Dear Dancing Roomie...

[pklemica]

Ok, so not quite a roomie, but: my upstairs neighbor plays Dance Dance Revolution or some similar jumping game at all hours. I've tried to ask him to keep it down several times - approaching him not even a large proportion of the times he's done this, and only ever when he's up to it on weeknights past midnight - only to be met with what I'm frankly interpreting as hostility. He will not agree to stop; the first time I tried to talk he wouldn't even acknowledge me as I was knocking on and pleading through his window over the span of 1-3am. Any time I do try to ask it seems that things just get worse for a while. I've even talked to my landlord, who seems shocked at his behavior and has spoken to him about it, but he's still at it... more often than ever in my mind, although in all honesty at this point it may just be that I've been dealing with this since at least August and am starting to lose perspective/patience.

I've found the Somerville Noise Ordinances here, and am wondering to what extent they apply to my situation. I am particularly intrigued by 9-116(17), which prohibits
"the operation of any device that creates vibration which is above the vibration perception threshold of an individual at or beyond the property boundary"
among other things. Do you know, would jumping around violently on someone else's ceiling for long stretches, shaking the building enough that it bothers my roomies even at the other end of the apartment, qualify as such vibration? I'm worried this "device" reference actually only means not using jackhammers or something like that.

Perhaps more of y'all would be familiar with the more general: what happens if you call the police about a noise disturbance? I'm not planning to do this without further conversations with my roomies, the tenant in question (if he'll talk), and the landlord, but ultimately if he refuses to stop waking me this is something I'm considering. I don't have a decibel meter, though, and while the activity in question is clearly a nuisance (it wakes me up Every. Single. Time. and at this point I'm anxious enough about it that even once he's stopped it takes hours for me to get back to sleep), I am not sure just how much weight that carries once you've made a For-Serious Complaint. Do I risk getting in trouble if they determine he's within his noise-making rights? How is such a determination made? Have you had any experience with either end of a noise complaint, and if so, how did it go?

For what it's worth, I used to quite enjoy DDR.

Comments

[magickcat.livejournal.com]

I have been dealing with something similar.
I spoke to an advocate from Greater Boston Legal Services and he said that everyone has the legal right to what is called "quiet enjoyment" which means just that.
He's being a jerk, and completely unreasonable.
Waking someone up multiple times, over many months, with no change (aside from getting worse) after multiple requests, is NOT "quiet enjoyment" by any means.
I say you have been more than patient.
I wouldn't advise getting a bullhorn... okay, yes I would.

[dial-zero.livejournal.com]

Yup, "quiet enjoyment" is something the landlord is supposed to ensure. Keep making, and documenting, complaints to the landlord.

You can also call the cops; it may or may not be effective. I called the cops once (in JP) because someone was blasting an action movie so loud that it was keeping people *in multiple buildings* of our apartment complex awake, and he couldn't hear/ignored people ringing his buzzer and yelling at him to STFU. The cops managed to get through to him somehow and he hasn't done it since. But I think they only came because it was a slow night for crime.

[ron_newman]

I think you need to lean much harder on your landlord to have the problem tenant evicted.

[grapefruiteater.livejournal.com]

Evicting a tenant is difficult, especially in Massachusetts. When I had a similar problem with a recalcitrant neighbor who wouldn't stop smoking downstairs after repeated requests, conversations, and confrontations, a cease & desist from the property manager's attorney did the trick. And yes, this girl was every bit as crazy as the OP's neighbor appears to be. You have no idea. The property manager (who acted on behalf of the landlord in our case) was ready to continue with legal proceedings if necessary, but it didn't prove to be necessary.

[intuition-ist.livejournal.com]

either that, or start throwing tennis balls at the ceiling at 5 am, and when he comes down to complain, just stare blankly at him. or don't bother to answer the door.

:>

[nomacmac.livejournal.com]

Is there a circuit breaker in a common area that you could get out of before he gets there? Not that I'm suggesting anything....

[ocschwar.livejournal.com]

I think you mean "iIs there a circuit breaker in a common area that you could use for a detailed discussion of his behavior?"

Active aggressive is always better.

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

Next time he does it after 10 PM, call the police. There's no need to fret about it or talk to anyone about it any further. You've been far more polite and patient than he deserves. They will pay him a visit and have a nice friendly chat and tell him to keep it down, and the chances are quite good that after that he won't wake you up playing his game anymore.

[elements.livejournal.com]

We had a similar problem with our most recent ex-downstairs neighbors. (With them it was mainly music - incuding things like coming home at 3:30 am on a weeknight to start blaring a boom box and having a party in the back yard.) To some extent we just had to suffer through, because the police don't actually often show on a noise complaint, and the neighbors would start up again as soon as the police left.

We did eventually involve the landlord, who was horrified, and said we should have spoken up sooner. That did help some. We kept the landlord in the loop, and things did improve to a more tolerable level most of the time. And when their lease was up, they were gone.

Each of the neighborhood police stations also has a neighborhood officer, and they are well equipped to help negotiate issues like this between neighbors. I didn't end up needing to go that far, once the noise went from being 3 or 4 nights a week to once or twice a month and when I knew they were leaving. But a friend spoke to the West Somerville officer on my behalf once when I was at my wits end, right before we involved our landlord, and it was very encouraging.

I can probably dig up specific sections of noise ordinance etc. if you want - I recall quoting them extensively in emails.

Good luck! Having lived the horror of regular sleep deprivation by thoughtless noisy neighbors, I hope you find a solution ASAP.

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

i like the circuit breaker idea.

log the disturbances. date/time. call the police. log that, take names, log if if they show...

call the landlord when you call the police. log it.

if you have to make more than 7 calls in a week, TELL your landlord to fix it. quiet enjoyment means you COULD file complaints with appropriate city/state boards. imply this...

keep a paper trail/log on everything. if need be, it can be the fuel for breaking your lease cleanly if you need it.

#

[swingchickie.livejournal.com]

this. showing your landlord a record of all the dates and late times that your neighbor is doing this will illustrate just how big a problem this is. your landlord has a responsibility to take care of this, and to get rid of that tenant if they're violating the rules.

[intuition-ist.livejournal.com]

yep, this.

[koshmom.livejournal.com]

Is there anything that can be done to soften the stomping? If they're using some video game (Dance Dance Revolution) or maybe even a piece of fitness equipment (WII Fit, or some stepper exercise equipment, etc) they are stomping in the same place over and over. Perhaps a padded rug, given in the spirit of goodwill and silence, may solve the issue without becoming too confrontational. At this point, you might want to have a mediator (landlord, police?) propose the padding.

[smammy]

I really like this piece of advice for dealing with loud night-owls: If they're bothering you when you're sleeping, figure out when they're sleeping and talk to them about the problem then. (if they're up at 3 AM playing DDR, they're probably still asleep at 9 or 10, y'know?) If you wake them up a few times they might think twice.