Classic case of landlords wanting a tenant to help with the mortgage, then acting all upset when the tenant just tries to live.

Go live your life, you're doing nothing wrong. They can upgrade the soundproofing or pound sand.

This is a structural/sound proofing issue. If the structure conducts too much noise they need to install soundproofing. 

Your landlord can't dictate what time you go to work and the noise created by drinking coffee and getting ready for work is almost certainly (legally speaking) reasonable noise.

So they’re a young couple, working as creatives, who own a house in Vancouver. They should tell their parents to pay to upgrade the soundproofing, as their parents (or an inheritance) paid for the downpayment.

You’re doing absolutely nothing wrong and they don’t really have any ground to stand on here. You’re already going above and beyond to accommodate them

We have a basement suite we rent out. I managed to fix this problem by installing a separate heating system for the suite, and then changing the basement t bar ceiling to a sandwich of:

• Hurricane ties
• 2x4 subfloor
• Rockwool safe & sound insulation batts
• 5/8" drywall
• Acoustic glue
• 5/8" drywall again

Our kids and their kids make tons of noise and we don't hear each other.

Sounds like your landlords aren't willing to spend the money it takes to be proper landlords.

From a legal perspective they have to prove that you are making unreasonable amount of noise which if you are blasting music or something then yes that's unreasonable. Doing the dishes or even vacuuming is not unreasonable (despite what some comments have said) and they have to prove it by getting a sound meter or something. I highly doubt they have the legal knowledge to get sufficient proof of unreasonable noise. Legally it sounds like you have nothing to worry about. If they try to evict then you have a pretty good potential case for unlawful eviction.

The issue is not legal but more so personal. You have to live with your landlord and really there isn't much more you can do. Personally I'd be honest and tell them what you've done to fix the issue (not doing dishes and making lunch night before) and ask what they expect you to do? When they give unreasonable responses ask them if they are willing to do what they want you to do. Don't be an asshole but feel free to ignore them. You don't need to respond.

Not a lawyer I just work for them.

You aren't the problem, you are going to your job not partying. Situation is awkward but its on them, maybe they can switch bedrooms or look at sound proofing. You've already done enough, say sorry I try to be quiet but I need this job to pay the rent, doubt they'd like it if you slept in got fired and stopped paying.

The most common noise transfer is walking around transmitting noise to the unit below. Given they are above those must be some really thin walls/ ceilings. Totally is due to being an old house. There is very little you can do. Adding a rug isn’t going to do anything . You have to live your life.

Not doing your dishes in the morning was a thoughtful thing to do but beyond that unless you are vacuuming in the morning it’s their problem to fix. 

NO you are not the problem, the problem is the building. Tell them they have a perfect opportunity as owners to move their bedroom, carpet their suite or otherwise sound proof, as getting ready for work in the morning is NOT a disruptive activity. What it is they want you to do?

I lived in a place like that and ultimately moved out. Had someone below me and I could hear him on the phone, like not a drone of talking but what he was saying. He complained about my hairdryer in the morning. And then there was the princess who lived above who wore her heels throughout the house. Then they had a baby and that was all night crying. I offered to pay to carpet their place (I was that desperate) but no. The landlord let us out of our lease.

They built a suite and didn’t do proper sound proofing because they’re cheap. Sounds like them problem. You can have quiet enjoyment of your suite AND doing dishes, having breakfast/coffee and showering at that time is not unreasonable.

They can’t make you do anything, and they never report it to the RTB because there’s nothing to report.

Make smoothies for a week, each morning then stop when they ask.

Done.

No more complaints about your quiet routine.

Also consider playing music at a normal modest level in your kitchen on weekends after 9am. The difference in noise will be surprising to them.

Suggest they get a white noise machine, send a link to earplugs that your friend highly recommended, etc.

Then they should reduce your rent to $0 so you don't have to work. /s

Rude. They can suck it. You're helping them and they complain? They'll get used to the morning noises and should gtfo.

Tell them to buy a thick rug for their bedroom.

This is bullshit. They should be the ones changing their schedule. They buy a property they can’t afford, then they expect the tenants’ world to revolve around them as well as pay them Obnoxious behaviour. They own the property, they need to soundproof. You shouldn’t have to change your actions if you’re not doing anything unreasonable.

