Crying babies in the downstairs apartment.

Mill21

Does anyone has any experience of noisy downstairs neighbours? Worst thing about it is that the noise is babies and children crying or loud voices. The neighbour has complained to me about my noise (I live alone in a small studio, so they complain at the slightest thing) but when I respond saying I can hear everything in her apartment he just responds that they are babies ... blah blah...!

Am I being unreasonable..?

(Ps. I live in Paris, so he just plays the you're a foreigner card!).

Slydice

sounds like you two have the same problem: crap building.

With most noise problems, it's very hard to have anything done to stop the noise. With babies or children, I doubt it's worth your while even thinking about complaining.

silja

How old are the babies? If they are indeed babies, ie under a year old or two, then there is little the parents can do. If they are older, then they should make an effort to keep them quiet at least first thing in the morning, but it isn't always possible.

lolo62

i lived in a studio for a while and noise was a huge problem for me...not so much the noise itself but the fact that i was paying prices of a private property while putting up with all the disadvantages of living with others!
the couple across from me used to have a full on conversation every morning right outside my (hollow) door about the keys etc and then slam the door at 5 in the morning!!! bananas

ear plugs are the only way to stay sane... to try and make yourself feel better you could be really direct with your neighbour and tell her its difficult for you to accept her criticizing your noise when she expects you to put up with hers, whether she can help it or not, noise is noise

and get some earplugs, they help

Mr.Wemmick

Babies make noise, that's a given.. however, they have no right to complain to you about your normal living noise, unless you're making a deliberate racket, if you in turn are being disturbed by them - babies or no babies.

Tell him that the noise disturbance works both ways and they need to respect that fact before complaining to you again.

Respect is an universal language, nothing to do with being a foreigner :rolleyes:

Red Alert

Parents of babies really want one rule for themselves and one rule for everybody else. Time and time again they're in complaining about other people's TV's and radios, but they never apologise for the screamer-box in their own place.

odds_on

Red Alert wrote: »

Parents of babies really want one rule for themselves and one rule for everybody else. Time and time again they're in complaining about other people's TV's and radios, but they never apologise for the screamer-box in their own place.

The advantage of a TV over a baby is that it can be turned down or off!

Dudess

Yeah there's a crying baby in the apartment below me. Doesn't bother me - it's what babies do, there's a limit to what can be done to quieten them. It's least fun of all for the parent(s).
There was a crowd before though who would have parties on week-nights, with music turned up so loud it would have been deafening for them. Definitely seemed to be just acting the dick for the craic. They got evicted eventually though after enough complaints and warnings.

jmayo

Mill21 wrote: »

Does anyone has any experience of noisy downstairs neighbours? Worst thing about it is that the noise is babies and children crying or loud voices. The neighbour has complained to me about my noise (I live alone in a small studio, so they complain at the slightest thing) but when I respond saying I can hear everything in her apartment he just responds that they are babies ... blah blah...!

Am I being unreasonable..?

(Ps. I live in Paris, so he just plays the you're a foreigner card!).

It is a bit hypocritical to complain about very little noise from you if they have babies/kids in the apartment making noise, probably very early in the morning that is annoying you.

Now saying that parents I think have a right to complain if someone is playing the drums, listening to Scooter at full volume if they are trying to get kids to sleep for instance.

Red Alert wrote: »

Parents of babies really want one rule for themselves and one rule for everybody else. Time and time again they're in complaining about other people's TV's and radios, but they never apologise for the screamer-box in their own place.

Do you have any kids ?

The reason I ask is that most parents, at least the ones I know, find it very stressful and embarassing if their children are making a huge racket that they know is annoying other people.
Do you think most parents of a crying baby are enjoying having to listen to their child cry ? :rolleyes:

Maybe some parents couldn't give a fook about their children annoying other people, but I bet these are also the type of people who couldn't care less about you or anyone else, kids of no kids.

partyguinness

We live is a semi-d and we have put up with the crying child next door for years. She is 5 and must have behaviour issues and just screams. One night at 3am the missus just had to bang on the wall. The child had screamed constantly for 4 hours! She is a lot better now.

The mother next door was mortified and then she just screamed at her child for 10 mins which was worse and came over the next day all apologetic but we do get on well with her.

