cliffnotes : upstairs neighbor moves furniture at 3 AM frequently. Two conversations with him have led to no change. What's my play?

Long version :

I recently moved into a new apartment on the 2nd floor of 3. Obviously I expected some noise, but it's really loud, and my upstairs neighbor seems to be awake at 2-3 in the morning many nights and is doing stuff like moving furniture and dropping stuff on the floor and running around.

So, I've gone up and talked to the guy twice, once a few weeks ago and once two days ago. Both times he was like "oh sorry, sorry, I didn't know" but didn't change his behavior at all. You didn't know!? Really? You thought moving furniture at 3 AM was totally fine?

I figure if I call the cops they'll just laugh at me. It's not really much of a "noise violation" in a legal sense.

I've held off from going all aggro on the guy because I'm worried that would start a war and just make it worse. If I thought physically threatening him would make a difference I could do that. It might just get me evicted though.

Anyway, what can I do? Ideally I'd get him to quiet down or get him evicted. Failing that, I want to make his life as miserable as mine is.

Oh, there are some interesting extra details :

I'm pretty sure he's on some kind of drugs. I'm 90% sure I saw his dealer come to the building one night (I saw them pass money suspiciously). That would also explain the 2-3 AM house rearranging. It would be hard to actually catch evidence, but maybe I can use that.

I believe he has illegal roommates that aren't on the lease. If so that would be a cause for eviction but it seems hard to prove they're actually living there not just guests.

Do you have any woodworking experience?

Im assuming your apartment complex has some sort of manager....complain to them explaining youve already talked to him twice.

baring that, just pound on the roof lots when you wake up early in the morning when you know hes asleep

maybe he just has a lathe in his living room.

Freeze a cookie sheet of urine, and slide it under his door. Rinse, repeat.

the honest answer is you can't win, someone has to move out

+1.

holy ****, that is awesome!!!

Not to derail the thread, however when i first moved to NJ I moved to a two floor apartment complex. I lived on the second floor and did not really see my downstairs neighbors.

After about a year of living there, I met my downstairs neighbor. She was a divirced woman with two children. One of her children asked me if I was going bowling later that night. Mind you I do not go bowling I asked him why he asked. He told me that his mother told him I bowled late at night. I found out later from the divorced mother's sister that bowling was the keyword for me ummmm...having um sexxy time.

After that, I toned it down. I also started ******* the sister...lol

until you realize your freezer now smells like piss.

And also...

how the **** do you freeze something on a COOKIE SHEET?

Whats the problem?

wtf is that thing? Do I live in bizarro land where cookie sheets are sheets? We have nothing with beveled edges like that.

a small price to pay for the smiting of ones enemies

wow really? I have cookie sheets that actually have a 90 degree angle for an edge

Yeah, but I'd like that someone to not be me.

I'm thinking if I complain to manager a few times then I should be able to move out and not pay the penalty for breaking lease. But then I still have to F'ing move which is such a pain.

So I either want to make him choose to move out or get him evicted.

The doors are pretty well sealed, but I was considering the old poop on the doorknob trick.

JB weld his door and windows shut, and put superglue in his door lock

The way landlords deal with delinquent tenants here is they get a bunch of heavies to rough them up. If you know some heavies or toughs, you could try that.

What will actually happen:

Manager won't give a **** about the noise coming from the third floor.
Guy that lives on the third floor won't give a **** and will continue to make noise,
You will cry yourself to sleep at night.

All will be right in the world.