You’re paying to live there and should be allowed to exist without walking on eggshells. At this point, they can cry about it but it’s not your problem 🤷🏻‍♀️

Some home owners are not cut out to be LL’s because they are too picky about every little thing. Almost every thing the tenant does is wrong in their eyes.

This kind of shit is why I didn't bother looking at suites in private landlord houses when I had to find a place to live 2 years ago.

You can just ask them to move downstairs and you live upstairs.

As someone who rents out their suite this is a them problem.

Lots of basement suite landlords getting dragged in this thread and honestly based on the comments I feel bad from anyone renting from them. I too once had a shitty landlord while I was in a suite.

Wild to me people would have an issue with reasonable noise and packages getting delivered. I hand deliver all my tenants mail to his door

I think they are a problem, digital nomads lol they should wake up and work on their business early too then, then maybe they can afford not having a tenant and having a Basement Man Cave.. fuck yeah

I’m so sorry you’re going through this! This is why I completely stopped considering renting basement suites.

I’ve had so many horrible experiences in basement suits in my 20 years of renting from Landlord’s looking through my windows while I’m home alone, extremely poor insulation where I could hear absolutely everything (and I’m sure they could too), having the absolute worst nightmare neighbours imaginable that screamed and yelled constantly, smoking inside and it coming into my unit through the vents and blocking off my parking space so I couldn’t get to work on time because I couldn’t get out of the driveway etc etc (landlord was renting top and bottom of house)

I’d much rather live in an apartment shoebox. At least the walls are concrete. Basement suites are absolute bullshit.

I don't think you can do anything, I think you are already compromised enough. I was in the same situation only the reverse. LL were being noisy and I had to suck it up until I moved out. They can't have someone to help with the mortgage and expect ppl to live to their standard.

If they can't handle it then maybe being LL is not their thing.

Tell them to get a large rug or carpeting and move the bed away from the wall because the banging bothers you. They can double drywall your ceiling or they layer acoustic membrane and redo their floor and add carpet.

I bet the unit isn’t even up to code. The City usually asks for soundproofing and fire measures when renting a unit. You could report them and have the City do an inspection.

As a landlord myself, this is what I’m doing right now - soundproofing the ceiling and the common walls. Unfortunately, I couldn’t do it with my previous tenants still leaving in there, but at least I taking care of my future tenants. Your landlord is unreasonable.

https://preview.redd.it/jbrgp7xve38g1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b6c47ce0c53ba3c83e3fd95e7e49c83739fa3f77

You're avoiding doing your dishes in the morning, which is lovely. You're trying to be quiet. That's the whole deal. You're doing your bit.

I've lived in 3 basement apartments over the years, landlords on the main floor. We'd all try to be accommodating about noise. We also all recognized that we all have to live, so there won't be silence. (In each case, I became friends with the landlords, which was/is very cool.)

If the small amount of noise you're making in the mornings is that big a deal to your landlords, the problem is the soundproofing and their expectations.

I hope it all works out well for you, and that they deal with their problem so they can keep someone who is obviously a really good tenant.

Something simple like using a noise machine or fan?

Tell them to wear ear plugs.

Tell them to get a white noise machine.

Good grief. They should be lucky to have a good tenant and not one that blasts their music and trashes the place. I’ve had those. Tell them they need to get sound proofing.

Not your problem. If they want you to change your work schedule, they should pay you for the loss of income for the reduced hours worked

Your LL are dicks. I have a ground level suite below us. We put in double insulation between us  with safe and sound and air gaps and all the walls have safe and sound with proper thick drywall.  Unless someone is yelling or has the music really loud, we do not hear anything. 

Tell them to get carpets or insulate better or get a white noise machine. 

Suggest they start sleeping with a fan on in their room. It makes a huge difference for me.

If they want absolute silence when they sleep, then they can pay their own damn mortgage

This is just another reminder that basements in older houses were never designed/intended for a rental property. What a ridiculous situation for both parties!

Best way to deal with it is raise your palm and tell them to chill out because you aren’t going anywhere. Then sit back and enjoy your coffee. Like someone commented before ask them to get earplugs or fix the problem. Ask if they’ve ever experienced white noise.

