New in Apartment Complex. Eviction based on Exaggerated Complaint?

By Gary

My fiance and I just moved into a new apartment with a 12 month lease last Tuesday. We are on the second floor out of three. We had a friend over and was playing on the Xbox Kinect, with Kinect Sports being played. At 6pm, a woman came up and asked if we wouldn’t mind being quieter because she was working. My fiance told her most politely, that we would and we weren’t meaning to disturb her. We turned the game off and started watching a movie, with little volume to make sure we didn’t disturb her.

At 9:15 – 9:30 I went to the computer to work on my classwork while my fiance and her friend finished their show. I checked on them at 9:45, 10, 10:30, and 11pm in which they were asleep when I checked at 10 and later. I went to bed about 1am. While I was working, I did not have any music on, and was wearing headphones. We never heard from the woman again.

We get a call from the leasing office the following morning that there was written complaint about us making a ton of noise up to 10:40pm in which we were making the walls shake. The leasing agent tells us that she has been at the residence for many years and has never ever complained. She tells us (while this is not in the lease agreement) there is a three strike rule. You get a verbal warning, then three strikes, and you are out of the complex, evicted. She gave us a verbal warning after we explained that we quieted down when she asked and she said the woman confirmed that we quieted down.

I do not want to have to tip toe during the daytime (I understand after 10 is a common courtesy time until usually 7am). I feel as I am being punished for hearsay in which I am being discriminated because I am a new resident. The woman did not have a third party as witness or even contact local police about the issue.

Does the leasing office have the authority to evict us based on hearsay with a "three strike rule" with bogus complaints?"  No one around us besides this woman has any issues with noise.
We live in Morrisville, Wake County, NC 27560.

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Holy Cow, we couldn't find any other related post. Sorry. :(