After three terms in the residence halls, some students can’t imagine a noisier living situation.
Freshman Natalie Caminiti is looking forward to leaving the residence halls because she has been plagued by problems with noisy neighbors all year. She said she is optimistic about her future living situation because she will have more control in an apartment.
“There are better people to enforce the rules about noise complaints and getting kicked out,” she said.
Although apartment living generally does offer a greater level of privacy and a lower level of noise than residence hall life, noisy neighbors can and do pop up anywhere. Knowing how to deal with these neighbors is crucial for a livable environment.
Freshman Kristin Ellingson said her neighbor did not notify her before calling the police about a noise disturbance.
“She’s never talked to me; she’s never asked me to be quiet, then she just calls the cops on me,” said Ellingson, who rents an off-campus apartment with her boyfriend.
Ellingson said she had been crying over the death of her aunt and was “just really upset all over” when a police officer knocked on her door and said a neighbor had called and asked that police check on her. Ellingson took it as a show of concern but soon found out from the apartment management that it had actually been a complaint.
When she was told her downstairs neighbor had filed a formal noise complaint about the noise made by her afternoon aerobic workouts “they said it was the second time she had complained” and cited the earlier visit from police, Ellingson said.
Ellingson said she never thought she was causing any problems and is upset the neighbor never discussed the complaints with her before taking them to authorities.
She said the complaints mostly stem from “me doing aerobics at two o’clock in the afternoon … even the apartment manager said she seems to be a little too sensitive to noise.”
Ellingson said she plans to move as soon as the lease is up.
“She could have at least left a note,” Ellingson said, citing that as the best thing to do when faced with a noisy neighbor. “People who live in apartment complexes have to expect some noise.”
Like Ellingson, freshman Ian Caputo opted for an apartment rather than a residence hall room, and though he said he is happy with his decision, noisy neighbors are hardly foreign to him.
He has never had a problem persistent enough to push him into action but said he is “good natured enough so that what bothers a lot of people doesn’t really bother me.”
Caputo said it is best to do anything possible to avoid notifying the police of a noisy neighbor, and if necessary he would ask his neighbors to quiet down.
This approach to dealing with noisy neighbors adheres to the recommendations of most property managers, but Tristan Brandow, on-site manager of the Broadway Place apartments downtown, said different situations can call for different courses of action.
Brandow said while in a perfect world, all noise complaints would be settled without interference by an outside party, sometimes it is best to contact authorities rather than risk a dangerous situation.
Lorig Property Management, the company that owns the apartment building, has on-site managers such as Brandow in every building to ensure a quality life for tenants.
She said although she and other on-site managers are there to deal with noise and other disturbances, tenants should not hesitate to notify the police if they feel the situation is beyond their control.
“If it’s just really loud and unruly, feel free to call the cops,” Brandow said, citing the idea that a large number of guests and an obvious presence of alcohol can be very intimidating to someone wanting to ask the noisemakers to quiet down.
The apartments Brandow manages have quiet hours from 10 p.m. until 6 a.m., making noise more problematic if it does arise. She stressed that different companies have different policies.
“We have on-site management to take care of (noise complaints),” Brandow said, making communication between neighbors thoughtful but not necessary.
She said not all apartments have noise policies, making the need for an open line of communication between neighbors greater.