Noise Complaint from Unit Below

[Rocky60]

I don’t know what else to do for this situation.  We own a condo on the second floor of an older condo building/complex. We did some renovations about 2 years ago with new floors, paint etc. The owners of the unit below us are constantly messaging me about my guests walking or pacing the hallway, saying they are too loud. They only time we have this issue, is when they are visiting their unit. We put down rugs to maybe help absorb some of the sound. We’ve tried to communicate awareness with our guest about noise being on the second level, but at this point, I literally don’t know what else to say about it. Suggestions? Thanks!

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

@Rocky60   The rugs were a good idea. You can also require guests to remove their shoes when they come in - supplying a shoe rack and even some house slippers might help. 

It might also help to ditch the sofa as a sleeping option and reduce the occupancy to 3. Pulling the sofa in and out can be a noisy operation, and that constant footfall in the hallway is most likely several people coming and going rather than one person pacing back and forth. 

If the downstairs place isn't the owners' primary home, I guess you could block off the dates when they're planning to be there. But as long as your building's rules allow you to do Airbnb, I don't think you owe it to them to sacrifice any income over this. These people know they're sensitive to the sound of people above them, but nobody forced them to buy a condo that's not on the top floor.

[Rocky60]

The unit is a beach condo, so most of the time, renters are barefoot or in slippers. 

The sleeper sofa option is a good idea, but that hurts our revenue from lowering the occupancy. We’ve actually thought about taking the sleeper sofa out, but making up the sleeping arrangements and putting bunks in the hallway. (Imagine the ruckus that would cause if we had bunks lol)

It’s not the primary residence and the HOA allows rentals. We are in a high tourist area so 98% of the housing is rentals in the area. 

Thanks for the advice! @Anonymous 

[Amanda660]

@Rocky60  how about arranging with your being out to drop downstairs when they’re in and get a couple of folks to move around upstairs  - this way you can hear what they’re hearing?  

Sometimes it’s not as bad as they think it is but just want to be acknowledged and this may diffuse things somewhat.