Won't you be my Neighbor?
How is it that the character of a neighborhood ebbs and flows, with new residents moving in and others leaving?
Consider my neighborhood. This spring, two groups of people moved into the house across the street. On the first floor, a family moved in. The father, who I shall call Bill works at Union Hospital as a nurse practitioner and is a personal trainer. He is a proud lifelong Lynner, whose oldest son goes to college. Different members of the family will sit out on the front porch most every night and peacefully hang out.
The house across the street is owned by an absentee landlord. Unfortunately, the 2nd floor tenants make so much noise that Bill has decided to move out. I don't know the 2nd floor occupants and their noise hasn't bothered me, but it has caused some disruption among adjacent households with children who need to go to bed early and wake up for school the next morning.
Bill has tried to negotiate with the landlord, even pointing out a clause in the lease which prohibits excessive noise, but the landlord would rather see him and his family leave than kick out the noisy ones. "You gotta do what you gotta do," says Bill, so he is moving. Who knows who will move in next? Hopefully not anyone engaged in criminal activity.
I hate to see him go. But that's life in the hood with absentee landlords who care less about who lives in their houses and more about whether the rent check comes regularly. I would think that a landlord would want more stable, respectful tenants in their property, so that other like-minded people would be encouraged to move into a peaceful abode. Then again I am not a business man with rental properties. However, I like to think that I would be more responsible.
This is how a neighborhood ebbs and flows, with new people moving in, others moving out, some foreclosing on their houses, others buying that property in pursuit of the great American dream. Businesses come and go and change ownership. How do we as a neighborhood encourage it to flow in a direction that sustains healthy development?
- Tom Sheehan's blog
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That's a tough situation
Even if the absentee landlord cared about the noise generated by those tenants, they may not be able to do much about it. Eviction is a costly and timely process thanks to some very tough tenant-centered laws. It would most likely be easier for the landlord to deal with any City Noise Ordinance Violations than to evict. It wouldn't be too dificult to deal with when the lease is up, though.
I've had problems with noise from neighbors renting in my building. Their landlord is the developer of the condo - it's an unsold unit. I think it's good that they are renting them rather than selling out. I just happened to get stuck next to the loudest of them and the place is overstuffed. Their living room is now a bedroom!
After many sleepless nights affecting my performance as a teacher, their solution as a landlord was to insulate the wall between my bedroom and their living room. I'm not sure there's much else that can be done. Talking to the neighbors didn't work. Calling the police didn't work because the noise was from loud talking rather than from a loud tv or stereo. (Apparently loud talking and stomp-walking, no matter how disturbing to a neighbor at 3am, are allowed.) I was made to feel like the uptight bad guy in the whole ordeal. It's very awkward when I see them in the hall now and I wouldn't wish it on anyone.
Maybe you can talk to other neighbors and craft a letter signed by everyone to give to..whom I don't know. It is effecting you if it's causing neighbors to move away!
Good luck!
-Seth
lynnhappens.com