Apartment Living

CaptainOats

Hi all,

Have been renting a lovely apartment for almost the last year with my OH. We're really happy here and hoped to stay for another year once our lease comes up for renewal...

We just have two small problems that have a potentially big impact though so just wondering if anybody has any advice?..

The first is that when we moved in we noticed that our neighbours were leaving their rubbish (incl. dirty nappies) outside their apartment door sometimes for days at a time instead of just bringing it down to the communal area in the basement. We didn't want to insult them so called the property management company who sent a letter to every apartment asking everybody not to do this.... no change. Around Christmas time I came home and just got so annoyed that I put a note under their door asking them nicely to stop...and they did! But now they have started again and as it is summer and the hallway has no openable window the place stinks. When we walk past our front door the smell is just wafting in. It's really unhygienic and i'm kind of afraid that it will attract rats or mice which is not a nice thought!

The second problem is that new tenants have just moved into the apartment above us and are serious night owls. I don't want to sound realllly boring but I work very long hours, as does my OH and so I do tend to go to bed at about 11 during the week as I am up for work before 7. It's been about three weeks now and every night I have been lying awake at about 4:30 listening to the person moving furniture, doing what sounds like exercise and generally running around. I don't know what to do.... or if we can even actually do anything. Other tenants lived there before and we never heard any noise...especially not at 4:30 in the morning...so just wondering if anybody has any advice...

Thanks a million :eek:

ricman

Do not renew the lease , in future rent a top floor corner apartment, less neighbours =less noise.or rent a large flat,
eg http://www.daft.ie/searchrental.daft?id=871766
i notice some apartments have very bad sound insulation.
you could write an letter to person above you, could you reduce the noise levels after 11pm,they may not realise they are annoying anyone.Read the lease,is there a clause re excessive noise in it, or disturbing the neighbours.
MOST units have never been checked for sound insulation.

Oliver1985

I bought a top floor apartment with no one on each side of me im sort of in the corner its great not here a peep!!! Would maybe sort your problem thats horrible leaving that gear in the hall!!! Just keep at the management company if they are renting they can come down on them harder!

ricman

I think you,d be foolish to renew the lease ,those people are weird, who stays up till 4am in the morning?ITS a renters market ,theres loads of great flats for rent .Try and get top floor flat.

SoupyNorman

You're lucky in the sense you are coming to the end of your lease. Many folk get caught out and maybe have these types of problems from day one of their lease.

Move in my opinion, there is a serious glut of rental properties on the market and you can have the pick of the litter in most cases. I understand the hassles involved in moving but It's taken me and my OH 3 moves to find the perfect place!

On a side note, who in their right mind puts dirty nappies in the hallway?? There is seriously something wrong with that. OP, I think you need to start taking pictures of that and get the management company to deal with the tenants directly.

Rashers23

Do not renew..I am currently moving out of an apartment to a house and cant wait to never see the apartment again..our upstairs neighbours also are horrendously noisy and they turn on the washing machine at 2am which wakes the whole place!
To be fair it is probably the poor sound insulation that is primarily at fault...but issues that arise in apartments with rubbish, car vandalism etc will never go away.

tman

The one thing you can't change about your flat is your neighbours... I wouldn't renew the lease either tbh

We've got a family of chavs in the flat below us - screaming baby most of the time, mum screaming out the window at her kids playing on the street every few minutes, then the arguments in the early hours of the morning...
There's no way to change them, and the flat has its own set of problems so we might as well just move out as soon as our lease is up

Tefral

Sounds like life living in Spencer dock without the nappy problems..

I wouldnt renew your lease OP, theres loads of properties out there to rent, have a look around.

ricman

My friend has a top floor apartment,i told her to take it,was offered ground floor unit first .She never hears a sound ,the block was only finished ,building complete in 2009 .There should be a rule in lease ,no loud noise,washing machine ,loud tvs after 11pm.The sound insulation is very good, ie some builders can get it right.

Del2005

ricman wrote: »

.There should be a rule in lease ,no loud noise,washing machine ,loud tvs after 11pm.T

The problem with the bolded bit is that most apartments are on night saver electricity so the clothes washing and dishwasher have to be run at this time, you pay a higher standing charge for night saver so have to use it.

All the others are already in most apartment complex house rules just never enforced, like no wooded floors! I couldn't believe the amount of apartments that have wooden floors when I was looking.

CaptainOats

Thanks for the responses everyone!

I called the management company on Friday and they said they would write a letter but I asked them to phone instead if at all possible and they said they would try.... we weren't here last night but there wasn't a peep on Friday so fingers crossed that will sort everything out!

As for the ppl across the way, if it continues I might just put another note under their door seeing as that worked the last time!

Fingers crossed it will because the apartment is really big as Cork apartments go and we're only the second letting so it's pretty new and nice and the location is perfect for us as well.... but thanks again for all of your help and comments... it's good to know i'm not just over-fussy! =o)