Submitted by CCIRMAJOR26 t3_11ssgci in washingtondc
This has been the worst renting experience of my life, and the building (capitol view on 14th) and company (UDR) have been awful and rude about the situation. Obviously this is something they didn’t tell us before we signed the lease. Any suggestions on what we can do to get them to fix the situation?
OP can also see about requesting a rent abatement from the rental company if the noise is occurring outside of normal quiet hours. I've been successful in requesting an abatement before over them violating quiet hours however it was in another state.
This is the most reasonable solution. Asking them to turn off or move the trash compactor is unreasonable, as it would impact the entire building.
No way, renting an apartment where this will wake you up is pretty fucking unreasonable on their part. Never being able to sleep past 7 am? Who would accept that??
Most people wouldn't live there for free.
Thank you big moose. People calling me entitled on this post, like I think most people are entitled to sleep lol, especially paying a shit ton of money for rent.
Genuine question: Did you tour the apartment before moving in?
We had to tour a model unit on the top floor because there was a tenant in our unit at the time. It’s a nice apartment outside the noise, so maybe that should have been a red flag
Ok so you didn't go in completely blind but they did pull something fast on you. I agree it sucks and that you should have asked about location of these items (obviously hindsight 2020).
I would suggest using DC's noise laws to counter it.
Yeah there’s something called the covenant of quiet enjoyment that the building is certainly violating
Absolutely.
Maybe, but the quiet part in that doctrine doesn’t refer to noise specifically, if I recall correctly.
Can you ask to transfer apartments?
> the quiet part in that doctrine doesn’t refer to noise
wut?
It is a legal term with a scope that varies by Jurisdiction and type of agreement. For rentals, another way to say it is an implied warranty of habitability. Reasonable surrounding volume is a part of it, but its a very Jurisdiction and fact specific matter, and also covers things like working plumbing and electricity, the right to exclude others from your rented space, that no one else is also renting and using that space, and basic cleanliness of space controlled by the landlord.
Where it has absolutely nothing to do with volume or noise is in real property purchases. Real property comes with a covenant of quiet enjoyment if the seller is promising that there aren't any claims against the property, no disputed ownership of it, no liens, etc. You could sell a house stuck between a rooster farm and an open air flashbang grenade testing facility and have it still meet the requirements for a covenant of quiet enjoyment
It can include quiet in the literal sense, but it includes many different things relating to calm/peace rather than to noise. And exactly how much literal quiet it means is not black and white.
Leasing an apt sight unseen is always a red flag for me. Usually the current tenant can consent to a tour. If not, I either need to see it they day after they move out or find another apartment. Too many risky variables like noise, views, light, etc.
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That's how it worked with my last move. It was during the pandemic, so no one involved wanted me touring a stranger's apartment. I knew the layout (I already lived in the building) and was going to move in tour or not. But the apartment manager gave me the keys when the apartment was ready so I could tour it on my own. He gave me the lease to sign after I saw it.
I just don’t consider those apartments. Most allow for viewings in my experience. It’s unreasonable to expect me to live somewhere for a year without seeing it.
This seems obvious now to people accustom to these bigger apartment buildings, but we'd just moved from ATL where gated apartments were much more common and the trash compactor was by the exit of the community so it never crossed our minds!
Very much so! I personally think it's something that you say, "Hey. We should have done our research more but let's see what we can do to resolve this."
I agree, we took it as a lesson going forward. Especially since as management in these areas seem to have high turn overs and care much less than our primary apartment management in ATL (who worked there for like 9 years, crazy!) .
OP can obviously do more and probably argue for other hours. I'm just trying to provide them a reasonable way forward. We just picked and chose our battles cause we were going to move apartments anyways.
Those are the usual assholes on this sub that make the same entitled remarks for literally anything that gets posted.
How is the building supposed to take care of its trash?
Your only real option here is to move. I know, I've had similar situations.
I don’t think it’s that cut and dry. My apartment building in DC didn’t run the trash compactor at night. They kept the chutes open and never seemed to have an issue taking care of it. It’s worth pursuing that compromise as the OC of this thread suggested.
