So you’ve finally moved into your new dream apartment and are ready to settle down and live happily ever after. However, no sooner have you plunked yourself onto the couch with a sigh of relief, you begin to realize that you’re not alone. The slob on top keeps odd hours and bombards you with such weird noises that you keep awake the whole night simply guessing his next move. No amount of adjustment makes you get used to this nuisance. And your much cherished fairytale existence soon turns into a nightmare. Welcome to community living!

Someone has truly said, “You can make your own home, but God makes your neighbors.” And if thy neighbors have not been created in God’s image, it’s curtains for you!

Defining Nuisance

“A good neighbor is a fellow who smiles at you over the back fence, but doesn't climb over it.” Arthur Baer

The Environmental Protection Act, 1990 classifies several types of behavior as statutory nuisances, including:

• Noise or vibration.
• Smoke, fumes or gases from any premises.
• Dust, steam or smells from business premises.
• Accumulations or deposits.
• Animals kept in unhygienic or unsafe conditions.

According to the law, for an act to constitute a statutory nuisance, it must present a health risk or a nuisance. Typical examples of a statutory nuisance might include a neighbor who regularly burns rubbish that pollutes the air or who throws garbage out in the open, resulting in an all-pervading stench.

Assessing the level of nuisance

“Love thy neighbor as thyself, but choose your neighborhood.” Louise Beal

When assessing nuisance, the law looks to balance the right of one individual to enjoy his or her land, without interfering with the right of their neighbors to enjoy theirs. Some guidelines that councils use, include:

• A nuisance must cross a boundary.
• It must be a substantial interference and not a trivial matter.
• A one off event such as a birthday party can be a nuisance.
• The time, duration, nature and location of the nuisance must be taken into account. For example, something that is not a nuisance in the middle of the day may become one, later in the night.

Nuisance from neighbors can come in many forms – noise, pets, smoke, light, littering and antisocial behavior. But noise remains the chief culprit amongst them.

Noise

“Whoever came up with the idea that counting sheep helps you sleep never had a noisy neighbor.” Kate Kemp

Excessive noise affects your quality of life, it makes you irritable and jumpy, it can deprive you of your sleep, and cause many stressful side effects. Before you label your next-door neighbor as noisy, take a quick peek at your own habits. If you sleep till noon and your neighbor’s pets start playing at nine in the morning, it is you who has to adjust the timings, not they. Yes, if you’re aroused from your deep slumber at midnight by the loud volume of your neighbor’s television, then you’ve got a case. Similarly, don’t expect to wind up your work undisturbed on a weekend. It’s a weekend for your neighbor’s kids too and you can’t expect them to waste it just being considerate to you, can you?

Noise can take many forms. It can be the booming of heavy stereo music at ungodly hours. It can be the sound of shouting, arguing or conversing loudly from across the wall. It can be the continuous barking of the neighbor’s dog at irregular intervals. It can be frequent slamming of the door in the early morning hours. It can be noisy vehicles coming and going throughout the night or their frequent honking. It can be an insomniac neighbor who decides to vacuum or run the washing machine at three in the morning. It can be the banging and crashing of objects, ringing of the alarms, noise from the parties and other gatherings, clipty-clop of steps on a wooden floor and innumerable other deafening and annoying sources. The list can be endless, but the suffering remains excruciatingly the same!

What you can do

“It is easier to love humanity as a whole than to love one's neighbor.” Eric Hoffer

There are plenty of ways to tackle such a situation depending upon how you want it tackled. But we certainly don’t advocate the method employed by one of the victims, who was hell-bent on giving the offending neighbor a dose of his own medicine. He set up a video camera in an open window and got the neighbor’s noisy blast on the film along with the date and time. He then set up a heavy duty, powerful boom box within a few feet of the neighbor’s window and let him have it. As the neighbor called the police, he explicitly showed them who started what and when! According to the adherents of this method, "blasting back" is not infantile, “it’s simply communicating in a language that the friggin’ noisemaker understands”!