Maybe the landlord just needs a white noise machine in their bedroom. They already live upstairs, there's not that much you can do beyond what you've already said.

Fuck them, live your life. They have no legal legal legal to stand on. Its your space.

If the landlords can’t afford a house themselves then why buy one. If they “need” people to help them buy their home then treat these people properly. Maybe landlords should be thankful they have someone helping them pay for their house. Is it really that challenging to find a decent landlord?

It’s not a problem. You’re a human and are allowed to provide for yourself. This is instance of them

ain't your problem

Ask them to investigate upping the sound insulation. There are ways and as the landlords it’s kinda on them!

It sounds like you are being considerate and trying your best to cooperate. Nothing more you can do. Time for them to buy some earplugs and a white noise machine.

They are being unreasonable. You are entitled to do normal things like get ready for work in the morning without having to tip-toe around. If they are so sensitive to noise they should run a white noise machine in their bedroom or wear ear plugs. This is their issue to solve not yours. They can’t expect to collect rent from you and have you tip toe around the space you rented!! BTW I am a house owner and we run an airbnb in our basement. It’s also an old house, and the suite bedroom is directly below ours. I would not dream of telling a tenant to tip-toe around while getting ready for work.

That being said we hardly hear anything from the basement unit, and we have a wide variety of people staying there. The only noises that carry upstairs are the smoke alarm going off or the blender running. Other than that we barely notice any noise from downstairs. But even the blender or smoke detector is not something I would even consider complaining about to the person using the suite. In fact it’s our noise that I’m more concerned about travelling downstairs, especially since my husband gets up at 6:30am for work.

You're doing nothing wrong, and it's already too much that you're doing dishes and making food on a schedule that suits them. If they press the issue tell them they should have considered the level of sound isolation in separate units before renting it out. It's 100% their problem.

As others have said- if you were doing something noisy it would be one thing. If you were being boisterous, partying, blasting music, whatever, that's another thing still. But you're making breakfast and going to work. Basic, necessary activities. Anyone with roommates deals with the same and worse.

I hope they are Redditors and see this post and comments section

Time for them to stop being landlords!

You live there and in the eyes of the law you’re entitled to enjoy your home. I get that it’s nice to have mortgage help and it would really nice if some random person would just hand me a few thousand dollars every month but the world doesn’t work like that. (Note - if anyone wants to start giving me a few thousand dollars every month in exchange for a place not to live, I’m open to that.)

You have a form of contract. The contract states that you give them money and in return they give you a place to live. The contract likely doesn’t forbid you from working. It would be illegal for it to include times that you’re not allowed to enter or leave the unit. And unless I’m really confused Canadian courts don’t recognize  contract terms that violate the laws of physics so they can’t force you to not be composed of matter. :)

Your landlords can soundproof or go fuck themselves.

I live in a 111 year old house. If the ceiling is done properly, hearing stuff shouldn’t be an issue. At 7’ ceilings, you can’t go lower so I would say the landlord above needs to put down some more layers between the suite and their bedroom. In our case, there are hardwood floors, floor boards, joists, a sheet under the joists and drop ceiling panels. The sound is very contained (our place has a separate entrance for basement suite and upstairs).

Maybe a carpet would help muffle the sound? They can also change the flooring (like we did) and put down boards that will reduce noise as the base layer and then put flooring on top.

You sound like a great tenant. This is a problem your landlord will need to address eventually. While I was separated, I rented an old place that I could see through cracks in the wood floors when the lights in the basement were on! Some houses are crap (like the one I own used to be before my wife and I fixed it up.

How is the house heated? If it's via furnace and ducts, then ducts might be carrying the noise.

Type of ceiling? Suspended/t-bar is terrible for noise isolation. You could try hanging sheets/blankets from the ceiling to muffle the noise. Could also try baffles (ie; egg cartons shapes) on the ceiling to absorb noise too.  Though, this would be time/material intensive and landlords might not like it.

As you're in the basement it shouldn't be the vibrations of you walking around.

As others have stated; it's a landlord concern, they can soundproof it further if they dislike it.

Is it even a legal basement suite? Sure there might be some sound transfer but dishes shouldn’t wake them.

