Dear Brian, I just moved into a beautiful apartment on the first floor.  When my husband and I met with the landlord we asked if there been any complaints in the past from previous tenants about noise coming from the floor above. 

He was very kind and said the truth is that never had there been a complaint since the tenants above had moved in, which was 6 years ago.  My husband and I happily moved in and on the very first day of us moving in we heard every single step, every toss and turn from the couple above us. We contacted our landlord and said that we could hear everything that happens above us.  His response was, “you should talk to your neighbor”. 

We have now been at our apartment 3 months and have yet to have a full nights rest.  I do not want to be the one to talk to my neighbors in fear it will potentially cause friction, is this the landlords responsibility, or mine?  How can we fix this awful noise situation?   

Desperate for sleep,

Crystal, NY

Dear Crystal-

Your situation is definitely an unfortunate one.  However there are solutions.  First of all, your building manager should be the one to call the neighbor, neither you nor your husband should have to.  To reduce noise, carpet is required in many leases (that should be enforced by management).  Some larger landlord communities offer a warranty, that way if you are unsatisfied by your apartment you may move to another unit in the portfolio – you should check your lease to see if this applies to you.  And finally you should definitely keep up a record of all issues that have to do with your manager for your protection in the future.

I hope this helps.

-Brian