I just moved in here in my Leopalace apartment yesterday and I can hear my neighbors’ talking and it’s so loud. I absolutely hate it and thinking of moving tf out ‘cause I couldn’t sleep. I don’t wanna waste any more money so I thought I probably should gaman up until 8 months where I wouldn’t pay exorbitant fees. To people living in a Leopalace, How do you guys deal with the noise?
32 comments
Been there lol.
I had a neighbor that seemingly was in his apartment 24/7. He’d play games and yell throughout the day, and at night, my lord, he had the most obnoxious and loud snore ever. The noise felt like it was practically next to my ear. After many sleepless nights, I just ended up buying some quality ear plugs. I guess it’s your call whether you want to bring up a noise complaint.
Earplugs until I could afford to move out. I quickly learned a peaceful night’s sleep is priceless.
move out as soon as possible :’)
You can move out but you run the risk of this happening in other apartments because almost every apartment has paper thin walls, not just Leopalace.
It wasnt leopalace apt but once I had a similar experience. Moved in noise from neighbor was extreme . Could even hear his phone vibration. Couldnt deal with it and moved out after a month. Had to pay penalty though .
What is Leopalace?
Been there as well. Used to submit complaints with the information mentioned here: [https://www.leopalace21.com/custhelp/en/daily_life/00410.html](https://www.leopalace21.com/custhelp/en/daily_life/00410.html)
Inquiry form button is on the left.
Don’t rent from Leopalace.
**Edit: As others have said. Unless the offending tenants are doing something unreasonable like blasting music, sex noises, or stomping feet at night, then LeoPalace probably won’t take any complaint seriously. However, if things escalate, I think my advice is still sound.**
**Another Edit: Something to consider is that (to my knowledge) LeoPalace doesn’t have income verification as part of its renting examination (審査). So pretty much ANYBODY can rent a LeoPalace. This often attracts various ne’er-do-wells with unstable income. Paying more in rent often means not only higher quality building materials, but higher quality neighbors. Of course, that’s a generalization.**
This problem isn’t limited to LeoPalace. Unless you live in Hokkaido, insulation isn’t a thing in a Japan, so there’s almost nothing separating you and your neighbors.
This is why detached, corner units, or second floor apartments are popular and command a premium. Basically, there are three types of buildings in Japan; all wood construction, steel frame construction, and concrete. Apartments made with better quality materials have higher rent. So basically, the more you pay, the less likely it is that you’ll hear your neighbors.
A LeoPalace is all wood construction (木造建築); the lowest level of quality. As you’ve noticed, wood is a very poor insulator of sound.
What can you do about noisy neighbors? The dance goes like this,
1. Call LeoPalace and complain. They’ll probably first try to send a letter to everyone in the building politely asking everyone to be mindful of their neighbors.
2. If the noise continues, call LeoPalace and complain again. Ask LeoPalace to contact the offending tenants directly.
3. If it still continues, call your local police (use a non-emergency number). Be sure to keep a record of all the times you’ve called either LeoPalace or the Police.
4. Try to make a case to LeoPalace that the offending tenants have been warned several times and should be removed from the property.
Unfortunately, that’s about all you can do. Even if LeoPalace decides to evict them, the eviction process can take up to six months. It’s possible to put legal pressure on LeoPalace to evict the offending tenants, but it would cost more money in lawyer fees than simply moving.
Not really Leopalace specific tbh. I live in a shared house and my neighbour seems to play games and loudly talk every day from around 2am-6am. Also closing doors/walking/placing down things etc isn’t really done with the time of day in mind.
Thankfully it doesn’t really bother me while sleeping and I only notice it when waking up at night to go for a pee.
Going back to 2017 for my “apartment” days but I found that noise cancelling earphones during the day and good quality molded earplugs when sleeping. I basically had something in my ears practically all the time.
When you move, places listed as “mansions” tend to have thicker walls, some soundproofing and frankly better quality neighbours.
That really sucks. Had this issue in a wooden apartment building too. Look for places made of concrete or block construction. Also, a lot of places labeled as マンション will have better insulation. For now… buy some ear plugs and a pair of decent noise canceling headphones and bide your time…
Outside of Hokkaido no apartments have insulation though.
So you will run into that issue anywhere.
I swear apartments here are made of paper.
The only real ways to avoid that are detached homes, maybe second floor apartments or single detached units of some sort.
I moved before my lease was up when zi initially came to Japan. Only had to pay a month extra of rent.
