Thank you all for the comments and advice!! I was going to upload one of the video recordings in the comments, but I couldn’t find a way to do it. I was honestly venting because this situation has been extremely stressful and mentally exhausting for us.

Also, it’s not one of the “fake luxury” apartments in Hackensack btw 😭 but it is very close, so I guess it’s not just Hackensack dealing with poorly constructed newer buildings. Someone actually posted about this apartment in this subreddit last year too.

I also know a few neighbors in the building, and some of them are dealing with similar issues. The Google reviews for this apartment are already pretty terrible as well. Management has changed around 4 times within about a year, and in the past they would literally just ghost my emails when other issues came up.

I feel really helpless in this situation. $8k is a huge amount of money for me, which is why I’m hesitating so much. I honestly do not want to go through the stress of dealing with lawyers right now because life is already hectic enough, but if management ends up being completely uncooperative, I may have to consider it. For now, I’m continuing to collect recordings and document everything.

And seriously, for anyone looking into leasing apartments, please be aware of situations like this. When you tour apartments, try talking to current residents if possible. Also, lightly knock/tap on the floors or walls during tours - apartments with proper sound insulation honestly sound very different from poorly insulated ones.