> Never being able to sleep past 7 am? Who would accept that??
Parents of toddlers everywhere weep 😭
Lol in all seriousness though, I agree this is ridiculous. There is expectation of quiet until like 9am. I flip out when there’s temporary construction noise nearby, I can’t imagine being woken up like this constantly with no end in sight.
Well, our apartment was also street level so the sound of cars and such driving by in the morning could have woken us up just as much as this. Plus, I'm a heavy sleeper so I slept through it, but not my fiancée, but we also got up for work around then anyways it didn't bother me. Plus weekend quiet hours were later.
It runs when it's full, so for a large amount of time we were at the apartment (like 6 -8 months in since it was peak pandemic) , it was only running at night sporadically, so much less noticeable, and by the end when it did start to be more noticeable, we just picked our battles since we intended to move apartment anyways (was just waiting for the one we wanted to open up).
I’m all about OP getting their quite hours, but the “never being able to sleep past 7 am” is pretty rich. Apartments also have families with kids who wake up before 7:00 everyday crying. Loud construction can start in DC at 7:00 without any additional permits. 7:00 is the pretty standard end of quite hours. Now, the apartment management needs to play by the same general rule of any neighbor and just try not to be a dick just when quite hours have stopped at 7:00.
It's one thing that noise is permitted after 7, it's another that it's constant immediately at 7 (which would be the case if the compactor has been filling up all night unable to run).
I would just ask them to transfer your lease to another unit. Perhaps they will chip in for movers.
Oh we don't live there now. This was like 2 years ago, but I thought the situation applied and it was a similar tactic we took when people started dropping weights at the gym above our apartment.
That's also assuming they're sympathetic enough to do so or that there's a similar apartment in your price range available. They did not give a fuck though (lol) and it was during height of the pandemic.
This is the correct answer. That takes care of the problem once and for all.
Wow thanks for this advice! I’m going through the same thing except it’s a duct and the noise would come and go randomly. Definitely happens during quiet hours too. The maintenance have looked at it but no solution thus far. I’m going to do exactly what you did.
Also get your ANC involved.
Move. Lived in that building during its flood after a shooting and they were reluctant to support or pay out tenants even then - they’re not going care about your trash compactor disturbances. (NBC4 has a report they did on Capitol View on 14th from 2020 about the flood and poor management)
> Capitol View on 14th from 2020
jesus. the thugs hit the wrong apartment on the 4th floor.
It sounds horrible. Can you imagine, opening your door and being shot indiscriminately?!
Flood and shooting? Related?
Yeah, someone was shot in their apartment and one of the bullets hit a pipe
Crazy!! In the alley behind our unit on 16th one night, 59 shots . My husband thought late July 4th celebration. One bullet came into our bedroom and got stuck on the bathroom frame . Good thing he wasn't up to pee.
Downstairs, our tenant was in the living room on her laptop. Bullet went past, and she didn't notice, but the cat did . Out thick front window .
It really is amazing just how many walls a bullet can pass through.. -_-
Shocking how many corporate apartment bootlickers there are in this sub.
I’m saying! Thank you lol
Absolutely. If you based your view of who lives in DC off of the commenters in this sub, you'd think the whole city is a bunch of Republicans who want police to euthanize homeless people, mandatory minimums for every crime, and corporations to be able to fuck anyone over who doesn't hire a $700 an hour attorney to read their lease.
it’s especially weird because reddit leans very strongly left as it is, and DC is also a very left leaning city. But for some reason, the DC sub is pretty conservative lol
The sub gets brigades pretty hard by conservatives who live elsewhere because of the pervasive idea that DC is only the federal government and adjacent industries
On the crime stuff in particular, I do imagine a lot of the commenters are ostensibly Democratic voters who just have never really thought that hard about how to stop crime besides tougher enforcement. But yeah, super weird overall.
It's not "bootlicking" to accept the reality that they're not going to do anything about it and OP has no realistic way to make them.
