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So I signed a 1-year lease on this duplex house for an upstairs room, and by the second week when the guys downstairs moved in it has been a nightmare; these guys are friends all in a shitty indie rock band who absolutely blast their shitty music during the day. Upstairs roommates and I have asked them to quiet down once already, and they've completely ignored us.
Just finished writing this letter, hopefully it'll fucking shut them up:
To the guys downstairs,
You guys are nice people playing nice music. However when your passion interferes with our daily lives, we have no choice but to ask you guys to turn it way down.
We live in a duplex; with that said, when you guys rock out the ground and glassware shake as if there’s an earthquake upstairs. We’re university students and we don’t mind a bit of noise here and there, but when it’s this excessive we must ask you to, we repeat, turn it way down as it severely disrupts our ability to do just about anything - studying for midterms, napping, and hell, we can't even hear our movies from our laptop speakers when you guys blast your music.
Waterloo By-Law states:
The City of Waterloo regulates noise through the Noise By-laws 78-79 and 86-75 (see below).
Examples of prohibited noise include, but are not limited to:
• a dog barking daily, and excessively;
• loud stereo or musical equipment being played on a regular basis; and
• construction equipment operated before 7 am and after 7 pm and on Sundays and statutory holidays.
Excerpt from City of Waterloo By-Law Number 2010-073:
Prohibited activities:
Persistent or repetitive yelling, shouting, hooting, whistling or singing.
http://www.city.waterloo.on.ca/Portals/57ad7180-c5e7-49f5-b22-c6475cdb7ee7/PS_BYLAW_documents/bylaw10_073.pdf
Ontario Noise Laws:
Extracts from the EPA (Environmental Protection Act) Related to Excess Noise
Section 3.(1) The purpose of this Act is to provide for the protection and conservation of the natural environment. R.S.O. 1990, c. E.19, s. 3.
Section 6.(1) No person shall discharge into the natural environment any contaminant, and no person responsible for a source of contaminant shall permit the discharge into the natural environment of any contaminant from the source of contaminant, in an amount, concentration or level in excess of that prescribed by the regulations. R.S.O. 1990, c. E.19, s. 6 (1). (In the case of excess noise the prescribed limits are defined in MOE publications NPC232, NPC 206, and NPC205)
Section 1.(1) In this Act, “contaminant” means any solid, liquid, gas, odour, heat, sound, vibration, radiation or combination of any of them resulting directly or indirectly from human activities that causes or may cause an adverse effect;
Section 1.(1) In this Act,“adverse effect” means one or more of,
(a) impairment of the quality of the natural environment for any use that can be made of it,
(b) injury or damage to property or to plant or animal life,
(c) harm or material discomfort to any person,
(d) an adverse effect on the health of any person,
(e) impairment of the safety of any person,
(f) rendering any property or plant or animal life unfit for human use,
(g) loss of enjoyment of normal use of property, and
(h) interference with the normal conduct of business;
The combined effect of these sections related to noise clearly indicates that sound (noise) is considered a contaminant and that amounts of noise in excess of the limit prescribed by the regulations can have an adverse effect. One of the adverse effects is the loss of enjoyment of the normal use of our property. Other adverse effects that can occur are impairment of the quality of the natural environment for any use that can be made of it, harm or material discomfort to any person, and an adverse effect on the health of people living close to the aggregate operation.
http://www.gravelwatch.org/noise-limits.htm
We hate to do this to you guys, but we’ve tolerated this for over a month now and we kindly ask you guys to either stop, or lower your volume drastically.
Environmental Noise
Weakest sound heard 0dB
Whisper Quiet Library 30dB
Normal conversation (3-5') 60-70dB
Telephone dial tone 80dB
City Traffic (inside car) 85dB
Train whistle at 500', Truck Traffic 90dB
You guys are at more than 85dB (not even counting the horrible vibration) when you rock out. The maximum allowance for noise levels in Waterloo is 55dB. Therefore, we kindly ask you guys to lower your volume by a factor of at least 25 (to 60dB) meaning turning that volume dial on your AMP all the way to the left.
We offer our apologies, however if you guys would like to rock out on a regular basis perhaps it would have been wise to rent out a detached house instead of a duplex. Surely you would pay more, but that’s simply the monetary premium you have to accept for your hobby.