This is not a you problem, this is a them problem. They can put in insulation that stops the sound, they can put in a suspended ceiling in the basement or they can put sound resilient channels on the ceiling or double up the floor with a cork underlayer. You can't do any of this, it is their house. They obviously have a choice to not rent out the basement if they can't put up with the noise.

Fuck em, tell em to call the cops or bilaw who will very clearly tell them they’re in the wrong

If it were the other way around, you would be risking eviction by saying anything. Landlords are spoiled.

Tell them to wake up earlier.

I used to rent out my basement, and noise almost never bothered me. I was hyper aware of the noise my kids and I made walking around. I only had to complain ONCE about noise from a basement tenant… and it was only because she’d gotten a new girlfriend who would literally scream-moan during sex and it would echo through the entire house thanks to the vents and old floors. We couldn’t turn the TV up loud enough and it would go on for 30-90 minutes sometimes.

I remember being like, “I am so sorry, but I just have to let you know we can hear your girl enjoying herself. It’s super loud and we’re not able to ignore it or turn the music/TV up loud enough. Is there anything that can be done here?” I felt really bad.

But music, tv, practicing the drums, whatever, it’s your place. If you’re already being mindful, then it’s on them to cope or make upgrades.

NTA but your landlords sure are. You’re not doing anything wrong and you shouldn’t have to change your routine just to please them. Tell them to insulate better or wake up earlier, your paying rent you should live your life.

You could always show them just how bad a noisy tenant can be. Start inviting friends over. Turn up the TV and relax. Put loud music on whenever you go out. Have long hot showers just before they want theirs. Become a live streamer playing games for hours at a time, scream when you lose, shout insults at chat and laugh loudly. Bang on the ceiling whenever they have sex. When they come to complain just shout over them, telling them to eff off. Make them regret becoming landlords. You hold all the power. Don’t give them an inch.

Mention to them when you will be available to have a contractor come by to discuss sound proofing. This is a them problem not a you problem. They can not get every single person they rent with to live on their schedule.

Its not your problem

Older houses have really crazy acoustics. Esp if walls are plaster and little insulation . If they insulate their floors, it might make a difference. Ceilings are so low yikes.

Maybe wearing thick slides inside will dappen your steps? Carpeting / Area rugs?

Sounds like you're going to have to look for another place because apparently the only tenants they want living underneath them are cats!

Well they would absolutely despise me getting up at 3 AM on a four on, four off rotation, lol.

You say

I’m not making any noise beyond regular day to day activity noise. This is a soundproofing issue with the house.

Then don’t get into discussions on it. If they say you were loud, just say I was cooking which is an activity I’m permitted to do. Or I was doing the dishes which is a normal daily task. Or I was showering which is a predictable activity of any tenant

Have they tried white noise machines?

tell them their parents need to find them somewhere else to live if they don’t like noise. You have rights. There’s nothing wrong with using what you pay for.

We live in a house built 1920’s, we’re the basement dwellers. Upstairs their living room is above our bedroom and they are up and at it at 5am. We don’t have to get up till 6:30am. Sure we hear them walking around, the dog running around and other morning stuff. But it only wakes us if we’re in a light sleep. Area rugs is the way to go, helps with damping the noise.

It’s not your fault they don’t have the soundproofing they’d like. They should probably complain to the landlord.

you can issue a formal complaint against your landlord for disturbing your peace and quiet enjoyment of your leased unit.

As long as you're paying rent on time, they can go fuck themselves. You're going above and beyond to accomodate to them when you really don't even need to. You're just existing. The problem is theirs. Not yours.

That said, as much as it sucks and they can't really do anything legally, it's probably worth starting to look for a new place to save yourself the headache of having to deal with them. Again, they can't really do anything legally, but I can nearly guarantee you they'll passive-aggressively try to make your life very annoying.

Let's put this into perspective. You work for a living contributing your labour which they take probably 40-50% of so you can have your human rights met. They do nothing productive, got their parents to pay for the down payment and expect you to pay their mortgage and otherwise be completely invisible, inaudible. They are leeches, essentially stealing from you, but our horrific housing system legalizes this sociopathic behaviour. You should never feel guilty that you're trapped in this broken feudal system. Mao had the right housing policy on landlords.