Can someone make a performative outrage script to ward off these “bootlicker” guys? A literal virtue signal that says “I think it’s bad that something harmful and unfair is happening. The culprit is someone Marx would be mad at” so we don’t have to see these?
Yeah, can someone get right on that?!
There's nothing the building can do about it, like at all, and they're not going to make rent lower for that unit until they have people cancelling leases and not renewing at a greater rate than the rest of the building. That's pretty much all they can do. OP just has to decide if they want to live there and deal or not.
What would your solution be?
Just because someone has a different opinion than you on a situation doesn't make them a bootlicker
No, it's because of the loud and sloppy bootlicking that makes them bootlickers.
Hope this helps!
It's not corporate bootlicking to expect someone to be responsible enough to do a little bit of research before they're willing to drop $2,000+ per month on an apartment.
It sucks, but unless the compactor was moved there after OP moved in (which I highly doubt), this is pretty much the equivalent of those people who complain about noise from the bar they chose to live by.
There is no REASONABLE level of due diligence that would have caught this before OP moved in. Most places won’t even let you see the actual unit you’re renting before you sign. They’ll show you a model apartment or vacant unit and then a floor plan of just the unit you’re interested in. What management company do you know of that lets you look at the blueprints so you know where the mechanics are in the building or lets you hang out in the exact unit you’ll be renting for hours to see if there are any noise issues before you sign a lease? People would normally know about a bar. Who would even think to ask if the trash room is next door? Even if they did, not every building has a compactor that goes off randomly all day vs. having to just deal with the couple times a week the dumpsters are emptied.
Right? There’s a lot of weird things I’ve learned to consider when looking for an apartment (proximity to elevator and exit doors, amount of light switches/outlets) and I’d never think to ask about this tbh
The base level of due diligence is to read google reviews. And looking at the reviews online right now, OP ain’t do that shit.
I’ve never not seen the unit I planned on renting.
Wow good for you
People aren’t visiting apartments before they sign leases??? That’s absolutely insane. It is YOUR responsibility and due diligence as a tenant to ASK relevant questions PRIOR to signing a legally binding document, such as touring the property, frequency of pest control etc, where fire alarms are located etc etc. If you toured the property you’d know if you were close to a trash room like c’mon…
OP clearly didn’t think to ask before they moved in but I’ll bet they add that to the list of shit to ask a leasing agent before signing their next lease!
It’s fully reasonable to expect that your apartment won’t have noise from a trash compactor audible through the walls.
Right, because sales agents trying to rent out their units are going to be honest about the negative issues. Oh yeah, well, we do spray for roaches X times per month, and we have some mice problems, and this unit is near the trash chute so it’s super loud! You still want it, right?
Being lied to by a leasing agent about pest control is not the same as physically touring a unit to make sure it meets your needs and you know it.
Thank you for proving the point. OP probably shouldn't have taken the agents' word at face value and done a little bit of research on their own into the conditions of the place they would be living in and spending a huge chunk of money on.
I'm sure they will keep that in mind for the future, and hopefully stop calling people bootlickers for telling them to use their noggin.
Well, that's not where I was going with that lol. I agree with the main poster of the sub-thread - there was no reasonable level of due diligence that would have caught this unless you specifically asked, "Is this unit next to the trash chute?" You have 30-45 minutes maybe on your tour and you have to ask about pricing and availability, application requirements and process, move in fees, parking, etc etc. There are SO many things to cover, it's really not fair to say that OP should have known to ask about this very specific issue. Before seeing this post, I never would have known that this is something you need to ask about.
Move, preferably to an older and rent controlled building that has been nicely renovated. "Luxuries" and amenities are often just marketing nonsense to cover up flaws and charge way more than your unit is worth. I've had a great experience with Keener so far - all issues are fixed the day I write a ticket, and it's quiet.
It means granite countertops in the kitchen.
I find anti-shoebox folks are far more likely to come from a wealthy background where they grew up with tons of space(or a neighborhood with character) and were surrounded by groups of folks who look down on small apartment renters(that's for college kids!).
