How do I subtly let people looking at my apartment know a gym is below?
July 1, 2015 4:06 PM Subscribe
My apartment is directly above a 24 hour gym. In fact, my bed is right above the weight room, so I hear people throwing weights around at all hours. Needless to say, this is disruptive to my sleep and it quite unpleasant.
Because I was unable to look at my apartment before moving in (I moved from out of state and I needed to find a place quickly) I did not know about the gym below my apartment. It is not obvious to other people unless they hear a crashing sound below.
I am moving out soon (thank god) and my building manager is showing my apartment to others. How can I subtly let people looking at my apartment know about the terror hidden below? I am gone most Sundays (this is when my building has open houses) and I don't want to piss off my building manager, as I suspect he will have some say in how much of my deposit I get back. However, I would like to prevent others from enduring the nightmare I have for the past year. I'm a humanitarian.
Thoughts?
Because I was unable to look at my apartment before moving in (I moved from out of state and I needed to find a place quickly) I did not know about the gym below my apartment. It is not obvious to other people unless they hear a crashing sound below.
I am moving out soon (thank god) and my building manager is showing my apartment to others. How can I subtly let people looking at my apartment know about the terror hidden below? I am gone most Sundays (this is when my building has open houses) and I don't want to piss off my building manager, as I suspect he will have some say in how much of my deposit I get back. However, I would like to prevent others from enduring the nightmare I have for the past year. I'm a humanitarian.
Thoughts?
You need to tell the landlord why you are moving. He could try installing thicker carpets or something. It doesn't matter how many people you warn off (bad move, by the way), the moment you are gone, it will be rented.
posted by myselfasme at 4:16 PM on July 1, 2015 [9 favorites]
posted by myselfasme at 4:16 PM on July 1, 2015 [9 favorites]
Why? If people are inspecting it, won't they either see or hear the gym? If you're trying to tell people about it in front of the manager, nothing good will come from this. If you're not there when the place is being shown, I don't see how you can influence that event. You could post some sort of sign on your refrigerator, but chances are good that most people won't even notice.
posted by Ideefixe at 4:18 PM on July 1, 2015
posted by Ideefixe at 4:18 PM on July 1, 2015
Prominently hang construction-style ear protection next to your bed?
posted by salvia at 4:24 PM on July 1, 2015 [36 favorites]
posted by salvia at 4:24 PM on July 1, 2015 [36 favorites]
I feel like you could open yourself up to some legal retaliation. This is just not your problem. It's altruistic but unless you want to battle some batshit landlord over some claim that you owe him lost revenue....
posted by amanda at 4:31 PM on July 1, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by amanda at 4:31 PM on July 1, 2015 [5 favorites]
Thoughts?
What you want to do (warn people and not piss off the building manager) is not really possible.
posted by saeculorum at 4:35 PM on July 1, 2015 [5 favorites]
What you want to do (warn people and not piss off the building manager) is not really possible.
posted by saeculorum at 4:35 PM on July 1, 2015 [5 favorites]
Have you discussed this with the building manager? It's possible they have no idea. You're not the first person to discover the local gym is making a ton of noise.
posted by Anonymous at 4:42 PM on July 1, 2015
posted by Anonymous at 4:42 PM on July 1, 2015
The problem is anything too subtle and no one's going to know you're hinting at something and not subtle enough and you will have an unhappy landlord. I don't know if there's anything you can do that will alert potential buyers and yet not alert the manager.
posted by Aranquis at 4:44 PM on July 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Aranquis at 4:44 PM on July 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
Leave lots of earplugs around.
posted by quince at 5:01 PM on July 1, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by quince at 5:01 PM on July 1, 2015 [5 favorites]
Post the gym's phone number on your fridge. Big Gym: 716-555-1212 "For NOISE complaints ask for Jay."
Figure out when the noisy time is and tell your landlord that it'd be most convenient for you if open houses could be scheduled during that time.
But yeah -- at best, you're going to help, like, six would-be renters, and then a seventh will take the place, and in six months, someone else will, and so on. And yeah, your landlord might get angry. But really? S/he ought to be disclosing the noise. It's in everyone's best interests.
posted by salvia at 5:15 PM on July 1, 2015 [16 favorites]
Figure out when the noisy time is and tell your landlord that it'd be most convenient for you if open houses could be scheduled during that time.
