Help - Noisy 2nd Floor Tenant!!!
I am a landlord of a "top and bottom" duplex. My 1st floor tenant complains all the time about the upstairs being so noisy. She isn't complaining that they are playing loud music, the dogs barking, or they are srcreaming - They are just walking around and she says "It feels like they are inside MY apartment"...
Is there anything I can do to make it a little (or a lot) less noisy to the downstairs apartment. I thought about putting a heavy carpet in, but I have really nice hardwoon floors on the 2nd floor and I don't want to cover them up.
Any Help Here??? I can't think of ANYTHING to do...
Thanks!
Matt
Okay, what are the options...
- Say goodbye to the hardwood floors and put in a carpet on the second floor. Maybe it's possible to put down a thick rug that can be quickly rolled up when the downstairs tenant moves out.
- Say goodbye to the current downstairs tenant and try to find a hearing impaired tentant for the downstairs apartment.
- Check on the rehab forum and see if there's a way to insulate the ceiling? (crazy idea)
I'm sure someone else will have some much better ideas. But that's all I could come up with off the top of my head.
Good luck
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Good Luck
It's funny you're having this problem.
I can definitely relate.
For six months, I've had the same problem, except my tenant lives downstairs, I live upstairs, and her stomping was driving me insane.
I've never heard anyone walk so loudly. When she "walks," it sounds like she's standing at the top of a ladder and tossing thick encyclopedias down on the floor. Whomp! Whomp! Whomp!
What's worse is she's up at 5 a.m., and she was waking my wife and I up every morning. We had to start going to bed when she went to bed to be on her schedule, so we could get some rest.
Total nightmare. I was hoping it would just stop but it never did.
Finally, I got so fed up, I had a talk with her. It was awkward telling her "you're walking too loud. Walk softer!"
So I started the conversation with compliments, "you're a great tenant and my wife and I love having you here, but..."
I actually rehearsed the speech beforehand because it felt like such a weird request.
Anyway, I told her about the problem and about changing our sleep schedules and she said she felt like an ass.
She said she'd try to keep it down and she has. So far, so good.
My point is, before you go laying down rugs, you need to have a talk with the tenants upstairs. Actually it may even be better to have your tenant speak with them directly. That way it's more personable and genuine, and it doesn't sound like she's bitching to you about them.
Speaking from experience, things can deteriorate quickly between tenants if they start ratting on each other to the landlord.
But ff that doesn't work, then you need to get involved.
Hell, no landlord wants to start playing referee, but somebody has to lay down the law.
Good luck.
[addsig]