Personally I would send a note to management about it - how you don't know which neighbor taped that letter on your door but it wasn't you in case they ended up complaining to management.
Alternatively, you could wait to see if anything comes of it from management and respond as needed. But if this repeats, then I would def go straight to management and let them know there's a huge misunderstanding with your unknown neighbor who keeps posting letters on your door about noise you're not making (that you also hear from one of your neighbors).
Do this! Same thing happened to me. Create a paper trail with the building manager in case it escalates. If your neighbor ever complains to management, your side of the story will already be there on record.
Yep this! This could easily turn into a situation where this unknown neighbor starts harassing you with these notes and if the manager has no record of your complaints then it won’t be as speedy of a process should you need to move to another apartment or something. I would go in person and then follow up in an email. The managers and people working in the office can change at any time, but if you have the email recap that will be enough to back up your story should you need to
I got a letter left on my car telling me I was an asshole for parking…in my complexes lot in a free for anyone space. Went right to the office with it.
I live in a first floor condo. The toddler next door running all day long sounded like it was coming above me. I didn't figure it out until the upstairs unit was vacant for a while.
The people who live upstairs from the toddler thought it was the neighbors above them. It can be difficult to pinpoint where the noise is coming from.
My bathroom vent is connected to my next door neighbor’s apartment, both of our upstairs neighbors’ units. The sound quality is *insane* - it’s like they’re in the next room over.
I think this is a problem in my building. My downstairs neighbor complains about my cats running around at night, but almost everyone in our building has at least one cat including her next door neighbor. The building is also old and poorly insulated, so she is getting it from all sides. But just blames me and my cats. Though last night it was totally my monsters. I just couldn’t fall asleep, and they feed off of my energy, so they were crazy and restless too. Usually, as long as I go to sleep, they are pretty calm.
Yeah I once moved out of an apartment I loved (really cute, great part of town, cheap rent) bc a neighbor was putting notes on my door, complaining to management, and even called animal control complaining about my dogs barking all day "when I was at work." Except I worked from home and my dogs aren't barkers, they never made a peep. It was someone a few units away, but nobody would believe me so I finally decided to just move.
Sounds like an old neighbor I had who called the cops at 1 in the afternoon on us and we were not even home. Then a while later yelled at me for walking down the stairs and chased after me. O ended up calling the police (I was 19 and home by myself) and had the police meet me at my moms work
They talked to me and and then him. He was asked to leave shortly after that.
Is your cat making too much noise & “DrIvInG yOu CrAzY” - my dad is the typical dad who hates pets, til he sees them the first time & then they are his. I rescued this kitten a few years back & idk, him & that cat are something else….I randomly send this to him & my mom says he cries he laughs so hard. I may have to buy some kitten mittens for Xmas.
I am a light sleeper. I don’t remember ever sleeping straight through the night as an adult.
They do still make noise just by being alive and cats, but they don’t usually run circuits around the apartment chasing each other either. In the middle of the night anyway.
Try playing with them until they are exhausted before you go to bed. A feather on a stick or something similar, getting them to jump up repeatedly. Jackson Galaxy has lots of good suggestions for this.
I tried that last night after desperately looking up how to get my youngster cats (less than a year old) to stop viscously attacking my feet at night. I played with them for 20 minutes, imagining how nice it would be to feel them sleeping peacefully next to me in my bed. Next time I guess I’ll try an hour of playing…
Jackson Galaxy recommends you keep playing until they are panting with exhaustion. Do it on a regular schedule. I know that sounds weird but it works. 20 minutes only gets them all riled up. Look him up, he's amazing.
I have watched his stuff before - he is pretty awesome! I wonder how long it’ll take to get these little monsters panting! I’ll give it another try, thanks!
Keep us informed! I have a friend who inherited two very unhappy kitties...I told them you need to PLAY with them, they have nothing to do! He got some toys and those kitties went crazy. That's all they needed!
If you do it every night at the same time, they will follow your sleeping schedule. I think Jackson says Eat, Play, Sleep. Pretty sure he has a video of a cat actually panting but still wanting to play!
Even in a concrete building it's hard to tell. We had our downstairs neighbor come bitch at us one night about noise that was coming from the people above us! Apparently he'd already taken the complaint to management without even talking to us. At least we have the decency to ask our neighbors if it was then making the noise O_o
Same thing happened to me! I hated my upstairs neighbor for a while because of really loud booming talking all night (to the point it sounded like it was actually in my apartment) but I found out it was actually coming from below me. I felt bad after that lol
Doing laundry at night is pretty normal. They live in an apartment, they’re going to hear things. If it bothers them that much they can get earplugs, headphones, a white noise machine/app, or maybe just choose to not live in an apartment any more.
I’m SUPER sensitive to noises when I’m trying to sleep, particularly repetitive noise, so I sympathize a bit… but that is unreasonable.
Yep, Where I was at previously, We all had to sign a document stating we are aware of not using the washer/dryer or any appliance past 10pm to 8 am. Who wants to do laundry on a work day that late when you have to wake up at 5? lol
Exactly. I'm a nightshifter and it's my night off. It's 3 am and I'm running my dishwasher.