Run an actual cost comparison on a brand new building marketed as "luxury" versus some run down converted row house with stompy and sons living above you next door. There's typically no difference because the baseline for a room for rent STARTS at 1.2k, and once you start accounting for all the demand from people who want "yards", more "square footage", or a parking spot, it's literally all within hundreds of bucks a month.
I'm very pro-shoebox - you can live small in the best walking neighborhoods and spend money on activities instead of amassing stuff, less to deal with (no yard, no need for car, no maintenance you personally have to deal with, less to clean). Simple life, happy life.
I think this is honestly more about neighborhood than anything; it’s quite a generalization to say people who rent older units are all wealthy. I come from a middling background (single mom public school teacher in the Midwest), but I’ve avoided the “shoebox” luxury buildings because they’re frankly way out of my price range.
Take our case. We’re in Brookland in a 2B2B, rent-controlled condo. The price for a 2B in one of the new-build apartments on Monroe is anywhere from $300-$1200 more a month than what we’re paying. To us, the extra amenities and potential for issues like OP is having were frankly not worth it in our calculation.
just offering another perspective!
That's true. If you're paying $2,000 a month for 2/2 that's a great deal anywhere in D.C. proper. I guess I'm saying people cast judgement on new, small apartments with nice finishes when they've never really checked the prices.
They have 2/2 950 SF units on the 2nd and 3rd floor right now for $2700-3k here.
Do you have in unit W/D or central HVAC?
Yes! And a parking spot though our street is never crowded.
I should also add I’ve always had a better experience with a landlord who owns their unit than corporate.
On top of everything else, the buildings owned by big corporations seem to nickel and dime you, plus it’s much more difficult to contest your security deposit deductions. Happened to us in our last apartment, a more dated but still corporate-owned building, and it was an unpleasant experience.
It also depends on how much of a homebody you are. If you just crash at home and go out a lot, then why bother with a lot of space?
If you stay home quite a bit, more space is appreciated.
If you don't go out as much, then you can live in a more remote neighborhood.
This also changes with age. Someone just out of college is just happy to have his own pad. Someone in his 40s needs more space but a quieter neighborhood.
also have that at my place lol
Co-signing this. “Luxury” apartment buildings often have cheap and shoddy construction that produces all manner of structural problems down the line. Older buildings are often much sturdier and better built (though they certainly have issues as well).
I’ve lived in both older and newer buildings across a number of states, both renovated and non renovated. My favorite places by far have been the older buildings with modern renovations.
Y’all can keep those pest issues. I’ll live in a “poor construction” before I deal with master splinter or roddy roach
I guess thats capitalism. Ignorance about urban pest control (that they can be controlled, and that rats don’t infest apartments) among transplants means better quality digs for the more experienced.
Unfortunately, you’re ignorant on the subject. Older buildings have pest issues. Thousands upon thousands of dollars are spent on extermination because nobody wants to live in a place with known issues, which means no rent collections.
This is coming from someone that has worked in the industry. So take that uppity transplant, ignorance, experienced bullshit elsewhere.
I fully understand that money can be spent to successfully control pests, that’s my point. I don’t understand why the concept of a problem that can actually be solved is more distasteful than living in a colorful cardboard box.
In some cases, a management company will let to you to a comparable unit in the same building.
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I’d reach out to the DC office of the tenant advocate (https://ota.dc.gov/node) to understand any recourse you can take. If the noise is high enough there might be DC code being violated or a civil penalty that could be levied. Also I’d contact your local ANC (https://www.anc1b.org/) to make sure they are aware of issues in your building. The local ANC has to approve all zoning in the district and has a lot of influence with the companies that build these new apartment buildings.
Finally someone actually helpful whos not being an asshole on a high horse lol
Haha yeah I was amazed my niche knowledge of DC government and tenant’s rights came into play this morning. Our building’s tenant association has been working with both of those orgs for a bit now and they’re pretty helpful. FYI it’s a slow process to make a company take accountability for things but at least you can apply some pressure beyond just isolated tenant complaints
>CCIRMAJOR26
I live in the building too, and we almost rented on your floor when we moved in 5+ years ago. Thankfully we didn't, it seems like all the issues you hear about are 4th floor and lower. I'm sorry this is happening to you.