We’re asking you nicely now so it saves both our parties some trouble; we don’t have to report a formal noise complaint and you guys don’t have to deal with the hefty fine ($50-$1000 for first offense, $100-$1000 for subsequent ones).
Thanks in advance for your cooperation; we look forward to not hearing from you in the future.
Sincerely,
The guys upstairs
Has anyone else had similar problems? If they persist, do I usually need proof to file a complaint? Sound meters are expensive:S
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Why don't you just go talk to them and tell them to turn it down instead of some letter?
User was warned for this post
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lol@asking them to reduce by exactly 25 decibels.....thats a bit much.
On October 15 2010 07:15 Celesti wrote:
Why don't you just go talk to them and tell them to turn it down instead of some letter?
he says he already has, personally I would give them at least two serious warning to let them know I'm for real before whipping out the legal code, but I assume the OP has done similar.
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have a similar problem with my people upstairs... its like they dont walk but jump as hard as they can to get around -.-
and btw your letter needs a " or i'll cut your dicks of while you sleep" kinda thing in there xD
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On October 15 2010 07:15 Celesti wrote:
Why don't you just go talk to them and tell them to turn it down instead of some letter?
I have, and a roommate has too, and they've completely ignored us as I have stated in the OP.
They're guys from a total party university; we could ask 10 more times and they'll probably still ignore us.
I just hope they stop in fear of a real consequence this time, I heard noise complaints are a bitch to deal with and take forever to process.
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Just a suggestion, but I'd change "rock out" to "play music." The former is both vague and makes you sound like an angry nerd, at least in my opinion.
Good luck getting this resolved; these sorts of situations can be exceedingly annoying and nothing is worse than being uncomfortable in your own home. Also, perhaps you can contact your landlord? He or she certainly doesn't want someone on the property disrespecting it and the other people who live there.
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Have you talked to your landlord? I'd do that before breaking out the big legal code letter.
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piss through their mail slot, dogshit infront of their door, theres plenty of ways to make their lives as miserable as their making yours man.
before you consider the legitimate ways, ask your self how an 8 year old version of you would do it
waking up to the smell of sulphur (stink bombs, you know the ones in those little glass phials) every morning would piss me off enough to either move out or consider my neighbours plea's
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On October 15 2010 07:17 green.at wrote:
have a similar problem with my people upstairs... its like they dont walk but jump as hard as they can to get around -.-
and btw your letter needs a " or i'll cut your dicks of while you sleep" kinda thing in there xD
Never put this sort of thing in writing.
I feel for you, sucks to have neighbours with such a disregard for others.
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To the guys downstairs,
You guys are nice people playing nice music. However when your passion interferes with our daily lives, we have no choice but to ask you guys to turn it way down.
We live in a duplex; with that said, when you guys rock out the ground and glassware shake as if there’s an earthquake upstairs. We’re university students and we don’t mind a bit of noise here and there, but when it’s this excessive we must ask you to, we repeat, turn it way down as it severely disrupts our ability to do just about anything - studying for midterms, napping, and hell, we can't even hear our movies from our laptop speakers when you guys blast your music.
Thanks in advance for your cooperation.
Sincerely,
The guys upstairs
This is the only part of the letter you need, if you are too scared to go talk to them a 2nd time. If you have only said something once, try again. Not trying to pick on you since I am sure you are pretty ticked off at these guys, but bringing up all the legal stuff is kind of rude. Sure what they are doing is "illegal" and they ignored you once, but I hate to think that if you went down again and said something to them, maybe they just don't realize how loud they really are.
Edit: also, talk to the landlord before you talk to the cops.
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On October 15 2010 07:15 Celesti wrote:
Why don't you just go talk to them and tell them to turn it down instead of some letter?
