What do you do when you have the worst neighbors on the planet? (Nope, not a joke, I'm actually searching for an answer to this question)
We've lived in this beautiful apartment for almost 2 months and come to realize very quickly that our upstairs neighbors (3 story building, we're on 2nd floor) are the most disrespectful, annoying, rude, loud people we've ever heard. (Heard only because we've never actually met them).
The walls of this complex are very thin. We hear EVERYTHING. Our neighbors are clearly young because they are having parties all the time. We moved in the day after Thanksgiving and they partied all weekend. If there's a sports game on, they are screaming at the TV, at each other because they don't agree about a call, they jump around, swear (yes, Brandon was introduced to a few "choice" words this weekend thanks to them), and they smoke inside the apartment which is supposed to be a "no-no". We know they are smoking because if our heater is on we get the fumes pumped throughout our entire house.
This complex has a "noise patrol" number that we are to call if people are being loud. When we moved in we were told that this was taken seriously and that after three calls the complex would start eviction procedures. I liked that a lot because at our last place there was a man who constantly played his profane, obscene music very loudly, and nothing was ever done about it.
Since we moved in, I've called 8-10 times; including twice this weekend. If it sounds like I'm the bad neighbor, let me continue to express that if someone is talking loud enough (or watching TV loud enough) that I can hear exactly what is going on, you're being too loud. And I only get really upset when it happens at night and keeps Brandon from sleeping. The noise usually happens right over his bedroom.
"Noise patrol", the term used loosely, simply writes down the complaint, and says they'll send a patrol/ night guard to the apartment and ask them to be quiet. The first time I called, the man who answered told me they get complaints about that apartment all the time. After receiving a complaint, they are then supposed to email the complaint to our landlords so they are aware of what is going on. I've discovered that this rarely happens, so the system is completely ineffective and pointless. I don't understand why apartment complexes make these rules if they're not going to enforce them.
Anyway on to the part you're not going to believe.
This afternoon Brandon decided that he didn't want to behave and was put into a "time out". He got angry, I got upset, he slammed a few doors, he screamed....he's 3. This is nothing new; we've had behavior issues for a while and we've been doing our best to figure it all out.
Half an hour after the time out I get a loud knock on my door. I look through the peep hole and see a policewoman outside. I open the door and she asks me if I'm the person who lives here....yes. She asks if there's anyone else here....my son Brandon (who is now peacefully playing on the computer). She asks if anyone else lives here....my husband, who's at work. (At about this point I thought she was going to tell me that Nick had been in some kind of accident)
I was told that there was a welfare complaint called in about our apartment. I didn't know what that meant and was told that someone called in because they heard a child screaming, doors slamming, and an adult yelling. I told her that he had been in a time out and was slamming the doors. She was looking around from the entryway, skeptical, so I invited her in; I have nothing to hide. She walks over to Brandon and starts talking to him. The officer asked Brandon questions about why he was being so loud, what had happened, and he verified my story since I was telling the truth.
Standing at the couch, watching the officer basically interrogate my 3 year old, I tried very hard not to cry. I knew EXACTLY who had called this in, and was MORTIFIED and SO ANGRY. Brandon thought it was cool, asking about her gun, and radio, and if she had a police car. During their conversation dispatch called wanting to know what was going on. The officer let them know that the "code 4" was nothing to worry about. As she was leaving, she commented that these walls are very thin. I told her that we've had issues with our neighbors making too much noise and that I think they called.
She left and I just broke into tears. ARE YOU ABSOLUTELY KIDDING ME? I have NEVER called the actual, real police on my neighbors and now it seems like they have figured out who has been calling noise patrol on them and retaliated in a big way. I am now scared to death the DISCIPLINE MY CHILD because who knows if they will call the police again! Now, I don't have proof that it was my upstairs neighbors, but I'm also not stupid. Like I said, Brandon has been doing this since we moved here; why call now unless you are trying to make a point?
I can't deal with this stress. Our landlord isn't going to do anything about the noise problem, she didn't seem concerned that the police were called, and doesn't care that they are breaking other rules by smoking in the apartment. The only way to solve this is to move to another apartment inside the complex.
There's an apartment available the beginning of February. I'm going to "scout" the place out, ask if there have been noise complaints (I'll ask the neighbors and the current residents of the apartment we'll be moving into), and what the general atmosphere is like. I DON'T WANT TO MOVE AGAIN, but these are conditions I just can't live with anymore. I WILL NOT have a police officer show up at my door again.
We'll be able to move slowly, so we won't have to pack everything up. I'm just really upset that our landlords won't do more to fix this. We aren't the people breaking the rules; make the people who are causing the problems move, not us!
The situation completely sucks, and is unfair, but at least we can move instead of being stuck living under these horrible people. And the silver lining is that now Brandon believes that if he screams and slams doors the police will show up and he'll get into trouble! I'll be using that belief to help break him of the bad behavior.