One of our fellow tenants in the building works in the DC office of the tenant advocate, I don't know their name but I did see them in the last week. They mentioned offhand sometime last year how our building, relatively speaking, has few complaints. But I'm sure that doesn't provide any solace when the trash compactor starts up at 1am. Anyways, you should definitely reach out to them. They'll let you know legally where you stand.
Thanks neighbor, appreciate the intel. We actually have called the tenants advocate office and they think we have a strong case (to all the idiots calling me entitled for wanting to be able to sleep in my expensive apartment, suck on that)
UDR sucks ass. Good luck dealing with them.
Realistically you’ll probably just have to put up with until you can move.
“Luxury” doesn’t mean anything anymore
It means higher rent.
It means granite countertops.
Lol not even, a lot of "luxury" buildings have countertops that look like granite
And white subway tile kitchen walls
I'm not a fan of that look. Magnolia really pushed this trend, along with shiplap.
Move.
See if they will let you move to another unit.
My brother lived in a penthouse with his wife next to the elevator shaft and started sleeping with earplugs the entire time he lived in that building. Then moved and was glad to not wear ear plugs anymore.
Luxury just means expensive at this point; the only buildings that aren't "luxury" are crumbling, rat-infested shitholes. And sometimes even then.
Yes! These buildings shine but are basically trash. Or not yet, but IMO, they won't be around in a few decades . Badly built
All glitz and no glamor.
I’d say move but living next to a fucking gym I think you can do far worse. Seems “luxury” doesn’t equate to quiet.
Some on here might be tired of my defense of historic DC buildings, mostly in 20009 , some in 20008, and some in Capitol Hill .
New construction has so many problems! Built with cheap materials and workmanship.
Upstairs neighbors, street (bad windows), trash chute, or other annoying building related noise .
The only noise I can hear from my 1906 condo are the kids in recess behind my building . And I love it !
I actually lived 6 years at 16th and U St nearby . Next to busy bus stop. Very quiet . Built in 1888
I lived in a new building on SW waterfront and it was pretty great. Almost moved into a different building until I found out the neighboring construction was digging up contaminated soil that was making people in the building sick from the chemical fumes. Do your diligence, and meet your potential neighbors.
I will fully support your defense! I've seen so many buildings going up that are, essentially, tissue paper and possibly some duct tape or liquid nails. When we first moved here in 2013, we lived for a short period of time in a new building on H NE and everything about it was terrible--the construction, the management.
Nothing beats plaster for sound-dampening.
What worries me is when people actually buy new construction. In most forms . Houses or condos in burbs same problem
I adore my 1920s building! The next time I move will be to Congressional Cemetery.
I lived in a condo. One of the owners refused to pay his dues because the trash room was next door to him. When the condo board took him to court, he countered that they need to move the trash room.
The judge asked, "where was the trash room when you bought the place?" Of course, it was there, so the guy knew what he was getting into. The judge dismissed his countersuit and forced the sale of his condo if he didn't pay up immediately. He didn't, so it was auctioned off.
UDR is awful, I'm glad I moved. Loved the building I was in but hated management.
Last time something similar happened to me I made a website about the building and how much they suck. I posted it on every review website I could find. It worked.
Google will hook you up with a website for 15 bucks or so a year. Took me maybe 30 minutes in total to make.
I also lied and told them I paid to SEO it. But I'd imagine it's probably pretty easy to get "building sucks.com" right next to their actual website on Google.
This is a good answer. Hit them where it hurts but deterring future tenants from wanting to move in.
I hate hearing this. See if you can transfer within the building with no charge or if they will let you out of your lease early.
Just a reminder for next time to do your research.
Units with "issues" are priced lower than other comparable units on higher floors or with better views for a reason.
I also made this mistake in the past— now I make sure to inquire about building layout if it’s not on the website.
Cheap for a reason
Get a white noise generator.