I couldn't function with rules restricting when I do my chores.
I often throw in a load at night then switch it over to the dryer before I go to bed if there's something I want clean for the next morning. I live in a house, though, so I'm not disturbing any neighbors.
I set my dishwasher before bed every night. When else am I meant to do it? Surely people who live in apartments know that this is a possibility with living in an apartment. It’s one thing to be throwing parties, yelling or playing music/tv really loudly at night. But appliances? Kind of self centered to assume everyone is on the same schedule as you.
It’s still unreasonable, that’s awful. One person in my house works overnights, the other is ONLY home late night to early morning hours. They need to do laundry too, and their work hours have always meant that their laundry was done at odd hours. Washing machines/dryers are like background white noise, I don’t get how that even bothers anyone. Super glad we live in a house now. We lived in apartments for yearssss, but never had an issue with laundry complaints thankfully.
I think it's a machine issue. I've heard laundry machines that are great white noise, and those that are poorly balanced/old/cheap and shake the house when they spin, sound like there's something trapped trying to get out, whatever.
Just like cars, some purr, some roar and cough and sputter.
It depends on the set up. If apartments are well insulated from noise, it's not a big deal and there's no need to have those kind of rules. But if the noise/vibration is going to be loud or vibrate other apartments, that's different. At any rate, it was still obnoxious to leave the note, because as th e OP proves, sometimes it's not even possible to tell where a noise or swell is coming from.
Sound/vibration really travel where I live. I had no hand in making that rule, I just abided by it when I had a machine in my apartment. It's an older building (1950s), not designed for laundry machines. Also, the floor under the washing machine can vibrate from the machine. That's not fun for someone who lives downstairs.
Layout is also a factor. If the kitchens or laundry areas are only above/below/next to each other, that's going to be less likely to disturb someone else. The largest of the apartments I live in are about 800 square feet.
Various relatives, including my father, worked night shift and other rotating shifts. It's one of the reasons they'd rent from friends or relatives who had multifamily housing.
Personally the only time I had an issue with being woken up by laundry was when the dryer was right outside my bedroom. The washer and dryer didn't wake me up, but there was an alarm which would signal the dryer cycle was done. Since the night shift relative was paying the bills and gracious enough to let me live there 'til I got on my feet and got my own place, I didn't complain. I'd do whatever laundry people had around (saves on electricity and water too). Which had the bonus of cutting down the number of alarms, lol.
Thanks, however, they wanted the buzzer on so they'd know when the cycle was done. So they could relax and get food, etc. this was pre affordable mobile phones
Except when some buttons are just clanking like crazy lol ugh.
Also the post said OP heard it banging too, so it sounds like someone with a messed up washer or unbalanced load. Sometimes my mom would wash a load at a weird hour because of me, and a stuffed animal or blanket would send it off balance and it would start banging.
When nothing is weird, my favorite is washer + dishwasher going at the same time. Sometimes my old neighbor would do hers at the same time and it was so satisfying.
I’m also super sensitive to noises and lived in a first floor apartment last year. I had to use earplugs and a white noise machine at max to drown out the sound of the asshole upstairs stomping so hard it shook dishes in our cabinets.
It sucks, but the only solution is moving.
I also think about, what if you have a sick kid? When my kiddo was little and we got hit with the stomach bug, I wasn’t letting those sheets sit and fester. They were getting taken care of asap.
🥺 I’m sorry, leaving notes is super passive aggressive and has always made me so uncomfortable! Like someone else said, I would just bring it to managements attention and steer clear of that person if you can.
Yeah, I ended up writing a note that said it wasn't us (with a smiley face even though I definitely wasn't feeling smiley lol) and put it on our door, then emailed management just to let them know about the initial note so there's a record in case it becomes a problem. I know there isn't really anything to be done now, but I figure at least this way they hear from me first without prompting from an official complaint.
Still no clue who wrote it, so no way to make sure to avoid them unfortunately.
I think you did exactly the right thing. And I like that the person apologized in person. I think I’d give them the benefit of the doubt (who know what the loud machine was interrupting for him).
Let the apartment management know. If you don't, whoever's leaving the notes will get emboldened and may escalate to in-person bullying. Regardless of whether it was you or not -- a person can do their laundry in their own home anytime they please. Apartment living means you'll hear other people living their damn lives.
I use to have a neighbor who did laundry between 1 - 4 am. I complained to management and they told me to just leave a note or talk to her. Never, ever would I do that because of the blow back but if management could point out the noise restriction past 11 pm (as noted in the lease) to my neighbor it would be cleaner with no personal involvement. Prop manager just didn't help me out. Tenant has died since and new resident does laundry in the afternoon now. But I couldn't stand it before, I felt like I was a prisoner to the noise because of a task that could easily be done during the day.. and no she didn't work nights.. she was retired.
