Is it legal or acceptable for apartment dwelling neighbors to play the stereo at deafening levels all day long?

No! Complain to your landlord. If the noisy party is your landlord, MOVE!

Most states say that a renter has a right to “quiet enjoyment” of the premises. The landlord has a responsibility to help insure that.

I would call the police if the landlord won’t help.

Everyone is entitled to the peaceful enjoyment of their residence. Playing loud music all day and night is probably against city ordinances .. and is just being beyond inconsiderate.

Unfortunately though, some police departments won’t even get involved unless the music is played later than 10 p.m. Luckily, in our city .. police will intervene if noise levels are too high no matter what time of day.

If nothing works .. they should move!!

It’s discourteous at the very least. It may even be deliberate in hopes that someone will complain. Some people are just looking for an argument.
“I was told I could listen at a reasonable volume…”

Once in awhile no problem, every day, all the time, unacceptable.
I’d try taking the diplomatic approach with the people myself first, if they ignored my reasonable request to keep their music down I’d call in the big guns like the landlord and local police. I think you should be very clear that you hope you can all come to an agreement because you’d really hate to have to file a formal complaint with the police, landlord or property management peeps.

Where I live there are codes (laws) regulating noise level. The maximum level of noise (in dB I believe) that is allowed depends on the time of day and the type of zoning the property has (i.e. residential, commercial, industrial, mixed use), and I believe is measured at the property line. So if they want to do something about it, they should check the law, then file a complaint.

No it is not acceptable. You didn’t mention the landlord, or the caretaker of the building. I mean that is the first step or second.

I I had this problem with music blaring neighbors in the city. I consistently called the police and complained. As soon as the police left…they would turn the music back up loud again. I would call the police back. They finally gave them a noise pollution ticket; over a $100.00. They finally got the message and stopped. However, I decided to move to the country; finally a serenity of peaceful quietness. Any music playing too loud… is always offensive.

I would blast the music back at them from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. for a few days.

@bkcunningham: The only problem with your idea is that after 11 pm, the cops definitely do respond and it’s got to be a low volume, whereas during the daytime hours, it’s a gray area. That’s why I asked – because everyone knows the law covers night time but day is not so clear.

Luckily I live in a private house, but it would be like a nightmare to live in a multi-family dwelling and have neighbors like this. If you don’t have a landlord with a backbone, you’d have to deal with this crap.

You are right, @jca. But wouldn’t it be fun if you could give them a taste of their own music? Why are they home all day?

@bkcunningham: From what my friend says, these people are maybe doing drugs, maybe on the dole.

If they try to give them a taste of their own music, after 11, it’s definitely a legal issue on the perpetrator’s side and the cops would come and they’d look stupid.

In the heading you mention apartment but in the body you’re saying house…not sure which it is, but if you’re talking about an apartment complex there should be a section in your friends contract that protects against noisy neighbors that they are sharing wall space with. Notifying the property management company would also be a good step.

@ffsc: It’s a 3 family house, so it’s privately owned. I referred to it in the question as an apartment because it’s an apartment in a house.

I remember once about 15 years ago, I rented my first apartment in a really nice building. At around 10:30 on a Saturday morning, I started vacuuming. The neighbor came over angrily knocking, saying she had a job where she worked till late at night and she wanted to sleep. I remember at that time being somewhat mad and also confused as to what my rights were and what her rights were.

@ffsc ok so what happened?