Its such a meme that apartments in this city in a high rise cost so much more than renting townhouses
As an aside, the rates for this building were way higher than they are now when I looked at it years ago after it opened.
Ask to move to a different unit in the building. There is no way the building is 100% occupied.
Ask to move apartments
Unfortunately there’s not a lot that you can other than move and you probably can’t do that until your lease is up.
Even in progressive states/districts like DC, renters do not have the upper hand when dealing with mega corporation landlords.
I wonder if you can track electronically the level of noise, and compare it to the noise allowed via health and safety standards in DC.
I had a similar situation once.I complained to management every time I was bothered by the trash compactor, called emergency maintenance out (the machine was borderline broken), the whole shebang. Nothing changed until I made a Facebook and Google review citing the problem, the "solution" they tried to implement, and that they were refusing to take action on this noise ordinance violation. Immediate change of tune!
I would say this is a violation of tenant rights. A tenant has a right to quiet enjoyment regardless of whether the lease specifically speaks to it or not. You might need to seek legal representation to show them you are serious. Search “DC breach of tenant quiet enjoyment” for more on the topic.
Don’t all the residents have a right to trash removal since it’s in their lease?
Write to popville and name names. Your management company will see
Organize! There are a bunch of other tenants that are having similar issues. Find them, talk to them, and all leave bad Google reviews at the same time. Your management company cares about their “future tenant” facing image. If they won’t respond to you, let future tenants know. They will change their tune.
UDR….. yikes. They are probably the worst rental company in the world. We had a UDR apartment in SoCal and it was awful.
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I’d suggest researching the covenant of quiet enjoyment!
I would document as much as possible; give them a quit date of 7 days and then, stop paying rent until the issue is resolved.
Living in an apartment isn’t a luxury. Sorry you’ve been duped . Apartments are for poor except you are just being taken advantage of because that’s how it goes these days. They slap the word luxury on 💩 and suddenly it’s going for double. Move out of the city if you don’t want city noise
Force them to take the compactor off auto start and switch it to manual run mode. That way they only run it when valet waste / maintenance staff is working
Enjoy the luxury?
Luxury trash!
Air pods etc with sleep sounds playlist or Noise machine? We’ve been using this for the last four years; it’s a lifesaver.
LectroFan High Fidelity White... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JU8P8VY?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
It's very DC of people to see you say "luxury apartment" which likely means high rent and say you are entitled for not wanting it to be noisy as fuck
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I would ask for a different unit. Most luxury apartments should have them, they would rather keep units empty than lower rent.
MOVE.
Did you complain or offer a solution? My old bldg followed my suggestion and locked the trashroom door each night at 9.
Lol, move?
Move
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B) would be a fantastic idea, especially if you signed the lease saying you were living alone, a great way to get evicted.
That lawsuit would go no where quick
So you are suggesting they either a.) threaten the building or b.) lie to the building?
Interesting.
I love when OPs in these Q and A type of posts don't get the "Awww you poor thing" treatment and proceed to call everybody bootlickers. It's hilarious.
Even constructive comments are getting told they are bootlickers because they're not advocating calling tenant rights groups or suing.
The entitlement is real!
Move.
Cities have quiet hours for a reason. There’s nothing entitled about expecting people to obey them.
Quiet hours don’t apply to necessary noises, the compactor would need to be going off excessively to possibly be considered.
Yeah, I’m sure there’s a legal definition for what is “necessary”.
Trash removal is deemed a necessary service so if the compactor is so full it needs to run it’s not in violation.
Not for private trash collection. Here’s the language from the ordinances. The trash compactor is run by a private company.
“Trash collection by private haulers is prohibited between the hours of 9 pm and 7 am in residential, special purpose, or waterfront zones, or within 300 feet of any of these zones. These rules do not apply to Department of Public Works vehicles, only private trash collection companies.”
That’s about a hauler not a compactor, OP is not talking about a vehicle. You’re not understanding the use of collection or vehicle
I’m responding to your claim that all trash services are somehow deemed “necessary” and therefore except from noise ordinances. This paragraph shows that’s clearly false.
