Imagine working the night shift and living in an apartment. What would you do if you were trying to sleep during the day but there were loud noises coming from the unit directly above yours? Would you get some earplugs, talk to the neighbors or talk to the landlord?

In this story, one renter is in this exact situation, but it’s a little bit more complicated because the landlord is responsible for the noise!

Let’s read all about it.

AITAH for being angry at my landlords for being in the vacant apartment directly above me?

For context, I am not a nightmare tenant. I pay my rent on time. I keep the place clean. I report things that need to be repaired. I am quiet and responsible.

I also work the midnight shift.

I used to have an elderly woman living in the unit above me and I barely heard anything other than the occasional pitter-patter of her slippers or a dull mumbling if she had company.

She was the best upstairs neighbour anyone could ask for.

It seems like the landlord was trying to be considerate.

Well, two months ago she moved out and the unit above me has sat vacant.

The landlord has decided to sell the house (all tenants were aware this was going to happen) and therefore are coming and going more often to do various things in the apartments.

My landlord had asked me what my sleep schedule was to which I said I didn’t have one. I said that it would be easier for me to work around her schedule, to just let me know when she would be over so I can base my sleep around that.

OP only asked for one thing.

I also asked if it was possible to try to not schedule anything between 10 am and 2 pm so that I had a guaranteed 4 hours of solid sleep regardless of the situation.

She agreed.

The cleaning began the following Saturday.

But that one request was immediately ignored.

Okay it’s the weekend, not a big deal. Just a bit of an annoyance. They arrived around 12:30 and did not leave until around 8pm.

The cleaners (landlords daughter and boyfriend) blasted their music, threw things around on the floor, stomped around in shoes and argued VERY loudly during this time.

The walls are very thing. I heard everything.

OP desperately needs sleep!

I work Sunday nights (landlord knows this) Sunday at 1 pm the cleaners came back. They did the same thing and did not leave until 6pm.

As I had stayed up all night to prepare for work (as I was given no notice as they legally do not have to provide it to work on any part of the property I am not residing in), I had to go to work absolutely exhausted.

I operate heavy machinery and it was not a good night for me.

This would be so frustrating!

The following Sunday the landlord says she needs the realtor to come in and take pictures. She gave me proper notice and said she would be there at 9:30. In and out.

She showed up at my until at 10, and did not proceed to the unit above me until noon. They proceeded to stay in the apartment and talk loudly and walk around in their shoes until 1:30.

Literally the entire 4 hour stretch that I asked very nicely for them not to come. 4 hours in the day is all I asked for.

I was very upset about this.

It was another day with no sleep!

I worked a double shift Monday night (my Tuesday shift) and came home around 10 am. I was able to get to sleep by noon.

At 4 pm the landlords once again entered the unit above me and stomped their feet at the door to clear the snow from their shoes.

This is directly above my bedroom. I awoke with a start.

They proceeded to walk through the unit with shoes on and talked loudly for another 45 minutes to an hour before they left again.

Would a heads up be too much to ask?

I checked my phone to see if they had messaged me and again I did not receive any notice.

I’m not saying that they NEED to, but I found it to be incredibly disrespectful that they would not even attempt to send me a text to say they will be in the unit between certain times so I can sleep around them.

I said some choice words when I was awoken with a start and I’m sure they heard me.

OP is wondering who is in the wrong.

Am I being the jerk here? Because I am genuinely confused how if I am not in the wrong, how someone could just go about disturbing their tenants like that.

I feel like I have to be missing something.

Also I would like to add that this landlord used to reside in this residence from childhood until adulthood and is very aware of how much sound carries throughout the units.

Has this tenant talked to the landlord about this situation? Perhaps the landlord forgot about the request to have the apartment quiet at a certain time, or perhaps she doesn’t realize how much the noise is disturbing OP.

Let’s see what Reddit has to say about this situation.

This is a good point.

It is what it is.

This person suggests moving out.

It couldn’t hurt to try!

Being exhausted is miserable!

If you liked that post, check out this story about a guy who was forced to sleep on the couch at his wife’s family’s house, so he went to a hotel instead.