Come on, did you not read the first few sentences of his post? Try a little harder 
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On October 15 2010 07:25 D-Lite wrote:
piss through their mail slot, dogshit infront of their door, theres plenty of ways to make their lives as miserable as their making yours man.
before you consider the legitimate ways, ask your self how an 8 year old version of you would do it
waking up to the smell of sulphur (stink bombs, you know the ones in those little glass phials) every morning would piss me off enough to either move out or consider my neighbours plea's
I agree with him, taking legal action should be a last resort because of how painfully slow it is. Be creative and ruin their lives a bit, turn off their hot water when someone takes a shower, find roadkill? give ur neighbors a nice gift. itching powder, dogshit, stink bombs, anything you can imagine to make them miserable. Then, if they come to take revenge, take a punch or 2 cuz an assault charge gets processed a lot easier then a noise complaint.
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All of you guys saying you should retaliate by making the other guys miserable are pathetic. Solve your problems like grownups.
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You don't need to take legal action personally, you can just call in an anonymous noise complaint. But ya talk to the landlord, and if that doesn't work, fuck those guys and do what you want.
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Are they the skinny girl jeans wearing type of mofo's? I'm just picturing this post-faux-emo look and after you complain to them and leave they call you a "faaag" in that goth kid South Park voice.
Taking legal action is pretty overboard, and will probably turn in to more of a hassle for you rather than helping.
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I thought the letter was good. You definitely don't need to be any nicer than you're being.
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This made me lol, these guys are obviously retarded just call the police. Funny letter though I think it'll scare em at least :3
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you talked to them twice, id go letter now give it like 2 days if thier still really loud go to the landlord, cops do not want to have to dea with stuff like this.
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On October 15 2010 07:52 jamesr12 wrote:
you talked to them twice, id go letter now give it like 2 days if thier still really loud go to the landlord, cops do not want to have to dea with stuff like this.
why give it 2 days after giving them the letter?
i'd give it until *fucking immediately after they read the letter* and if they don't cool it with the ridic loud music i'd walk downstairs and let them know a shitstorm is on it's way
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those fucking downstairs guys
fucking partying up ruining my life
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United States24680 Posts
Definitely don't do stupid passive aggressive revenge stunts. Follow the proper protocol depending on the type of dwelling you live in. If there is nothing in place for you THEN deal with the noise disturbance... if this isn't a case for the laws to be used to justify police activity then what is? 200 decibel shock waves knocking down nearby buildings?
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I recommend the following novel; How to Win Friends and Influence People
I propose that the letter you have written is going to engender more conflict and discomfort in your future than you perhaps realize.
P.S
I think you're right though.
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Your message will have a much more profound effect if you deliver it in person.
"To the guys downstairs,
You guys are nice people playing nice music. However when your passion interferes with our daily lives, we have no choice but to ask you guys to turn it way down.
We live in a duplex; with that said, when you guys rock out the ground and glassware shake as if there’s an earthquake upstairs. We’re university students and we don’t mind a bit of noise here and there, but when it’s this excessive we must ask you to, we repeat, turn it way down as it severely disrupts our ability to do just about anything - studying for midterms, napping, and hell, we can't even hear our movies from our laptop speakers when you guys blast your music."
Memorize this and say it to them. Definitely stay away from the threats to report them unless they laugh in your face or ignore your request.
If you really want them to listen to you then you need to say what you've written with conviction and confidence. I'm not saying that you should try and intimidate them but you have to let them know you mean business all the same.
Good luck.
Have fun.
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On October 15 2010 08:21 frog HERO wrote:
Your message will have a much more profound effect if you deliver it in person.
"To the guys downstairs,
You guys are nice people playing nice music. However when your passion interferes with our daily lives, we have no choice but to ask you guys to turn it way down.
We live in a duplex; with that said, when you guys rock out the ground and glassware shake as if there’s an earthquake upstairs. We’re university students and we don’t mind a bit of noise here and there, but when it’s this excessive we must ask you to, we repeat, turn it way down as it severely disrupts our ability to do just about anything - studying for midterms, napping, and hell, we can't even hear our movies from our laptop speakers when you guys blast your music."
Memorize this and say it to them. Definitely stay away from the threats to report them unless they laugh in your face or ignore your request.
If you really want them to listen to you then you need to say what you've written with conviction and confidence. I'm not saying that you should try and intimidate them but you have to let them know you mean business all the same.
Good luck.
Have fun.
Sadly, he said they ignored his requests to turn off the music.
Give them the notice, and wait a day. If it's still there, turn to the landlord. If the landlord does nothing, call the cops.
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Always trust TL to provide you with the most logical solution to your life's problems.
