I hated every apartment I ever lived in. Dear god, why do apartments allow dogs?

Or music at 3am. Or anything.

When I bought my first house, the first thing I noticed was the silence. I could finally relax.

HOAs get a lot of hate, but they were the only recourse I had against neighbors who became hostile when I tried talking to them politely about their 24/7 barking dog in the adjacent lawn.

It’s weird how socially acceptable it is to have a pet noisemaker in your backyard, and how socially unacceptable it is to have an issue with it.

Why can't that problem be something that local governments fix with actual laws? Why do we need organizations that have most of the power of a government, but none of the accountability or checks and balances?

My friend said that when he lived in Brisbane, the police will actually come out with a volume meter and log the noise, talk to the dog owners, and ultimately take action if nothing is done.

https://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/community-and-safety/pets-an...

I doubt most would characterize the actions of US police as "accountable."

Regardless, police don't handle noise complaints where I live. Presumably they don't want to bother with the paperwork.

Yea until spring time. Then it’s endless lawn mowers, leaf blowers, drag racing, dirt bikes, and all sorts of other loud noises. Can’t keep the windows open because it’s too loud.

There's a fairly simple solution to the issue of excessive noise from neighbours in apartments: have rules for when noise can be made and when noise cannot be made, and enforce them with fines/eviction.

Also building the apartments properly. It's amazing how good sound insulation can be, if whoever constructs the apartments bothers to put it in.

Evicting people for not paying rent has become a political issue. There's no way you'd ever get away with evicting people for not keeping their dog from barking at the wrong times.

If you can't prevent your dog from disturbing other people, then maybe don't get a dog.