When you live in an apartment, there is always bound to be some noise that you hear from your neighbors. How much noise will depend on your neighbors, the building, and if you tend to be on the same schedule as your neighbors or not because, let’s face it, everything seems louder when you’re trying to sleep.

In this story, we hear about two neighbors. One is annoyed that she keeps waking up at night while she’s trying to sleep because her neighbor is walking down the stairs. The other neighbor doesn’t think he’s doing anything wrong though. He has the right to walk down the stairs.

Keep reading to see whose side you’re on.

AITA for working at night in the building’s commons

I (50+F) got into a fight with my (30+F) neighbour this afternoon.

She came out her appartment to talk to me as I was leaving for groceries.

We both live on the ground floor of our building so our doors face.

The problem involves the basement and the stairs.

She asked me “Could you avoid going down the stairs and working in the basement after 11PM?”.

Basically, we each own a room in the basement, and I use mine to work on my projects (movie montage, music, small construction).

Hers is an amenaged room (she bought the appartment a few years ago, the room was already there), that she can access from another stairs from the inside of her own appartment.

She sleeps there on a matress and it’s also where her shower is (I knew the former owner and helped her renovate the room myself).

The stairs are the real problem.

The stairs leading to the basement from the building’s entrance are right above her bedroom, and because they are very old and wooden, they tend to be loud.

She says she “doesn’t mind” when I work during the day, but that I “keep waking her up” when I go there at night, both with the stairs creaking and the working/music.

I told her, that the access to the basement belongs to everyone in the building and she has no right to restrict my own access. It’s part of the charter.

She said it was “not such a big deal” and that “you could do me this little civic gesture”, as she “Never asked anything from me in two years despite the noise”.

They both shouted their sides of the issue.

I told her quite frankly that she was trying to control someone else’s life, and that if she had problems with the noise, she could just sound proof below the stairs from her own appartment.

She told me she had no money for that. She also said I was retired and had no “vital urgency” to use the basement’s rooms at 2 AM, but that she had to wake up at 7AM every day. She also said that she always avoided making work calls late for our sake and that she couldn’t believe I’d be so selfish.

I’m afraid this ended in a bit of a shouting match between us. She has now contacted the previous owner and another neighbour, on top of the co owners association on the subject.

I think I’m justified. The basement is parts of the commons, stairs included, and the room there belongs to me for my private usage.

So, AITA?

I can see both perspectives. Really, he has the right to use the basement and the stairs though. It’s just too bad the stairs are so loud and right next to her bedroom. It might be better if there were another room in her apartment that she could use as her bedroom.

Let’s see how Reddit responded.

This person thinks he shouldn’t be working so late.

Another person agrees that 2am is too late.

Quiet hours are a thing.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a woman who wants peace and quiet by the pool, but finds guests and loud music instead.

Another person draws the line at music.

Quiet hours should be respected, but I’m not sure how that applies to walking up and down a staircase. It doesn’t necessarily sound like the neighbor is upset about any noise he’s making when he’s in the basement. It’s the noise from the stairs that bother her.

It’d be a non-issue if he’d go to sleep earlier.