Noisy tenants

[Mike Palmer]

Hey all:

I found out that my downstairs tenants have been having noise issues from the people upstairs. They mentioned this casually once before and I talked to them and hadn't heard anything since, so I assumed it was taken care of. Apparently the kids upstairs like to run around, yell, jump off the bed, etc., and it makes a good deal of noise. To top it off, they say it happens a few times a week as late as midnight, even on school nights (these kids are about 2-7 in age)! 

Question is, what do you do to incentivize them to keep the noise down, and what do you do to penalize them if it continues? I am going to talk to them again and have them sign a noise rule to be quiet after 10. Is that sufficient? How do enforce it? Can/should I charge them a fee if it happens again? Should I not renew their lease (I think they really like the place and want to stay)?

The downstairs tenants are moving out at the end of their lease. Mostly due to a change in commute and wanting to move closer to work, but he said the noise was a factor. He thought anyone new moving in would certainly complain, but didn't think it was necessarily a deal breaker. I typically try to stay out of tenant to tenant issues, but how should I handle this? Any ideas (preferably not involving them calling the police to come talk to them)? I don't think this would be loud enough for neighbors to complain, but being in a bedroom right below I can relate to it being fairly loud and definitely hard to sleep through. 

Thoughts?