Clandestine
Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California
Recently, our troublesome upstairs neighbors returned from summer vacation. We had complained previously to the management about their stomping and moving furniture around late at night and seen results. They seemed to have forgotten completely, and on top of that they bought new personal AC units for each of their bedrooms. Both are 2 bedroom, 2 bath units with the same floorplan stacked up. The livingroom has a wall AC unit. The first issue was on my roomie's side. The AC unit was rattling her ceiling so intensely that little bits of the ceiling popcorns were crumbling off. This would be on and off through the night as the upstairs tenants would turn it on and off. We made a complaint to management, but the issue didn't improve. A couple nights ago, the girl above me bought and put one in her room as well. She leaves it on all night, and it sends a pulsing vibration through my ceiling and walls that makes it impossible for me to sleep and even causes me to feel like I'm spinning if I close my eyes for long. I complained immediately after the first night as I've been sick and attempting to recover from some rather complicated medical issues and I couldn't be losing rest time like that. The girl in the office said they left a message with the upstairs tenants after my roomie had complained, but hadn't heard back. I had no updates. I was running a fever last night and already exhausted from all the sleep I was losing, and it was clearly taking a negative toll on my health. I phoned up the local police station and asked for their advice on the situation and if anything could be done since we'd already complained to management with no result and I was desperate to sleep. They said they would send someone out to speak with them and advised if nothing can be done by management that we could press to break our lease early so we could find another residence. I heard nothing more from them and assumed they did not have the time, so after being kept up all night once again I marched into the management office to complain. It turns out the cops did show up and speak to the girls upstairs, only to completely dismiss the issue because they said it was "too hot." The girl in the office told me that she spoke to them the afternoon before and they had agreed to go and purchase some floor pads that are supposed to help with the vibrations, but there's no guarantee on how much it will help since they're already on carpet. I had already explained I've been sick and I really need to be able to rest, but she simply told me there's nothing they can do about it if they're warm. I pointed out that it's not fair that they get to rob us of our sleep, make noise for us most of the day, and severely effect our health because they want things ice cool in their rooms. I mentioned that the police department had said that we could request to break our lease to go somewhere else if they couldn't resolve the issue, but she told me they don't know anything about leasing laws and acted like it was impossible. Even when I asked if she could have them turn it off around 10-midnight so we can sleep, she said they have a right to run these things all night. She then went on to tell me to sleep during the day from now on while they are out at work, which I find EXTREMELY unfair, inconsiderate, and unprofessional. She claims these girls are "very concerned" about our lack of sleep, but there's more stomping than ever since they were spoken to, and the fans run even more so I find it hard to believe. It almost seems like they're being passive-aggressive, but there's no way to prove that. I was finally recovering and my health is now in a rapid decline due to the loss of sleep I'm dealing with over this and I'm very upset. Our health has been put at stake so some girls can avoid a little warmth here and there. It's not like they're risking heat strokes, just a little sweat at worst. Meanwhile, we're unable to sleep and that's proven to have very serious health risks the more it builds up.
Forgot to mention that it's not easy to sleep during the day because our building is right between both the pool and the laundry room, as well as a few feet away from the mailboxes, and also next to the front entryway where there's lots of foot traffic. We're also located right by a hospital, so between the noise in the building during daytime and the sirens, the only time to sleep peacefully is at night (and that's when the college kids aren't out drinking and partying by the pool until 2 am.)
I'm at a complete loss on what to do. Are we legally allowed to break our lease and go somewhere more peaceful under these circumstances and they just don't want us to know that? Is there anything we can do at all about this?
Recently, our troublesome upstairs neighbors returned from summer vacation. We had complained previously to the management about their stomping and moving furniture around late at night and seen results. They seemed to have forgotten completely, and on top of that they bought new personal AC units for each of their bedrooms. Both are 2 bedroom, 2 bath units with the same floorplan stacked up. The livingroom has a wall AC unit. The first issue was on my roomie's side. The AC unit was rattling her ceiling so intensely that little bits of the ceiling popcorns were crumbling off. This would be on and off through the night as the upstairs tenants would turn it on and off. We made a complaint to management, but the issue didn't improve. A couple nights ago, the girl above me bought and put one in her room as well. She leaves it on all night, and it sends a pulsing vibration through my ceiling and walls that makes it impossible for me to sleep and even causes me to feel like I'm spinning if I close my eyes for long. I complained immediately after the first night as I've been sick and attempting to recover from some rather complicated medical issues and I couldn't be losing rest time like that. The girl in the office said they left a message with the upstairs tenants after my roomie had complained, but hadn't heard back. I had no updates. I was running a fever last night and already exhausted from all the sleep I was losing, and it was clearly taking a negative toll on my health. I phoned up the local police station and asked for their advice on the situation and if anything could be done since we'd already complained to management with no result and I was desperate to sleep. They said they would send someone out to speak with them and advised if nothing can be done by management that we could press to break our lease early so we could find another residence. I heard nothing more from them and assumed they did not have the time, so after being kept up all night once again I marched into the management office to complain. It turns out the cops did show up and speak to the girls upstairs, only to completely dismiss the issue because they said it was "too hot." The girl in the office told me that she spoke to them the afternoon before and they had agreed to go and purchase some floor pads that are supposed to help with the vibrations, but there's no guarantee on how much it will help since they're already on carpet. I had already explained I've been sick and I really need to be able to rest, but she simply told me there's nothing they can do about it if they're warm. I pointed out that it's not fair that they get to rob us of our sleep, make noise for us most of the day, and severely effect our health because they want things ice cool in their rooms. I mentioned that the police department had said that we could request to break our lease to go somewhere else if they couldn't resolve the issue, but she told me they don't know anything about leasing laws and acted like it was impossible. Even when I asked if she could have them turn it off around 10-midnight so we can sleep, she said they have a right to run these things all night. She then went on to tell me to sleep during the day from now on while they are out at work, which I find EXTREMELY unfair, inconsiderate, and unprofessional. She claims these girls are "very concerned" about our lack of sleep, but there's more stomping than ever since they were spoken to, and the fans run even more so I find it hard to believe. It almost seems like they're being passive-aggressive, but there's no way to prove that. I was finally recovering and my health is now in a rapid decline due to the loss of sleep I'm dealing with over this and I'm very upset. Our health has been put at stake so some girls can avoid a little warmth here and there. It's not like they're risking heat strokes, just a little sweat at worst. Meanwhile, we're unable to sleep and that's proven to have very serious health risks the more it builds up.
Forgot to mention that it's not easy to sleep during the day because our building is right between both the pool and the laundry room, as well as a few feet away from the mailboxes, and also next to the front entryway where there's lots of foot traffic. We're also located right by a hospital, so between the noise in the building during daytime and the sirens, the only time to sleep peacefully is at night (and that's when the college kids aren't out drinking and partying by the pool until 2 am.)
I'm at a complete loss on what to do. Are we legally allowed to break our lease and go somewhere more peaceful under these circumstances and they just don't want us to know that? Is there anything we can do at all about this?
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