Issue with apartment management

[hopkins_student]

About two weeks ago I purchased a subwoofer for my stereo. This caused a disturbance to my neighbor below, and understandably so, of which I was unaware. She asked our apartment managers how she should handle it and if they could mention to me that it was bothering her. My apartment manger told her that the best option was to call the police and file a noise complaint. So last night around 7 a friend of mine came over and to play Rock Band and about an hour later we got a knock on the door from the Pasadena PD to issue a noise complaint and explain to me that if they ever have to come back I will be arrested.

My issue is not with my neighbor, although I imagine any independently thinking person would realize that calling the police for something so simple is a bit of overkill and would knock on the person's door to explain the problem, but is more with my apartment management. I'm not sure if it's laziness or just some sort of dumb passive-aggressive thing they've got going on, but it seems like it should be their job to handle minor issues within the apartment rather than immediately elevating it to the level where the police should become involved. Does anyone think this is worth a call to the human resources department of the company that owns this apartment, so that they have some idea that their management isn't really managing, just handing things off to others to manage inappropriately?

Also, can you truly be arrested for a noise complaint? I would have thought that that was a situation where a fine would be issued. I was also under the impression that noise violations were pretty much limited to nighttime hours (eg, after 10PM), is this not usually the case?

 

[GQgeek]

That's really annoying. I had a similar problem a few years ago in whcih the police were called a couple of times. I wasn't even listening at a loud volume. The apartment just had too big of a gap under the door and the walls/ceilings/floors seemed to let sound right through. i guess you can try the management company but i doubt it will accomplish anything.

i like to listen to music/movies at a fairly high volume. My solution (which obviously won't help you now) is to try and rent in concrete buildings. It sucks to pay your rent and not be able to come home and relax infront of a movie without a fear of the police being called on you.

 

[ComboOrgan]

I was once (well, sort of).

In college I had a party broken up by the fuzz who were responding to a noise complaint. They cuffed me and took me to the station, where my friends had to bail me out.

They caught a few kids under 21 with booze, so I'm not sure if they would have arrested me for the noise alone. When i got to the station, they just issued me a ticket for the noise, which ended up being $100 (the same amount as the bail).

Granted, this was in a college town, where this sort of thing was very routine for the local police.

 

[hopkins_student]

Originally Posted by GQgeek

i like to listen to music/movies at a fairly high volume. My solution (which obviously won't help you now) is to try and rent in concrete buildings. It sucks to pay your rent and not be able to come home and relax infront of a movie without a fear of the police being called on you.
Yeah, tell me about it. Right after the police left I went down to talk to her and she didn't answer the door, although I heard her walk up to the peephole to look out. So I left her a note explaining that I'd just added a subwoofer and would keep it down and also left my phone numbers so she could call me if it ever bothered her again in the future. Within a minute of walking back up to my apartment I got a call from her and she was apologizing to me for calling the police, and she sounded like she was about to cry. Anyway, I'm hopeful that I can work out a deal where I can use the subwoofer at least on weekends, during the day and if it really becomes unbearable she'll just call me and ask me to turn it down.

 

[HomerJ]

Originally Posted by hopkins_student

My issue is not with my neighbor, although I imagine any independently thinking person would realize that calling the police for something so simple is a bit of overkill and would knock on the person's door to explain the problem, but is more with my apartment management.
You could use some more empathy. Some people (particularly women) will feel apprehensive about going to a strangers home to confront them. That's not unusual. Your apartment management sounds like mine. They say if I don't go talk to the neighbor, I can call the police but they're not going to do anything. I don't like it either but if you want to rock out

with impunity, move to a single family dwelling. I think they said they'll arrest you just to put a scare into you. I doubt they like coming out for these noise issues any more than you do.

 

[hopkins_student]

Originally Posted by HomerJ

You could use some more empathy.
I disagree. Silly is silly regardless of gender.

 

[Piobaire]

Try lifting the sub off the floor with vibration damping material. It will not totally eliminate the problem, but isolating those low vibrations from the floor should help.

 

[Quirk]

If you haven't spoken with the apartment manager directly yet, I'd do that first before complaining to the management company. Does this guy get a Christmas bonus or anything from the residents? I'd think he'd do his best to try to keep all the tenants happy...

 

[hopkins_student]

Originally Posted by Piobaire

Try lifting the sub off the floor with vibration damping material. It will not totally eliminate the problem, but isolating those low vibrations from the floor should help.
I'm definitely going to give this a shot. I had already elevated it slightly off the floor fearing that this might happen (and expecting that anybody bothered by it would let me know directly) but I'll have to try something more extreme.

 

[hopkins_student]

Originally Posted by Quirk

If you haven't spoken with the apartment manager directly yet, I'd do that first before complaining to the management company. Does this guy get a Christmas bonus or anything from the residents? I'd think he'd do his best to try to keep all the tenants happy...
I placed a call this morning and I'm waiting for them to call me back. I would hope to hear from them on Monday.

 

[lawyerdad]

Originally Posted by ComboOrgan

In college I had a party broken up by the fuzz

 

[Countertenor]

Originally Posted by HomerJ

You could use some more empathy. Some people (particularly women) will feel apprehensive about going to a strangers home to confront them. That's not unusual. Your apartment management sounds like mine. They say if I don't go talk to the neighbor, I can call the police but they're not going to do anything. I don't like it either but if you want to rock out

with impunity, move to a single family dwelling. I think they said they'll arrest you just to put a scare into you. I doubt they like coming out for these noise issues any more than you do.
Agree with everything.

Originally Posted by hopkins_student

Silly is silly regardless of gender.
Not really.

Originally Posted by Piobaire

Try lifting the sub off the floor with vibration damping material. It will not totally eliminate the problem, but isolating those low vibrations from the floor should help.
Yes. To the OP: If you have carpet, get some spiked feet for the sub. It helps to isolate the vibrations from the floor and surrounding surfaces, and it'll make the sub sound better (i.e. more natural), too.

 

[hopkins_student]

Originally Posted by Countertenor

Agree with everything.



Not really.
I suppose I have higher expectations of women, what with them being equal and all, than you and Homer. Thanks for your response, I'm going to give the spikes a shot.

 

[Quirk]

I don't think it's sexist to think that a woman should be more cautious than a guy about knocking on the door of a neighbor who's probably some reclusive psycho, given his inclination to blast his death metal without regard for his neighbor's comfort.

 

[Coho]

It's not that silly. I have a sister, I know. She would never confront these things on her own because she told me that the "guy could be drunk." If you think about it, loud music + alcohol is not uncommon.

Originally Posted by hopkins_student

I disagree. Silly is silly regardless of gender.