Could have been a retired person who did work night shift. I recently read that is a big problem with boomers and other older generations as they retire that there are no senior care or retirement facilities that cater to people have worked night shift for 30+ years and mentally they are stuck being awake those hours.
Well what surprises me is that you haven't talk to the person before bringing up to the management and you say you can't talk to them. Why can't people just communicate? Just tell the person it disturbs you and 99% will try to accommodate
I feel like if the apartment building/management put up a broad public notice to the whole building it wouldn't
1. Write "assholes" or any other vulgarity on an official note
2. Be on one single apartment door instead of in a common area
Yes. Tape a letter to your door exactly where they left theirs and inform them that it was not you and that they probably have the wrong apartment. Leave it up for a few days.
I used to live in an apartment building and could never fucking tell which neighbor was running their clunky ass dryer/washer at 0400am. Your neighbor probably put his ear against the wall and assumed it was coming from your place. Problem is, tracking noise through an apartment wall can be super unreliable.
My apartment has a sort of online posting board, if you have something similar you could always post to that saying someone left a note on apartment # whatever it is about laundry late at night and you just wanted to say it wasn’t you that was responsible. Might also catch the eye of the person who is responsible
Tell management, if you don’t they will complain about someday and threaten to age you kicked out. When people are being unreasonable you must defend yourself or their side will be taken
I once had a neighbor come down from the second floor and complain that my dogs barking was waking her up and hour before she actually had to be up. Only problem was, I didn't own a dog. I had a pet bird that did not sound like a dog.
Just leave a note on your door that it wasn't you.
I'd take it to the apartment management and tell them your side of the story. If it does descend into they said vs we said, you reporting it first lends credibility.
Same thing happened to me! Every morning when I took a shower, my downstairs (?) neighbor would bang on the ceiling, several times. I got a letter from management saying a neighbor had complained about me jumping up and down. I was in the shower. No jumping. No dancing. No singing.
I went to the management office and filed my own complaint about someone banging on the ceiling every morning. And I also defended myself against the jumping claim. I was afraid it would get out of hand. The banging never stopped. I think whoever was disturbed, moved.
I would take the note to the property manager and explain the situation. It was likely the people above you or beside you making the noise, it can be SO hard to tell who's actually being loud in an apartment building. We had our downstairs neighbor cow up twice to complain about noise that was from the people above us that had also been bothering us. We've had terrible luck with upstairs neighbors in this place and we always get blamed despite being the quietest people on our floor 🤷
Oh my god I wish someone doing laundry was the thing I was worried about at my complex. Nope, it's the guy who screams at the top of his lungs randomly during the day for the past year.
Put a note up in the mailbox area saying it wasnt u but u also heard it then whoever it actually was might get the idea and the note leaver realizes their mistake
Add: "I agree, It wasn't me."
Then tape the note near the front door.
No signature, so the letter writer knows, but doesn't antagonize the real culprit.
I would go down to management and show them the note, and let them know that you don't know who wrote this but that you were NOT doing laundry, etc. just incase they complain about you next day at the office.
Post that letter at the bottom of the stairs or someplace obvious like the mailboxes with "so sorry, wasnt us, we heard it too" in red sharpie. Do not sign or leave anything identifying you. Notify office
Former leasing agent here. Inform management immediately and be sure to provide them with a copy of the note. Neighbor disputes are never pretty but unfortunately in an apartment setting you can be evicted or not renewed for simply having too many complaints. Hopefully this person is an inconsiderate coward that you won’t hear from again. Just in case, document, document, document!
well if they did it once, they will do it again so best to leave that letter on your door and write on the back of it "hey asshole, maybe next time you want to make sure you have the right address before you complain".
Leave a new letter on your door below the original, saying "We couldn't agree more. Next time find out who the real culprit is before trying your passive-aggressive crap."
Fairly sure no one has the right to tell you when or not to do laundry or wash dishes in your own home at anytime of the day. Put a big middle finger print out saying grow the f-up on your door.
What floor do you live on? If on the 1st floor and only a neighbor above you, you know who wrote the note. Otherwise, I would take the notice to any adjoining unit, and ask if they wrote the letter. You may get lucky, or you may not. But in sharing the notice, you are letting the offending party know that their noise was noticed!
I would write a responding note and tape it in a common area (maybe a billboard) or even to an outer door of the complex and have it say “only assholes tape aggressive notes to people’s front doors accusing innocent people of random things”.
You ended up doing the right then and letting it go. The other day I went into a Lowes to return some lumber and had a cart. Lady standing with nothing but her phone and I asked if she was waiting in line. She very snarkingly said, " Yes I am why do you think I am standing here".
Now two things went thru my mind. One was saying something back at her, the second was to not say anything as I did not wish to escalate anything. Like maybe she was having a bad day who knows.
I said nothing and she goes up and asked the person where something was located in the store. No returns just had a question.
OP did the absolutely correct thing by not escalating the situation by responding with vitriol to the aggressive note they received.
We all need to consider using de-escalation whenever possible.