We now have a 6 week old baby boy and we are getting our revenge big time. In fact we push the baby as close to the wall as possible...:D

Zamboni

Babies cry. Get over it.

pawnacide

Don't the French eat their children or is that the Germans ? maybe they'll get hungry one of these days.

djimi

Zamboni wrote: »

Babies cry. Get over it.

And dogs bark. But if it was a neighbours dog that the OP was having an issue everyone would be up in arms telling them to get onto the neighbours to get it sorted.

I know in reality there is little the OP can do about the problem as babies will cry, and in reality the problem lies with a poorly built building, but it doesnt mean they have to like having their quiet time disrupted by someone elses kid.

quad_red

djimi wrote: »

And dogs bark. But if it was a neighbours dog that the OP was having an issue everyone would be up in arms telling them to get onto the neighbours to get it sorted.

I know in reality there is little the OP can do about the problem as babies will cry, and in reality the problem lies with a poorly built building, but it doesnt mean they have to like having their quiet time disrupted by someone elses kid.

I presume, at one point, the OP was a child. Maybe even a baby?

djimi

quad_red wrote: »

I presume, at one point, the OP was a child. Maybe even a baby?

Im sure they were but whats that got to do with it?

Mill21

Its only really a problem from time to time. Normally in the evenings I can hear their voices/playing with the kids or whatever, so I have turned up music or tv or whatever, because I can't stand the sound.

I'm a student, for the person who ask, so no, I've no kids. It bothers me most when I'm trying to sleep at 3am or they wake me up early. or when I'm trying to work on college stuff.

I live on the top floor or of a 4 floor building, and maybe cos I'm from a detached house in a country, I see it as a huge inconvenience and pain to bring 2 kids up and down flights of stairs several times a day. To me, I don't think people shouldn really have kids in this kind of building (old with no lift).

I know theres nothing I can do about it, I just was looking for some other people's opinions! I need somewhere to vent

JD Dublin

Mill21 wrote: »

Its only really a problem from time to time. Normally in the evenings I can hear their voices/playing with the kids or whatever, so I have turned up music or tv or whatever, because I can't stand the sound.

I'm a student, for the person who ask, so no, I've no kids. It bothers me most when I'm trying to sleep at 3am or they wake me up early. or when I'm trying to work on college stuff.

I live on the top floor or of a 4 floor building, and maybe cos I'm from a detached house in a country, I see it as a huge inconvenience and pain to bring 2 kids up and down flights of stairs several times a day. To me, I don't think people shouldn really have kids in this kind of building (old with no lift).

I know theres nothing I can do about it, I just was looking for some other people's opinions! I need somewhere to vent

I lived in a seriously noisy city-centre apartment about 10 years ago. The guy upstairs was a real pain in the ass ( noisewise ) until I went up to him to explain we had 2 small children. He did shiftwork and would come home at 4 in the morning and start up the stereo. Disaster.

Better was to come. One of the shops below us start rennovating through the night. Loads of us complained but to no avail. I mean literally the guy in the shop would start drilling and knocking down walls at 8pm at night and keep going until 2am.

One evening though he never got started. Months later I met our neighbour from upstairs who subsequently moved out, and he told me he had superglued the fuses for the noisy shop shut ( after taking out the fuses ). That stopped the noise - even if it was for one night only.:):):)

Graces7

JD Dublin wrote: »

I lived in a seriously noisy city-centre apartment about 10 years ago. The guy upstairs was a real pain in the ass ( noisewise ) until I went up to him to explain we had 2 small children. He did shiftwork and would come home at 4 in the morning and start up the stereo. Disaster.

Better was to come. One of the shops below us start rennovating through the night. Loads of us complained but to no avail. I mean literally the guy in the shop would start drilling and knocking down walls at 8pm at night and keep going until 2am.

One evening though he never got started. Months later I met our neighbour from upstairs who subsequently moved out, and he told me he had superglued the fuses for the noisy shop shut ( after taking out the fuses ). That stopped the noise - even if it was for one night only.:):):)

Good for you!
NB there is now Noise Pollution legisalation and the Gardai have powers to spot-fine offenders. Learned this when trying to sort the roving crowbanger. Worth making a formal complaint.

Meanwhile, ear plugs will help. Any builders merchants or pharmacy has them; nb that man is probably wearing ear defenders etc ..what cheek