I have the same thing too. However, it was below me where my neighbor would bring his friends and pretty much yell whenever they watch a movie or play a game. It was not that loud, but you are able to hear a good part of the noise. Especially during the world cup games haha. Usually when it comes to complaints, Leopalace would put a piece of paper in everyone`s mailbox regarding noise complaint, unauthorized parking, etc. Then it would usually stop for a while, then happen again haha.
I have never heard a good thing about Leopalace. Bugs, thin thin walls, internet which you can’t change, scammy landlords, etc.
My advice? Move out, and spend the same amount of money for a much nicer place. There are a ton of alternatives for rentals.
Basically this company exists to take advantage of immigrants who don’t how to do things. The process of renting an apartment is simple. Go to the homes or suumo website and look up a few places near the station you want to live. Contact the companies listing them. Go their office and look at other properties they also manage. Have them pre-screen all properties to pre-approve if foreigners are allowed. Look at the place, if you like it then get the contract. Use google lens to translate the contract if you can’t read Japanese. If a guaranteer is required you can use the one from their real estate company. Sign, pay and done.
Leopalace is nothing but a scam. I have never personally used them though.
Start playing music and start the party with him
Uploaded just to balance out the dozens of Leopalace ads I see on all my apps every single day!
Also consider using white noise when sleeping. A noisy fan near your head drowns out a *lot* of external sounds. You can also search for “white noise” on YouTube to find tracks that you can pump through your stereo.
Ear buds, headphones, or being less at home (doesn’t work with introverts like me).
Wood is bad enough, but Leopalace does this the worst. I think there’s nothing they place in-between walls for sound insulation. In my experience, I can hear my neighbor’s snore, phone alarm, TV and constant thudding sound, it’s like he’s doing constant laps around his unit. It’s so bad, like a few years ago Leopalace were found to have a lot of construction defects and violating building codes that they ask tenants to move. Basically the government ordered them to fix their shoddy buildings, I’m sure my Leopalace back then is one of those, but nothing happen.
same here. i live in a Leopalace apartment, and the tenant living directly above me walks like he’s an actual elephant at ungodly hours. i contacted Leopalace through their inquiry email and the process was a bit weird? they told me they’d wait a WEEK before ensuing a warning to the tenant. the noise kept going, resent them an email. told me the tenant was warned and said they were trying to be quiet which ended up not being the case. Leopalace basically only sends warnings through email/phone/letters, they take their sweet time doing it too. and since they “warn” the japanese way you can imagine how efficient that is…
although that’s not really specific to Leopalace, japanese apartments usually have shit insulation except in Hokkaido maybe.
i’d tell Leopalace about the noise if i were you. if nothing changes even after their warnings to the tenant, maybe try slipping your neighbor a note telling them about the noise. if nothing works tell the police directly, they’re used to noise complaints.
Air purifier and ear plugs for nighttime, noise canceling headphones in the day. World of difference.
Next time go concrete.
Your best first option would be a pair of quality earplugs.
Next, you could try to pick up a cheap transistor radio, and leave it on at a moderate volume… I did this until picked up a cheap Amazon Echo Dot smart speaker on sale, and would then stream a radio station from.back home instead, or I would get it to just play some white noise or forest sounds in a continuous loop, or listen to an interesting podcast.
Basically, I found that helped cushion and drown out some of the sounds from my neighboring apartments.
I lived in a Leo palace. Hated it. Same thing as OP. I complained enough and got leopalace to break my contract without a fine and even got some money back. But it’s all the same. I moved into a much “nicer” apartment but all the walls are the same in Japan. Headphones or earplugs are your best friend. Just wait until you start getting noise complaints against you just because your the foreigner living in the complex now so all the noise/trash has to be from you. (This is sarcasm)
By not buying from leopalace lol. Isn’t leopalace a big foreigner trap
I lived in Leopalace for 3 months. The walls were made of paper mache. One time the delivery man rang my door bell and as I opened my door, but my neighbours opened theirs.
Don’t be afraid to file a noise complaint. Lord knows your neighbours will file one against you if you’re the one making noise.
If you file enough complaints (with Leopalace and the police) then there’s a chance Leopalace will just let you move out without paying anything. Its not what you signed up for and especially at night there are laws against noise pollution.
Leopalace has quite a famous rep I wish you would’ve at least checked this online. Countless stories about these apartments.
Y’all living in cheap ass apartments. You get what you pay for.
Is it that bad? So, you’re telling me… all that wild sex…
I Just yelled “Shut the fuck up” and banged on the wall. My neighbor was speaking Spanish so maybe she understood me. Quite after that unless she moved out….