Landlord problems

Original post by EireBride-to-Be

Mar 04, 2005 10:13 PM

My landlords are ridiculously loud. They have people over on week nights ALL the time and congregate in the kitchen (which is right below my bedroom) and shout and blast music till all hours of the morning (seriously, like 3AM). Right now I can't hear my TV over the bass in their music. It vibrates my floor, my couch, my bed, my whole apartment.

I know I probably sound ridiculous complaining about this. But as a tenant who pays rent, do I have the right to ask them to turn it down? I realize that it's a weekend so I'm not going to complain now. But for future reference, is it out of line for me to complain?

Kel Posted: Mar 04, 2005 11:56 PM

Re: Landlord problems

Maybe so .. be month-to-month gives the tenant the freedom of being able to pick up and get out quick.

Month-to-month was key in winning the bid we placed on our house!

Butterflybride Posted: Mar 05, 2005 12:00 AM

Re: Landlord problems

I got very lucky, we live in a 2-family home as well. Odd set-up though, instead of being upstairs/downstairs, the house is split in half vertically, so we have an upstairs and a downstairs in our home. We were fortunate with getting very kind landlords and we both respect eachother and are very quiet. Occasionally I'll hear him hammering, or I'll hear the baby crying, but never anything that's a big deal and never anything that keeps me awake at night.

I'm sorry your situation is so terrible. Just letting you know that there ARE good 2-family homes out there though. You just have to find the right people to live with.

DjPiLL Posted: Mar 05, 2005 12:02 AM

Re: Landlord problems

Posted by Kel

Maybe so .. be month-to-month gives the tenant the freedom of being able to pick up and get out quick.

Yeah but in most cases its not wise. Month to month means you have no rights, they can kick you out anytime they want (with 30 days notice), they can raise your rent whenever they want, and if they are illegal and they get reported... your out as well.

Even if you are on a lease... people break leases all the time. If you follow the renter/tenant laws... you can get out of any lease. And no you don't have to pay the remainder of the lease (only fools do that).

2003OCT10 Posted: Mar 05, 2005 01:16 AM

Re: Landlord problems

I had a seies of posts from my rude, obnoxious and intruding landlords in the last place we lived.... Unfortunatley they caused us to finally break down and we moved out... It is not out of line to ask them if they could try to keep their music down ... explain to them that it is under your room and you work on weekends or whatever the case may be...

GOOD LUCK!

2003OCT10 Posted: Mar 05, 2005 01:17 AM

Re: Landlord problems

I just read the other responses... i was month to month too... thing was when it came to their music they cooperated... its worth a shot in asking nicely... again... GOOD LUCK!

BlondeJD Posted: Mar 05, 2005 02:00 AM

Re: Landlord problems

This isn't 'legal' advice by any means (my usual disclaimer), but you do have rights as a tenant whether or not it is their house. If you do a Google search for something called 'implied warranty (or covenant) of quiet enjoyment' you should find some useful info on this topic.

Basically, the mplied covenant of quiet enjoyment protects the tenant's use and enjoyment of the premises for the purpose contemplated by the rental agreement. The landlord can violate the implied covenant of quiet enjoyment by acting, or failing to act, such as failing to stop other tenants from making excessive noise. Where the landlord is the other tenant, this would seem to apply as well.

Most of these implied covenants and warranties (there's another called implied warranty of habitability, which has to do with repairs and such) usually require that the tenant give notice to the landlord of the problem. So, it might be in your interest to let the landlord know--in a tactful way--that the noise is a bit of a problem for you.

Hope this helps

cocoa Posted: Mar 05, 2005 07:51 AM

Re: Landlord problems

i totally understand from where you are coming. our landlords are nice and for the most part are quick to take care of things, but i swear the wall are thin and the floors even thinner. we are one of two tenants and the landlords live upstairs. the other tenant talks so loud!!! if she's in the bathroom, i can hear all of what she says! our landlords on the other hand, have wood floors...and they have hamster blood!!! they walk back and forth...back and forth,backandforthbackandforthbackandforth...you get the picture...in their shoes....at midnight!!! or at 7 am on the weekends!!! it keeps us up and wakes us up!

i know there is really nothing that can be done, but i wish you luck! and if it is an illegal apt, when yo move, make a phone call

JimmysBride Posted: Mar 05, 2005 07:53 AM

Re: Landlord problems

If the noise is only excessive on the weekends, I wouldn't bother saying anything. In fact, saying something might aggravate the situation. If the noise is taking place on a week night, then I think you can mention something. We had a tenant and please, she complained about every little thing even though it was OUR house. Sometime she had a valid point and we reached some sort of agreement. Most time she was just a big picky whiner. It's a wonder we didn't throw her out for how much she whined all the time.

But I noticed that whenever we got loud (whether playing music for cleaning-- something I love to do, watching a movie in surround sound on DHs loud system, or had people over, etc) she ALWAYS 'retaliated'. She continued to blast her radio well after we turned ours down, she would turn her tv up as loud as possible, she would have people over the following weekend... etc. But she never crossed 'that line' in her retaliations because she knew that ultimately, we always had the right to tell her to shut up.