Mother and disabled daughter flee home over noisy neighbors
Despair drove Maria Nikitina to publicize her story. A few years ago, the single mother, raising a disabled daughter, moved into a new two-room apartment. The joy of moving in lasted until the spring of this year, when the residents of the apartment above changed. In just a few months, the new neighbors literally forced Maria and her daughter out of their own home. To sleep peacefully at night and not traumatize her autistic child, who is frightened by loud noises, the mother had to rent another place and move out.
Is there a legal, and most importantly, effective way to quiet noisy neighbors? Our colleagues at 72.RU publish the story of this family and, together with the police and lawyers, figure out how to act in such circumstances.
The situation Maria Nikitina finds herself in is, of course, not unique. Many residents of apartment buildings can only dream of peace and quiet. But in this case, it is not just an inconvenience. Maria«s daughter has autism and heightened sensitivity to sounds. The girl constantly wears headphones, and home was the only place where, until recently, she could go without them.
«Our tutor at school noticed very quickly that something was happening with my daughter. By the end of the school year, she could no longer concentrate in class and was more anxious and irritable. All these changes started happening because of lack of normal sleep,» the mother tells 72.RU.
Maria notes that the apartment above has been rented out before, but until the current tenants moved in, she had no such problems. At first, the single mother endured it and tried to be understanding of the noisy behavior of the young female neighbors. She hoped the girls would celebrate their housewarming and settle down, but the nightly gatherings and loud arguments, she says, dragged on for months and deprived her and her daughter of normal sleep.
«Two girls live there, and one of them has a live-in boyfriend who constantly visits. They lead a nocturnal lifestyle. They sleep until noon, and by evening they start making noise, arguing — all of this often goes on until morning. My child and I have stopped sleeping up to four nights a week. As soon as I could, I contacted the owner of that apartment. For a whole month I corresponded with her and asked her to influence the situation (screenshots of the correspondence are available to 72.RU. — Editor«s note.). During that time, the situation did not change,» Maria shares.
When Maria realized that neither the tenants nor the apartment owner were responding to her requests to observe quiet hours, she began to seek help from the police. The reason for these calls was not only noise after 10 PM, but also cries from beatings. After visits from law enforcement, the neighbors did not quiet down, and one night they even woke Maria and her daughter by banging on the door.
According to the apartment owner, complaints about the tenants come only from Maria, while other residents remain silent. Searching for reasons, Maria conducted a small investigation and found out why the neighbors do not support her.
«I went to all the other nearby apartments, but no one opened the door. So I decided to leave notes asking them to call me back. That way I found out that no one lives in the immediate vicinity of the noisy tenants except my daughter and me. The other apartments are simply empty for now. Neighbors whose apartments are one unit away or on a different floor only hear the screams in their bathrooms. They are ready to support me, but the noise doesn«t bother them as much,» the single mother admits.
Seeing her child«s anxious state, Maria Nikitina decided to move out of her own home. Changing the familiar environment is also stressful for her daughter, but in the rented apartment she at least sleeps at night:
«I rented a one-room apartment and pay 33,000 rubles for it ($330 at current rates). It is a huge blow to my budget, but there is no other option for now. We can only stay calmly at home in the first half of the day, when our neighbors are catching up on sleep after another sleepless night,» Maria says.
What the owner of the noisy apartment says
The owner of the apartment where the noisy group lives lives in another city. We managed to contact the owner by phone, and she promised to resolve the conflict.
«My distant relatives live in this apartment — two girls. One of them is in a wheelchair. Perhaps that«s why they make so much noise. Maria really did complain to me about them, and I honestly already wanted to evict them, but they promised everything would be fine. The fact is that the girl in the wheelchair finds it convenient to live in a new building with a barrier-free environment. They have already adapted and gotten used to it there,» Olga said about her tenants.
She added that due to communication problems, her dialogue with the neighbor was interrupted several months ago. According to Olga, she did not know that the situation had gone so far and that Maria and her daughter had to move out of their own apartment.
«Of course, this is not normal. I was recently passing through the city and stopped by my apartment to check on the tenants, but Maria was not at home then, so we didn«t meet. I didn»t know she had moved. We will figure something out,» the apartment owner stated her position.
Police comment and lawyers« advice
Maria«s complaints about noise disturbances were handled by district police officers. They questioned her and talked to other residents to find out the details of the conflict.
«Based on the results of the inspection, two administrative reports were drawn up against the tenant (the concubine of one of the female tenants. — Editor«s note.) who caused concern to the complainant. The first was for violating citizens» peace and quiet, the second for petty hooliganism. It is worth noting that no inaction was committed by the police: all calls were handled in a timely manner, and the neighbor was held accountable as provided by law,» commented the city police.
The first advice lawyers give to people in such circumstances is to document everything. It is necessary to record the noise with a voice recorder or video and keep correspondence with the property owner so that they cannot later claim they knew nothing about the conflict.
«For every night noise — call the police. Not by phone to the «duty desk,» but officially, with registration. Always get a notification slip (KUSP). For each new incident — a separate statement. Shoot video and audio with date and time stamps. Call an ambulance if health is affected. Medical reports about stress, sleep deprivation, exacerbation of chronic diseases are direct evidence of harm,» outlined the algorithm of actions at the law firm.
In case of police inaction, lawyers advise complaining to the prosecutor«s office. Additionally, one can check the legality of income from renting out the apartment. Such a question should be addressed to the tax authorities.
«The main thing is to stop being a «convenient victim» and create a real threat to the owner«s wallet and status. As soon as the damage from the tenants becomes greater than the rental income, the problem will be solved in one day,» experts assure.
Maria Nikitina has already appealed to all possible authorities, but so far it has not helped her. She states that if necessary, she is ready to go to court to demand the eviction of the noisy tenants and compensation for moral damages caused over the past months to her and her special child.
