Issues with Neighbors Upstairs - Management refuses to do ANYTHING. What can we do?

Question

I’m seeking advice on how to handle a challenging situation with noisy upstairs neighbors in an upscale Miami apartment community. We have lived in our apartment for nearly three years without any issues, but since April, new neighbors moved in upstairs, and the noise has become unbearable.

At all hours of the day and night, it sounds like constant walking, furniture screeching, and items being dropped—even until 4 a.m. This isn’t typical living noise; it’s loud enough to disrupt our sleep and daily lives. Prior to these neighbors, the unit above was occupied, and we never experienced any problems.

We’ve spoken to management multiple times, but they’ve been completely unhelpful and have taken no meaningful action and even told us that we are making the noise up, inspite security having been to our apartment numerous times wittnessing the noise. We even served management a notice to cure, but the property is owned by a large corporate entity, which makes us feel like we’re at a dead end. We’ve also tried talking to the neighbors directly, but they don’t acknowledge the issue or make any effort to address it, on the contrary somtimes they are extra loud in spite.

If anyone has advice on how to put pressure on management or navigate this type of situation, we'd appreciate it. We’re at a loss on how to resolve this and make our home livable again.

Dennis McNeely · Answer

Check your lease to see if there's a section that addresses "quiet enjoyment". Our lease indicates each tenant has to provide for the quiet enjoyment of all other tenants, as well as those living in neighboring buildings or houses. If your lease has that clause (and assuming your local laws permit), consider notifying your PM of you intent to escrow your rent payments until the situation has been corrected. That should cause a spark of interest in the matter. They should put the tenant on notice, and indicate their intent to terminate their lease if they don't correct the problem. If you have no such clause in your lease, you can find the owner of the property using tax records, then skip trace the owner and contact them to let them know of the situation. Since you've lived there for nearly 3 years, the fact that you made the effort to contact the owner may be enough to move the needle. There's also the possibility of becoming the squeaky wheel by calling the police (*not* security) to report the matter. You may have local ordinance(s) that allow them to step in and apply pressure to correct the matter. The PM may not like having repeated police reports filed, but that's their problem and they can sort it out. Best of luck with it!

Russell Brazil · Answer

How about going upstairs, knocking on their door and having a neighborly conversation to start?

Andrew B. · Answer

Sounds like PM doesn't like to do anything for noise complaints. It would be a shame if the offending neighbors got woken up at night by loud music coming from speakers held under their floor. In that scenario, the PM probably wouldn't do anything for them either. I bet Baby Shark would be an especially annoying song.

David Spurlock · Answer

Hey @Livia Adams, @Matt Devincenzo & @Dennis McNeely Are correct. You need to either escalate this through the municipality and hold back rent OR call the police and report the tenant for disturbance. I would advise the latter.Do not listen to Andrew B. That will only result in more problems for you and won't resolve the issue.

Jonathan Baptiste · Answer

Is the apartment building owned by a large corporation. If so I would reach out to them directly and complain about not only the noise but the management. If all else take your concerns to yelp and social media.

Matt Devincenzo · Answer

Typically we talk about cure notices for tenants, but they do go both ways for breach of contract. You can provide a formal cure notice to your LL/Management and if they don't address it then you can move to next steps. Often there is a process to withhold rent and deposit it with the court until the issue is resolved. It definitely escalates the situation though, so I'd research the process and carefully consider the option before embarking on it...but if you pursue that route you can likely escrow Dec 1 rent and I'm sure that will get some attention. I'm not saying it's the right call or not, but if you try other things and can't get results you either move to another place or take the 'legal' route....that could be another option is ask them if they have another unit you could move into. No matter what they say at least it shows you're trying to find a solution but the upstairs tenant really is the issue.

Livia Adams · Answer

Hey Russel,thanks for replying. As mentioned we have sought a conversation with them several times. And none of them had been fruitful. They are very hostile and are not willing to listen or try.