Whether or not the level of nuisance represents a health risk, it is advisable to first try and resolve the dispute informally. Some tried and tested methods are:

Keeping a record: At the first sign of trouble with your neighbor, no matter how petty, always start a diary of incidents, recording their dates and timings. Make this as detailed as you can. It’s not a legal requirement, but you may need it to back up your complaint and it could be used in evidence, if you do decide to go to the court. Keep a note of all letters, phone calls and conversations. Collect other evidences too, if possible, such as photos, clips and the like. This is vital. In case matters get worse, it will give you some proof of the events, even though this may not be admissible in court. Remember, recording of small instances and occurrences of your neighbor’s misdemeanors do add up to become clinching evidences.

Soundproofing your room: If you’re the reserved kind who is reluctant to even broach the subject with your neighbor, leave alone fighting it out with him, then it is best to tune out your neighbor by soundproofing your apartment. For the paper-thin common wall, that even allows the sound of your neighbor scratching his unmentionables to filter across, use a sound barrier by affixing false plywood panels in fiberfill. This would decrease the noise from across. Fabric is also a great sound reducer, so use lots of it – use carpet and padding on the floor, draperies at the windows and upholstery on the walls.

Speaking with your noisy neighbor: If you don’t want to waste good money on soundproofing and would like to thrash out the issue with your neighbor, by all means do so. However, don’t approach him if you feel he could be violent. If you do approach him, wait until a suitable time. Just don’t go rushing to him complaining about the noise when it’s actually happening. Chances are he’d be drunk or partying hard and will be in no mood to talk, and may even interpret it as your spoiling his fun. So, it is best to approach him when all is calm and quiet, and he seems in a receptive mood. Be friendly and approach him without anger or excess emotion. Try hard to keep the conversation light hearted and friendly. It may be that there is a situation that you’re unaware of and this could clear the air between the two of you. The worst thing you can do is to disgorge all your pent-up resentment, harbored throughout the months of sleepless nights, in one go. You may be surprised to know that, more often than not, your neighbor may not even be aware of the nuisance that he is creating. You can, through an attitude of helpful cooperation, mutually agree upon an acceptable period of high volume. You may even persuade him to keep the noise level down at all times. If you are lucky and this works out, this can be your first and last step to settle the issue. In any case, record the date you spoke with your neighbor. This documentation may come in handy at a later date, in case the nuisance doesn’t stop.

Speaking with other neighborhood sufferers: To think that this slob will be courteous enough to stop the moment you convey your problem is usually wishful thinking. If he were such a nice guy, the situation wouldn’t have arisen in the first place. So, if there is no let up in his behavior and the problem persists, seek out other neighbors who are undergoing the same trauma. Ask them to approach this offending neighbor too, but urge them to remain pleasant while addressing the problem. If your fellow neighbors have young children, let them show how this loud music or other noise is keeping them awake at night. It is possible that the sheer number of complaining neighbors may make this offender realize the enormity of his nuisance and intimidate him into towing the line. It is wise to keep a detailed record of all those who approach this noisy customer.

Informing your noisy neighbor in writing: If your noisy neighbor finds out that you are putting pressure on him through other neighbors, he would resent you and in all probability would continue or step up his noisy behavior. If this is the case, it is time to send him a letter. Writing a letter to a next-door neighbor may sound formal, but it’s an effective method of communication, when he is unwilling to listen to you or even let you raise the matter with him. It also saves you from approaching him in person. The letter should reiterate the problem being faced by you and should request him to resolve the issue by immediately ceasing the nuisance. The letter should clearly mention the dates on which you and your neighbors approached him about the noise. Also inform him that you’ve sent copies of this letter to your landlord or your management company and that you will be speaking to them about this persisting problem. Letters serve as proof that you have brought the matter to the notice of your neighbor. Therefore, you must retain a copy of this letter. Also attach a copy of the local noise ordinance, and community rules and regulations, highlighting the noise restrictions. The ordinance outlines "quiet hours," for example, 10 pm to 8 am, and gives guidelines for acceptable decibel levels.

Discussing with the landlord: If your noisy neighbor just isn’t in the mood for relenting, it’s time to speak with the landlord. Describe the specific problem to him and make him aware of the steps you have already taken. Persuade the other affected neighbors to do likewise. This would make your case stronger and may force the landlord to act early. According to the law, the tenants are granted with at least one inalienable right, regardless of what the lease says, and that is the implied warranty of habitability. Your landlord has a legal obligation to provide you with a habitable dwelling and it includes complying with local noise ordinances. A threat of eviction of the offending neighbor by the landlord would usually put the brakes on the nuisance. However, if it doesn’t work speak with the landlord again and continue doing so till the matter is resolved.

