Need advice from anyone who has dealt with annoying neighbors

[Archipelago]

I have no idea what to do about my neighbors. I'm very tolerant when it comes to things such as loud TVs and music when it's at a reasonable hour. However, this weekend, I just could not handle my next door neighbor anymore.

They started pounding on the wall at around 12:00am and it went on all the way to 6:00am. It wasn't light tapping. It was literally fists pounding on the wall continuously at different intervals throughout the night and it actually scared me. It wasn't directed at me because I was trying to sleep so I didn't have music or my TV on. From what I could understand, it sounded like there was a domestic dispute. The man and woman were shouting at each other over something regarding her brother. I tried to ignore it and drown out their noise with a sound machine for the first two hours. However, at around 2:00am I heard the woman shouting, "Stop touching me. Stop hitting me" so I decided to call the police. They arrived within a few minutes and when they pounded on their door, the man didn't answer until they threatened to break it down.

When he did answer, he gave them a hard time and they ended up handcuffing him and dragging him out into the hall. I heard the female officer suggest that he should drink less so I think he must have been drunk. When the cops questioned the female, she denied that he had hurt her and he said that they were just having loud sex. I'd been hearing them yelling for hours so I know that wasn't true. While the officers were there, the man asked if it had been the upstairs neighbors who called because they are also very loud people. Of course, they didn't tell him who made the call but they left after giving him a warning to keep the noise down.

After they left, the man was so angry about the cops being called that his behavior actually got worse. First of all, he shouted at the upstairs neighbors from his room saying that he was going to get them back. After that, he forced the woman to hand over her phone because he suspected that she had called or had one of her friends call. I don't know if he actually hit her or not but I heard her screaming again saying, "Stop touching me. Stop hitting me." I didn't know what to do at this point. I was afraid that if I called the cops again, he would hurt the woman again or retaliate against the upstairs neighbors. I didn't think the cops would do much either because the woman was defending him when they showed up. They kept shouting and pounding on the wall all night and into the morning until around 6:00am when I finally fell asleep. I don't know what to do when this happens again. I can't break my 1 year lease and moving into another unit is not an option. I also can't talk to the man or else he'll know that I made the call and I heard him shouting saying that he has guns hidden in his apartment. What should I do?

[canada's]

what about telling the landlord, so they can talk to him about it?

does he lease the apartment, or does someone else (if you know)? chances are, you aren't the only one annoyed/concerned.

[vintageromance]

I've dealt with a similar situation while staying in an apartment in LA with friends. After the second incident we called the cops, which basically ended the same way as with your neighbors - the woman defended him and they let him off with a warning.

After about the third or fourth night of sleep we lost we decided to record their argument, which included the guy saying that he was going to "blow someone's brains out" when he figured out who had called the cops the first time. We recorded them for a few nights, and then in the middle of another particularly bad fight we called the police and the landlord for the apartment complex, and let them both listen to the tapes on my roommate's computer before going up to confront the neighbors.

The guy was arrested and the landlord terminated their lease.

If I were you I would talk to a few of the other neighbors. Someone else must be hearing the exact same things you are hearing every night. You don't have to let anyone know that you were the one to report the noisy neighbors, but just ask everyone else their opinion on those two. Then I would get those people together and consult with the landlord or what have you, or if you could possibly tape them like my roommates and I did, that would help you back up your claim with valid proof about what they are doing.

Good luck! I know annoying neighbors can be really, really stressful and hard to deal with!

[madamefifi]

^^Excellent advice!