But yeah -- at best, you're going to help, like, six would-be renters, and then a seventh will take the place, and in six months, someone else will, and so on. And yeah, your landlord might get angry. But really? S/he ought to be disclosing the noise. It's in everyone's best interests.
posted by salvia at 5:15 PM on July 1, 2015 [16 favorites]
Eh, humanitarianism is nice, but they can see the gym's there, and the more people you turn off, the more open houses your landlord's going to have and the more strangers you're going to have traipsing through your place. It's not your responsibility.
posted by mskyle at 5:57 PM on July 1, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by mskyle at 5:57 PM on July 1, 2015 [2 favorites]
2nd myselfasme and schroedinger. Also, talk to your immediate neighbours, beforehand - it might bother them as well (vents?).
Hopefully, you can get your building manager to talk to the gym manager. Who obviously can't police the 3am lifters, but can ask people to avoid dropping the weights, maybe put up huge signs to that effect, maybe do a bit of soundproofing (doubtful but maybe). (Signs mostly work at my tiny gym, which is above some retail businesses.)
posted by cotton dress sock at 7:34 PM on July 1, 2015
Hopefully, you can get your building manager to talk to the gym manager. Who obviously can't police the 3am lifters, but can ask people to avoid dropping the weights, maybe put up huge signs to that effect, maybe do a bit of soundproofing (doubtful but maybe). (Signs mostly work at my tiny gym, which is above some retail businesses.)
posted by cotton dress sock at 7:34 PM on July 1, 2015
Type "I live above a noisy gym." on a sheet of paper, stick it in a cheap frame, and set it up somewhere visible but not in your face. Like on a side table. It's art.
posted by phunniemee at 7:44 PM on July 1, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by phunniemee at 7:44 PM on July 1, 2015 [4 favorites]
Your issue occurred because you were unable to look at the place first, which you state in the your question. Do you think you would have known if you did look at it first? If so, then others will also know.
Capturing those who are in the situation you were in, would be impossible.
posted by Youremyworld at 10:41 PM on July 1, 2015
Capturing those who are in the situation you were in, would be impossible.
posted by Youremyworld at 10:41 PM on July 1, 2015
Leave a few flyers for the gym in prominent places like stuck to the fridge, by the phone and what have you.
That is subtle because people with sense will realise it's directly underneath the flat. They'll either think that's a feature because they like to lift at 3am. Or they'll think it's a bug and be concerned because they don't like to listen to anybody lift at 3am.
You fell foul of this because you didn't view the place. Anybody who goes to an open house should also be checking out the buidling as a whole and the neighbourhood amenities. If they don't and are caught out by this that's unfortunate but it'll be a valuable lesson to them going forward.
posted by koahiatamadl at 10:42 PM on July 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
That is subtle because people with sense will realise it's directly underneath the flat. They'll either think that's a feature because they like to lift at 3am. Or they'll think it's a bug and be concerned because they don't like to listen to anybody lift at 3am.
You fell foul of this because you didn't view the place. Anybody who goes to an open house should also be checking out the buidling as a whole and the neighbourhood amenities. If they don't and are caught out by this that's unfortunate but it'll be a valuable lesson to them going forward.
posted by koahiatamadl at 10:42 PM on July 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
I don't want to piss off my building manager, as I suspect he will have some say in how much of my deposit I get back.
Legally they can't just make up reasons to keep your deposit. Not that they can't try, but it's generally easy to ask for receipts and such and challenge and they'll back down under a threat of serious action or being called on it.
Honestly, i don't actually see the downside here. I've been happy in the past when this sort of stuff was somehow communicated to me, and have definitely tried to pay that forward at several places where there was a glaring and disruptive but not immediately obvious downside like this.
I really like the earmuffs next to the bed idea, this sort in a neon color. They can be under $10 and you can always just return them if you buy them from somewhere with a 30 day return period(which wouldn't even be unethical if you never use them).
But other than being present, i don't know all that much else you could do.
posted by emptythought at 10:49 PM on July 1, 2015
Legally they can't just make up reasons to keep your deposit. Not that they can't try, but it's generally easy to ask for receipts and such and challenge and they'll back down under a threat of serious action or being called on it.
Honestly, i don't actually see the downside here. I've been happy in the past when this sort of stuff was somehow communicated to me, and have definitely tried to pay that forward at several places where there was a glaring and disruptive but not immediately obvious downside like this.
