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Living in a shared building often means accepting some everyday noise from neighbors.

The following story is about a woman and her husband who were repeatedly complained about by their downstairs neighbor.

The neighbor said she could hear their footsteps and voices, even though they kept their music and television at low volumes.

She made a lot of effort already, so she’s unsure what else they could reasonably do.

Let’s take a closer look!

Downstairs neighbor complaining about normal living noise — am I in the wrong?

I live in a townhouse in midtown with my husband, and we’ve been having ongoing issues with our downstairs neighbor.

She’s been complaining about noise from our unit, but we’re honestly very mindful.

We don’t play loud music, we keep the TV at a low volume, and we try to be respectful overall.

Her main complaint is that she can hear our footsteps and voices, especially in the evenings.

But this feels like normal day-to-day living. We’re just walking around and talking in our own home.

This woman had spoken to the landlord to explain that it was a normal sound level.

It’s gotten to the point where it seems like she expects complete silence after 9 pm. That doesn’t feel realistic.

She has contacted 311 and the landlord multiple times, but nothing has come of it so far.

We’ve also already spoken to our landlord, and he’s on the same page as us.

Unfortunately, he says he can’t evict her easily and is currently consulting a lawyer.

He also mentioned she’s been a very difficult tenant to deal with.

She also noticed that the neighbor had inappropriate interactions with her husband.

There have also been some uncomfortable interactions.

She used to contact my husband directly quite often, including late at night.

And even asked him for help with things unrelated to us.

He has since blocked her, and we’ve stopped engaging.

At this point, I just want to live peacefully and avoid conflict.

But I’m not sure what else we can reasonably do.

Now, she’s wondering if they were really at fault here.

Am I missing something here?

Is there anything else we should be doing, or is this just part of living in a shared building?

For context, I’ve lived in apartments before where hearing footsteps, doors, or water from neighbors is normal.

I’ve never thought to complain. It just feels like part of living in a city like Toronto.

I honestly think that it’s unreasonable to expect complete silence from people simply living normally in their own home.

OP and her husband appear to have made reasonable efforts to keep the noise down.

I guess the neighbor needs to accept that some everyday sounds are unavoidable in shared housing.

Let’s check out the comments of other people on this story.

Short and simple.

This user gives some good advice.

Just live your life, says this one.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a man who stops helping his neighbors out with his snowplow after they complain about his farm.

Here’s another suggestion.

Finally, people are on her side.

If you want total silence, live in a detached home.