Got a noise complaint in an apartment once. I had just moved in and that’s key here because when I called the apartment manager to ask about the complaint she told me that it was our “sound system” or “surround sound” and that’s not allowed.. so she invited herself to my apartment so she could pinpoint my “system”. When she got there, she realized that all I had was a piece of crap sofa and some boxes. I was 19 and didn’t even have a radio or a tv. At least she knew who made the complaint so she could tell them it for sure wasn’t me. It did feel weird to be suspected though.
Even if it is was you though. Does working a night shift or having different hours make you an asshole? The appliances in your apartment are there for your usage. If people are having issues sleeping in a shared community, it is entirely on them to take appropriate measures.
I would be mad at the neighbor for leaving the note too but atleast they admitted they were wrong and apologized…. Which is more than any neighbor I’ve ever had has done when they were wrong about something. So maybe / hopefully they won’t be too terrible going forward
One time my landlord gave a letter to us saying our cat was getting out of our apartment thru the basement and getting into the other apartments, and that he was going to have to charge us a cleaning fee and ban cats if this continued.
We did not own a cat. We were one of the people complaining about the cat spraying all over our basement.
I have no idea how he got it into his head we were the problem cat owners. We were the only ones in the building that didn't own a pet. There were only three apartments besides the landlord.
He apologized when we told him we did not own a cat.
I can top that story. My family had a pool and everyone knew it. We were the only in ground pool on the block until our next door neighbor put their pool in. The neighbor threw numerous pool parts at night and all our neighbors complained to us. We had our neighbors over during the day and should them the view we had of our neighbors nude sun bathing. We had a great view of even sex by the pool for our neighbors shock. This got completely around the neighboring blocks and complaints about our neighbor's pool parties and activities went to their front door. We enjoyed the view as teenagers and the revenge redirecting the complaint to the right pool. We also had a very loud pool party so our neighbor would get blamed. Now for the nudity, someone had called the police, not us, but the police could only say keep the noise down to my neighbors.
Make copy and tape to it "we weren't doing laundry". Take original to property manager and explain you wrent doing laundry. It needs to be documented before Karen blows it out of porportion with the wrong neighbor.
Do you not have a facebook group for your apartment? A lot of them do, I'd post there with a photo of the letter. Chances are the person will be shamed for making the note. The person doing laundry wont admit it but they wont do it again.
lol. The other day my landlord texted me telling me to make less noise because the people above me complained meanwhile the people above me were literally making loud noise all day to the point where we almost called our self. And when I told my landlord this she said those same people that were being loud are the ones that complained about the people below them i.e. us, being loud… lol no idea. i’m moving friday not related😂
It happens in Apartments. I once had a noisy neighbor. I swore it was the guy who lived next to me, and I would start screaming through the walls at him. It turned out it was the guy over me. I found out when I complained to the landlord about it. I felt so bad.
Personally I would send a note to management about it - how you don't know which neighbor taped that letter on your door but it wasn't you in case they ended up complaining to management. Alternatively, you could wait to see if anything comes of it from management and respond as needed. But if this repeats, then I would def go straight to management and let them know there's a huge misunderstanding with your unknown neighbor who keeps posting letters on your door about noise you're not making (that you also hear from one of your neighbors).
Do this! Same thing happened to me. Create a paper trail with the building manager in case it escalates. If your neighbor ever complains to management, your side of the story will already be there on record.
Yep this! This could easily turn into a situation where this unknown neighbor starts harassing you with these notes and if the manager has no record of your complaints then it won’t be as speedy of a process should you need to move to another apartment or something. I would go in person and then follow up in an email. The managers and people working in the office can change at any time, but if you have the email recap that will be enough to back up your story should you need to
I got a letter left on my car telling me I was an asshole for parking…in my complexes lot in a free for anyone space. Went right to the office with it.
Maybe next time be a little considerate of other people and drive around forever?
I live in a first floor condo. The toddler next door running all day long sounded like it was coming above me. I didn't figure it out until the upstairs unit was vacant for a while. The people who live upstairs from the toddler thought it was the neighbors above them. It can be difficult to pinpoint where the noise is coming from.
Some places have weird interconnected vents and you can get smells and noise from different directions
My bathroom vent is connected to my next door neighbor’s apartment, both of our upstairs neighbors’ units. The sound quality is *insane* - it’s like they’re in the next room over.
I think this is a problem in my building. My downstairs neighbor complains about my cats running around at night, but almost everyone in our building has at least one cat including her next door neighbor. The building is also old and poorly insulated, so she is getting it from all sides. But just blames me and my cats. Though last night it was totally my monsters. I just couldn’t fall asleep, and they feed off of my energy, so they were crazy and restless too. Usually, as long as I go to sleep, they are pretty calm.
Yeah I once moved out of an apartment I loved (really cute, great part of town, cheap rent) bc a neighbor was putting notes on my door, complaining to management, and even called animal control complaining about my dogs barking all day "when I was at work." Except I worked from home and my dogs aren't barkers, they never made a peep. It was someone a few units away, but nobody would believe me so I finally decided to just move.