Taking the help of neighborhood-mediation centers: There are hundreds of neighborhood-mediation centers in nearly every metropolitan area in the U.S. and in certain other countries that specialize in resolving potentially bitter border issues. Numerous mediation centers are even operated by church groups. These centers are becoming increasingly popular because they generally resolve neighbor feuds for free and are able to settle cases ninety percent of the time. These mediated agreements are known to remain in force because the mediator makes no decisions at all and the outcome is a mutually agreed solution between the two parties. If you think you could never get your neighbor to agree to a mediation, the center will help you by assigning a mediator, who will contact your neighbor and urge him to come in. Sixty percent of the time both parties do appear for mediation.

Other approaches

There is a possibility that your offending neighbor, even at the risk of eviction, may not respond to the landlord’s request or the landlord himself doesn’t respond to your requests. It’s time to take action outside the realm of mutual resolution:

Calling the police: Calling the police is most effective when you’ve reached a point where the noise has continued for a long period of time, and you’ve tried unsuccessfully to resolve the problem at your end. Call the police when your neighbor is at his noisiest best (or is it worst?). This would give a clearer picture of the nuisance. In this too, persuade your neighbors to contact the police separately, since there is strength in numbers. Many simultaneous calls will automatically strengthen your case and elicit a quick response from the police.

Legal action: If your neighbor remains adamant, taking recourse to legal action is saner than ending up with a shrink! Take the advice of a lawyer on your specific rights and redresses available and then sue the neighbor. If the landlord had ignored your written complaints about your noisy neighbor for a reasonable amount of time, you may have grounds to take this erring landlord also to the court.

Shifting residence: If suing is too much of a bother for you and all else has failed to provide you succor, it is best to move out of the apartment, rather than continue to exist in a living hell. Here too, consult a lawyer to find out if you can break your lease without penalty because of the persisting nuisance.

Be a model neighbor yourself

You have only one life to live and you should live it with dignity and with your peace of mind intact. Remember, there is always a lesson in your adversity. A noisy and uncouth neighbor teaches us not to do unto others what has been done unto you. Your triumph in such a situation is to become a model neighbor yourself, sensitive to those around you. You must always strive for perfection by practicing the following, wherever you may decide to settle:

Get to know your neighbors: They don't have to become your best friends, but a passing acquaintance with them will hold you in good stead. So, whenever you run into them always smile and say hello. And you can always introduce yourself to the ones who reciprocate.

Abide by the community rules: Many apartment communities have by-laws on quiet hours, trash pickup, parking and other dos and don’ts for the residents. Ensure that these are spelled out when your lease is being drawn or they are made part of it as a separate supplemental set of rules and regulations. It is important for you to be aware of them and follow them.

Control your children: If you have children, understand that many of your neighbors don't and they are probably not used to their antics. So be considerate. For those of you without children, understand that your neighbors' children have a right to be there, and that they are, after all, children.

Control your pets: If you have pets, understand that not all your neighbors are animal lovers. Abide by the community rules concerning where they can be, when they are outside your apartment. There are certain commonsense actions that you can take to prevent your pet from becoming a nuisance – don't let it roam free in the complex, clean up any mess it has created and control its noise making potential. If your community doesn't allow pets, don't have them.

Curtail noisy activities: Though maintaining a home calls for noisy activities like vacuuming, hammering nails, moving heavy furniture, their impact can be reduced if you restrict these activities to daytime hours. A 9 am to 9 pm bracket is a good rule of thumb for these activities. However, do check the exact specified quiet hours in your lease and rental regulations.

Curb noisy parties: Don’t let your parties come as a surprise to your neighbors, inform them beforehand. This way they will be psychologically better prepared for enduring the noise. At your end, don’t let the party go wild and untamed. Make sure the noise level does not get out of hand by keeping a tab on it. And remember even when you're having a party quiet hours apply.

“A man who has reformed himself has contributed his full share towards the reformation of his neighbor.” George Norman Douglas