Thanks guys, they stopped playing (for the day) and I read the replies, so I'm going to talk to them in a much more serious tone later tonight, wait until tomorrow, then call the landlord, and finally whip them with the letter if they continue to ignore us at every turn. Hopefully I don't have to resort to the legal route.
Thanks again to all.
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Tbh I think the letter was good. If you've already asked them twice then I don't see why you shouldn't start spelling out the law, they clearly have no respect for other people. Noisy neighbors are one of the most infuriating things to deal with. It can make your life a living hell. Good luck.
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Environmental Noise
Weakest sound heard 0dB
Whisper Quiet Library 30dB
Normal conversation (3-5') 60-70dB
Telephone dial tone 80dB
City Traffic (inside car) 85dB
Train whistle at 500', Truck Traffic 90dB
You guys are at more than 85dB (not even counting the horrible vibration) when you rock out. The maximum allowance for noise levels in Waterloo is 55dB. Therefore, we kindly ask you guys to lower your volume by a factor of at least 25 (to 60dB) meaning turning that volume dial on your AMP all the way to the left.
The numbers are kinda funky to me or maybe I'm reading it wrong. If a normal conversation is 65db, Waterloo only allow you to be at 55dB? So you're not allowed to have a normal conversation?
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On October 15 2010 09:46 crazeman wrote:Show nested quote +Environmental Noise
Weakest sound heard 0dB
Whisper Quiet Library 30dB
Normal conversation (3-5') 60-70dB
Telephone dial tone 80dB
City Traffic (inside car) 85dB
Train whistle at 500', Truck Traffic 90dB
You guys are at more than 85dB (not even counting the horrible vibration) when you rock out. The maximum allowance for noise levels in Waterloo is 55dB. Therefore, we kindly ask you guys to lower your volume by a factor of at least 25 (to 60dB) meaning turning that volume dial on your AMP all the way to the left. The numbers are kinda funky to me or maybe I'm reading it wrong. If a normal conversation is 65db, Waterloo only allow you to be at 55dB? So you're not allowed to have a normal conversation?
55dB at the receiving end. You can be 190dB if you want as long as you sound-proof properly and the noise that reaches your neighbors is only 55dB.
Thought that would be obvious, guess I'll edit that into the letter to avoid confusions for these Arts and Business kids.
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nicely written, i think i would listen to a letter like that
maybe if they're dolts, though they would derail when you provide the laws and everything and stuff, i might have just told them off verbally sometimes works better for some people
i myself live in an apartment and the people right upstairs yell and shout at eachother at night, bang things, and make a consistent ~10-15 minute noise at night which is probably f***ing but its def not as bad as yours
- ya frog HERO wrote basically what i meant, the letter starts off great and then it gets "boring" and those idiots might not go with that part, so just go with frog HERO's advice i was thinking exactly the same thing
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On October 15 2010 07:55 arb wrote:
those fucking downstairs guys
fucking partying up ruining my life
oh god an imposter! yeah take out the huge legal code part of the letter. just send htem the part telling them to turn it down. if they don't, call your landlord.
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I know your pain man. Good luck. Don't be afraid to send the cops on them.
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yeah, id go buy newer, louder speakers if someone wrote me a letter stating how they actually measured how many fucking decibels my stereo was pumping out.
"You guys are at more than 85dB (not even counting the horrible vibration) when you rock out. "
You sound like a 55 year old due yelling at kids for having fun. Jesus.
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oh lol you're in waterloo.
Do you live near non-students? Because if they don't listen to you eventually one of the city residents (they're really easy to piss off) will call the cops.
Anyways, I would've asked the landlord and then gotten the cops involved, but if the landlord sucks major dick, then you can't do much about it.
On October 18 2010 23:12 Hawk wrote:
yeah, id go buy newer, louder speakers if someone wrote me a letter stating how they actually measured how many fucking decibels my stereo was pumping out.
"You guys are at more than 85dB (not even counting the horrible vibration) when you rock out. "
You sound like a 55 year old due yelling at kids for having fun. Jesus.
OP mentioned that it was excessive, having fun does not equate to having fun all the time. It's impossible to think or do any sort of work when the noise is like that.
