verbal interactions with the owner outside of party hours, and he is a total asshole. I know that going the “asking them nicely” route would be a dead end based on my interactions with him when he was sober and not in party mode. I’ve called the police on them about five times in the last two years. These being the times when it was just too much. The good thing about the police is that they (the cops) keep who made the complaint confidential. There are many houses in the nearby vicinity that could have called the cops on these tools so I’m not worried about retribution from them. Perhaps it’s a little passive aggressive to call the cops from inside my house, but it has cut down on the late hours noise issue.
If that doesn’t work, I’ve also plotted payback as was recommended by others. Mowing the lawn, weedwacking, or pressure washing at 7am on a post party morning would be wonderful for their desire to sleep in late with a hangover.
You have already asked once, call your local p.d and ask about the noise ordinance and if they are going to enforce it. I would issue citations to the drunks and the landlord if it is a continuing problem. You could also contact child protective services about the child running around when everybody is drunk at midnight. I have some new neighbors who are renting a house that has not sold for 3 years(because they could never afford it) and have pissed me off already with the same stuff. I asked the first time and when they turned it up again I called the Sheriffs office. The nice thing for me is that if my dept. does not issue citations then I will start. I was thinking around $1000 would be a good starting point. As you can see when you are a nuisance to everyone around you, the gloves come off. Good luck.
I feel for you—neighbors like that suck and may you hate being home. First though, I would consider that being a holiday weekend in the US or at the very least, an early summer party, it really isn’t that strange that someone might be going at it a bit harder than normal. I would give it a couple of weeks and if it continues, then a talk is in order. Of course, I would wait until the next day—nothing worse that getting into it with a drunk person. The key is to not get pissy with them or rude even if they are the ones who are in the wrong.
Then if it happens again after 10 or 11 PM, I would start calling the police—if you take this step, make sure that you have nothing that will come back to haunt you like your own late night dinner parties, visitors parking in front of their house etc…
Honestly, frequency is a part of it: if it is sporadic enough that you can just grin and bear it, then do it. If it is habitual, you may not have a choice.
Also, have you considered moving?
You can pick your friends but you can’t pick your neighbors. Good neighbors are like gold. Bad neighbors are hell.
My neighbor is in bed by 8:30-9:00 PM every night and up and about by 5:30 AM, even on weekends. I rarely go to bed before 11:00 PM and don’t normally get up before 7:00-8:00 AM, sometimes even later on weekends. We have an agreement - he doesn’t run his lawnmower at 7:00 AM and I don’t make noise in the evenings after his bed time. We were both guilty of this but came to an agreement after we discussed it.
I’d have a talk with your neighbor. Be civil and likely they will be also.
You’ve got to start somewhere and it’s much better to start with a civil conversation than with calling the cops on them. Explain the problem without being mean and without accusing them of anything. Ask them nicely if they can please keep the noise down after 11pm. If that doesn’t work, then you escalate to the next option, but this is what you have to do first and foremost.
And document EVERYTHING. Ever conversation, every email, phone call whatever. It will most certainly help in the future.
Unless you can record the conversations, that would be even better.
Simple, the next morning (while you know they are in bed) remove the muffler from your lawn mower. Mow the side yard over and over and over again. Once that is done, if you have some PlexiGlass it is a fine time to use a circular saw to cut it into smaller pieces. Of course it is also a good time to cut the valve stems off of their car tires with a wire cutter.
I called the police on my neighbors twice. The noise ordinance here starts at 10 and his parties go on all night. The first time I let it go until 11:30, then called. The next time I let it go to until 11:00. Now the loudness stops at 10 exactly. He still parties, but he turns the music down and tries to keep guests quiet. Sometimes someone gets drunk and makes some noise, but for one idiot I’m not going to call the cops.
I never talked to him, I just called. No need for him to even know it was me that called.
The neighbor behind my old decided to completely gut and sell the house. When it didn’t sell he decided to rent it to 3 college kids. Well 4 days after moving in it was screaming beer pong party in the backyard at midnight. Knowing from my college days what happens if you don’t cut this off quickly (my God we tortured the neighbors) I went and has talk with them. Just reminded them it was a Thursday and I had a new born inside. Got some dirty looks but they toned it down. Few weeks later another blow out which I let go until 1 am when a JZ concert started in my bedroom. Didn’t hesitate, got the cops on the phone and they were there in no time and shut it down. After that they still played beer pong and bbq’d but they always took it inside by 10 - 11 and pretty much kept it to the weekends.
Oh, I hate my neighbors. I seriously have no clue lives there because people are coming and going all the time. The previous owner of the house decided to move in with his elderly mother and rent out the house next to me. Man, I have some redneck neighbors next door now. They haven’t done much to me but they are definitely loud and these are mostly people that you’ll cross the street when you see them walking towards you. I unwittingly got them back this morning. I heard a knock on my door at about 10am and the neighbor kid comes over (around 18-20 or so) and says “Can you move your sprinkle so that it’ll stop watering the inside of my car.” Oops.
Bad neighbors seem to be a universal thing. Most of my neighbors suck for various reasons. Lady next door has let her house deteriorate markedly. Rarely mows her lawn. Gutters fell off a couple years ago. Water pools along the foundation. Roof is failing. Front screen door fell off and laid in the yard for 6 weeks. Doesn’t really impact us until we go to sell our place and prospective buyers wonder what the hell is going on over there…
Deaf lady two doors down has a dog that barks uncontrollably. She can’t hear it, because she’s deaf.
Rich dad bought his college-aged son a house across the street for him to live in while he was in school, which turned into party central. Junior didn’t quite understand that his neighbors didn’t want to live next door to a frat-house wannabe. A few calls to the police and that quieted down a bit. Actually, noise was never the huge problem for me, it was all the dickwads who parked cars up and down the street and would often block in my driveway. So we’d come out at 6am to leave for work and some broken down shitbox car would be blocking the driveway, either we’d have to go bang on the door and roust the drunks (I only did this once), or call the police, have them come out, and tow the car (I did this a few times – until they figured it out and stopped parking us in). He’s actually gotten a bit better with age and is trending toward a respectable neighbor now.
The lady across the street is nice, but dates guys who like to sit around her house and drink. One of her men came over with his kid, then he decides to impress the kid and started shooting off lots of fireworks. Of course, they do this in the front yard (why is it always the front yard?) and they aimed toward at MY house. So we’re sitting in the back yard and bottle rockets start falling around us like we’re under attack. I go over and tell the guy to shoot the stuff over HIS house (well, his girlfriends) and he looks at me like I’m a real jerk or something.
I’m sure my neighbors freaking hate me, because I keep my house looking really nice, yard always cut, shrubs trimmed, no junk laying around.
Anyway, if I were you, I’d look up the noise statute, paste a copy on their front door, and start calling the police at EVERY infraction. Sooner or later they’ll figure it out.
Overbrook area not far from St. Laurent Mall. Since we moved here with 3 weeks notice it was quick and convenient, plus the property manager swore up and down he was trying to rent to a better quality of people, which I believe.
I realized as well the property manager was away that weekend which is quite common. I guess my best solution is to call the cops if they get drunk and rowdy again. Maybe a visit will make them realize how annoying they are being.
Funny thing is I lived in a frat house in university but we were quite respectful to our neighbours - even giving them movie gift certificates for nights we had parties so they could at least go out without any cost. It always really helped with not having cops arrive after 11.