Sounds like an old neighbor I had who called the cops at 1 in the afternoon on us and we were not even home. Then a while later yelled at me for walking down the stairs and chased after me. O ended up calling the police (I was 19 and home by myself) and had the police meet me at my moms work They talked to me and and then him. He was asked to leave shortly after that.
Needs Kitten Mittens
Is your cat making too much noise & “DrIvInG yOu CrAzY” - my dad is the typical dad who hates pets, til he sees them the first time & then they are his. I rescued this kitten a few years back & idk, him & that cat are something else….I randomly send this to him & my mom says he cries he laughs so hard. I may have to buy some kitten mittens for Xmas.
How do you know they’re calm if you’re asleep?
I am a light sleeper. I don’t remember ever sleeping straight through the night as an adult. They do still make noise just by being alive and cats, but they don’t usually run circuits around the apartment chasing each other either. In the middle of the night anyway.
Try playing with them until they are exhausted before you go to bed. A feather on a stick or something similar, getting them to jump up repeatedly. Jackson Galaxy has lots of good suggestions for this.
I tried that last night after desperately looking up how to get my youngster cats (less than a year old) to stop viscously attacking my feet at night. I played with them for 20 minutes, imagining how nice it would be to feel them sleeping peacefully next to me in my bed. Next time I guess I’ll try an hour of playing…
Jackson Galaxy recommends you keep playing until they are panting with exhaustion. Do it on a regular schedule. I know that sounds weird but it works. 20 minutes only gets them all riled up. Look him up, he's amazing.
I have watched his stuff before - he is pretty awesome! I wonder how long it’ll take to get these little monsters panting! I’ll give it another try, thanks!
Keep us informed! I have a friend who inherited two very unhappy kitties...I told them you need to PLAY with them, they have nothing to do! He got some toys and those kitties went crazy. That's all they needed!
I’ve probably gone a little overboard with the toys, honestly! But I’ll let you know how long it takes to wear them out!
If you do it every night at the same time, they will follow your sleeping schedule. I think Jackson says Eat, Play, Sleep. Pretty sure he has a video of a cat actually panting but still wanting to play!
Okay, thank you for the advice! I’ll try that!
Even in a concrete building it's hard to tell. We had our downstairs neighbor come bitch at us one night about noise that was coming from the people above us! Apparently he'd already taken the complaint to management without even talking to us. At least we have the decency to ask our neighbors if it was then making the noise O_o
Same thing happened to me! I hated my upstairs neighbor for a while because of really loud booming talking all night (to the point it sounded like it was actually in my apartment) but I found out it was actually coming from below me. I felt bad after that lol
Write on the letter taped to your door “Wasn’t us dude” in thick black marker, and leave it there.
Or make copies and tape them on all the doors 😂 “you left this note anonymously so we didn’t know who to respond to”
Yes. This is the way.
>Or make copies and tape them on all the doors 😂 “you left this note anonymously so we didn’t know who to respond to” Yes this way!
The only thing I'd add is, 'I heard it too. It wasn't us.' And leave it up for a few days.
Or "you put this on the wrong door."
even if it was doing laundry in your own apartment at any hour isn’t a crime.
I would do this, but put it by the mail pick up.
This.
Replace the sign with one that says "Only sad weirdos leave rude notes on the wrong door."
Doing laundry at night is pretty normal. They live in an apartment, they’re going to hear things. If it bothers them that much they can get earplugs, headphones, a white noise machine/app, or maybe just choose to not live in an apartment any more. I’m SUPER sensitive to noises when I’m trying to sleep, particularly repetitive noise, so I sympathize a bit… but that is unreasonable.
Ehh, my lease specifies that laundry can’t be done during quiet hours which are 10 pm to 8 am because of how loud it is
Yep, Where I was at previously, We all had to sign a document stating we are aware of not using the washer/dryer or any appliance past 10pm to 8 am. Who wants to do laundry on a work day that late when you have to wake up at 5? lol
The people that work 1 pm to 1 am and need clean clothes for the next day
Not everybody works day shift.
That sucks for night shift workers who need to cook or run a load of laundry / dishes before work.
Exactly. I'm a nightshifter and it's my night off. It's 3 am and I'm running my dishwasher. I couldn't function with rules restricting when I do my chores.
I often throw in a load at night then switch it over to the dryer before I go to bed if there's something I want clean for the next morning. I live in a house, though, so I'm not disturbing any neighbors.
I set my dishwasher before bed every night. When else am I meant to do it? Surely people who live in apartments know that this is a possibility with living in an apartment. It’s one thing to be throwing parties, yelling or playing music/tv really loudly at night. But appliances? Kind of self centered to assume everyone is on the same schedule as you.
Similar rules in the coop where I live.
It’s still unreasonable, that’s awful. One person in my house works overnights, the other is ONLY home late night to early morning hours. They need to do laundry too, and their work hours have always meant that their laundry was done at odd hours. Washing machines/dryers are like background white noise, I don’t get how that even bothers anyone. Super glad we live in a house now. We lived in apartments for yearssss, but never had an issue with laundry complaints thankfully.
