Dear PoPville – How Do I Get my Landlord to fix the Banging in my Walls?

Photo by PoPville flickr user evegophotos

Dear PoPville,

My girlfriend and I live in a small apartment building. Since we moved in six months ago, we’ve been having a problem with this loud knocking/banging noise coming from inside the wall that happens most nights and keeps us awake, sometimes for a long time. We’re pretty sure it’s the water pipes, because when we run the hot water from our kitchen sink, the noise happens. But it also happens at other times when our water is off–presumably when one or more other tenants in the building uses hot water–including when we need to sleep.

We have tried earplugs (various types) with no luck. We’re used to some noise (we live on 16th Street) but this is very loud and right in our bedroom.

Our property manager hasn’t fixed it. We have sent him email after email for five months and he just keeps saying he will talk to the contractor. But nothing has changed. It’s incredibly frustrating.

Do we have any way to force the property manager to fix this? Can we hire our own plumber, even though this likely involves the plumbing of other units in our building too?

Whatever suggestions you can give us would be a huge help. We are tired of this literally and figuratively.

Any suggestions beyond contacting the Office of the Tenant Advocate?