I say this as a landlord, a fellow photographer, and a good Christian woman: tough fuckin cookies, blowhards. 

i can’t hear anything anyone is doing in the other suites in my apartment now even tho i share walls with someone. in my last apartment i could hear everything the downstairs neighbours were doing. it’s definitely a them / the house issue and you should not be tip toeing. that’s what they get for sharing their house/having someone help with their mortgage

I moved into a basement suite for a year lease . The landlord upstairs (it was a big beautiful ocean view house ) had a grand piano. I am a musician myself and played keyboards in bands . She played jingle bells everyday poorly even in the summer and wore shoes in the house. They also had karaoke parties and the door to their karaoke room is my kitchen living area and bedroom . I never said a word. She was upset that I worked too much . I work from home as well. This suite was actually under ground so unless you have lights on it’s pitch black even on a sunny day. She would come into my suite when I wasn’t there and close the shower doors . It was a nightmare. She also screamed at her husband whenever he came home which wasn’t often and when she was away he worked from home . She didnt want to give my damage deposit back when I moved out early but paid my rent even though I wasn’t there. It’s a long story but no I would never live in a basement suite again . Though in saying this I have been a landlord with a basement suite and I always had great tenants because I allowed pets . Caring people usually have pets and they are grateful to have a place they can have with their fur babies.

Tell them to put ear plugs on. Solved.

I live in my basement unit and rent out the upstairs - I don’t understand how so many landlords could be so demanding and cruel to a good tenent!?! My tenet is fantastic and I bend over backwards to make sure me and my wife don’t interfere with any part of his home life in any way, we even spent over 10 thousand fully sound proofing between floors before he moved in! We consider ourselves very fortunate to have a good tenent and would like to keep him happy and continuing to rent from us for as long as possible! It’s unfortunate everyone doesn’t see it this way

I'm up at stupid hours for kitchen work and this sounds pretty normal monring stuff to me. You already adjusted way more than most people would. If they're digital nomad night owls sleeping above a basement suite with low ceilings, that's kind of the tradeoff they signed up for. Old houses carry sound and you can't tiptoe your whole life. I'd frame it as a building issue not a you issue and ask if they're open to rugs, soundproofing, or even moving their bedroom setup around. You're living there, not sneaking around on a graveyard shift.

Lol "Digital Nomads".

Just means they're unemployed.

They should have considered that when they put their place up for rent. You are paying rent. Have legal contract? It’s your place.

Honestly you need to prepare to move and not helping with the landlords mortgage anymore. He can buy his peace with $

I feel like you’ve done what you can. Brush off their comments and just do you. If it gets worse, only communicate via email or record every conversation in case they get ideas about evicting you for unrelated reasons

Bail. There's always somewhere else... I mean really, you're going to work so you can pay rent. They can suck it.

I would never ever live below a landlord again. Another tenant is one thing but living below a landlord is like living below your boss and feeling like they have you under their thumb.

Rent has gone down…i would straight up tell them that you’re unwilling to change your normal, daily routine and you’ll move out for a moving fee.

There’s lots of apartments and suites out there that are not on the same property as a landlord

It's too late now, but landlords really need to just put up extra insulation on the ceiling for basement suites. The difference it makes is insane, it would solve all these problems.

They’re the ones that have the shitty probably illegal suite in the basement the sun that comes through the floors or the walls is their problem their issue. Just because the tenant is hard-working and goes early in the morning to make an honest dollar and the lowlife landlords upstairs, a sleep until 10 of course it’s gonna bother them. just for curious I’d be checking into with the City Building Department. See if that is a non-conforming or legal suite. Is enough way to tell actually as if you have your own heating system separate of theirs?

Yup. Getting up at 5:30 is reasonable. Preparing food is reasonable. Swimming of course you make a reasonable amount of noise. 

Basically if they didn't want a tenant then they shouldn't have rented the place out. 

Suggest they use some of your rent money to put in some sound proofing.

Not being able to wash the dishes or make lunch in the morning (or literally at any point in the day or night, tbh) in your own home is wild.

They would really hate me, I would be blasting the blender every morning at 5am to smash my smoothie before the gym.

My advice to your landlords: you cant handle a bit of noise, live on your own and pay your own mortgage

Ask them to put it in writing, document their complaints, and screenshot any texts or Messages that are left for you. Live your life as normal. If they continue talk to the RTB about it.

