My boy friend and I have lived on the 3rd floor of a 3-story apartment building for the past year. We've been very happy there. But over the past few months we've had a problem with our neighbors directly below us. They blare their TV at ridiculous volumes, sometimes until 2am. Sometimes their TV is so loud that it drowns out OUR TV. On several occasions we have been woken up at various ungodly hours (2am, 4am, 5am, etc) by them SCREAMING at each other. And last week we saw them letting in a guy that my boyfriend used to work with... who got fired for coming to work all kinds of messed up on crystal meth. So for all we know they might be drug addicts too.
Last night they began another screaming match at 1am. So finally my boyfriend couldn't take it anymore and knocked on their door. He politely asked them to please keep it down as we both had to be up early for work. The woman got IN HIS FACE and told him that he has no right saying that because, according to her, we scream at each other and beat each other up at all hours of the night. Now, I must say, one of the best things about my relationship with my boyfriend is that we NEVER scream at each other. If we have a disagreement, we talk it through like rational human beings. And we CERTAINLY never beat each other up. Then, this morning as we were leaving for work, we found a looooong note taped to our door from the lovely woman downstairs. She went on a rant about how WE are the problem and how we keep her up ALL night with our yelling (during the week we are both in bed by 11) and how she used to feel sorry for me getting beaten up all the time but now she doesn't care (as I mentioned I have NEVER been hit by him... and the closest thing I have to bruises on my face is the dark circles under my eyes from lack of sleep caused by HER), and then she accused us of being lazy unemployed bums while HER man works every day at 5am (both my boyfriend and I work SIX days a week). She then ended the note with a threatening "This isn't over......you have no idea what you have just started".
Nothing like this has EVER happened to me. My boyfriend and I are both pretty quiet and mostly keep to ourselves. I don't really like people throwing around false accusations and threats like that. I want to show the letter to our landlord, but then it'll be our word against hers and that might just make her angrier. Any thoughts?

Oh, one thing that DID make me laugh... in her note she called us "dumba**es" at least 5 times. However, the rest of the note was just riddled with the phrase "yous guys". Awesome.

First, call the landlord and show him/her the letter and explain the situation. Don't give them the letter, a copy.
Second, call the police and file a report and show them the letter.

Then see what happens.

Call the police,every time they get out of hand.Tell the landlord.Keep a record.If you have the ability to ,record as much of their behavior as you can. Taping the noise,etc.

In my city if a landlord gets a series of police calls without tending to the issue,he gets his property closed down.

If she is flipping out and making these wild accusations,she sounds like a crack head.

Don't be intimidated by her scare tactics.You have the right to peace and quiet.

When you call 911,let them hear through the phone how loud it is.

Been where you are ,it was a nightmare and after 6 months they finally got kicked out!

I have had a similar situation. Police and landlords are pretty useless and will only do something if you have proof, so get a sound recorder and video camera and try to get it on tape/film when they threaten you, then the authorities will have to take it seriously. Get a lawyer and take them to small claims court or a higher court if it gets more serious.

If the apartment has security officers on duty, call them when it is happening

Call the police, call and complain to the landlord every time.

It can help to record them also.

The last thing you do is go to their down yourself.

I agree you have to take action. I wouldn't doubt that other people who live in the building have also complained.

I agree that a recording of the noise with the date and timer on, is a good idea. Record a few if you can, and keep a diary specifically to record every incident.

As to the letter, I would certainly give a copy to the landlord, if it were me, I'd send it via registered mail.

This part bothers me:

"This isn't over......you have no idea what you have just started".

I would feel threatened by that.

Check your tenant rights, but I believe you have grounds to break the lease if the landlord does not do something about the tenants downstairs. If you document it, call the police, and give the landlord time to fix the problem I believe you can give notice and move without reprocussion (except that moving stinks).

Wow... and I thought I had bad neighbors! Yikes!

Definitely do as everyone says and contact your landlord. If it is in a community, the landlords need to know what's going on.

I would call the landlord and leave a message on the answering machine EVERY time I was awakened by my neighbors - no matter what time of night. Then, I'd call in the morning to see if they had "gotten the message." They would send the security people over to the apartment that next morning and things would die down a bit for a while.

Once you report to your landlord (give him a copy of the letter so it is on file for the tenants future rental credit), I'd file a report with the police. Get the card of a policeman and call them every time.

It may take a bit of time, but this should take care of it. People can be evicted for this type of behaviour - as can they be arrested.

Take care and stay safe!

The best way is to call the police.

Call the police and the landlord every time there's a loud fight or other noise violation. I would not call the landlord in the middle of the night, just call the next morning and say, "Hey, I just want to inform you that the police were here again last night..."

If there are multiple neighbors see if any of them have an issue with these people (be subtle about it - not like you're leading a mob) and suggest to them that perhaps it's best if different people report the problems. If one couple calls all the time, it may appear that you are over-sensitive. If a lot of neighbors call though, it will be more clear that the noisy arguing people are truly just that.