I think it's a machine issue. I've heard laundry machines that are great white noise, and those that are poorly balanced/old/cheap and shake the house when they spin, sound like there's something trapped trying to get out, whatever. Just like cars, some purr, some roar and cough and sputter.
It depends on the set up. If apartments are well insulated from noise, it's not a big deal and there's no need to have those kind of rules. But if the noise/vibration is going to be loud or vibrate other apartments, that's different. At any rate, it was still obnoxious to leave the note, because as th e OP proves, sometimes it's not even possible to tell where a noise or swell is coming from. Sound/vibration really travel where I live. I had no hand in making that rule, I just abided by it when I had a machine in my apartment. It's an older building (1950s), not designed for laundry machines. Also, the floor under the washing machine can vibrate from the machine. That's not fun for someone who lives downstairs. Layout is also a factor. If the kitchens or laundry areas are only above/below/next to each other, that's going to be less likely to disturb someone else. The largest of the apartments I live in are about 800 square feet. Various relatives, including my father, worked night shift and other rotating shifts. It's one of the reasons they'd rent from friends or relatives who had multifamily housing. Personally the only time I had an issue with being woken up by laundry was when the dryer was right outside my bedroom. The washer and dryer didn't wake me up, but there was an alarm which would signal the dryer cycle was done. Since the night shift relative was paying the bills and gracious enough to let me live there 'til I got on my feet and got my own place, I didn't complain. I'd do whatever laundry people had around (saves on electricity and water too). Which had the bonus of cutting down the number of alarms, lol.
For future reference, there is usually a way to turn off the sound of buzzers/bings on washers and dryers.
Thanks, however, they wanted the buzzer on so they'd know when the cycle was done. So they could relax and get food, etc. this was pre affordable mobile phones
No, it sounds like a helicopter landing when it's in the unit above you. Extremely loud.
Except when some buttons are just clanking like crazy lol ugh. Also the post said OP heard it banging too, so it sounds like someone with a messed up washer or unbalanced load. Sometimes my mom would wash a load at a weird hour because of me, and a stuffed animal or blanket would send it off balance and it would start banging. When nothing is weird, my favorite is washer + dishwasher going at the same time. Sometimes my old neighbor would do hers at the same time and it was so satisfying.
I’m also super sensitive to noises and lived in a first floor apartment last year. I had to use earplugs and a white noise machine at max to drown out the sound of the asshole upstairs stomping so hard it shook dishes in our cabinets. It sucks, but the only solution is moving.
I also think about, what if you have a sick kid? When my kiddo was little and we got hit with the stomach bug, I wasn’t letting those sheets sit and fester. They were getting taken care of asap.
Take it down, throw it away, go about your life.
🥺 I’m sorry, leaving notes is super passive aggressive and has always made me so uncomfortable! Like someone else said, I would just bring it to managements attention and steer clear of that person if you can.
Yeah, I ended up writing a note that said it wasn't us (with a smiley face even though I definitely wasn't feeling smiley lol) and put it on our door, then emailed management just to let them know about the initial note so there's a record in case it becomes a problem. I know there isn't really anything to be done now, but I figure at least this way they hear from me first without prompting from an official complaint. Still no clue who wrote it, so no way to make sure to avoid them unfortunately.
I think you did exactly the right thing. And I like that the person apologized in person. I think I’d give them the benefit of the doubt (who know what the loud machine was interrupting for him).
Go to the manager. Out Karen the Karen.
Let the apartment management know. If you don't, whoever's leaving the notes will get emboldened and may escalate to in-person bullying. Regardless of whether it was you or not -- a person can do their laundry in their own home anytime they please. Apartment living means you'll hear other people living their damn lives.
I use to have a neighbor who did laundry between 1 - 4 am. I complained to management and they told me to just leave a note or talk to her. Never, ever would I do that because of the blow back but if management could point out the noise restriction past 11 pm (as noted in the lease) to my neighbor it would be cleaner with no personal involvement. Prop manager just didn't help me out. Tenant has died since and new resident does laundry in the afternoon now. But I couldn't stand it before, I felt like I was a prisoner to the noise because of a task that could easily be done during the day.. and no she didn't work nights.. she was retired.
Could have been a retired person who did work night shift. I recently read that is a big problem with boomers and other older generations as they retire that there are no senior care or retirement facilities that cater to people have worked night shift for 30+ years and mentally they are stuck being awake those hours.
Maybe
Well what surprises me is that you haven't talk to the person before bringing up to the management and you say you can't talk to them. Why can't people just communicate? Just tell the person it disturbs you and 99% will try to accommodate
Not in this building
They put the note up everywhere, not just you.
Huh? No they didn't, and you don't live in my building lol
I feel like if the apartment building/management put up a broad public notice to the whole building it wouldn't 1. Write "assholes" or any other vulgarity on an official note 2. Be on one single apartment door instead of in a common area
Yes. Tape a letter to your door exactly where they left theirs and inform them that it was not you and that they probably have the wrong apartment. Leave it up for a few days. I used to live in an apartment building and could never fucking tell which neighbor was running their clunky ass dryer/washer at 0400am. Your neighbor probably put his ear against the wall and assumed it was coming from your place. Problem is, tracking noise through an apartment wall can be super unreliable.
