Landlord too lax on noise enforcement

Q: I have a question about noise. I live on the ground floor of a four-story "luxury" apartment community. We have a "quiet hours" clause written in all of our leases that states residents must be quiet from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. The tenants who just moved in above me, a family of four, make a lot of noise between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m. almost every night.

I've informed the landlord and even bought a video camera to record the noises along with the times. I've shown several tapes to the landlord and he agrees that the noises (which include children screaming, running around, thumping, thuds and loud banging noises, in addition to foot traffic) are excessive. However, the tenants have continued virtually unabated with their noise-making.

What do I do if the landlord is unwilling or unable to stop them from waking me up in the middle of the night? I usually have to call security three nights a week. I have more than six months left on my current lease, but do I have grounds to break my lease early? Can I ask that they be given an eviction notice? Do I have grounds for breaking the lease early without penalty? For the last two months I haven't been getting much sleep and I don't know what to do.

A: One of the most prevalent complaints received by landlords is about the noise level created by another tenant. Such complaints are very challenging and a source of frustration for both landlords and tenants. A certain amount of noise is expected and must be tolerated when living in a multifamily apartment community. However, tenants need to be courteous and considerate of their neighbors.

Noise complaints are one of those issues that I believe require an escalating level of response. Ideally, just contacting your neighbor directly and asking them to be courteous should resolve the matter. But if that doesn't work, then you were correct in contacting the landlord to see if he can intervene. The landlord already has a "quiet hours" policy so he certainly is aware of this issue and seems to agree that excessive noise is unacceptable.

The first step by the landlord or onsite property manager would be to make a phone call and ask the tenant directly but politely to be sensitive to others and keep the noise down as much as possible. If that doesn't work, then the landlord should make a written formal request of your upstairs neighbor to cease and desist from any activity that could be disruptive. This written notice should be on a proper legal Notice of Breach of Lease form and cite the failure of the tenant to abide by the "quiet hours" policy.

If all else fails, you may want to contact your local municipality to see if it has noise ordinances, and make a formal written complaint. Many times these policies will require more than a single incident of excessive noise before they will take action. I have also seen municipal policies requiring that at least two or more neighbors be willing to file a formal complaint before the municipality will formally investigate the alleged noise violation. ...CONTINUED

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