Buy them earplugs

This is why I don’t get a roommate I wake up at 4:20am to bus to work and be their to start at my factory at 6:30am everyone says get a roommate but I enjoy living alone and not worrying about stuff like this

I have a basement suite. I blew insulation between the joists and rock wool between adjacent walls. I also installed Sonopan sound insulation over the 1/2" gyproc and another 5/8 Type X gyproc over that. I even insulated between the suite bedrooms. The door is solid core and I custom made a second high density door and sealed it. I can't even hear them in the mornings. Can't hear them talk & can barely hear the TV & sub. Not all landlords are A - holes & not all suites suck for sound transmission.

The RTB website has lots of handy tips about conflict resolution for tenants and landlords.

Landlord or home owner? Its a huge difference

They can look at what they can do to reduce noise transfer or they can wear ear plugs. What you’re doing is normal and within your rights. 

I hate living with landlord in the same house. I still remembered LL opened the connecting door and alert us that my bro alarm clock was still on.

Tell them every time they hear you getting ready in the morning, they’re hearing you getting ready to earn their rent money. For another month or so, only reply to their concerns with the words “rent money”. After that, just silently rub your fingers together to imply money

a condescending shrug might help

They’re the landlords and should create some soundproofing if it bothers them. You’re being extremely reasonable just trying to eat breakfast before work.

Yeah that's absurd.

I'm a homeowner. I considered buying a house with a basement suite to help with the mortgage. It would have helped our financial situation immensely. We didn't buy a house with a basement suite because we know that we like our space and don't want to put either ourselves or a tenant in an uncomfortable situation. And thus I eat the cost and live very frugally.

Weird how it comes as a surprise that other people have lives and that accommodating those lives is a necessary part of sharing a living space.

"Damn I thought I could just get money for nothing!"

WTF do they expect, tell them not to rent out their basement then, like these people want all the benefits mainly just the income, without any inconvenience or responsibility that comes with being a effing landlord.

Tell them to eat a di@k.

Bro the fact that you tried to be quieter is amazing, you are a good person.

Fuck em tho.

Regardless of either of your feelings, how do you expect to move forward?

Either get used to it, or move out.

It's pretty simple to see these are the only options.

You pay $xxxx to live there. You essentially support them financially. They don't get to tell you how you live your life or what schedule you have to operate on. It sounds like you're being pretty reasonable already, so live your life and do what you have to do. If they have a problem with your morning routine then it's exactly that- THEIR PROBLEM.

I run a basic fan by my bed so that noise from around the house doesn't wake me. idk if they'd like that idea but it's made a huge difference for me and doesn't bother me at all while going to sleep.

The upper unit can add some carpet on their floors. The unit below can add sound reducing panel in the ceilings but this should be the building owner responsibility. The basement was probably not designed up to code. These issues should have been solved prior making it a living unit.

Tell them to sleep with a fan on and get fucked. They can install soundproofing if they want but you’re doin nothing wrong

What other ideas can there be? You've already tried to accommodate. Obviously at this point the onus is on them to adjust, or you to move

Really?

American houses made of drywall are the problem. They’re being idiots and it’s their house so their job to fix the issue.

Sometimes connecting on a different level helps.

No way, unless youre blaring music top volume or banging on the ceeling etc. Your noise in am is completly normal.  Thwy are they ones that are unrealistic.    I have a neighbor that starts his truck at 11 pm... just as ive gone to sleep and have to wake up early for work... its a trucknot a transpprt truck with bells. I gotta deal with it somehow.  And i do .

I had a downstairs neighbour complain that my noise kept waking up her 3 year old “baby” once at 6:00 pm on a Friday evening when I was making dinner!!! I would wake up at night hearing the kid cry and never complained. She tried to get me hit with a fine, I wrote a nice letter about parenting her “Kid” and she moved out the following month:)

Suggest they get earplugs. Sounds cheeky but I’m a very light sleeper and earplugs get me thru my partners snoring on the other side of the bed. Probably similar impact to soundproofing the place with considerably less effort

Basement apartments are a fucking nightmare. Never bothered with it because I had friends and partners that did and each time they were basically forced to pay rent but not exist. I recently moved and while, yes, basements are cheaper, I still went for a one-bedroom in a building because fuck. That.