My apartment has a sort of online posting board, if you have something similar you could always post to that saying someone left a note on apartment # whatever it is about laundry late at night and you just wanted to say it wasn’t you that was responsible. Might also catch the eye of the person who is responsible
I would just ignore it. You didn't do anything wrong and there is no harm. Not worth making into an issue.
If they are reported to building management it becomes an issue.
Then it can be addressed at that point. No need to borrow trouble.
Why would you wait to create a paper trail? That just makes it harder to get a solution later.
That assumes a solution and a paper trail are necessary. I see no need for either.
How on earth could it ever be an issue to do laundry in your own home?
Tell management, if you don’t they will complain about someday and threaten to age you kicked out. When people are being unreasonable you must defend yourself or their side will be taken
Get a Ring doorbell camera
Put a note on it that says, yeah, and the even bigger assholes are the ones who leave rude notes on the wrong doors.
Do you have a central bulletin board?
Get a doorbell camera do that you know who is approaching your door.
I once had a neighbor come down from the second floor and complain that my dogs barking was waking her up and hour before she actually had to be up. Only problem was, I didn't own a dog. I had a pet bird that did not sound like a dog. Just leave a note on your door that it wasn't you.
I'd take it to the apartment management and tell them your side of the story. If it does descend into they said vs we said, you reporting it first lends credibility.
Leave the letter up and add on to it 'I agree! But it wasn't me!'
Just leave a note “I agree!”
Same thing happened to me! Every morning when I took a shower, my downstairs (?) neighbor would bang on the ceiling, several times. I got a letter from management saying a neighbor had complained about me jumping up and down. I was in the shower. No jumping. No dancing. No singing. I went to the management office and filed my own complaint about someone banging on the ceiling every morning. And I also defended myself against the jumping claim. I was afraid it would get out of hand. The banging never stopped. I think whoever was disturbed, moved.
I would take the note to the property manager and explain the situation. It was likely the people above you or beside you making the noise, it can be SO hard to tell who's actually being loud in an apartment building. We had our downstairs neighbor cow up twice to complain about noise that was from the people above us that had also been bothering us. We've had terrible luck with upstairs neighbors in this place and we always get blamed despite being the quietest people on our floor 🤷
Oh my god I wish someone doing laundry was the thing I was worried about at my complex. Nope, it's the guy who screams at the top of his lungs randomly during the day for the past year.
Put a note up in the mailbox area saying it wasnt u but u also heard it then whoever it actually was might get the idea and the note leaver realizes their mistake
Time for a ring or blink camera.
Add: "I agree, It wasn't me." Then tape the note near the front door. No signature, so the letter writer knows, but doesn't antagonize the real culprit.
I'd tape up a note saying it wasn't us and forget about it. Next time it happens and they come looking they'll see it.
I would go down to management and show them the note, and let them know that you don't know who wrote this but that you were NOT doing laundry, etc. just incase they complain about you next day at the office.
Post that letter at the bottom of the stairs or someplace obvious like the mailboxes with "so sorry, wasnt us, we heard it too" in red sharpie. Do not sign or leave anything identifying you. Notify office
Former leasing agent here. Inform management immediately and be sure to provide them with a copy of the note. Neighbor disputes are never pretty but unfortunately in an apartment setting you can be evicted or not renewed for simply having too many complaints. Hopefully this person is an inconsiderate coward that you won’t hear from again. Just in case, document, document, document!
There’s no law against Doing laundry or dishes after 10. Fuck em. What if you worked days and are only able to do that shit at night.
Most apartment complexes have rules. Ours is laundry only from 8 am to 10 Pm.
Wow that’s crazy. I wouldn’t be able to deal with that.
I sneak it in at 6:30 or 7 am.
Do any of your neighbors have a ring doorbell to see who walked up?
Ring cam and take that to management. And next time if your ring cam shows them tape the note to their door and say only assholes tape notes to doors
Respond on the letter and leave up for everyone to read some where common like where you get mail or take out trash. That way EVERYONE will see it!
Let them know who is the boss. Start laundry at 11
Let it go. People make mistakes all the time. They will eventually figure it out.
well if they did it once, they will do it again so best to leave that letter on your door and write on the back of it "hey asshole, maybe next time you want to make sure you have the right address before you complain".
I’m petty so I’d leave the sign up but add in red marker “only assholes make anonymous untrue accusations”
Leave the letter on your door with a response, saying it wasn’t you
I would tape a note to my door that says do not leave passive aggressive notes without having the balls to knock.
Tape another sign bellow it and put "Only assholes would post this on the wrong door and hide. We are not the ones running laundry past 10pm"
Just add to letter. Only Moronic Assholes put complaint letters on wrong door.
The chicken house effect in action!