I really like the earmuffs next to the bed idea, this sort in a neon color. They can be under $10 and you can always just return them if you buy them from somewhere with a 30 day return period(which wouldn't even be unethical if you never use them).
But other than being present, i don't know all that much else you could do.
posted by emptythought at 10:49 PM on July 1, 2015
If you're subtle enough to fool the landlord, you'll be too subtle to a lot of potential tenants. Someone will still rent the place. Leave the place and don't look back.
The only fair solution would be systemic. Set up a government system with a web site in which all landlords must list all rental properties. Let tenants submit feedback on those properties and their landlords, and let landlords submit feedback on those tenants. Require everybody looking for a rental property in town to register to search the feedback by and on every landlord and property. Require landlords to show each potential tenant the feedback on themselves and the place, and require tenants to indicate on the lease that they have reviewed and considered all of this feedback. Let landlords review feedback by other landlords on potential tenants. Let everybody review feedback on themselves.
Then each place and person and complaint would have a public history to review. If you wanted to participate in the local rental game, you would have to submit to public scrutiny.
And in this case, you would submit a general complaint about the 24-hour gym noise and recommend that people not live there if they are sensitive to noise. It would be a complaint about the location, not about the inside of the property, and not about the landlord (because there's nothing the landlord can do about the noise unless you know of a city ordinance he could have used get the gym to limit their working hours or noise levels).
posted by pracowity at 2:06 AM on July 2, 2015
The only fair solution would be systemic. Set up a government system with a web site in which all landlords must list all rental properties. Let tenants submit feedback on those properties and their landlords, and let landlords submit feedback on those tenants. Require everybody looking for a rental property in town to register to search the feedback by and on every landlord and property. Require landlords to show each potential tenant the feedback on themselves and the place, and require tenants to indicate on the lease that they have reviewed and considered all of this feedback. Let landlords review feedback by other landlords on potential tenants. Let everybody review feedback on themselves.
Then each place and person and complaint would have a public history to review. If you wanted to participate in the local rental game, you would have to submit to public scrutiny.
And in this case, you would submit a general complaint about the 24-hour gym noise and recommend that people not live there if they are sensitive to noise. It would be a complaint about the location, not about the inside of the property, and not about the landlord (because there's nothing the landlord can do about the noise unless you know of a city ordinance he could have used get the gym to limit their working hours or noise levels).
posted by pracowity at 2:06 AM on July 2, 2015
Post the gym's phone number on your fridge. Big Gym: 716-555-1212 "For NOISE complaints ask for Jay."
I like this approach, as in reality, I have similar notes on my fridge ("if truck is blocking driveway, call whoever", etc).
posted by bluefly at 6:18 AM on July 2, 2015 [2 favorites]
I like this approach, as in reality, I have similar notes on my fridge ("if truck is blocking driveway, call whoever", etc).
posted by bluefly at 6:18 AM on July 2, 2015 [2 favorites]
"For NOISE complaints ask for Jay"
Then in a second pen color: "after 1 am -- Susan"
posted by salvia at 9:58 AM on July 2, 2015 [5 favorites]
Then in a second pen color: "after 1 am -- Susan"
posted by salvia at 9:58 AM on July 2, 2015 [5 favorites]
Why would you want to? If you're mad at your landlord, remember you rented the place sight-unseen. I wouldn't say anything. Also... remember that your LL has your security deposit. Why risk pissing him or her off? Don't say anything. Not your problem.
posted by brownrd at 2:52 PM on July 2, 2015
posted by brownrd at 2:52 PM on July 2, 2015
Yeah, I don't think there's a way to do this. I think you're better off trying to solve the problem, either by asking your landlord to work on soundproofing or by speaking to the people at the gym.
Did you ever actually speak to them about this? I've been a member of two or three different gyms, and they all had signs asking people not to throw weights around. Not because of a sound issue (no neighbours) but because it's an occupational health and safety issue and could also damage the equipment.
posted by kinddieserzeit at 2:52 AM on July 3, 2015
Did you ever actually speak to them about this? I've been a member of two or three different gyms, and they all had signs asking people not to throw weights around. Not because of a sound issue (no neighbours) but because it's an occupational health and safety issue and could also damage the equipment.
posted by kinddieserzeit at 2:52 AM on July 3, 2015
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