Living with landlord is a different kind of hell. Avoid it if you can.

Just go about your business. If your not making excessive noise your fine. No need to tip toe.

Yeah find another place

That is literally the problem of the owner to make a suit normally liveable. Like If you had another tenant upstairs and they'd complain. The owner would have to make it more soundproof

There are so many ads I've seen for units in private homes that want the tenant to pay the rent and not exist. A curfew! No guests! No cooking! Shower twice a week! The laundry is for us only but we kept it in your unit, so we're going to be coming in whenever we want! We control the thermostat and it's fine up here so STFU about freezing/overheating! No parking! No yard access! No noise! No internet installations, use our shitty wifi through the basement ceiling! Put your garbage in the neighbour's bin!

We need some regulations, and some education for wannabe landlords.

I would start asking for the communication on this to be in writing. I would reply with a breakdown of everything you've done to accommodate, and that anything else will require them to make changes to their building to mitigate sound. I would not state anything about escalation, but stay formal and keep things in writing and they should get the hint you are gathering evidence for a 'right to reasonable enjoyment' defense or claim. I would also get a dB meter. They're fairly cheap and you can take time stamped pics of the display when they complain and send them. The law wants the number from the complainants unit but you can extrapolate from your reasons what theirs would be.based on drywall/OSB/flooring etc.

Also the build code for basement units requires an ASTC (sound mitigation measuring unit) of 47. So if they complain about you to the LTB and you can prove you're making say 60dB of noise and they're hearing 50dB on their unit, it means they failed to comply with the building regulations. They should only be hearing 13dB in that example.

It's always best to keep things friendly, but it can be frustrating to have to educate a landlord on how to do their jobs. I think you also may be in an illegal unit.

TLDR: Not your problem Don't be aggressive, but don't waste your time educating them. Just get everything in an email or text chain and save it all for later. Establish your sound levels with a measuring device, and document as much as you can. Also expect them to ask you to leave at the end of your lease.

your landlords need to get a white noise machine.

I literally just moved out of a place for similar reasons. Was fine for a while then my landlord who lived above me decided to rent out a different part of the house to more peopel and move his bedroom above my livingroom. He would go to bed at 9pm and complain about noise after then, which is insane imo I moved out telling him it was just incompatible, you can't tell me to create zero noise past 9pm

Same thing older house, although he had some noise proofing, he was a person that required absolute silence to sleep. imo if you want to be a landlord who lives in the same house you need to be able to sleep through a muffled movie or tv show or two, or some cleaning or cooking sounds. It's just unreasonable to expect people not to affect you yet pay thousands every month in rent.

In terms of advice, I would tell them to move their bedroom to somewhere else, or install more soundproofing, or both. Thing with soundproofing though is you basically just need solid matter to truly block sound. Thin things don't work the most effective thing is a wall of concrete.

Not your problem, shitty landlords

Can you hear your landlords? I would play the uno reverse card. Its on them to ensure you have quiet enjoyment of your unit, which includes sufficient soundproffing.

I lived where they played basketball inside the house . The severe headaches that I got as a result were bad .

I really don’t understand why soundproofing your basement suite isn’t just a standard thing at this point

Just ignore their complaints, they have literally no one to go to with them. This is not a valid reason to kick you out.

I was the landlord of a basement apt for a year. Since that rent money was saving my butt I accepted the trade off. I wasn't crazy about some of the sounds floating through my floor but dealt with it. Cause yeah, I needed the rent.

Youd be better off moving. Theyre not going to stop complaining if you're already going out of your way to be quiet and it isn't helping. Either move and live a more peaceful life or walk on eggshells every morning and still keep hearing from them about it. With my experience its been worth the time and effort to relocate than have to tolerate an annoying landlord. For me its not about whats legal or who's in the right, its about whats going to work for me, and living under landlords like that wouldn't work for me. Idk if you've ever rented from a landlord you haven't gotten along with before, but it can be be very challenging, especially if you both get resentful and in my opinion, its not worth the headache. Life is too short.

I'm so glad we got an awesome tenant, who's now going on 7 years. I always apologize to him if my kid gets rowdy. Never hear him coming or going. He even offers to shovel the driveway when I'm out doing it solo.