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[FedUpWithYou]

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[Chocolate Cake]

Any of the three options you mentioned sound reasonable to me although I'd start with the apartment manager.  To have a better chance of getting him/her to act, it would be helpful if you could isolate the culprits.   That would mean walking the halls when the fights start up and stopping to listen at each door.  Then, write down as many specifics as you can remember -- dates, times, noise volume, any crashing/bashing/banging sounds that accompanied the fight, etc.   Then, give all the info to the apartment manager with a request to take action by such and such a date.   

If the manager seems to be unable to solve the issue, given a reasonable amount of time, then you'd be justified to then contact the landlord/owner. 

[Bijou]

I'm in a bit of a spot and would really appreciate any advice!

I live in a 12-unit apartment building built in the 50's. There are 6 units on top, 6 on bottom. One of my neighbors apparently recently started having some domestic issues. For the last three weeks there have been loud fights on a nearly nightly basis. Sometimes they don't even start fighting until 11:30 or so, and keep me from falling asleep. Twice in the last week I've been woken at ridiculous hours (6:30 AM last Saturday, and 3:30 AM last night) by yelling.

Now the walls and floors/ceilings here are very thin, and I can hear regular conversations as murmurs. Most other tenants have lived here for years, and everyone is aware of how sound carries in this building. I would love to confront the screamer directly, and point out that this behaviour is unacceptable, but I'm not positive which apartment its coming from. The acoustics are really strange and the fights could be coming from the unit next door, the unit above, or the unit diagonally above. Three thirty AM didn't seem like an appropriate time to go knocking on doors to find the culprit in case others had not been woken up, but I'm not really sure what I can do here.

I considered filing a police report for domestic disturbance, but I live in Los Angeles, and police response time for that sort of thing is somewhere around 2 hours at best, and they're usually finished in half that time. Plus, I wouldn't be able to tell the officers which apartment, and I could see that being a problem. The apartment manager has promised to talk with everyone about acceptable noise levels, but either hasn't or these people ignored her.

So what should I do? Go to the apartment manager again? Talk to the (off site) land lord? Set up a stakeout operation so I can confront them myself? *g* I really need some sleep here!

Thanks for any help

Please don't try to pinpoint the apartment.  Keep yourself removed physically from the trouble for your own safety.  The police are trained to deal with these problems and can determine where it is coming from.  Or if your manager is nearby, call him or her and let them handle it however they see fit.   I would not go down there when it is going on (or talk to them about it at any time) due to safety issues.  Now that it is between problems, you probably can talk with the manager or landlord about it.

[Chocolate Cake]

If I'm unsuccessful in pinpointing the apartment, is it still ok to appraoch the manager again, or should I wait?

Definitely approach the manager anyway!  It's his/her job to run interference even if you don't have all the information.   Keep us posted and let us know how it goes!

[Twik]

If all the neighbors think to mention it to the apartment manager, they should be able to figure it out by who didn't complain.

[Lisbeth]

I'm in a bit of a spot and would really appreciate any advice!

I live in a 12-unit apartment building built in the 50's. There are 6 units on top, 6 on bottom. One of my neighbors apparently recently started having some domestic issues. For the last three weeks there have been loud fights on a nearly nightly basis. Sometimes they don't even start fighting until 11:30 or so, and keep me from falling asleep. Twice in the last week I've been woken at ridiculous hours (6:30 AM last Saturday, and 3:30 AM last night) by yelling.

Now the walls and floors/ceilings here are very thin, and I can hear regular conversations as murmurs. Most other tenants have lived here for years, and everyone is aware of how sound carries in this building. I would love to confront the screamer directly, and point out that this behaviour is unacceptable, but I'm not positive which apartment its coming from. The acoustics are really strange and the fights could be coming from the unit next door, the unit above, or the unit diagonally above. Three thirty AM didn't seem like an appropriate time to go knocking on doors to find the culprit in case others had not been woken up, but I'm not really sure what I can do here.

I considered filing a police report for domestic disturbance, but I live in Los Angeles, and police response time for that sort of thing is somewhere around 2 hours at best, and they're usually finished in half that time. Plus, I wouldn't be able to tell the officers which apartment, and I could see that being a problem. The apartment manager has promised to talk with everyone about acceptable noise levels, but either hasn't or these people ignored her.

So what should I do? Go to the apartment manager again? Talk to the (off site) land lord? Set up a stakeout operation so I can confront them myself? *g* I really need some sleep here!

Thanks for any help

Please don't try to pinpoint the apartment.  Keep yourself removed physically from the trouble for your own safety.  The police are trained to deal with these problems and can determine where it is coming from.  Or if your manager is nearby, call him or her and let them handle it however they see fit.   I would not go down there when it is going on (or talk to them about it at any time) due to safety issues.  Now that it is between problems, you probably can talk with the manager or landlord about it.

Unfortunately, I think managers and landlords are less likely to respond to an issue that is just a fairly vague complaint about a neighbor when they don't know who it is.  Certainly, I wouldn't confront the neighbors in question, but I would try to determine which apartment the noise is coming from without knocking on the door or speaking to them.

[MineralDiva]

I wouldn't confront them personally and possibly put yourself in danger.  But it might be good to do a little recon to find out which apartment contains the disturbance...since you're up anyway...and then go back to your own to call the police.

[Twik]

I've been in a similar situation, and it's surprising how much easier it is to pinpoint noice when you're in the hall, rather than in your own apartment. Assuming the fight is just noisy, and not violent, I don't think a quick reconnoitering of the hallway would be excessively dangerous.

[J.D.]

We had upstairs neighbours who did exactly the same thing, at all hours of the day, so I can sympathize with you.  I had to walk around the top floor a bit to figure out where it was coming from, but that didn't wake long.  If you feel comfortable enough, that may be a good way to figure out exactly where the noise is coming from.

For your own safety, I'd recommend not confronting them directly.  That kind of behaviour suggests instability, and there is a good chance that they could turn their anger on you.  (This was the advice give to me by my father, who works for a child and family services organization, so he saw thing kind of thing all the time and has seen how it can escalate.)  I'd say contact the building manager and the landlord, and then the police.  Even if the fight has settled down before the police arrive, they should at least make an enquiry to follow up on your complaint.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.  I know what an unpleasent situation this is to be in, and I hope it all works out for you.