Why should OP have to change his life to suit the needs of those other kids? Anyways.
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I was actually guilty of causing some noise problems in my apartment in Williamsburg and had the cops called on me I think once... maybe twice... to give stern reprimanding. I think the measure was very persuasive and I refrained from turning up my bass in the future. Of course my roommates and I were just humble nerds not looking for trouble, just phat tank sieging noises, so we were amenable to persuasion.
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I suggest you write everything in legalese just to sound serious. Right now you wrote it in a way that is too easy to understand.
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On October 18 2010 23:12 Hawk wrote:
yeah, id go buy newer, louder speakers if someone wrote me a letter stating how they actually measured how many fucking decibels my stereo was pumping out.
"You guys are at more than 85dB (not even counting the horrible vibration) when you rock out. "
You sound like a 55 year old due yelling at kids for having fun. Jesus.
Seriously? You'd just blast your music even louder? Fucking self centered assholes like you piss me off to no end. Has nothing to do with how old you are and everything to do with not being a petty, conceited, douchebag. I'm sure that if your downstairs neighbors got trashed everyday and puked all over the stairs and around the property you'd just be "lols kids having fun". OP has it even worse because its goddamn shitty amateur indie rock music. OP somehow manages to write a civil letter to the guys rather than breaking in and destroying their instruments and you're getting on his ass for sounding like an old unfun dude?
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On October 15 2010 09:58 ArbAttack wrote:Show nested quote +On October 15 2010 09:46 crazeman wrote:Environmental Noise
Weakest sound heard 0dB
Whisper Quiet Library 30dB
Normal conversation (3-5') 60-70dB
Telephone dial tone 80dB
City Traffic (inside car) 85dB
Train whistle at 500', Truck Traffic 90dB
You guys are at more than 85dB (not even counting the horrible vibration) when you rock out. The maximum allowance for noise levels in Waterloo is 55dB. Therefore, we kindly ask you guys to lower your volume by a factor of at least 25 (to 60dB) meaning turning that volume dial on your AMP all the way to the left. The numbers are kinda funky to me or maybe I'm reading it wrong. If a normal conversation is 65db, Waterloo only allow you to be at 55dB? So you're not allowed to have a normal conversation? 55dB at the receiving end. You can be 190dB if you want as long as you sound-proof properly and the noise that reaches your neighbors is only 55dB.
Thought that would be obvious, guess I'll edit that into the letter to avoid confusions for these Arts and Business kids.
Take a look at your contract you signed for the place and see what the rules are for noise. The landlord might just say sorry, but I have no rules against that. Then you have to get the legal action going.
Not an art of business student, but I hope this takes a while to come to a resolution for you now. I guess I figured that would come from a from some waterloo students anyway so I am not surprised.
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I salute OP for handling an awkward yet infuriating situation like a complete rational adult. Power to you, ignore the folks saying "i'd play it louder" or "be passive aggressive/vengeful."
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Why don't you just talk directly to the landlord now that you've already tried with the actual tenants? It's really on the landlord to abide by quiet enjoyment, so it's on him to make them stfu. Plus, landlord telling them to be quiet or eviction > some fines by the city that you threaten them with. But maybe there's less of a burden on the landlord in Canada than USA.
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On October 18 2010 23:12 Hawk wrote:
yeah, id go buy newer, louder speakers if someone wrote me a letter stating how they actually measured how many fucking decibels my stereo was pumping out.
"You guys are at more than 85dB (not even counting the horrible vibration) when you rock out. "
You sound like a 55 year old due yelling at kids for having fun. Jesus.
You are so cool, man.
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Call local police (not 911, or whatever your emergency call number is), and tell them the situation - hype it up with something like "I got an important meeting tomorrow, and I NEED sleep NAOW!"
The next morning you send a letter to the landlord, saying what happened and that you had to contact the police.
I've been in that situation a million times. That's what the LOCAL police is for... Doesn't take them more than a few minutes to tell them to quit making noise - and there's always a police car 10min away.
In some context you could go and talk to them a 2nd time, but places I've lived you'll risk getting stabbed for telling people to be quiet. Sick world, mates.
To live a society with other people, you have to respect each others - and these guys have clearly not shown you, or your mates any respect.
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EPT
