Can landlord and neighbours give me trouble for 2 instances of baby crying?

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darkcainz

New member
I live in a basement suite in Vancouver, BC with my 14mo and there is a family above me with 2 kids that are 10y/o & 3y/o.

My son 90% of the time sleeps through the night but the odd night he will wake up and I just give him water and he goes back to sleep. But one night, about a week ago, he woke up at 1:30a a bit more upset than usual, but I got up, tended to him, then we both went back to sleep around 2a.

I woke up to a text from my landlord telling me that my upstairs neighbour complained and told me to “try my best to keep him quiet so that he doesn’t disturb other tenants” because it is “unreasonable or excessive noise.” So that’s f*****d, but I just move on. But here is where I’m starting to get annoyed.

About 3 nights ago, my son had a fever and was crying on and off understandably but slept all night for the first two, so they really weren’t that bad for him. But on the third, he screamed. And cried. Constantly. From 7:30p-3a and NOTHING I or my mother tried would calm him. I ended up just crying with him because I felt so helpless as it is NOT like him AT ALL. I ended up calling health link and they said they weren’t overly concerned as he sounded like he was just being a 14mo old getting over a fever as he wasn’t vomiting or showing concerning signs of anything serious. He was hydrated and fed, just a bit warmer than usual. He finally fell asleep around 3a and the next day, I get yet another “we have received a second complaint” text, and at this point, I’m just wondering what my options are? Because this is getting absolutely ridiculous. Especially complaints about a baby coming from people with their own children.

Advice very much appreciated !
 
@darkcainz So a 3 year old and a 10 year old live above you, huh? Have they ever made noise that has woken or disturbed you? Specifically thinking early in the morning when they are running around, etc. While the "tit for tat" game usually doesn't doesn't work out for the best for anyone, perhaps a response along the lines of

"I apologize for my child being sick. I do my best to keep him comfortable and quiet and even called the health link that evening. As any parent can tell you, especially those of noisy 3 and 10 year olds that like to run and stomp around the house, sometimes children will make noise. While it would be nice to live in a noise free environment, I'm not sure complaining about every single instance of noise will be very productive in the end. However, if that's the direction we need to go in, please let me know and I will be happy to comply."

You're not directly complaining about any noise they make, just pointing out that people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
 
@katrina2017
they're being unreasonable.
Click to expand...

Yes, they are, but it sounds like the landlord is passively agreeing with the unreasonable tenants. My reply was thinking that it might be worth pointing out to the landlord that OP can be just as unreasonable if necessary without actually going that far.
 
@darkcainz Your neighbours and landlord sound insane! Maybe gift them a little package with ear plugs and a note saying you’re trying everything you can to sooth him? I don’t know if they can give you any real trouble for this but it might be worth calling the residential tenancy board?
 
@darkcainz No way that a crying baby can get you evicted. It might piss the neighbors off but they need to stop being such assholes. Crying kids suck but that's life. Sorry you have to deal with these uncompassionate douche bags. Hopefully you and they can reconcile. Good luck.
 
@darkcainz I second calling the rental tenancy board. It sounds like your neighbours and the landlord all suck, and are being insanely unreasonable. Considering your neighbours have young kids that makes it even worse. So sorry you're having to deal with this, like having a sick baby isn't stressful enough.
 
@darkcainz Honestly, your landlord shouldn't even log that as a complaint to you, and the fact he even reached out means it is possible he won't understand your situation. Absolutely ridiculous if you ask me, but some people just don't understand things. At this point, I would try and have a civil conversation with the tenants themselves to see if they will give you a chance to state your case. People suck sometimes, I'm sorry.
 
@darkcainz That's fucked. As a dad of 2, when I hear babies crying I'm just very content it's not mine.

I'm not even sure what do they expect to happen with these complaints? You choking your baby so that it can't gasp for air to make noise? Nobody likes baby crying and the mom is the closest to the source of the noise. I'm pretty sure if there was a way to get the baby to be quiet, it would be done, nobody's letting a baby cry half the night on purpose.
 
@darkcainz Not sure how laws are in your place, but here in Germany, crying children are by law defined as no reason to file a noise complaint.

I mean, what are you supposed to do? Drug your kid to sleep? Neighbor is being ridiculous and landlord needs to get a grip and tell them to just get over it.
 
@darkcainz Not sure what the laws are in your area. Contact a real estate attorney, they'll probably give you an answer or gif advice for free over the phone. A social worker might also be able to answer your question.

In my area you can't harass people over the actions of an infant since they can't really be helped.
 
@darkcainz I don't have much advice, but I did find this article. He lives in BC, and was evicted for noise complaints from his son, given only 10 days and it seems legal. There needs to be protections in this cases. You literally can't quiet a baby down.

I don't see how people can be so heartless. A sick or colicky baby is already awful, now having to deal with bad neighbors and homeless threats? Fun.

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/father-son-eviction-noise-complaints-child-2019
 
@darkcainz A lot of basement apartments don’t really like kids/babies living there. They will even say it’s “unsuitable” but if they allowed you and your son then they need to be understanding of the fact that, unfortunately, babies cry. It’s weird that your upstairs neighbours who have KIDS are complaining because they should know what it’s like. Sorry you feel uncomfortable in your own home
 
@darkcainz Babies cry, what do your upstairs neighbours expect?! The landlord doesn't sound great, either.

My 2 year old has been going through a night terrors stage recently, and even my 7 year old wakes up crying from bad dreams occasionally.

If we were disturbed by a neighbour's baby crying one night, my first response would be to ask them if everything was OK the next day.
 
@darkcainz Well, everyone's right here, but that's besides the point. Babies cry, and it's disturbing.

The first part of landlord's reply, "Try your best to keep him quiet" is accurate. The vague threat after it is not, unless there's something in the lease specifically about "No kids or babies".

So, diplomacy dictates that you reply to him acknowledging the complaint and apologize for any unintentional disturbance and that you will redouble your efforts at responsiveness reasonably, under the circumstances. The circumstance being babies cry and you aren't allowing it to piss everyone off.

If the complaints continue, you can escalate to a request they cease the complaints as they are approaching harassment status.
 
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