A little peace

Lest you think I only complain to hear myself “talk”, there are times when it’s absolutely imperative to voice one’s grievances. There are rewards to that, as well. Case in point – our upstairs neighbors and the issue with the squeaky floorboards. Well, after getting no resolution to the matter through local management, I went above their heads, so to speak, and emailed a letter to the property manager, as well as copied the regional director, neither of which work on the premise. After not being able to sleep past 8 am on Saturday due to the noise, I had enough.

This morning I got a call from the property manager who completely agreed with all my points. She apologized for the problems we’ve been having, and assured me that maintenance will be fixing the floorboards within the next seven days, whether the neighbors like it or not. As she pointed out, they do not own the building and cannot refuse the work to be done. Furthermore, although she did not provide me with a figure, she did say that they will be refunding a portion of our rent due to the inconvenience. Shortly thereafter, the on-premise manager called me and stated that even though we’d be happy with them fixing just the hallway and bedroom floors, they are going to do the entire apartment so we shouldn’t hear any squeaking at all. I am so happy! I may actually get to sleep when I want to from now on.

In case you’re curious, I’ve pasted the actual letter I sent here …

July 5, 2003

Dear Ms. So-and-so,

I am writing to you regarding my frustration over a maintenance issue involving our upstairs neighbors. To make a long story short, over the past several months, the ceiling in our apartment has become very creaky. We’ve lived in the community for over a year now, but we never had this issue when we moved in. It seems to have developed only in the past several months. For awhile we just suffered through the noise, having to listen to every step our upstairs neighbors made, because we did not think anything could be done to stop it. However, when I went into our management office one day in late May, I mentioned in passing how loud the creaking noise was, and the girl behind the desk suggested I put in a maintenance request. As it was explained to me, the maintenance crew could go into our upstairs neighbor’s apartment, pull up the carpeting, and tighten the floorboards. So I submitted my request, hopeful that we’d find a quick resolution to the problem. Unfortunately, we did not.

Mr. So-and-so, one of the maintenance men, explained to me that he spoke to our neighbors, and they refused to let them pull up the carpeting. He even offered to replace their carpeting at the time since they’ve lived there for quite awhile, but again they refused. I was told that our only other option was to pinpoint the creaking and have maintenance cut holes in our ceiling to tighten the floorboards from below. I have a serious problem with this, not only because it’s difficult to pinpoint the location of each squeak when it feels like it’s coming from everywhere all at once, but also because it is far more work for the maintenance crew to perform. It would also cost the crew more time and money for materials than simply pulling up the carpeting in the neighbors’ apartment.

What I don’t understand is why the neighbors have any say in the matter. It is my understanding, according to our lease, that maintenance has the right to enter anyone’s apartment at any time, provided they give 24 hours notice. So why are our neighbors being given an option to refuse this work being performed? Does it not also state in our lease that every resident is entitled to ‘peaceful enjoyment’, and I quote, “You agree not to make loud noises, disturbances, odors, nuisance or do anything else which interferes with or disturbs the rights, comfort or convenience of other residents …”? Granted, the neighbors cannot help that the floorboards have become loose over time, but considering the fact that they are now aware of the issue, and still refuse to help rectify it, they have become a nuisance. If there is any doubt to the validity of my account, I invite you to stop by at 10 pm and 6 am to experience the noise yourself.

I am appalled to begin with that our neighbors could not bother to be inconvenienced one day in order to resolve this, but yet we are expected to be inconvenienced every day by the noise they create. I do not exaggerate in the least bit when I say that our neighbors are home more often than not and are constantly walking back and forth from their living quarters to the bedroom. I have already gone so far as to adjust my sleeping schedule around theirs, and have also changed my work schedule because I could not sleep past the time when they wake up. Now it has gotten to the point where we cannot even sleep in on the weekends because they are up walking around by 8:30 am like they are training for a marathon.

Furthermore, we are disappointed that our only recourse is to cut up our ceiling to get at the problem when by doing so there is no guarantee that the creaking noise would cease.

I feel that as a resident whom always pays their rent in full and on time, this is a great disservice to me and my boyfriend. We are to the point that if this matter is not resolved in a timely and sensible manner, we will have to resort to finding a new community to live in. This would be unfortunate because other than this particular issue, management has never been anything short of wonderful. However, we cannot continue to live like this, nor should we.

We are willing to be flexible in this manner, and while the entire ceiling needs repair, we would be satisfied if maintenance could fix the floorboards in the neighbors’ bedroom and hallway leading to the bedroom, so that we can get a good night’s sleep going forward. We appreciate your quick response to our concerns. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Me