H and I just signed a one-year lease and moved into a duplex about two weeks ago, and we already have a problem with the guy who lives in the other side.
So far, at least 3-4 nights out of Sunday night through Thursday night, we can hear fairly loud noises late at night through the wall in our bedroom while we're trying to go sleep. By late at night on a weeknight, I'm talking past 10-10:30. We can hear voices, laughter and usually an incessant bass/thump/drumbeat of music or a loud movie. Last night was the worst by far with lots of all of the above plus lots of thumps and draggings. It sounded like they were rearranging all the furniture in the place last night! It went to at least 11:30, which was the last time I checked my phone before I managed to fall asleep.
When we moved in, the landlords had said they look for quiet people, and we said we weren't partiers or up super late. They also said the wall between was a double wall with soundboard. Maybe it is, but it's apparently not very good. They said the guy was a great, really nice guy. He looks to be in his 50's, so he should know better! They said he works some type of shift work where he's gone for a few weeks at a time and then home for a couple weeks, so I get that he's not on a typical 8-5 schedule.
Still, I feel it's not too much to ask that people keep the noise down after 10 on weekdays. Is it too soon to go over and ask the guy to keep it down at night? We've never had this problem before. Our last rental was a downstairs apartment with people living above. We'd hear footsteps and occasional thumps and bumps through the ceiling, but only during the day. We never heard anything at night.
It's not his only annoyance, honestly. Our doors are about five feet apart and he's a smoker although the duplex is non-smoking. So every time he steps out on the porch for a cigarette, he's literally smoking right outside our door as well as his own. Which means if we're coming or going while he's smoking or for 10-15 minutes afterward, we're smelling his disgusting smoke. But that hasn't been too bad so far, so we probably won't mention it at this point.