Loud tenants, too much traffic. Any other suggestions?

[Jennifer T.]

Hey All--

Thanks in advance for the help, sorry I'm longwinded!  I have a duplex where one side is larger (4 bed/2ba) than the other (2 bed/1ba).

I had some fairly new tenants move into the larger unit in Sept. last year (2019) and some new tenants just moved into the smaller side a couple weeks ago.  Both are on year-long leases.

The "larger" family wasn't causing problems when they first moved in.  But around Oct., the previous tenant in the smaller unit started complaining about noise and too much in/out traffic.  She was a pot-stirrer who always had trouble paying her rent anyway...in fact, I evicted her in Dec...so I didn't necessarily pay her a lot of mind with the complaints, but did text the main tenant for the large family a couple times to please be mindful of neighbors.

However, when we were doing showings, I noticed they did have loud music blaring a lot.  We repeatedly had to keep knocking on the door and remind them to keep it down.  That their noise should not be extending past their walls. Part of the problem seemed to be there were too many people there all the time.  Though it's hard to prove there are people living there that aren't on the lease.  I let the main tenant know when the new tenants would be moving in and, especially now that there would neighbors, they had to get their noise back under control.

The new tenants started complaining about the noise and traffic.  At this point, I'd already given multiple verbal/text warnings.  I sent her another one.  Summarizing what the previous tenant said, what I'd witnessed, and what the new tenants were complaining about.  I also gave her a heads up that I would be posting a 5-Day Cure or Quit (and I did).  About both the noise and that only (named) tenants could be living there.

The noise got better.  But it's still a problem too often and the constant back/forth traffic did not abate.

It's frustrating for me, because they are good tenants otherwise.  And it seems like such an EASY thing for them to fix.  Except they aren't.  There is a language barrier that I largely combat with Google Translator.  But I also think the main tenant's reading comprehension is lacking, on top of that.  Only because I know there have been some things I've said very clearly in her language, that she still didn't seem to understand.  But it does make it harder because I can't just call her on the phone and have a conversation.

Does anyone have any other suggestions on what I can say/point out/anything/something that worked for you to get them to just be good neighbors?  I think some of it is a perspective issue also.  It's like they don't even recognize what is/isn't appropriate noise levels.  It is bad.  Neither my previous or new tenant are being too sensitive.  I'm pretty much now at the point where, as much as I hate to, I'm ready to post a Notice to Vacate, due to lease violations that have not been complied with.  I realize, technically, I could go straight to eviction court because it hasn't been "cured".  But I'd rather give them a 30-Day Notice to Vacate to hopefully have things go more smoothly and give them some time to move. 

I did suggest to the previous and current tenant that they call the police for a noise complaint.  Maybe the family would listen to the police, since they aren't listening to me or their neighbors.  But neither one wanted to do that.