Stacked Condo Question?

[MaxxLee]

Hey guys, am planning to buy a stacked condo ( will be living on the upper floor) underneath will be 2 condos right below me. My question is my kid is 18 months and always running around making alot of noise. If the 2 tenents below complain alot, can we be kicked out? Even if we bought the place??

[revelations]

Depends on your condo bylaws.

What type of construction is it? If its concrete, I wouldnt even think about issues.


What do you mean "stacked" - are you talking about a building with many stories (like 99% of condos).

[MaxxLee]

^^ I dont know if its concrete between the floors but when I was there, walking around it felt really hollow...


The condo is stacked with 2 condo below and one on top... Townhouse style stacked.

[bspot]

It will be wood for sure.

It's going to suck balls for the people below you (I used to be one of them).

You can be fined if they complain (I never did, because they were way better than the stoner partiers I had above me before).

I would never live in a wood building again, besides my own house.

[Mitsu3000gt]

If you find a building either 4 or 5 or more stories, I forget which, I believe it has to be concrete by code.

My building is concrete and I hear almost nothing. If it's really quiet and someone drops something huge above me, I can hear it very faintly. Wood buildings are brutal for noise, a friend lives in one (new one at that) and I could hear every single step his upstairs neighbors take.

[Neil4Speed]

Originally posted by Mitsu3000gt
If you find a building either 4 or 5 or more stories, I forget which, I believe it has to be concrete by code.

IIRC its anything more than 4 Stories must be concrete.

[BigMass]

Word of warning. You can have concrete floors but sound still travels through walls. For example, I’m 20 floors up in a concrete apartment building but if someone bangs on the wall or slams their kitchen cabinets or slams their door you can here that shit 10 floors up and 10 floors down. Concrete is not all that unless your walls are concrete too. But of course, the most annoying noises are footsteps and that is killed by having the concrete floor. Oh and one more thing, bass will travel through concrete like nobodies business so be aware of douche bags in apartments with loud bass.

[Kloubek]

You need to check the condo bylaws, and how they handle such issues. They will not be able to "kick you out", but might be able to fine you, and potentially put a caveat on your place if you do not pay.

Besides this, do you really want to be known as the asshat who lets their kids lower someone else's standard of living?

[Mitsu3000gt]

How do people prove where the noise is coming from in order to file a complaint? I wouldn't think the person can be fined unless there was definitive proof. I would think the only way would be to get the Condo Management company employee in your unit at the same time the noise is being made, otherwise wouldn't it be he-said-she-said? Even with a recording it would be hard to prove exactly where the sound is coming from. Anyone had to deal with this before?

[kaput]

.

[Kloubek]

Originally posted by Mitsu3000gt
How do people prove where the noise is coming from in order to file a complaint?

Generally speaking, the owners who are on the board live in the building. (Not *always* the case). But in my previous buildings, it wasn't too difficult for the owners to verify the person in question was causing issues.

[MaxxLee]

Originally posted by Kloubek


Besides this, do you really want to be known as the asshat who lets their kids lower someone else's standard of living?

I take it as you have no kids correct? It is nearly impossible to make a 18 month boy sit in one spot and not move! Lets say my kid cries 3 in the morning? That makes me a bad parent that dont know how to control me kid?? lol... Kids will be kids! they will run around and theres not much you can do until they get older!!

[Mitsu3000gt]

Originally posted by Kloubek


Generally speaking, the owners who are on the board live in the building. (Not *always* the case). But in my previous buildings, it wasn't too difficult for the owners to verify the person in question was causing issues.

What is the next step? Do you need to use an SPL meter and measure a sustained 65dB for over 5min like the city of calgary bylaw says? Or do you just have to agree it's annoying? I'm curious because everyone is annoyed by different levels of noise, but on the other hand, it has to be pretty loud to violate the city bylaw assuming the condo just uses that as a guideline.

[GTS4tw]

Originally posted by MaxxLee


I take it as you have no kids correct? It is nearly impossible to make a 18 month boy sit in one spot and not move! Lets say my kid cries 3 in the morning? That makes me a bad parent that dont know how to control me kid?? lol... Kids will be kids! they will run around and theres not much you can do until they get older!!