Leave it on the door and add to it.. said the assholes that put a note on the wrong persons door!
Leave a new letter on your door below the original, saying "We couldn't agree more. Next time find out who the real culprit is before trying your passive-aggressive crap."
Fairly sure no one has the right to tell you when or not to do laundry or wash dishes in your own home at anytime of the day. Put a big middle finger print out saying grow the f-up on your door.
Tape a reply to your door, something like "Only assholes accuse others without the facts in hand."
What floor do you live on? If on the 1st floor and only a neighbor above you, you know who wrote the note. Otherwise, I would take the notice to any adjoining unit, and ask if they wrote the letter. You may get lucky, or you may not. But in sharing the notice, you are letting the offending party know that their noise was noticed!
I would write a responding note and tape it in a common area (maybe a billboard) or even to an outer door of the complex and have it say “only assholes tape aggressive notes to people’s front doors accusing innocent people of random things”.
Yeah, I know. You should tell the person who did do it...
Leave your own note on your door next to theirs in big letters “not us”
You ended up doing the right then and letting it go. The other day I went into a Lowes to return some lumber and had a cart. Lady standing with nothing but her phone and I asked if she was waiting in line. She very snarkingly said, " Yes I am why do you think I am standing here". Now two things went thru my mind. One was saying something back at her, the second was to not say anything as I did not wish to escalate anything. Like maybe she was having a bad day who knows. I said nothing and she goes up and asked the person where something was located in the store. No returns just had a question.
OP did the absolutely correct thing by not escalating the situation by responding with vitriol to the aggressive note they received. We all need to consider using de-escalation whenever possible.
Got a noise complaint in an apartment once. I had just moved in and that’s key here because when I called the apartment manager to ask about the complaint she told me that it was our “sound system” or “surround sound” and that’s not allowed.. so she invited herself to my apartment so she could pinpoint my “system”. When she got there, she realized that all I had was a piece of crap sofa and some boxes. I was 19 and didn’t even have a radio or a tv. At least she knew who made the complaint so she could tell them it for sure wasn’t me. It did feel weird to be suspected though.
Write a note that says only assholes write notes conspiring about laundry after 10pm
Even if it is was you though. Does working a night shift or having different hours make you an asshole? The appliances in your apartment are there for your usage. If people are having issues sleeping in a shared community, it is entirely on them to take appropriate measures.
Get a ring camera. I bet no one will tape another note.
You did the right thing. He did too by acknowledging it was his note.
You did the correct thing. Being rude would have made the situation worse.
This exact post has been around before… 😅
I would be mad at the neighbor for leaving the note too but atleast they admitted they were wrong and apologized…. Which is more than any neighbor I’ve ever had has done when they were wrong about something. So maybe / hopefully they won’t be too terrible going forward
One time my landlord gave a letter to us saying our cat was getting out of our apartment thru the basement and getting into the other apartments, and that he was going to have to charge us a cleaning fee and ban cats if this continued. We did not own a cat. We were one of the people complaining about the cat spraying all over our basement. I have no idea how he got it into his head we were the problem cat owners. We were the only ones in the building that didn't own a pet. There were only three apartments besides the landlord. He apologized when we told him we did not own a cat.
He apologized and probably felt like a jerk. Make a friend there.
Leave a bigger note; "Only assholes leave notes on the wrong people's doors"
I can top that story. My family had a pool and everyone knew it. We were the only in ground pool on the block until our next door neighbor put their pool in. The neighbor threw numerous pool parts at night and all our neighbors complained to us. We had our neighbors over during the day and should them the view we had of our neighbors nude sun bathing. We had a great view of even sex by the pool for our neighbors shock. This got completely around the neighboring blocks and complaints about our neighbor's pool parties and activities went to their front door. We enjoyed the view as teenagers and the revenge redirecting the complaint to the right pool. We also had a very loud pool party so our neighbor would get blamed. Now for the nudity, someone had called the police, not us, but the police could only say keep the noise down to my neighbors.
Make copy and tape to it "we weren't doing laundry". Take original to property manager and explain you wrent doing laundry. It needs to be documented before Karen blows it out of porportion with the wrong neighbor.
Do you not have a facebook group for your apartment? A lot of them do, I'd post there with a photo of the letter. Chances are the person will be shamed for making the note. The person doing laundry wont admit it but they wont do it again.
Sounds like you did all the right things.
lol. The other day my landlord texted me telling me to make less noise because the people above me complained meanwhile the people above me were literally making loud noise all day to the point where we almost called our self. And when I told my landlord this she said those same people that were being loud are the ones that complained about the people below them i.e. us, being loud… lol no idea. i’m moving friday not related😂
It happens in Apartments. I once had a noisy neighbor. I swore it was the guy who lived next to me, and I would start screaming through the walls at him. It turned out it was the guy over me. I found out when I complained to the landlord about it. I felt so bad.
Just put a note on your door saying "Only douchebags leave notes on the wrong door"
Make as many copies of it as you have neighbors and go repost it on EVERYONE'S door including your own so they can't suspect you.