The machine would break and the building would be without a necessary service if the machine was allowed to be overfilled denying an entire building use of an essential service. The paragraph you copied has absolutely nothing to do with this situation.
The machine would break from not being used from 9pm to 7am? Please just STFU already.
It wouldn’t run at night if it wasn’t at capacity
"Change the building just for me." Taking the trash out isn't an infraction of quiet hours.
Maybe I should call the city on those darn trash trucks that wake me up every morning collecting garbage.
Does the city pick up trash at midnight? How about 3am? No? Why do you think is? Why would expecting the building to adhere to similar hours for the trash compactor be any different?
They legally can, only private companies have restricted times
But they don’t for a reason. That’s the point.
But they do when it’s necessary like major tourist events
Should’ve looked around before signing, you can’t expect them to suspend trash service for 1/3 of every day for you
Ear plugs.
They aren’t going to move the trash compactor.
It’s really a question that should have been asked before signing the lease.
Yeah what kind of idiot rents an apartment before asking "is there a trash compactor on the other side of this wall?"
Thank you this was my thought about this comment too, obviously lesson learned. As someone else commented, the amount of corporate apartment bootlicking/defending on this post has been astonishing haha
I'm not sure what response you expected but I wouldn't call the response of "they can't move the compactor so your options are move or adapt" "bootlicking". Acknowledging the reality of your options and what you signed up for is hardly defending them (I'm not even sure what you think is defensive there).
Bootlicking? Weird way to describe giving you a reality check, but OK.
Well, what do you expect the company to do, bend over backward to accommodate your lack of due diligence?
There’s something to be said about the building not accounting for the noise level in the unit adjacent to the trash compactor. A lot of these newer “luxury” apartments are built with paper thin walls and noise pollution is a major concern for most people. I think it’s reasonable to expect better from companies charging luxury prices.
You’d have a point if these were the ritz Carlton residences but it’s not actually a luxury building
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When I moved in I asked about trash location / services.
You only make the mistake once.
I’ve never rented without asking the location of things like trash, washer/dryer, elevators, etc etc simply bc I want everything convenient but it also helps you avoid noise
Fool me once….
I began wearing ear plugs in college when I lived with some loud roommates. I never looked back after that. Now they’re as vital as groceries to me
Ask about locations of elevators, dumpsters, stairwells, before signing a lease. Renting 101 lol
Instead of shaming them while not answering the question, how about not responding while *not answering the question?
Are we supposed to be trouble shooting how to get management to turn off the compactor every night?
What would you have them do? Shut down the trash compactor for the building? The rats and roaches would love that.
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I’m not sure where you’re getting shaming out of my comment. And they asked what to do… I responded.
>And they asked what to do… I responded.
Your response was what to do next time--it doesn't answer their question about what to do THIS time, as it's already happened.
Unless your response involves an unsaid message to also travel back in time.
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Nothing sounds broken here except for you. Buy ear plugs and a sound machine and start looking for your next apartment.
did you graduate from the school of hard knocks too?
lelisblanc t1_jcfh4y7 wrote
Hi! So we dealt with this exact situation (but in Rockville) where the trash compactor was right above our apartment and obviously something we did not know when we toured.
Here is what we did: Look up quiet hour laws in your location, say that that you cannot sleep or it keeps waking you up, and it is ultimately affecting your sleep and health. Better if you can record the sound (like in a voice notes)/ note how often it goes off/ or best have management stand in your building to hear the noise.
Email management regarding that. They will probably ignore you so you start emailing EVERYONE you possibly could. See if you can find corporate numbers or whoever owns the apartment and cite that law and the above about your sleep and health. Better yet if you can call them. I cannot recall now if we reached someone by phone or email - but I think we annoyed someone (I don't think they liked our 1am voicemails) enough that they made the building management do something.
The best we could compromise with the apartment was that they would put it on a timer so that it did not run between the quiet hours (for us it was 11-7am). And then also get a number or POC you can call when it gets stuck or the timing gets off.