child + noise in NY

[jackberg]

I live in an upstairs apartment in Buffalo, NY, where my husband and I have lived for 31/2 years. Our son was born one month after we moved in, so he's been there pretty much the whole term of our tenancy. When our 3 year old was 19 months old, our current downstairs neighbors moved in. No problem until 6 months ago when their son was born. Now that they have a baby, they complain about noise from our apartment. At first, they complained to us and we modified some of our behaviors (eg. we take off shoes when we come home, we try not to move around at night in the rooms of our apartment that correspond to their sleeping areas). That didn't satisfy them, because now they're complaining to our landlord. We wrote a lengthy letter to our landlord, cc'd to them, rebutting the complaints they have against us. The most recent complaint came after we had a friend over on Saturday afternoon, with her 3 year old. The two kids were running around, playing in that non-stop motion way that young children have, and apparently that was too much for our downstairs neighbors. They complained to our landlord, who proceeded to watch the five of us (three adults and two children) as we ate our dinner. Our landlord is saying that we acted unreasonably by allowing the two kids to get down from the table and play underfoot after they finished eatting, which they did before we adults did, causing noise disturbance for the people downstairs. Dinner, btw, was at 6:30 pm, not late at all.

Do we need legal advice? We feel that we are being set up for trouble and/or being forced out of our apartment. We currently have no lease (it expired last June) and our landlord wants to renew sometime in April. Our landlord left a message on our answering maching with vague threatening language, "I'm warning you. . ."

Thanks in advance,

Julie Jackson-Forsberg

 

[Tracey]

Sounds like the landlord should move the baby's family to a top floor apt. Kids make noise! It's unreasonable for your downstairs neighbors to expect your entire family to be quiet as churchmice all day every day.

The building is probably constructed with uninsulated dead space between the floors - can you say 'megaphone'?

Get a new lease in place ASAP. Until you do, L can toss you out on 20-30 days notice. Also, contact the local tenant's association and ask them about NY law and Buffalo ordinances. They may have some good advice.

BTW, who let your landlord watch you eat? Was he just standing in your apt?


Good luck,
Tracey

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This is not legal advice and you are not my client. Double check everything with your own attorney and your state's laws.