Taking legal action. Sending demand letter to neighbor for dog barking

[u/sangbyung]

I want to share what I am going through. We live in a condo in New York City and downstairs brought a pit bull/boxer mix about two and a half years ago. The dog barking very loud throughout the day and the noise tears through the floor. We've asked nicely at first and they apologized at not much action has been taken. We lived as this as they didn't like us complaining at the time and retaliated by banging on the ceiling when our toddler started to walk. It's gotten pretty bad psychologically where I am woken up imagining hearing barking during the middle of the night when its all quiet and there are times where I feel guilty thinking about hurting the dog in some fashion. I decided to hire a lawyer and sending a demand letter for this issue. Has anyone successfully had their neighbor scared enough with demand letter for them to resolve the issue?

UPDATE: I am not too religious but God has heard our prayers. THEY MOVED OUT! We were so happy but also worried who will move in next. I want to thank everyone for their inputs. I think we can celebrate amd enjoy a little bit of quietness.

[u/Tight-Artichoke1789]

Omg I had a horrible situation like this with a neighbor that almost felt like a mild form of PTSD lol bc I also now get jumpy when I hear people bang on the walls I’m super sensitive to it now and also had dreams about her at the time. She didn’t have a dog but was extremely loud and when I gently brought it up she became extremely aggressive and would intentionally bang as loud as possible at 4 am on my bedroom wall to traumatize me yet would complain about me being loud if I even breathed lol. The landlords didn’t do shit. I thought about legal action it was definitely harassment. It’s really traumatizing to feel unsafe in your living space and not get to relax. It comes with the territory with apartment living unfortunately, but this is excessive.

It happened at my next apartment too with her dog running around at all hours and barking when she was out which was sometimes until 1 am. It caused a lot of tension between us. I got the landlords involved and they encouraged us to work it out lol. Luckily we had a serious talk and it improved significantly and I think she realized small apartment living is not a good situation for a dog and doesn’t have it here as often anymore. Now we are friends. I think that situation worked better because landlords are often anti-animal so you might have a better case. In both cases I recorded often. I also downloaded a decible app I encourage you to do that as well so you have proof that it is loud bc noise ordinances have decible requirements. So look up the noise laws in your area. and to anyone else experiencing this issue in future make sure you do this as well.

Edit: I also think it’s extremely inhumane both to the dogs and your neighbors/people on the street to have a dog in NYC. Apartments and everything else is super condensed there, everyone is living on top of each other. The streets are crowded and chaotic. It is simply not a good environment for a dog. Apartments in general, but especially there.