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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
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    1

    Default False Noise Complaints

    My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: Texas

    I live in Dallas, Tx. I moved into my apartment May 13 of this year. Since then, my downstairs neighbors keep complaining about "noise" I am making. They claim it sounds like a "bowling alley". She even complained that there was an 18 hour period out of a 24 hour period where my apartment sounded like a bowling alley. I know she is exaggerating. I live alone with two cats. My husband is in the military and is away from home! I'm not doing anything out of the ordinary in my apartment. Plus I got to school for 4-5 hours per day. Then I work for 2-3 hours a day. And I sleep during normal hours, 10-6ish. I do have a washer/dryer (which was supplied by the landlord), a dishwasher, and normal household items. Management has called me twice in the past 3-4 days trying to solve the problem. The first time they called, I told them that unless this neighbor documents the times the "so called noises" are occurring, there is not much that I can do. However, they felt the need to call yet again, and the manager stated the next time my neighbor complains about noise she is going to enter her downstairs apartment and see if the noise level is reasonable. Both of our apartments are next to a stairwell, and people are constantly coming up and down them, which is noisy. Now, as a result of management calling twice, I feel very apprehensive about what I can and cannot do in my own apartment. I feel that during daytime hours, I should be able to live in my apartment. I am a musical theatre major and I feel as though I should be able to practice dance, sing, etc. during the day. (Since I moved in, I have not been dancing daily, maybe once or twice, and during reasonable hours.) From what I understand in the Texas Penal Code, as long as my noise level does not exceed 85 decibels, I am well within my rights. I even purchased a decibel meter for my apartment and blasted my TV at about, 60% and was at the 74 decibel level. Which is still under 85. I would really like to put a stop to management calling me and so on as it is a waste of my time, cell phone minutes, and sanity. How can I put an end to this situation? I cannot move out (15 month lease), nor do I want to. I feel as though this woman is very picky. It's also very frustrating because I try to be courteous of the people around me, and it seems like this woman just can't be happy. Any advice for my increasingly irritating situation?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Toledo, OH
    Posts
    16,307

    Default Re: False Noise Complaints

    However, they felt the need to call yet again, and the manager stated the next time my neighbor complains about noise she is going to enter her downstairs apartment and see if the noise level is reasonable.
    Encourage your landlord to do so. There's certainly no way you can tell on your own what it sounds like in your neighbor's apartment, and we can't tell you if the noise level is tolerable, either.

    Do you have thick carpet? Decent padding? Lack of these can certainly make a little noise sound like a lot of noise.

    I am a musical theatre major and I feel as though I should be able to practice dance, sing, etc. during the day.
    From a "be considerate" point of view, you should not be practicing dance if you have people below you. Consider asking to be moved to a ground floor unit, or reserve studio time at school. It might be perfectly legal to practice dance in your upstairs apartment, but to do so when you know that it is disturbing to the people below you is entitled and incredibly rude, and just BEGS the neighbors to complain.

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