Imagine living in an apartment, but you have trouble sleeping at night because your neighbors are talking in the courtyard outside your unit. Would you ask them to keep it down, use earplugs, or talk to the landlord?

In this story, one man is in this situation, and so far, he has tried talking to the neighbors. That has done nothing except make them dislike him.

Now, he’s wondering if he really is the problem.

Let’s read all the details to decide.

AITA for asking the neighbours to stop using the common courtyard in the late evening ?

I rent an appartement in a small building with a common courtyard.

My room is located toward the courtyard so I hear everything and I am a very ligth sleeper.

The neighbour regularly have drinks outside and I regularly ask them to speak at a lower volume or sometimes to get back inside if i have to work the next day. Often to no avail.

The neighbors thinks OP is too sensitive.

So today I was in my room and i heard them insulting me, for being an annoyance because I complain a lot, they added that I had bad hygiene (because of a smell in the corridor, i really don’t know if it’s me as I don’t smell it) and other mean stuff.

So i went out to tell them to not insult people under their windows, trying to explain that I really could hear everything and I was tired of not being able to sleep on thursdays, fridays and saturdays.

They said they were already being careful (I think they speak loudly but it’s true that now they avoid loud music) and that basically I should suck it up until it’s too cold to drink outside.

OP isn’t sure who is in the wrong.

I try not to go to them until its at least 22h30 and it’s usually more around 23h/23h30 in week days, but i guess i like to sleep pretty early.

Am I the jerk for being too sensitive, going to bed early and asking them not to use the courtyard too late or can I morally prevent them from using one of the main asset of the building just because my appartement is not sound proof enough and I like my 8h of sleep ?

Surely there are established quiet hours. If the neighbors are being so loud that OP can’t sleep after quiet hours, than it’s reasonable to complain about the noise. Perhaps it would be better to talk to the landlord.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

This person thinks he’s the problem.

Another person thinks the neighbors have done all they can.

One person suggests looking into quiet hours.

And this person addresses the smell issue.

He might be happier in a different apartment.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check out what happened when a family gave their in-laws a free place to stay in exchange for babysitting, but things changed when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.