Posted by S. Douglass on July 29, 1998 at 17:10:16:
I'd appreciate input on possible solutions to this problem: I live in a rent-stablized NYC apartment (it's huge, it's cheap, I love it, I don't want to move!). My downstairs neighbor is an elderly lady who is showing signs of dementia. Over the past two years, her sensitivity to noise has reached the point that I am almost unable to move around the apartment (which is in compliance with the lease in terms of rugs and carpets -- I even got special acoustic padding for my bedroom). She bangs on her ceiling, sometimes for about a half-hour, sometimes most of the night. lately, she's taken to standing on something in her apartment and screaming at the ceiling, using language that I wouldn't have thought she'd know!
I don't want to persecute a sick old woman, but it's getting so I can't sleep, don't dare have guests, and generally feel held hostage to her paranoias. Other neighbors are having problems as well, but I'm her principal target. I have letters she's written, to me and the landlord, that are clearly deranged.
I've read about a "nuisance action" that I can request the landlord take to Housing Court. Can anyone provide more information on what this is and what it means in terms of solving this problem?
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