I love how one persons problems become everyone elses problem. What did I do to cause you to have a loud kid? Why should I be punished for it? Just because you didn't use a condom until you could afford a real house is no reason to bother hard working people who like to sleep at night.

[barmanjay]

Originally posted by MaxxLee
Hey guys, am planning to buy a stacked condo ( will be living on the upper floor) underneath will be 2 condos right below me. My question is my kid is 18 months and always running around making alot of noise. If the 2 tenents below complain alot, can we be kicked out? Even if we bought the place??

My Sister raised 2 kids in a 1000 sq/ft 2 bedroom condo.

On a regular basis she would get a complaint about noise.

She was on the top floor of a wood framed condo (in richmond)

Also something to consider in a condo,.. her place was NEVER clean. Because it was such a small area, she could not contain the kids toys just to one area,.. they just ended up all over the place.


They have moved onto a townhouse and absolutely LOVE it.

In the townhouse,.. there is a "kids only" zone and the mess stays up there (most of the time).

only neighbours are on the sides and nothing under or above to worry about.

[FraserB]

Originally posted by MaxxLee


I take it as you have no kids correct? It is nearly impossible to make a 18 month boy sit in one spot and not move! Lets say my kid cries 3 in the morning? That makes me a bad parent that dont know how to control me kid?? lol... Kids will be kids! they will run around and theres not much you can do until they get older!!

Then you won't mind when the guy below you decides to have a party right?

The thing I found when I was living in the condo was that the people who caused noise were also the first ones to bitch about the slightest thing. The people above had kids that ran around non stop and screamed, but when we dropped the odd pan on the floor they were down the stairs before we were done eating and bitching us out and threatening to goto the board.

If I was you I would go to each of your neighbors and give them your number, explain that if they feel that you guys are making an unreasonable amount of noise, call you and you can sort it out like grownups.

[Kloubek]

Originally posted by GTS4tw
Why should I be punished for it? Just because you didn't use a condom until you could afford a real house is no reason to bother hard working people who like to sleep at night.

Ouch!

Seriously to the OP: No, I don't have kids.... but I am not a young guy as many on here and my post wasn't a rash general thought. I understand that having young children will mean occasional noise. And if that is all it is, then it is very possible people will be ok with it. Especially if you provide your phone number and speak to your neighbors beforehand.

But, if your child is "always running around making alot of noise", and you are expecting the noise to be at such a level they will want to kick you out if they could, then it is not anyone else's problem and they should not have to deal with the fact you can't subdue your boy.

You owe it to the other people to do something to help reduce the issue. How do you do this? Get a townhouse or a basement-entry/level unit would be a great start.

You have a kid. You need to live somewhere. But by picking a more appropriate home and some discipline, I think you can make it work just fine without having your neighbors always glaring at you, and getting fined up the wazoo.

[Unknown303]

I don't have kids but my family including my 2 year old niece come to visit on occasion. Yeah she runs around from time to time and I do get the guy below me banging of the roof occasionally. But if I go and tell him ahead of time or explain that yeah this may happen from time to time he doesn't mind that much. Sometimes when they visit I still get bangs on the roof but hey fucking deal with it. If you're looking for that quality of life maybe you should buy a house.

If someone buys into a condo you are buying into a group. And fuck yeah groups make noise. So shut your mouth and deal with it. I find it hard to believe people who buy condos expect peace and quiet. You bought a fucking condo it's actually connected to other people so fuck off and buy a house.

[Kloubek]

^^ I disagree. There is a normal (expected) amount of noise. (Slamming front doors, maybe occasional bass, etc) To that extent, I agree.

But then there is someone screaming and jumping around all the time - as it is pretty much said by the OP that her son does.

There are rules as to noise levels in almost all condo bylaws for a reason. And in almost all cases, excessive (or DEEMED excessive) noise will result in a fine.

And not everyone can afford a house.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Condos definitely come with an expectation that there will be noise from time to time IMO. I don't really have a problem but if I did, and the noise wasn't all day every day, I'd just turn my movie up a little louder to drown it out, or put on headphones or something. Not a big deal.

The problem, IMO, is that the complainers are also the noise makers, and their tolerance for noise is far less than the noise they create themselves.